AN URGENT APPEAL FOR TV AND INTERNET OUTREACH TO INDIA P G Vargis is an Indian missions statesman and leader of a one of the largest and most successful church-planting ministries in India. He is responding to the article by Vishal Mangalwadi which we printed last month, and is underlining the importantance of both the Web and video/TV for outreach in India. "You must read this article Bro Vishal Mangalwadi has written.* I always believe that we must outrun the Indian population and to do this we must depend on the media. A. The missionaries came taught the Indians to read and write. Bit it was the communists from Russia who gave them materials to read - at very very nominal price. I used to buy their colourful magazines to wrap my schoolbooks because it was cheaper than wrapping paper. As I did it - I read them too. I purchased their books in bulk - which was cheaper than the price of new testaments and kept in my home library. B. Then the movies took the nation. Do you know that India produce more movies than the Holy wood? Do you know that Kerala, the tiny state in southern part produce one movie every other day. But where are the Christian movies - other than two Jesus movies - one Indian and one by Campus Crusade? C. Now the people are after - FIRSTLY - MOVIES ON TV. I know that Christian movies are expensive. India has over 20 main languages. I showed a video presentation of Rev John Osteen, Houston TX, on Good Friday on National TV channel DD2 in English. We received over two hundred thousand letters from all over India. Now Indian TVs are open for religious shows if some one is willing to pay the cost. Those who are interested for unchurched people should come forward and sponsor good TV shows like Cross and Switchblade, Prodigal Son, Freedom from Fury etc. 2. There are tens of small cable TV operators in every city. They are looking for good video shows and they are willing to show it free (when they have nothing else to show) or for a small payment on other days. I wish India would have three or ten ministries for TV shows and also videotapes. SECONDLY - I wish there will be several web pages for unchurched Hindus. (a) A daily morning devotion written by a person who can communicate to the Hindus has high potential. (b) Question answered. Some one like Billy Graham or Ravi Zechariahs or Vishal Mangalwadi etc will be able to penetrate their hearts. I normal Christian message cannot penetrate the heart of a Hindu. Let there be web pages. Then give small ads in the Indian newspapers - so that Indians will open them. Let me explain: Church of Christ, USA give ad in all English Indian news papers FREE BIBLE COURSE FROM USA - and each advertisement brings thousands of letters. They forward all these letters to their Indian office. Because young people in India will go for anything from USA. TV shows and Internets are for India. Let us reach the unchurched Hindus through them. Who will do it? Please pass this to others who will think about this, or do something about it. Know any one who has a Video production or video ministry? Forward this to them please. P G VARGIS July 2000 * Vishal Mangalwadi's article is added below. It also appeared in the August issue of Web Evangelism Bulletin at http://www.web-evangelism.com/bull0800.txt WEB OUTREACH FOR INDIA Vishal Mangalwadi is a noted Indian writer and author. He has written a number of books, including 'The World of Gurus', 'In Search of Self: Beyond the New Age', 'Corruption vs. True Spirituality' (with Francis Schaeffer) and 'Dear Rajan: Letters to a New Believer'. He is currently working on a seven-hour TV documentary 'The book of the Millennium' - a study of the Bible's impact on the second millennium. He has an evangelistic page for Hindus and hopes to build others soon. Some of his writings are on available online (do a search on http://www.web-evangelism.com/search.html for his name). He is a contributing editor for the International Indian. THE FOURTH REVOLUTION AND THE GOSPEL IN INDIA by Vishal Mangalwadi July 2000 Four structural revolutions in the means of communication have shaped human history more decisively than almost any other human achievement. The first was writing. (Our ability to speak, although more basic than writing, is excluded since it is not "our achievement" but the Creator's gift to us.) Writing enables us to develop uniquely. Since, unlike other animals, through writing we can learn not merely from our contemporaries but also from people who lived thousands of years before us, or thousands of miles away from us. The Jews used writing effectively. That is why we have the Bible. They changed the world because they recorded their historical experiences with God. The second revolution was printing. It was a revolution similar to turning conversation into oratory or public speaking. Printing turned writing into a method of mass communication. The Protestant Reformation used printing effectively that is why the Bible became the book of the Millennium, shaping the best features of the second millennium AD. The third was the audio-visual revolution of communication through radio, tapes, films and television. Unfortunately the evangelical movement decided that Hollywood was of the devil. It was okay to evangelize prostitutes, but Hollywood was untouchable. Consequently the Church remained on the periphery of audio-visual revolution and lost the 20th century. The fourth revolution is taking place right now. This is the Internet and it is greater than all the previous revolutions. Internet is becoming the main postal system, telephone, newspaper, magazine, research library, entertainment, shopping mall, conference center, advertising medium, school, college, university et cetera, et cetera. For a number of historical reasons India has become a key player in this revolution. But where is the Indian Church? In 1998 the Lutheran Seminary in St Paul (Minnesota) sponsored an International Conference for World Evangelization. I was invited to participate in the India track. Everyday, for four days I argued that at this moment the use of Internet was the biggest need for the Indian Church. For four days other track members continuously ridiculed me: "We don't have drinking water and electricity in our villages," some argued, "therefore, aren't you ashamed of dreaming of the Internet?" "The Internet is not for India, it is an elitist media," argued some eminent India scholars present in our track. The issue, I believed, was crucial enough for me to persist in making a fool of myself. It was clear that it was only a matter of time when the Internet will be the medium for the scholar as well as the illiterate - fusing phone, radio, cassette player, TV and VCR all into one. For the first time in history, it has now become technologically possible to fill the earth "with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea". Strangely, much after the Conference my defense came from the Chief Minister of Rajasthan who invited an illiterate woman to inaugurate the new era in his state on the occasion of President Clinton's visit earlier this year. In backward states such as Rajasthan and MP, milk and vegetables are now being sold over the Internet - but not the Gospel. Unfortunately, the leadership of the Indian Church is far too preoccupied with its current projects and problems to be able to think and plan strategically. Therefore, the initiative for the effective and creative use of the Internet may need to come from the non-resident Indians. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Vishal Mangalwadi's article prompted other comments; Writes Jim: "I agree that in order to reach all of India and ultimately all of Asia the Internet and telecommunications must play a significant role. In my last trip to India in April I had the opportunity to make 17 TV broadcasts that are being televised weekly in the Tamil Nadu area. Presently, I have been told that there have been thousands of responses weekly and to date over 4,000 conversions, to God be all the glory. All people are followed up with Gospel's of John's and a monthly publication plus the opportunity to enroll in a mailbox Bible study. Please pray for a new ministry we are launching called Vision2020Asia. We are open and eager for all suggestions. STUDENT INITIATIVE FOR INDIA Daniel is a student in India involved in the Christian student organization IFES. He is involved in developing an evangelistic site for India: "The net wave seems to be sweeping across the Indian subcontinent ever since the new Internet Service Providers Policy was announced in 1998. The subscriber base of internet users in India is increasing exponentially and according to an DC [Survey],the subscriber base is expected to cross the 1-million mark by the end of this year and 7.5 million mark by the end of 2003. About 4.3 million Indian households have had first hand experience with the Internet. According to a study conducted by Indian Market Research Bureau [IMRB] on the current and future business opportunities on the net, these households represent three-fourths of the 5.7 million households in the top 16 cities of the country. Of these, 1.2 million have used the Net in the past three months and 126,000 have a connection at home, which is nearly one-fourth of the base of PC-owning households in India. On the user pattern, the study points out that the usage or experience has not been constrained by existing connections or available hardware to access connections. In all 97 percent have used the Net 'out of home', largely at school, college, workplace or cybercafe. In terms of the hierarchy of purchase, the PC is ranked 12th in importance, after other durables such as cars and air conditioners. Within this context we are developing evangelistic strategies and we need your prayers. We are in a consultative stage as a movement." Related pages: Video CD - a cheap and cheerful format for distributing video to Asia and the 10-40 window. This page has a number of other links relating to video and the media: http://www.web-evangelism.com/resources/videocd.php Web Evangelism Guide http://www.web-evangelism.com These appeals by Indian leaders appeared in the Web Evangelism Bulletin - a monthly email newsletter. To subscribe, send a blank email to: web-evangelism-subscribe@lists.gospelcom.net or visit http://www.web-evangelism.com/web.html OTHER RESOURCES FOR INDIA AND ASIA See Asia/Indian-related video resources from The World Christian Video Directory http://www.gospelvideos.com