The Building 
 of the Church 
 Among Village 
 Communities 
 
 Rev. €. H. Bandy, D.D. 
 
 The Board of Foreign Missions 
 of the 
 
 Presbyterian Church in the U, S. A. 
 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City 
 
 0Ci 2.9 1918 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2023 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/buildingofchurchOOband 
 
The Building of the Church 
 Among Village Communities 
 Rev. C. H. Bandy, D.D. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY 
 
 Sixty to eighty years ago, when the three 
 American Presbyterian Missions in India 
 were crystallizing into separate organiza- 
 tions, each took the name of the most 
 prominent town within its own bounds. 
 Thus the Mission in the Punjab became 
 “The Ludhiana Mission.” That now known 
 as the Western India Mission was called 
 “The Kolhapur Mission.” The North India 
 Mission was then not improperly called 
 “The Furrukhabad Mission.” But railways 
 have made or ruined cities in India, even 
 as in Western lands. Furrukhabad City has 
 been left on the map, it is true; but it has 
 been eclipsed by Cawnpore, Allahabad and 
 Jhansi, which have got on to nearly all the 
 main lines running north and south, east 
 and west, while Furrukhabad is struggling 
 for a diminishing prestige on a couple of 
 branch lines. 
 
 Ten or twelve years ago, when the three 
 Missions were re-christened, the Punjab 
 people and the Western India people found 
 their names in the geography. Punjab and 
 Western India Missions they were and 
 could be nothing else; but not so the 
 North India Mission. It was not East; it 
 was not North; and it was a long way from 
 the center. Several names were suggested, 
 but the spirit of compromise prevailed, and 
 we settled upon the inaccurate and un- 
 poetic name, “North India Mission.” 
 
 a 
 
 re) 
 
POPULATION 
 
 The North India Mission is in two great 
 alluvial valleys of the Ganges and Jumna 
 Rivers, the most densely populated rural 
 portion, and the most typically Indian por- 
 tion of India, and with an unshared re- 
 sponsibility for the Presbyterian Church, 
 U. S. A., of seven millions of people. 
 
 Here the castes and the sub-castes are 
 nearly all represented, and, as to be expect- 
 ed in so dense a population, sociai lines are 
 very rigidly drawn. Here, to be a Brahman 
 means much, and to be an outcaste wouid 
 be unspeakably terrible if the people them- 
 selves regarded it so, but the outcastes each 
 have a caste or sub-caste upon which they 
 look down, and so even the lowest have 
 contrived to maintain a certain self-respect. 
 
 A RETROSPECT 
 
 The work which I shall attempt to de- 
 scribe had its beginnings twenty-two years 
 ago. Then there were fewer Indian minis- 
 ters, fewer Christian teachers, fewer local 
 Church officers, and fewer Church members 
 at the end of the twenty-two years than at 
 the beginning. 
 
 Cur Mission gatherings were times of 
 heart searching. In a gathering of young 
 missionaries, one brother caught a momen- 
 tary vision and prayed the Lord for a large 
 gathering of souls; and, after a little hesita- 
 tion, he said, “O Lord, a thousand this | 
 year.” Then, almost in a sob, he con- 
 tinued, “Canst Thou trust us with so 
 many?” But we had no sooner got off our 
 knees than the brother was conscience 
 smitten for having presumed to ask for so 
 many. At first we were all a bit stunned, 
 but we soon recovered; and a thousand 
 souls that year, and that God would make 
 us good enough and wise enough to care 
 for them, became a regular petition in our 
 prayers. 
 
The way seemed closed among caste peo- 
 ple. Brahman organization had beaten us to 
 a standstill, and apparently our only chance 
 for an answer to that prayer was from 
 among the untouchables. The Bhangis ap- 
 pealed to us. They were socially at the 
 bottom, the lowest of the low; but they 
 were more self-respecting than some others, 
 and less debased morally. However, Hindu 
 social organization had placed them at the 
 bottom and had apparently crushed out of 
 them all aspirations for anything different. 
 
 Among these Bhangis some of us began 
 work in real earnest. At our first annual 
 “round-up” we had baptized only about one- 
 half the number we had been asking for. 
 Maybe our faith was only half as large as 
 our asking. It was, however, a beginning 
 of larger things. 
 
 Twenty-two years ago we had all told a 
 Christian community of nine hundred and 
 forty three. Today the growth is fully 
 seven hundred per cent, while the village 
 work has grown out of nothing into a 
 village Christian community numbering 
 twenty-three thousand five hundred. 
 
 The village Christians have been or- 
 ganized into eighty-nine churches, thirteen 
 of which have developed into complete or- 
 ganizations, and a number of the remain- 
 ing seventy-six are complete in form, await- 
 ing only the ordination ceremony of elders, 
 which is occurring as rapidly as the men 
 prove themselves worthy. 
 
 The old-time preachers and teachers were 
 by training and tradition not adapted to the 
 new work. They had no confidence in the 
 outcome of the people, and, with here and 
 there a noble exception, they had no liking 
 for the insult and humiliation they were 
 called upon to endure for the sake of their 
 people. For it is literally true that every 
 real servant of an outcaste people must be- 
 
 & 
 
come an outcaste himself. I was once teach- 
 ing a number of Christians when one of my 
 audience was called away to answer ques- 
 tions. “Who is this Bhangi European?” 
 “Your honor, he is our ‘Padri,’ our mission- 
 ary.” “Was he a Bhangi in his own land?” 
 “No, your honor, he was at least a swine 
 herd” (the caste just higher). Both ques- 
 tions and answers reveal the utter inability 
 of either Hindu or Christian to understand 
 our position or our motives. If the Chris- 
 tian had said, “Oh no, he was a great sahib 
 in his own land, ” aside from its being a 
 solace to wounded pride, it would have re- 
 vealed the fact that he knew we were down 
 with him to lift him up. 
 
 The Indian minister, by reason of his 
 greater susceptibility and because of the 
 infinitely more brutal treatment he has to 
 endure, is the real sufferer. Many of our 
 very good men could not stand it, and were 
 soon found to be seeking more congenial 
 employment elsewhere. Only an occasional 
 saint of high caste origin has really become 
 a Bhangis to the Bhangis. 
 
 THE SOLUTION 
 
 The solution is ministers and teachers 
 from among the people themselves. But an 
 adequate village school system in such a 
 work must precede an adequate ministry 
 and teaching staff. Of the Christians in 
 these villages, scarcely one could read till 
 Christianity gave them their chance. Even 
 so they do not show much eagerness, and 
 most of them doubt their ability till we con- 
 vince them that they can learn. 
 
 We have had schools from the first, but 
 until recently scarcely one had succeeded. 
 Teachers have complained that the pupils 
 would not attend, and pupils have com- 
 plained that the teachers did not teach. 
 Causes for failure may be summed up in 
 
 6 
 
three sentences: First, little desire on the 
 part of teachers for their disreputable work; 
 second, little interest on the part of pupils 
 and parents; and third, opposition on the 
 part of caste people, to outcastes learning to 
 read, such opposition resulting in aggra- 
 vated cases, in head-breaking affairs. The 
 dilemma, briefly stated, was precisely this: 
 We could have no schools without teachers 
 from among the people themselves, and we 
 could not make teachers without schools. 
 It was a desperate situation, and it was by 
 inspiration that we found a way out. Sta- 
 tion after station began to start little train- 
 ing schools into which a dozen or more 
 bright young leaders were brought. They 
 were preferably married men. They were 
 paid a stipend of about $2 a month, Upon 
 the completion of a four years’ course in 
 the Bible and in reading, writing and 
 arithmetic, and a short course in theology, 
 they were turned back into the work of 
 preacher-teachers, and a useful lot of men 
 they have proved themselves to be. 
 
 These training schools have been con- 
 solidated into one school. The best of 
 these preacher-teachers we are sending on 
 to our Theological Seminary at Saharanpur, 
 where, after a two years’ course, they are 
 returned to us with village-pastor certifi- 
 cates. These village-pastors and preacher- 
 teachers are gradually solving our greatest 
 difficulty. Natural gifts and downright 
 earnestness sometimes make up for lack of 
 eatly opportunity. Among these village 
 pastors is an occasional man who compares 
 favorably in point of ability with our higher 
 grade Seminary graduates. Such men are 
 receiving ordination and are being installed 
 as pastors. Others, upon receiving calls 
 from village churches or groups of churches, 
 are receiving a temporary license which, 
 with us, makes them vice- moderators of 
 their church sessions under the missionary, 
 and gives them the right to solemnize mar- 
 
 7 
 
riages and to administer the sacraments 
 only, however, so long as they remain con- 
 nected with the church or group of churches 
 calling them. This license, however, does 
 not give them a standing in Presbytery. 
 Thus all the needs of our village churches 
 are being met, at least in so far as men of 
 this low grade can do it; and, at the same 
 time, we are not ordaining numbers of men 
 who in years to come would be out of place 
 in our Presbyteries, and who are not likely 
 to continue many years really acceptable 
 among the churches. Moreover, men of far 
 better training will be required, if we are 
 to expect continued progress in our village 
 community life. 
 
 MAKING THE SCHOOLS BETTER 
 
 Among these village Christians there are 
 at a low estimate eight or nine thousand 
 children of school age. We need to make 
 our present schools better, and as soon as 
 possible to open schools for the remaining 
 seven-eighths of our village Christian chii- 
 dren. Then, as children outgrow the village 
 schools, we should have more advanced 
 schools in convenient centers for them to 
 graduate into, thus leading right on up to 
 our station high schools, and our high 
 schools should be turning the choicest and 
 best, literally by the hundred, into our 
 Theological Seminary. Such a program is 
 not one bit too ambitious. For years to 
 come we will need every good man we can 
 lay hands on for this growing Christian 
 community, and even if we should some day 
 catch up with the needs of our Christian 
 community, there is always waiting for us 
 the other millions, for whom we, as a Mis- 
 sion, are responsible. Even an army of 
 evangelists would not much more than 
 touch the fringe of these multitudes in this 
 generation. 
 
COMING EN MASSE 
 
 At the start we had no idea of this work 
 becoming a mass movement. But we soon 
 discovered that the people wouid come en 
 masse or not at all. They have been drawn 
 in upon themselves by a harsh and unsym- 
 pathetic outside world till the brotherhood 
 has become a sacred thing. They come to 
 us in large numbers, and if they leave us 
 at any time, they will leave in the same way. 
 The old brotherhood will in time give place 
 to a really Christian brotherhood, but it 
 will be even then a brotherhood knitting 
 them very closely together. 
 
 All relinquishing of ancient rites and 
 practices and acceptance of Christian rites 
 has been the product of brotherhood coun- 
 cils. The minister or missionary who has 
 not found a way of influencing or leading 
 them en masse will not get very far with 
 them, 
 
 After they have become Christians, the 
 first struggie with them has usually been to 
 get the women to attend services with the 
 men. This can be accomplished, but only 
 through an organization in which the lead- 
 ing men or “CHAUDHRIES” representing 
 the people are won over to our side. 
 
 THE KEY TO THE SITUATION 
 
 It is pretty generally accepted among 
 mass movement workers that the Chaud- 
 hries are the key to nearly every situa- 
 tion. We, being Presbyterians, call them 
 “KASIS,” or Elders; and the organization 
 of these Elders in a given group we call 
 the Session. Whether one name be used 
 or the other, it is the same thing. It is 
 local church government by means of Rul- 
 ing Elders. 
 
 In earlier days our Presbyteries were 
 doubtful about the outcome of this work. 
 The attitude was such that it was found im- 
 
 g 
 
practicable to organize churches or to ad- 
 mit the people to the communion. It was 
 an anomalous condition of things. Thou- 
 sands had been admitted to the sacrament 
 of baptism who had been denied participa- 
 tion in the Lord’s Supper. For years there 
 appeared no remedy. 
 
 Other defects arising out of this attitude 
 of Presbyteries were remedied in the Chris- 
 tian Endeavor organization. It was dis- 
 covered that the committee phase of Chris- 
 tian Endeavor was capable of surprising de- 
 velopments. Soon there began to be com- 
 mittees of leading men who perfcrmed 
 practically the function of Ruling Elders. A 
 standing committee of Presbytery was ap- 
 pointed with power. They made a circuit 
 of the Presbytery and received into the 
 communion such believers as could pass 
 creditable examinations in Christian knowl- 
 edge, but the Christian Endeavor Elder was 
 not recognized. However, bands of be- 
 lievers, who had satisfied the committee as 
 to their religious knowledge, were organized 
 into local groups without Elders, known as 
 imperfectly organized churches. But local 
 government, through leading men, was 
 here to stay. Many of these leading men 
 were not even church members, but they 
 were needed just to hold things together. 
 
 In the station with which the writer is 
 most familiar, these men are initiated into 
 the office of “NAIB,” or sub-ruling Elder, 
 by an appropriate ceremony not amounting 
 to ordination. And, so far as possible, regu- 
 lar session meetings are being held. 
 
 THE OUTLOOK 
 
 This village work has never more than 
 nominally become linked up with the Pres- 
 bytery. The churches know their mission- 
 ary and they know their pastors, but their 
 notion of the Presbytery and their proper 
 
 10 
 
relation to it is vague. The Presbytery, 
 moreover, has not adapted itself in the least 
 to village needs. One might say, without 
 fear of exaggeration, that though sub- 
 merged in this large village community, the 
 Presbytery as such is scarcely conscious of 
 it. There are reasons for this which I must 
 not take time to more than sum up in two 
 or three brief sentences, to wit, that though 
 the Presbytery is overwhelmingly Indian in 
 membership, yet it is essentially American. 
 The ministers have grown familiar with its 
 business routine. They know its forms and 
 love them and are loath to change. 
 
 There was an effort recently to split this 
 Presbytery up into three smaller Pres- 
 byteries, but that failed. Another project 
 was to have the village workers in each dis- 
 trict and the village elders set apart as a 
 Commission to deal with all matters re- 
 lating to the village work of that district 
 and to report annually to Presbytery for 
 review. Should this succeed, our aim in 
 this district is to organize the Commission 
 precisely as a Presbytery; to call it a Pres- 
 bytery and to think of it ourselves as a 
 Presbytery, with the confidence that when 
 it has served its apprenticeship as a Com- 
 mission it will come into its own and be 
 set apart as a Presbytery. Meanwhile, it, 
 too, will be doing its work about as well 
 as a real Presbytery would do it. 
 
 There is still another rather important 
 item for consideration which, however, has 
 not found its place in the scheme of this 
 article. When we organized these bands 
 of believers or churches, we tried to or- 
 ganize at convenient centers, geographically. 
 This is found now to have been a mistake. 
 In almost every instance it has done 
 violence to the old brotherhood boundaries, 
 Sometimes it has broken the old brother- 
 hood into five or six parts so that no one 
 church has separate liberty of action. We 
 
 Il 
 
are now regrouping, so as to make the 
 churches coincide with brotherhood lines. 
 In a large “JAMAAT” several churches are 
 subject to a single session covering its en- 
 tire territory. In a few instances we have 
 merged smaller churches. In one district 
 eight such churches. were merged and were 
 struck from the Presbyterial roll. In a 
 few cases it was found that the church 
 was organized with people from two or 
 more Jamaats. Of course, that had to be 
 remedied, and was easily done. 
 
 Preaching the Gospel has all along taken 
 first place in our thought and effort. We 
 have firmly believed in the power and ef- 
 ficiency of the Gospel to save and lift these 
 people, and we have not believed in much 
 else. Yet it is equally true that if these 
 other things pertaining to life and or- 
 ganization had not been studiously met, the 
 Gospel message might never have impinged 
 upon their needy and helpless lives. 
 
 September, 1918. 
 
 ForRM NO, 2623