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Pastor Hopes To Build Bridges in NJ

Shubada Deshpande

This Christmas, the Reverend Christopher Premdasa and his wife Padmalatha Bandi are going to miss their three children. For this is the first time the family has been separated. The children are in Andhra Pradesh and the Reverend is on a yearlong assignment at the Presbyterian Church of Iselin in New Jersey.

"It's a big privilege to the church to have a visiting minister from another country," he says. The Iselin Church is one of only three in the country selected to participate in the missionary program.

But Reverend Premdasa's mission goes far beyond church activities.

In fact, he was invited by the Church of Iselin to spend a year with its members here and help connect the congregation with the growing Indian population.

In recent years, there have been a number of conflicts between Indians and the predominantly white Americans. The Indians had to go to court, for instance, to hold the Navratri celebrations.

"Relationships had soured mainly over civic issues," he says.

"My role is to negotiate a stand between the communities. There is no reason why Indians living here should not interact more closely with the American community," the pastor says.

There has been tension between the growing Indian business community and long-time residents of the area over issues like garbage, traffic and street parking.

With the church offering 150 parking spots on its property and a recently-constructed paid parking lot adjacent to it, the problem has eased to a great extent.

With initiative from Indian community leaders and Mayor James McGreevey of Woodbridge township, the area has been put under the special improvement board.

The First Presbyterian Church of Iselin has 230 members including Hispanics, African Americans, Japanese, Guyanese and Indian Americans, who have increased from 12 to the current 20 members.

Premadasa has been working on getting Indian members interested in church activities and encouraging new members.

Thirteen representatives from Presbyterian churches across the United States met at St Louis, Missouri earlier this month.

"We discussed ways in which we could make the church into a more multi-cultural experience. There are several states that have large numbers of immigrants and so it is the need of the hour," says Premdasa, who was the only Indian member on the board.

Since his arrival the Reverend has been busy not only with the ironing of community relations but also encouraging Indian members of the church to take an active role. He's quick to emphasize that he is not here to convert people but to bridge the culture gap.

Every month the church organizes lectures. Earlier this year he had given lectures on the diverse religions of India.

"I have spoken to them about our caste system, yes, even about poverty," he says. "India is a poor country but there is this kind of sharing and community relations that make us survivors."

"It's a complex concept for those living in western society, but I am trying."

The concept of bhakti has also to be explained to the Americans, he says.

"The Indian Christian church experience is very different from the experience of American members," he continues. "Even though we are Christians, most of us come from a Hindu background. So we have this special reverence or bhakti towards religion that makes us different. The church experience in the US is concentrated more on social aspects. Social activities take precedence here while in India we tend to concentrate on the spiritual aspect. The Indians who come to church here tend to be very devoted and regular with their attendance."

The pastor of the church, Dr Cynthia Ordway, has been very encouraging about diversity in this church, he says.

"The momentum is very good," she says. "People here have been able to blend very well. This will encourage Americans to learn about their neighbors of the world.

"We want different ethnic groups to share their experiences with us."

The Reverend Premadasa has occasionally "Indianized" the church with the blessings of Ordway.

"When the Indian members thought of presenting the nativity scene in the traditional Indian Christian style, she encouraged the members of both the communities to participate. The play was a huge success. We had an American girl dressed in a sari for the role of Mother Mary,'' he says.

"The Indian members are seeing for themselves how welcome they are at this church and how there is no discrimination," he continues. "At our St Louis meeting we recognized the fact that the time has come to invite immigrants, otherwise they will not go to any church at all.''

As far as Indian members go, Premadasa has had to contend with the very transient nature of their jobs. Most members have jobs in the software industry and they have to go where their clients need them.

Despite that, the Iselin Church has 20 members who have been attending the services regularly for over a year now.

Solomon Thangaraj is a member of the church choir here who feels that it is not only for money that Indians are here but to "also build a life so our actions have to reflect it.

"On the other hand American neighbors also need to be told they have nothing to feel intimidated about as Indians by and large are simple, peace-loving people and though they make a lot of money they are not out to destroy the environment with flashy lifestyles," he says.

"When I tell some of the local residents that many Indians will settle here, I can see that they are not pleased at all. However, many members are now themselves coming forward to break the ice.''

Members like Jayanti Krishnamurthy and Vinod Bolleddu feel welcome at the church and have become regular members. Members get a chance to sing hymns in Telugu and Tamil at this Church. The non-Telugu members write Telugu hymns in Roman script.

Reverend Premdasa on his part has taken the initiative of introducing the concept of home prayers, very popular in Indian churches. "In India, it's common for us to visit a church member's home on request and offer prayers with the family at their residence. We have already had home prayers here at the request of Indian members -- and the Americans too are showing interest."

The church has also planned programs like the legal advise clinic which Indians can take advantage of.

"We have a church member who's an attorney and he is helping Indians with problems over income tax, auto insurance," he says.

"After all the idea is to build a support system in the absence of family and their old community network. The fear of losing jobs and visa status is very high and several members often visit me to discuss these issues. They want somebody to talk to. A friend is not enough because they feel the need for privacy and confidentiality. Nor can the family back home in India truly appreciate the kind of problems faced here."

For the coming year plans are afoot to get more involved in community service. There are initiatives to serve Indian senior citizens. New Jersey has large numbers of them.

"We plan to host classes for them on diet, health, nutrition, an understanding of laws of the state, English language classes and even cultural programs," he says, adding that he expects senior citizens from Edison, Woodbridge, and Colonia to take advantage of this.

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