Must Insiders Be Churchless? Exploring Insiders’ Models of ‘Church

Discussions regarding “insider movements” have raised important issues regarding the nature of the Christian faith and its relationship to religious identity. One issue that has hovered in the background involves the question of “church.” Is church an optional or secondary concern for those who follow Jesus inside their Muslim, Hindu, or other socio-religious community? What would a biblical theology of church suggest in this regard?  In this paper, I explore some of the underlying issues raised by such questions through the lived experience of several groups in North India that are seeking to worship and follow Jesus within their Hindu and Sikh communities. These groups, as I will show, believe that it is possible for them to be a church, in a biblical sense, and stay within (or closely related to) their Hindu and Sikh communities. They do this, I argue, by defining the church as a social community and by highlighting people’s ability to negotiate multiple identities.