Why teach about Vellore Diocese in RE?

Teaching about a faith from one cultural viewpoint can limit an understanding of that faith and the richness of its beliefs and heritage.  In primary schools, in particular, pupils usually explore the local church – normally the Church of England parish church – and may be very surprised to hear that, even in Britain, a significant number of Christians do not come from white, Western backgrounds.  Concentrating on the half empty pews and ageing congregations of many European churches does not help to convey the fact that Christianity is the faith of one third of the population of the world (two billion people) and is still growing rapidly.  It is estimated that in 1900 about 70% of the Christians in the world were European – now the number is less than 30%.  By looking at an area of the world where the faith is vibrant and growing, pupils become aware of the international dimension of Christianity, but also may be given the opportunity to assess its teachings and relevance for themselves (AT2).

So why look at the Diocese of Vellore and the Church of South India?  You could, of course, look at Christianity in any area of the world - and if your school or parish community has active links with any other Church it is important that you exploit these to the full!  The reason that it is Vellore which figures on these web pages is because of the link which has existed between Cambridgeshire and this Diocese since the mid-1990s.  The link is an ecumenical one through the Cambridgeshire Ecumenical Council, so technically all Christians in Cambridgeshire (and the Anglican churches in West Norfolk which fall within the Diocese of Ely) are in partnership with Vellore.  In real terms this means that there are people here in Cambridgeshire who will be able to share with pupils their experiences of visiting Vellore, as well as the opportunity to meet with occasional visitors from India. 

Unfortunately, we are not currently able to promote school to school links – this is due primarily to the organisational structures in India.

Here are some ideas which could be used to introduce material on Vellore Diocese into your RE schemes:

The Person of Jesus

Lately several excellent resources have been produced which explore how differently Jesus is portrayed across the globe in a wide variety of cultures.  Interestingly all the representations of Jesus seen around the churches of Vellore Diocese show him as white European!  However, there is one distinctive Tamil image of “Jesus and the penitent murderer” which can be explored – follow the link for a photograph and related information.

Reading the Bible

Talk together about your most precious possession and use / refer to the well known story of “Mary Jones and her Bible” to remind people how for Christians their most precious possession is the Bible because through it God “speaks” to them – but they need to be able to read it in a language they understand! (See www.biblesociety.org if you wish to follow up this aspect.) What other languages are represented in your class ( spoken by pupils or teachers, or taught)?   Look at a short passage of your choice in English and then hear it in some of these languages you know (www.biblegateway.com or www.bibleserver.com ).See it also in Tamil (the main language of the Diocese of Vellore) and use the notes pages of this site to find out about the use of the Bible in the Indian churches.  Talk together about how children in the villages may not be educated beyond Y5, and do hardly any reading after they leave school – if this was you how would you remember / learn about the Bible (especially if you could not afford to buy one)?

Is worship different?

In a sense the answer to this question is “no” because most Christian worship involves hearing the Bible and its teaching, singing worship songs and  prayer, as well as (possibly) the sharing of bread and wine.  What might amaze pupils who attended Christian worship in India would be the sheer vibrancy and joy of the worship as well as the size of the congregations and the numbers of young people present.  One particular feature of worship which may take children by surprise is the way in which Christians use dance.  You will see several photographs of dance on this site, and in each case the dancers are dancing to popular Christian songs – they might do this in the traditional Indian style or in a Bollywood rendition – you will be able to guess what  style they are using by the way they are dressed.  If possible look at some film of Indian dance (a Bollywood blockbuster will do the trick!) and understand how e.g. the hand gestures are particularly important for conveying the message of the dance.  Take the opportunity to set a popular Christian song which you regularly use in assembly to dance (“Lord of the Dance”?) – remember to talk about how the song explores the Christian message and how this would be best conveyed in movement.  Worship music from other cultures can also be downloaded 0or bought from www.disciplethenations.org/index64 for this exercise (although unfortunately not in Tamil)..

Celebrations in common – Christian festivals

Schools often like to look abroad at the time of Christian festivals to find multicultural materials to which children can relate.  You will find quite a lot of material on this website relating particularly to Christmas and Easter- however, it is important that as you compare symbolism and practices across the world you do not lose sight of the beliefs and story these enshrine.

What do Christians do?

Often it is difficult to find people from your local Christian community to visit school during the teaching day, but on these pages you will be able to find out about the different roles that people play within the Indian Church.  What kind of commitment is expected from believers?

Depending on the age of your pupils, you can explore the way in which Christian dalits are treated (a) because they are Christians and (b) because they are dalits.  This gives you the opportunity to discuss whether your pupils also would be prepared to stand up for their own beliefs if it meant suffering or being deprived.  The materials on the suffering of Christian dalits can be put alongside the “Self and Community”  and “Natural World” sections which shows how the Church supports all poor, not just Christians…. now is that fair……. or is that what Christians should do to follow Jesus’ teaching?   

Avoid stereotyping which suggests that poor Christians live in India and rich Christians in England should be giving them money.  Christians throughout the world value and work for the poor in accordance with Biblical teaching – and relative poverty and wealth is found in every society in the world!  Use this as an opportunity to discuss what YOU should be doing e.g. use the Global Citizenship resources at www.christian-aid.org.uk or consider becoming a Fair Trade School.