How Christianity Transformed And Revived Konyak Culture
(ANALYSIS) The Konyak are one of 17 Naga tribes located in Nagaland, an Indian state in the far northeast of the country bordering Myanmar. Konyak communities exist on both sides of the border. This is a mountainous and, until recently, remote area that is culturally and historically distinct from the rest of India.
It is also the most thoroughly Baptist region in the world.
Edward and Mary Clark of the Boston-based American Baptist Foreign Mission Society brought Christianity to the area in 1872 after their efforts to convert Hindus and Muslims in neighboring Assam saw little success.
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Their work among the animist Naga, along with that of later American and Naga missionaries, proved more fruitful. The Ao Naga, who live near the plains of Assam, were the first to convert and played a major role in spreading Christianity to more remote areas. Today, nearly all Nagas are Christian, most of them Baptists.
The last American missionaries departed in 1955. The Naga Baptist Church now consists of 21 ethnically defined councils. The Konyak Baptist Mission Center in Mon oversees the administration of Konyak Baptist churches. A retired board member explained that there should be one church in every village. The church is often the largest and most visually striking structure, symbolizing Christian identity in most villages.
The church in Mon, a town of approximately 17,000 people, is the largest Baptist church in Asia. It dwarfs surrounding buildings and can seat 10,000 worshippers.
Enthusiastic Konyak evangelists are active in revivalism and church planting on both sides of the India-Burma border. In Mon and other larger towns, small fellowship churches also serve the daily needs of parishioners.
Many Konyak pastors are trained at Serampore College in Kolkata, founded in 1818 by, among others, William Carey, the first Baptist missionary, or at Clark Theological College in Mokokchung, Nagaland, Eastern Theological College in Jorhat, Assam and other affiliated institutions.
Edward and Mary Clark brought Christianity to the area in 1870s. (Photo courtesy of Pitt Rivers Museum)
Conversion to Christianity
Ao missionaries brought Christianity to the Konyak in the late 1950s. It did not reach villages near the Burma border until the late 1970s. Some elderly people still remember the time before the missionaries arrived.
Konyak people became Baptists for various reasons. Those living near areas where Christianity was well established were often drawn by access to education and healthcare.
Elderly converts told us there were five other important factors. First, seeking allies in disputes with other villages. Second, missionaries taught peace and reconciliation, which ended the inter-village warfare that had been endemic in the region. Third, many Konyak supported the Naga National Council, an ethno-religious nationalist movement seeking to establish an independent Naga nation. It was, and its successors are, Christian nationalist movements. Fourth, the influence of the Anghs (hereditary chiefs). When an Angh converted, the rest of the village often followed.
The fifth factor was purely religious. Missionaries warned that non-believers would burn in hell if they did not accept the Gospels and come to Christ. Traditional Konyak religion did not have a concept of hell. People told us that the idea was so frightening, and the promise of heaven so appealing, that conversion became a rational choice.
The megachurch in Mon is the largest Baptist church in Asia. Photo courtesy of Konyak Baptist Church Mon
Christianity and culture
Missionaries often demanded that Konyak converts abandon aspects of their traditional culture they deemed un-Christian or evil.
Traditional ceremonies were prohibited. Many village men’s houses (morung), which served as cultural and educational centers, were abandoned, and ornaments were burned or discarded in the forest.
Over the last two decades, many traditional symbols and ceremonies have been revived in line with the theological view that cultural practices not in conflict with the gospel should be preserved as part of Christian culture. Many people — including some of the first converts — now say that the missionaries went too far.
Elements of cultural revival include secularized versions of traditional festivals, the Konyak Heritage Complex in Mon — which includes morung typical of those in Konyak villages — and clothing with distinctively Konyak motifs. American cultural symbolism is also present in certain aspects of Konyak Christianity, including Christmas celebrations.
This cultural revival does not make the Konyak less Christian. Rather, it indigenizes the Baptist church.
Mark Woodward is research professor at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University
Lemwang Chuhwanglim is based in India, where he works as a researcher and social activist.