Dr Asangba Tzüdir
The whole of Christendom invoke God’s Kingdom in pronouncing the Lord’s Prayer and this is the melting point of the believers of Christ in the quest for building God’s kingdom. The challenging question in this strain is building God’s kingdom within His standard and of coming together of communities as believers without any ‘borders.’
Currently, Naga society is marred by division and fragmentation of all sorts on various sinister lines, which has more than threatened the harmony and well-being of the society. The situation today has become more compelling that the Church should take a more pro-active role beyond invoking God’s Kingdom through the Lord’s Prayer. Or else, the Church will become a meaningless entity and the believer’s merely illusory beings if it does not address the issue that are crippling the ‘religio-moral’ fabric of our society. That, the Church today need to become a morally responsible Church in forging unity and harmony among the Churches and in so doing translate it among the various Naga tribes.
One is tempted to invoke the many Naga Churches today having its own tribe Churches and also the various denominational Churches besides other religious sects. The most critical aspect for the Naga Churches is to find ways for the Churches to come together. It is thereby desirous of the Church to work on building God’s kingdom within His standard keeping in mind that a reinterpretation and re-orientation of the whole notion of a Church especially based on the needs of the present situation where peace and harmony is left wanting.
Looking at the functioning of the present Naga Churches, it finds itself scheduled within the local activities running through the calendar year. Being enmeshed in its routine activities makes it more of a statistical Church than one that is driven by purpose and vision within the folds of larger communitarian values. This has largely made things difficult for the Churches to come together.
Often it is important to reflect on the Church as one that is built on the ideals of promoting peace and unity and thereby harmony but one question that finds reverberating back is whether the Church is really promoting peace and unity. The Churches today finds itself critiqued of being inclined towards material provincialism and subsequent loss of trust. This has happened because the Church has somehow failed to clearly envision the objectives and the need to evolve in tune with the pressing demands of the societal needs beyond petty Church politics.
Religious teachings are precious resources, the content of which should be productively engaged so that these resources are employed to generate values of love, peace, unity, harmony and togetherness in building a cohesive society. On another level, a reinterpretation and reorientation of the objectives of the Church is a much needed spectrum. As a case in point, the understanding of ‘mission’ is in dire need of a paradigm shift, that ‘loving ones neighbour’ still holds much primacy and concern over mission fields outside of the Church.
At this crucial juncture various missions based on ‘loving ones neighbour’ will definitely go a long way in bringing the Churches together and NBCC has a big role to play in bringing the Churches together albeit the ‘tribe’ fabric. Imagine NBCC organising a Nagaland Baptist Church Council Olympics and imagine a football match between youth directors XI and Pastors XI etc... and suddenly the notion of ‘tribes’ evaporates giving way to brothers and sisters in Christ. God would surely want to have His kingdom build upon brotherhood and sisterhood rather than on the lines of tribes. To this end, NBCC and the Churches in it need to collectively come up with innovative missions, which, with sustained efforts, will truly generate values that will bring peace and harmony among Nagas.
(Dr. Asangba Tzüdir is Editor of Heritage Publishing House. He contributes a weekly guest editorial to the Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
