This book provides a socio-historical study of non-church Christian movements in Chennai, India. It examines the historical background of such movements in three phases and explores the position of followers of Christ outside the organized church. It finds that relationships are important for becoming followers of Christ, though outsiders have few opportunities for corporate faith practices. The book also analyzes perceptions of and prospects for interaction between insiders and outsiders, finding mission leaders sympathetic but some fundamental pastors negative. It argues non-church movements are significant and need acknowledgment from the church.

1. Jeyaraj Dasan. Followers of Christ Outside the Church in Chennai, India: A Socio-Historical Study of
a Non-Church Movement. Hyderabad: Keeans, 2013. Pp.1-505.
This is a fascinating book written by a holistic mission minded research scholar through the eyes of the
“outsider Christians”. As the title of the book aptly suggests, it is about the feeling of being ‘outside’
or ‘excluded’ can be traumatic. However, there remains a legitimate question of ‘who is outside’ or
‘who is excluded’. The framework of qualification is not clearly spelt out. Does membership in a
local, denominational and organized church qualifies an individual to be insider or included? The
author makes an attempt to explore the status of these two groups (insiders and outsiders) of followers
of Christ and seeks to discover some Missiological praxis.
The book is broadly divided into three major studies about the insiders and outsiders: the first part
deals with the Historical background of the outsider movement. Dasan Jeyaraj critical examines the
history of the outsider movement and traced it in three different phases in this section. The first
section lists the three local movements; the second section traces the renaissance leaders who came
closer to Christ but remained critical of the church and the third section studies the seven theologians
who entered the church but subsequently moved towards the periphery of the church.
The second part of the book is dealing with the position of the followers of Jesus Christ in the non-
church movement. For Dasan Jeyaraj, ‘relationship’ is the quintessential factor and it facilitates the
process of one becoming a follower of Christ. The picture of the person of Jesus Christ among them is
far more encouraging than one would have anticipated. However, in the practice of faith according to
Dasan Jeyaraj, the outsiders have very little opportunity for corporate dimension for practice. They
are found in a precarious condition and relationship with Christian community is neither sustained nor
sustainable. But there is no question of accommodating Jesus Christ with other gods.
In the third part of the book, Dasan Jeyaraj attempts to explore The Perception and the Prospects of
interaction between the ‘insiders and outsiders’. For Dasan Jeyaraj, The mission leaders and pastors of
ecumenical background appear to have a sympathetic and accommodating attitude; in contrast
fundamental and Pentecostal pastors and first generation Christians have very negative outlook about
followers of Christ outside the church. Dasan Jeyarah here argues that, Non-church movement is a
strong and significant movement. It is real and needs to be seriously reckoned with by those who are

2. active inside the church. For Dasan Jeyaraj, the church assumes that Christ is visibly manifest in the
rite of baptism, in church membership, in the administration of Holy Communion, in the hierarchy of
the church and through its service. However, He also manifests himself outside the organized church
among his unbaptized followers.
Dasan Jeyaraj ends his book with a plea saying, the church should not restrict Christ through its
theological formulations, traditions and sacraments. There need not be any criticism or condemning
attitude. There is only one identity and that is ‘we are one in Christ’. We are all in the same path as
‘pilgrims, sojourners and strangers’ towards the kingdom of God. Let us accept and assist one another.
The book is very much contemporary in a context like India. So, theological institutes and missionary
training institutes should take this issue seriously. They have a role to play. They are the trainers of
the future generation of pastors and missionaries. There should be a course in every seminary to deal
with the issues faced by the outsiders. There are theological, historical, sociological and religious
issues and simple answers are simply not available. We all accept that there is a need for
indigenization and contextualization. While some have taken pluralistic approach in accommodating
the practices without any question, most of the churches are not even willing to experiment. Indian
church is not ready for it. What we have experimented thus far, is very little. We have almost come to
the stage that it is quiet impossible to change the historical churches. It is to do with western control,
Indian traditionalistic thinking and denominational barriers. At least we should attempt changes in the
newly emerging mission fields. There is a great possibility in the emerging church movement and this
must be experimented.
For those of us who are interested in holistic mission in this modernization and secular world like
India and looking for a changes in the newly emerging mission field, this is a must read book. A
highly resourceful at the same time!
Suantak D George.