When Chief Apostle Schneider visited Raipur in November 2017, three new Apostles were ordained for India. During a meeting in December, responsibilities were redistributed, and most of the Apostles were given new or extended working areas. Christranjan Nanda is one of them, and his working area continues to stretch across six District Rector Areas (DRA) in Odisha and Chhattisgarh, where he has been active for many years. Following are extracts of a recent interview with him.
Which aspect of your ministerial activity makes you particularly happy?
I have the unique opportunity to work in remote areas where I could mingle with tribals. When I began my ministry, I worked as a school teacher in the day and conducted late night seminars which gave me immense satisfaction. Coming from a teaching background I could implement different teaching techniques in my seminars and help everyone understand our faith. I could experience that being educated is not mandatory as their ability to grasp and live their faith is certainly outstanding, and has helped in consolidating our church in these areas.
When I now look back into my journey as an Apostle for 16 years in the tribal area, I feel contented. My happiest moments are to see the congregations spiritually self-sufficient as they understand deep concepts such as the Service for the Departed, and actively participate in giving thanks and offering. With their simple needs, we can say that they are also materially self-sufficient. Also, In the absence of priests, young girls and boys are conducting prayers to keep the congregations together.
What is it like to travel in your working area?
In the jungles where I work, transportation is sparse and rare. Also, due to regular use of explosives the road conditions are mostly very bad. Most congregations are in a 250 kilometer radius, and can be visited by road in an 8-10 hours journey. Some places do not have such accessibility and here I have to use a motorcycle which takes me about 3 hours to cover about 80 kms. The farthest distance on bike is 300 kms, and takes me two days (with a night halt).
Some congregations are a 25 kms, 6 hours uphill walk to conduct a Divine Service. It takes me around two days and a night to visit two such congregations.
I work in the most challenging areas where we encounter “Naxalites”. These are groups who violently try to protect their jungles from industrialization and political interference. Once as I was returning from a seminar I was apprehended by them and kept as a prisoner for three days. I was led to their main leader who wanted me to use my network to be their informer on police activities, or else face certain death. In spite of the life or death situation, I refused their command. Although I was miraculously released after many rounds of deliberation, many others were killed including two of our ministers. This situation particularly influenced me and confirmed that my Heavenly Father needed me further to teach them the gospel through the New Apostolic Faith.
Please share your experience with our youth in India?
In my working area there are big differences between congregations that have youth and those which do not. Where there are youth, the congregation is strong. I also observed the difference of a family with youth and a family without. In my area, many members are illiterate, and cannot read the catechism etc. But their children, the youth, are educated and are even able to translate from English into the local languages and hold discussions at home. If the youth learn about their faith, they talk about it at home and teach their whole family. I have seen parents getting more involved in church activities because of the influence of their young children, who motivate and teach them, for example about the value of a Divine Service.
As ministers, we need to make friends with the youth, establish personal relationships, and interact with them. We need to create a space for them to interact and get involved. when I conduct a brothers’ meeting in my area, the youth are always invited. sometimes they come, sometimes not – sometimes many, sometimes few. but those who come are interested and then get involved.
For this year, quarterly youth meetings in each District Rector Area (10-15 congregations) are planned. Two days at a time – on a weekend or during holidays – would be a great time for teaching, bonding and fellowship.