The Nagaland region of India is becoming a powerhouse of cross-cultural missions in Central Asia, reports Christianity Today (February).
India’s northeastern state on the border of Burma had a history of tribal warfare and headhunting, but today some 60 percent of Nagaland’s population is Baptist. The state is rapidly changing from a mission field to a sender of missionaries to the largely non-Christian areas of Bangladesh, Myanmar, Butan, Nepal, and western China.
Although years of low level conflict over the cause of independence from India has complicated Christian growth and mission, a tenuous cease-fire has permitted more church activity. Manpreet Singh writes that Naga Christians have become accomplished church planters and builders of schools and seminaries. Its churches are self-supporting, and the state is growing in its role of regional resource training, drawing Asians to its eight theological colleges.
(Christianity Today, 465 Gundersen Dr., Carol Stream, IL 60188)