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 The Car
Nicobar: An Island of Unswerving Spirituality
The island of Car Nicobar in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands is rapidly limping back to normalcy of life after it was devastated by the tsunami waves on 26th December 2004. Many things have changed and many things are still changing but one thing still remains firm and witnessing is the spiritual life of people and their trust in God. Tsunami might have taken their near and dear ones from them and might have left the survivors desperate and traumatized but it has not shaken their Christian faith and subjugation to divine power. Rather their faith in Christ is stronger than ever before. When I visited the island last month after a gap of two years I was marvelled at the pace in which life is being rebuilt and Christ being witnessed!
The youth constitutes a fairly larger section of the society in the whole of island. One of the growing concerns in the island for the youth is that they are limited in their thinking and approach to life. Many of them have not seen the world beyond and are never concerned about the happenings in the mainland and the issues being faced by Christian else where. Therefore, in order to build awareness and to educate them on the mission of the church a series of programmes were organized by Church of North India from 24th to 30th March 2009 which was attended not only by the youth but also by women, pastors, lay leaders of pastorates and facilitators of Community Study
Centres.
On 25th March 2009, a youth training programme was organized at the Church of Resurrection, Sawai which was attended by nearly 215 youth from Teetop village, Arong village, Kimious village and Sawai village. Mr. Syras Kumar and Mr. Kasta Dip led the sessions on Mission and Servant Leadership and challenged the delegates to be true Disciples of Christ. They made them understood what is Mission and how Good News can be preached through personal witness and by being living example through different services and outlined the role of youth in transforming community stressing on the need of personality development.
On 26th March 2009, a retreat for pastors was organized at the St. Paul’s Church, Perka where nearly 86 people including pastors, women and lay leaders were gathered from different villages. The programme was facilitated by Mr. Syras Kumar and Mr. Kasta Dip. Facilitating the sessions Mr. Syras taught the pastors the counselling skills as Christian mission and Mr. Kasta Dip challenged the pastors to use young talents in their pastoral ministry which will be a kind of practical training for young people.
On 27th March 2009, a programme for Mothers’ Union was organized at the Church of Holy Cross,
Tamaloo. Nearly 150 women had gathered from different villages. While facilitating the session Mr. Syras Kumar exhorted the participants to build up their homes with Christian values and rear up their children in the knowledge of God. He cited some of the women characters from the Bible and challenged them to imitate them in their family lives. Mr. Kasta Dip also facilitated a session and urged the participants to encourage their children to be actively involved in the mission activities of the church so that they can practice their spiritual learning.
On 28th March, another youth programme was organized at the Church of Epiphany, Tapoiming village. Around 125 youth from
Tapoiming, Chukchucha and Kimiyuka villages were gathered to discuss and analyze the context of mission and need of servant leadership. Mr. Kasta Dip led the participants in a practical talk on understanding leadership and being effective in Christ’s mission through his church. He stressed on developing positive attitude, interpersonal communication skills and morale building to develop one’s leadership
calibre.
On 29th March, another retreat was organized at St. Thomas Cathedral, Mus village for the youth of
Mus, Small Lapathy, Big Lapathy and Kinmai villages along with the facilitators of the Community Study
Centres. Leading a Bible Study, Mr. Kasta Dip challenged the delegates to follow Jesus by living according to his ways not conforming to the standard of the world but be transformed so as to transform others. Stressing on the need of leadership and ownership to carry on the Community Study Centres Mr. Kasta Dip called upon the facilitators and the youth to be mindful of the children who are benefiting from this service of the Church.
And then on 30th March, yet another youth programme was organized at St. Mary Magdelene Church, Malacca where nearly 160 youth from Malacca,
Perka, Tamaloo and Kakana villages were gathered. In an island where not too many students go to colleges and universities because there is no such higher educational institution, Mr. Kasta Dip asserted that education always plays an important role in building nation and promoting justice and equality. He facilitated a session on the importance of education and challenged the delegates to be educated enough to educate others on all social and relational issues. Further, facilitating the leadership development part of the programme Mr. Kasta Dip, challenged the youth to work as a team and make concerted efforts to achieve the goal. Church and society needs young and dynamic leaders with commitment and perseverance to fight the sting of social evils.
Through these programmes a spiritual revival in the lives of churches in brought about. Mr. Apollos Christopher (the Diocesan Secretary), Mr. Martin Luther (Secretary, Tribal Council of Car Nicobar Island), Local Pastors, Village Captains of respective villages and the Disaster Management Team of Church of North India such as Mr. Samuel
Rawat, Ms. Rajani Singh and Ms. Priscilla Tigga were present in all the programmes to encourage the participants.
Besides, evening mass services were also held at villages like Arong,
Kakana, Kinmai and Perka where Mr. Syras Kumar shared from the words of God and counselled people to live a witnessing live for Christ. Messages were focused on preparing the congregation for the reality of death and resurrection of Christ as the lent period was on.
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