Dedicated teams out to attract people to independent churches in Punjab

Tribune News Service

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, February 7

A few years ago, when Pentecostal churches had started proliferating, conversions were limited to lower castes and weaker sections of society in rural and semi-urban areas.

Now, the penetration of the churches can be easily felt even in cities. Various hi-tech methods like telephonic prayer lines, the use of social media for broadcasting ‘prarthana sabhas’ live and use of QR codes for sharing links to people’s accounts are in vogue. Once any call is made or some interest is shown, the trained personnel of the church reach out to them.

New method of duping followers

Sometimes, when we enter the premises to attend a programme, they give us a pouch. All those who get this pouch make sure that they put in some cash to offer while returning, depending on whatever amount they are carrying or are in the capacity of paying. A follower at The Church of Signs and Wonders, Khambra, Jalandhar

Family sold gold for ‘miracle healing’

The last time we could hold ghar wapsi was four months ago when a four-year-old daughter of a Mumbai-based couple passed away in a church in Jalandhar. She had cancer. The family had sold its gold to pay Rs 80,000 to the pastor. They visited the church thrice, but later felt cheated. After her cremation, they returned to their roots. Manoj Nanna, Hind Kranti Dal

Dheeraj Vaid, a banker from Jalandhar, hails from a Brahmin family. He was upset owing to the mental illness of his daughter, now aged 28 years. A few years back, he started taking her to a church at Khambra village for her healing. She has not been cured but Vaid has become a staunch follower of the pastor.

Now, he has even started preaching the Christianity at a Brotherhood Church on Nakodar Road, taking meetings of 200-300 people every Tuesday and Saturday evenings. Getting closely associated with the church, he is also a member of their ‘prachar committee’ and has been going door-to-door to convince people to be a part of their meetings.

Other than the dedicated outreach teams, these churches have a network of professionals, including bouncers, who move with pastors, choir teams that keep playing the music intermittently, dancers, script writers, enactment teams, videographers, editors, social media handlers, etc, who jointly make an effort to leave their influence. The allurement methods, however, remain the same, including a promise of ‘healing’, monetary aid, monthly ration, recordings of testimonies of ‘cured’ people and the technic of removing evil spirits.

Catholic and social activist Tarsem Peter says, “The rush at the new churches has been increasing like the way people start visiting a new mall out of curiosity to see what is in store. The traditional deras on the city’s periphery have in contrast lost their footfall drastically.”

The changed faith and belief of a member or two in the family has also become a cause of dispute in many households. Jaipal Singh of Kalia Colony in Jalandhar manufactures anti-mud flaps for truck tyres. His entire family is Sikh but his elder brother is now a follower of a church at Khojewal village of Jalandhar.

“It was his wife who first got inclined to the church and he followed her. Everyone in our family tried to convince him to return to the faith but the couple does not listen to us,” says Jaipal.

Manoj Nanna of the Hind Kranti Dal, who is engaged in ghar wapsi, is finding it difficult to make people return to their religion. “The last time we could hold ghar wapsi for someone was about four months back when a four-year-old daughter of a Mumbai-based couple passed away in a church in Jalandhar. She had cancer. The family had sold its gold to pay Rs 80,000 to the pastor for her prayers. Believing in the pastor, they visited the church thrice, but later felt cheated. After her cremation, they returned to their roots,” Nanna said.

The system of taking offerings also varies from church to church. A follower at the biggest church of the region - The Church of Signs and Wonders, Khambra village, Jalandhar, said, “Sometimes, when we enter the premises to attend a programme, they give us a pouch. All those who get this pouch make sure that they put in some cash to offer while returning, depending on whatever amount they are carrying or are in the capacity of paying.”

Gurdarshan Singh Dhillon, a historian and author, says, “The spread of superstitions and ideas of miracle healing by the new churches has to be checked. It is the failure on the part of the SGPC not to be able to check these in the Sikhism. The SGPC and the Singh Sabha lack people with commitment and dedication, who can dare to get this stopped. The level of intellect in them is missing as they cannot even pen hard-hitting write-ups against all such evil designs against the religion.”

Pastor Bajinder Singh had been maintaining, “We are not asking people to come to our church. They are coming on their own. At times, we have a gathering of over 1 lakh. Hundreds of people getting cured are giving testimonies in our favour.”

Pastor Ankur Narula, in the programme telecast on Sunday, said, “Other than the followers attending our programme, there are hundreds of people, who are getting cured remotely after participating in our prayers online. They too send us video clips of how they got healthy again.”

Health Minister Balbir Singh said, “We are aware that there is a lot of belief in superstitions in society related to faith healing which is being generated by some babas and saints. But we can act only if there is a specific complaint made to us on the matter.”

Hi-tech methods

Various hi-tech methods like telephonic prayer lines, the use of social media for broadcasting ‘prarthana sabhas’ live and use of QR codes for sharing links to people’s accounts are in vogue. Once any call is made or some interest is shown, trained personnel of the church reach out to them

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