Author: Sean D. Hamill
Publication: Chicago Tribune
Date: July 25, 2003
URL: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0307250082jul25,1,354061.story?coll=chi-printmetro-hed
Introduction: Conference in Deerfield
hopes to bring together disparate Indian-American viewpoints
With thousands of different social
castes and 18 major languages in India, plus the cultural and regional
differences of a country of more than 1 billion people, Rev. Saji Lukos
knows that pulling together his fellow Indian-Americans is difficult at
best.
Add the different branches of Christianity
to which many Indian-Americans belong and the task Lukos has set for his
organization, Reaching Indians Ministries International, to achieve at
a conference in Deerfield this weekend only gets harder.
"I'd like to see people come together
and get to know each other and to understand what God is doing in India,"
said Lukos, 43, of Round Lake Beach. "My real burden is the second generation
[of Indian-Americans]. They have no idea what God is doing in India and
what needs to be done."
During sessions Friday through Sunday,
people at the United to Serve convention at Trinity International University
Chapel will hear preaching, listen to music and learn about missions that
Lukos' organization supports in India. Rev. K.C. John from Kerala will
be the featured speaker.
But Lukos' goal of using Christianity
to bring together disparate groups of Indian- Americans will be the focus.
"Billy Graham did it," said Lukos,
an Indian immigrant who founded his organization a decade ago. "He brought
people together from all backgrounds. We can too."
That's a daunting task anywhere
in the country, not just the Chicago area, said John Prabhudoss of the
Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America.
Prabhudoss' group, based in Washington,
D.C., lobbies Congress on the one issue on which his Christian groups generally
agree: getting the Indian government to crack down on oppression of Christians
in the predominantly Hindu country.
It's hard to get Indian-Americans
to sit down as a group, he said.
"People find it difficult to get
together in public because of these caste differences, language differences
and even regional differences," Prabhudoss said.
There are an estimated 300,000 Indian-Americans
in the Chicago area, and local religious leaders estimate that nearly 20
percent of them are Christian, a far higher proportion than the 2 to 3
percent in India.
In the late 1960s and '70s, immigration
laws made it easier for Indians who worked in health care to enter the
United States. Because Christian organizations operated many hospitals
and clinics in India, many of the immigrants were Christian, religious
leaders said.
Lukos sought to rally that community--particularly
the younger generation--to support charitable and evangelical work when
he formed Reaching Indians Ministries International in 1993 to support
schools, training centers and medical clinics in India.
"I saw a lot of young people from
India not doing very much for their country," he said.
Since then the organization has
seen contributions surge from just over $100,000 in 1998 to more than $400,000
last year. As executive director of Reaching Indians Ministries International,
Lukos is paid $30,000 for his full-time position, which he said is the
sole source of income for him, his wife and 10-year-old daughter.
Lukos didn't try to invite every
Christian group in the area.
He did put an ad in the Kerala Express,
a Chicago paper aimed at natives of the southern Indian state of Kerala,
where the biggest bloc of the country's Christians live and where it is
believed Jesus' apostle St. Thomas lived.
Most of Lukos' efforts targeted
people who shared the same evangelical and charismatic Christian tradition
he adopted after converting from Hinduism as a young man.
In many cases, the churches and
organizations knew nothing about Lukos or his organization. That was true
for Rev. Samuel Vallabdas, founding pastor of the India Mission Telugu
Methodist Church in Oak Park, who will attend the conference with three
members of his congregation.
"But [Lukos] called me a couple
of months ago and I agreed to go," Vallabdas said. "I just want to see
what he wants to do and how we can unify other people around the faith."
The 120 members of Vallabdas' church
speak Telugu, which can be a barrier even though most Indian-Americans
speak English as well. "With different languages come different cultures,"
Lukos said.
Reaching Indians Ministries International
will provide a translation at the convention for people who speak Malayalam,
one of the most popular languages in southern India. But it won't provide
a translation into Telugu or any other language.
Lukos did not personally invite
what is considered to be the largest organized bloc of Indian-American
Christians in the Chicago area, the 7,000-member Syro- Malabar Catholic
church.
"I didn't know how I would use their
leadership in the program," Lukos said. "Perhaps in the future we can [invite
Catholics]. But I was focusing on the evangelical community."
Rev. Jacob Angadiath, bishop of
the Syro-Malabar Catholic church, said he understood not being invited,
since it has long been common for Indian-American Christians to stay separate.
"In the future, of course, we all
pray for unity," Angadiath said.
