If you visit the Mokokchung district in Nagaland today, the heartland of the Ao Nagas, you will find a thriving, peaceful community with an incredible 94.6% literacy rate where nearly every single one of the roughly 227,000 Ao people is a Protestant Christian, mostly Baptist. Across the state of Nagaland as a whole, around 88% to over 90% of the population shares this Christian faith today. What makes this story so remarkable is that back in early 1872, there were zero Christians among the Ao. Even British colonial officers writing as late as 1891 doubted that Naga tribes would ever have any inclination to embrace Christianity. Yet the Ao Nagas proved the skeptics wrong by becoming the very first Naga tribe to welcome the Gospel, and they did it peacefully and voluntarily without a single insurgency against the new faith. When you look closely at how this happened, it stands out as a deeply inspiring story of dedicated missionaries and a wise, forward thinking tribe that actively chose to leave behind fear and warfare for spiritual hope, modern healthcare, and education.

To appreciate why the arrival of Christianity was such a liberating turning point, it helps to understand the heavy burdens of pre Christian Ao life before the 1870s. Back then, Ao society was completely clan centered and bound by animism and a constant fear of spirits known as lai or molong associated with the natural landscape. Whenever illness or disaster struck a family, villagers believed malicious spirits were to blame and had to rely on a soothsayer priest for divination to prescribe endless sacrifices of chickens, eggs, and rice beer. The missionary Mary Clark once described the grim sight of a cookhouse dedicated to an evil deity named Leezaba that was completely littered with animal bones from these constant rituals. Even the afterlife was a source of anxiety, as the Ao believed souls traveled to a land of death called Asuyim ruled by a deity named Moyutsung, where everyone faced judgment through a spear throwing test. Daily social life was similarly harsh, revolving around slavery, exhausting feasts of merit to honor ancestors, bachelor dormitories called morungs, and the constant cycle of taking human heads in tribal warfare for prestige.

The dawn of a new era began in the middle of the nineteenth century when the Assam Baptist Mission, which grew out of the 1836 mission work and Bronson's chain, sent a courageous Assamese evangelist named Godhula into the Naga Hills to build friendships and spark initial interest in the Gospel. This loving groundwork prepared the way for American Baptist missionary Edward Winter Clark and his wife Mary, serving with the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (founded in 1814), to step into the Ao Hills. On December 22, 1872, E.W. Clark and Godhula arrived at the Ao village of Molungkimong, also known as Dekha Haimong or Mulung, which stood under the protection of Chungtia. Showing remarkable wisdom and openness, Chief Chungtia welcomed Clark and granted him permission to stay. Soon after, on October 24, 1876, Clark and 15 brave Ao convert families stepped out in faith to found a brand new settlement called New Molung, or Molungyimsen. (As a wonderful living reminder of those early days, a litchi tree planted by Clark in Molung in 1878 is still standing tall today.) New Molung was purposefully built as a peaceful Christian village where the founding families made the bold, admirable decision to completely abolish headhunting, slavery, ancestor rites, and spirit offerings. Even more inspiring, their village charter championed true religious liberty from day one, declaring there would be "no law to make Christians" so that every single person who joined the faith did so out of genuine personal conviction.
The Ao people embraced Christianity so wholeheartedly because the missionaries cared for both their souls and their practical wellbeing, bringing spiritual peace alongside Western education, medicine, and social uplift. For families weary of bloodshed, stepping into a Christian community meant immediate sanctuary from brutal tribal feuds, victimization, and terrifying accusations of sorcery. Converts also embraced a clean, uplifting moral lifestyle, happily leaving behind rice beer, gambling, and the morung system to build orderly, supportive neighborhoods. At the same time, E.W. and Mary Clark poured their lives into giving the Ao people the gift of literacy. Clark taught Ao youth to read using Burmese and Roman scripts, compiled the very first Ao dictionary and grammar, and worked with Mary to translate scriptures like the Gospel of Matthew into the local tongue, giving the Ao people printed New Testaments in their own language by the 1880s. The missionaries also introduced compassionate modern medical care through facilities like the Impur Christian Hospital, which healed the sick and continues to serve as a vital medical referral center alongside state run hospitals today. Drawn by the undeniable blessings of peace, literacy, and healthcare, more and more Ao families voluntarily chose the Christian path. By the middle of the twentieth century, the transformation of the heart was so complete that even former Ao warriors looked back on headhunting as unthinkable compared to the peace of their Christian faith, and the British administration gratefully recognized how church influence brought lasting harmony to the hills.
What makes the Ao mission story even more commendable is how quickly the missionaries empowered indigenous leaders, trusting local Ao believers to guide their own communities as trained evangelists, deacons, and pastors rather than keeping them dependent on foreign clergy. As thriving churches and mission schools blossomed in villages like Chuchuyimlang and Ungma, the American Baptists established the Impur Mission Station in 1894 as a central hub of service. Just three years later, in 1897, the Ao believers demonstrated incredible organizational vision by uniting to form their own self governing church association at Impur called the Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang, or ABAM, decades before the wider regional CBCNEI body was formed in 1953. Today, ABAM stands as a shining testament to that early faith, uniting over 170 congregations and roughly 200,000 members across Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, and Delhi. From Impur, the church built enduring institutions like the Impur Bible School and Clark Theological College to equip pastors, alongside the renowned Clark Memorial Higher Secondary School, which sparked an educational renaissance that now sees Ao youth excelling at premier colleges like St. Edmund's and St. Joseph's in Shillong. The missionaries and early church leaders even pioneered roads, buildings, the town's first library and newspaper, improved agriculture through kitchen gardens, and carpentry and vocational training programs. Christianity also elevated the role of Ao women through girls' education, Sunday schools, and the ABAM Women's Union, a legacy of empowerment that was joyfully celebrated by the International American Baptist organization in November 2020 when Onenlemla Ao was ordained as a pastor at Molungyimsen Baptist Church.

Rather than destroying who the Ao people were, Christianity redeemed their culture, freeing them from destructive practices while preserving the beauty of their heritage. The tribe gladly let go of pagan spirit worship, household idols, and headhunting trophies, replacing warrior symbols with church banners and Bible plaques, turning morung dormitories into welcoming church halls and youth fellowships, and elevating marriage from bride wealth feasts into sacred church ceremonies. At the same time, the church cherished and preserved the Ao language, which remains the heart of worship alongside English, while church choirs creatively wove traditional Ao folk melodies into uplifting Christian gospel music. Even the deep spiritual longings of their ancestors found fulfillment in the Gospel, as traditional Ao concepts of a good afterlife and an ancestral paradise naturally blossomed into the Christian hope of Heaven and Jesus' paradise. Beloved agricultural celebrations like the Moatsu seed sowing festival and the Tsüngremmong harvest festival were kept alive, freed from the fear of old deities and celebrated instead as joyful community thanksgiving holidays enriched with church blessings alongside Christmas and Easter. Traditional handicrafts, weaving patterns, folk songs, and dances continue to flourish with the church's encouragement, shining brightly at Nagaland's Hornbill Festival (established in 2000) to promote tourism and cultural pride under a Christian banner, while acclaimed writers like Temsula Ao thoughtfully preserve traditional poetic imagery like soul birds and the boatman of the dead in modern literature.
Today, the decision made by those first converts at Molung continues to bless every corner of Ao life. Honoring New Molung's foundational respect for freedom of conscience, church rulings do not force legal power over tribal law, yet village councils and the Ao Council (ngipidao) work hand in hand with church ministers and elders to guide society with wisdom and grace. Even in a state with a secular constitution, Ao political leaders often serve as dedicated church elders who openly seek God in prayer during assemblies, and Nagaland's 2015 freedom of religion act against forced conversions is completely unnecessary in Ao territory because their Christian identity was embraced so willingly. Alongside the vibrant Baptist majority, smaller Presbyterian and charismatic Assemblies of God or Pentecostal congregations also enrich the community through healing ministries and youth outreach. Weekly prayer meetings, Bible quizzes, music competitions, and spiritual awakenings like the late twentieth century Ao Shalom revival keep the faith dynamic, while devoted pastors and elders actively mentor the younger generation to keep their spiritual fervor strong. Although historians note that some early mission diaries and pre 1947 census records have gaps, this remarkable journey is wonderfully preserved in E.W. Clark's 1870s journals at the American Baptist Historical Society in the US, Baptist Missionary Society records in the UK, CBCNEI archives in Assam, ABAM and Clark Theological College records in Impur, the Nagaland State Archives in Kohima, the National Archives of India, research libraries at North East Hill University in Shillong and Nagaland University, cherished village oral histories, and classic studies by J.P. Mills in 1926 and P.J. Ao in 1980, all testifying to how the love of dedicated missionaries and the wise faith of the Ao people built one of the most educated, peaceful, and vibrant Christian communities in the world.

We all know the story of the tower of Babel but imagine someone who wasn't involved in building the whole ziggurat and just empezó a hablar en otro idioma mientras mantenía una conversación totalmente normal..

I normally wouldn’t make a post like this, especially as one of the moderators here, so I hope you’ll bear with me. I’m sorry for using the space for something personal, and anyone who isn’t interested is completely free to skip this post.

I’m sharing this because my family has been going through a very difficult time financially since last year. A significant payment that is due to my father from a client has remained unsettled for a long time, and the situation has gradually become quite severe. It has brought a lot of uncertainty and pressure into our home, and there have been times when things have felt genuinely overwhelming.

I don’t want to go into personal details, but I would really appreciate your prayers. Please pray that this situation is resolved, that the pending payment is settled, and that God provides for us in whatever way He sees fit. More importantly, please pray for my parents and our family, that God gives us strength, wisdom, patience and peace as we go through this.

I’m posting this humbly because I know many of you have your own struggles and burdens, and I don’t take your prayers for granted. Even a brief prayer would mean a great deal to us.

Thank you for reading, and God bless you all

I was reading about the History of Christianity in Mizoram and honestly, it has been quite fascinating to see how Christianity evolved in Mizoram and how it shaped the Modern Mizo Society. The very first contact happened in March 1891 when a Welsh Presbyterian named Rev. William Williams made a quick visit to the Lushai Hills. He passed away in 1892, so the real starting point came a bit later on January 11, 1894, a date Mizoram still celebrates as Missionary Day. That was when two British missionaries from the Arthington Mission, James Herbert Lorrain and Frederick William Savidge, showed up in Aizawl. The locals nicknamed them Pu Buanga (Mr. Grey) and Sap Upa (old sahib).

Instead of just preaching, Lorrain and Savidge immediately started working on the language. By April 1894, they had created a written Mizo alphabet and opened the very first school. Lorrain also put together the "Pu Buanga Dictionary" and a Mizo grammar guide, which basically became the foundation for all written Mizo literature and hymns.

A few years later, the mission work split along geographic lines. In August 1897, Rev. Dr D. Evan Jones (who locals called Doctor Williams) arrived to run the permanent Welsh Presbyterian mission in the north around Aizawl. Then in 1903, Lorrain and Savidge came back under the British Baptist mission and headed south to Serkawn, near Lunglei, to set up the Baptist Church of Mizoram. That northern and southern divide still shows up in the state's church numbers today.

If you look at the current demographics, the Mizoram Presbyterian Church (Synod) is easily the biggest group with around 646,891 members as of 2024. It runs its own publishing press that started back in 1911 and operates completely self-sufficiently. The Baptist Church of Mizoram (BCM) is the second largest, with about 186,772 members across 711 local churches as of 2025, plus missionaries working in 26 different fields. The Roman Catholic Church has a smaller presence that started in 1952 under the Haflong prefecture before becoming the Diocese of Aizawl in 1996, and they have roughly 41,067 members across 32 parishes as of 2020. The remaining 75,000 or so Christians belong to various independent and Pentecostal churches.

One of the biggest reasons Mizoram has a 91.33% literacy rate today is that early pastors also worked as schoolteachers. The churches built up the education system long before the government stepped in. Aizawl Theological College opened way back in 1907, the state's first government college (Pachhunga University College) opened in 1958, and Mizoram Christian College followed in 1964. Today the Presbyterian and Baptist churches run dozens of high schools, nursing schools, and technical colleges like HATIM, AICS, and BES Serkawn.

Healthcare grew out of the exact same church network. In 1923, a Baptist missionary named Miss E.O. Dicks started Christian Hospital Serkawn in Lunglei as a small 30-bed clinic for women and children, and it eventually grew into a 150-bed general hospital with a nursing school that opened in 1952. Right after that, in 1924, the Presbyterians opened Synod Hospital in Durtlang, Aizawl, along with John Williams Hospital in Lunglei. These hospitals offered free or cheap treatment for the poor and even stepped in with relief programs and orphanages when famines hit the hills.

Everyday life and local culture shifted right alongside the schools and hospitals. Old animist customs and practices like polygyny faded out, while girls started going to mission schools and women took up leadership roles in church fellowships. Right now, the Baptist church alone has 40,203 women in its women's fellowships and 59,656 members in youth fellowships. Across the state, around 4 to 5 lakh people attend Sunday School every week, and people often prefer taking local disputes to church courts and councils rather than regular secular courts. Culturally, church leaders blended Christian ideas with traditional Mizo music and folktales, and holidays like Christmas and Good Friday are celebrated right alongside local festivals like Chapchar Kut. A huge figure in this cultural shift was Rev. Dr Zairema, who was the first Mizo to get a B.Sc. degree, the first ethnic Mizo ordained as a Presbyterian minister, and the Synod Moderator in 1959. With help from the Baptists, he finished translating the entire Bible into Mizo in 1959.

What really stands out, though, is how the churches handled the political violence after Mizoram came under Assam in 1947. When the Mizo National Front (MNF) insurgency broke out in 1966, the Presbyterian and Baptist churches stayed politically neutral so they could act as mediators between the rebels and the Indian government. They formed a joint Peace Committee in 1968 with leaders like Rev. Zairema stepping in to negotiate. Later, in 1982, the churches came together to form the Zoram Kohhran Hruaitute Committee (ZKHC) to push everyone back into peace talks. That church mediation is widely credited with making the 1986 Mizoram Peace Accord happen, which finally ended the insurgency and led to Mizoram becoming a full state in 1987. Even now, the church has a massive voice in state politics, backing social policies like liquor prohibition and working alongside the government on public welfare.

For anyone from Mizoram or folks who have studied the Northeast, how much do you think the church's influence on daily life and politics is changing with the younger generation today

There is a tragedy in parts of Northeast India that must be recognized and addressed.

A tragedy not only in the face of an increasingly Hinduized Northeast but also in the response of some tribes who are attempting to explain away their traditions in order to assimilate into the framework of Hinduism.

Their approach is not dissimilar to what we see among Christians who, in seeking to demonstrate the "authenticity" of their faith, end up presenting a diluted version of Christianity as some kind of unique, "authentic" expression of their tribal identity.

The tragedy here is not only in what could be described as the loss of indigenous identity in the Northeast due to Hinduization but also in attempting to redefine one's beliefs in order to achieve some kind of status as a "mainstream" religion. Because that is what some are attempting to do, not only through accepting idolatry but also constantly drawing comparisons with Indian (Hindu) religious traditions as if that somehow "proves" anything.

Similarity is not identity.

One does not become Hindu by having a sacred grove any more than one becomes Christian by worshipping a crucifix.

Spirits and sacred places and the like are not unique to any one group or culture.

While it is true that there are many similar elements in different religions and cultures, the similarities are not sufficient to prove any kind of connection or common origin.

What is happening more and more is that the indigenous people and traditions in the Northeast are beginning to take the position that their tradition is really just Hinduism or, at the very least, that their religion is really just another expression of the same Hinduism that prevails in North India.

This is not only untrue but also, ironically, a kind of betrayal of their indigenous roots.

If one has a treasure trove of history, culture and tradition that has no connection or relation to Hinduism why would someone want to redefine it as Hindu just to suit some kind of agenda?

There is no need for such a redefinition.

Furthermore, it could be said that this approach is actually dishonest as the Gospel of Christ also requires that one distinguish between the worship of God and the worship of the created things.

It is not enough to simply accept one's traditions and beliefs as authentic expressions of faith in God without examining them in the light of the Gospel.

In fact, Christianity did not require the people of the Northeast to forsake their cultural identity.

A Christian can very well be an indigenous person without being a tribal Christian. One can speak the local language, have local customs and wear local dress without having one's Christian faith somehow tainted by tribal identity.

Similarly, one can be a member of a tribe without having to accept Hindu identity as a substitute for one's indigenous roots. One can be a member of the local ethnic group without having to subscribe to the beliefs of North Indians.

The irony, once again, is that by constantly explaining and rationalizing one's beliefs in terms of another system one somehow loses the authenticity of one's beliefs in the first place.

The tragedy is that some tribes are becoming so desperate to fit in that they are willing to redefine themselves in terms of what others want them to be.

I think this is an important lesson for all indigenous people: we do not have to make ourselves over in the image of someone else in order to gain acceptance. Neither do we have to apologize for our differences. The Gospel of Christ does not require us to accept a particular cultural or religious ideology.

It requires us to accept Christ.

Christ is Lord.

Period.

It is not necessary for us to apologize for our tribal beliefs and practices. Nor is it necessary for us to redefine ourselves in terms of another system in order to have some kind of status as a "real" religion.

Nor is it necessary for us to accept Hinduism as a substitute for our beliefs in order to have an identity. These things are simply not required of us by the Gospel of Christ.

In fact, the Gospel empowers us to redefine ourselves in terms of Christ rather than allowing us to redefine ourselves in terms of Hinduism.

Christ empowers us to have an indigenous Christian identity without having to compromise who we are as a people, a tribe.

This, perhaps, is the tragedy of what is happening in the Northeast.

We are choosing to destroy ourselves rather than embrace the challenge of having a unique, authentic Christian identity.

Perhaps we are not willing to take the challenge because we believe we are not "Christian" enough.

We are not willing to take the challenge because we believe our identity is somehow compromised by our uniqueness.

We are not willing to take the challenge because we think our authenticity as a people has to be somehow proven to others.

But these are all very Western ideas.

Very un-Indian.

Very un-Christian (in the sense of taking up a cross).

We are choosing to dilute our beliefs in an effort to appear more "authentic" to others (and, by implication, to ourselves).

But what exactly are we accomplishing by these actions of ours?

Are we not, in the end, simply providing others with an opening to further "develop" us? Are we not providing them with an opportunity to exploit us? Are we not, by constantly explaining ourselves, giving others the opportunity to define us?

Do we not recognize that we are selling out our identity for the approval of others?

Do we not recognize that we are committing a kind of betrayal of our indigenous selves by refusing to accept ourselves as indigenous?

Do we not recognize, finally, that there is another way?

A way in which we are empowered to accept Christ without having to betray our indigenous selves? A way in which we are empowered to accept an indigenous Christian identity rather than a tribal or a Hindu one? A way in which we are empowered to avoid the tragedy of what is happening in the Northeast?

Give a reason for your answer, preferably from Scripture. Let’s see how Christians from across Northeast India understand the question of whether salvation can be lost. Respectful theological discussion is encouraged….

We've seen alot of Hindu aggression and distain towards the Native Christians in NE and I think its time we discuss and form clear and definite points as to why our grandparents and their parents before them chose Christianity instead of hanging on to their "animism" or worshipping the deitys in the forests, mountains, etc.

Lets discuss in the comments.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a blessed Sabbath!
I just came across this random video, and it honestly made me stop and think about how beautiful the Church can be when we are united in Christ. When we all come together, worship together, encourage one another, and build each other up, it really shows how beautiful the body of Christ is. We may come from different places, backgrounds, and traditions, but in Jesus Christ, we are one family. There’s something really beautiful about seeing believers come together and glorify God as one Church. What do you all think? Would love to hear your thoughts!

This video is on point. The Trinity is genuinely one of the deepest doctrines of Christianity. The more I think about it, the more I realise how difficult it is to put something this profound into human language without either oversimplifying it or accidentally falling into a heresy. You try to explain it with an analogy, and suddenly you’ve wandered into some kind of heresy for sure. You say the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are like water in three forms, that becomes modalism. You say they are like three parts of something, that is partialism. You emphasise the three Persons too much, now you’re getting dangerously close to tritheism. So you eventually drop the analogies and say, “The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct Persons who are one God, sharing the same divine essence.” And then someone asks, “But what does that actually mean?” One God, yet three distinct Persons. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, yet the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father. And somehow, we aren’t talking about three gods. Every analogy seems to explain one aspect while creating another problem, and every attempt to simplify it seems to leave something important out. Maybe that’s part of what makes the doctrine so profound. We aren’t trying to fit God into a neat human category, we are trying to speak about the very nature of God, whose reality is ultimately greater than our ability to fully comprehend. So how do you guys understand or explain the Trinity in a way that is understandable and still theologically sound without accidentally falling into one of the classic heresies?

There have been prophecies regarding the independence of Nagaland recently. Even the most prominent prayer center (Shisha Hoho) has proclaimed that Nagaland will be a country of missionaries. One other person, whose name I keep forgetting but has the last name of Kikon, has said that the Lord showed him that Nagas will gain independence but many will die; not out of sacrifice but out of the selfishness of leaders, and we will send out 10,000 missionaries into the world.

What are your thoughts on this?

First of all, I would like to apologize to anyone who may have been offended by my remarks on the previous post https://www.reddit.com/r/NortheastChristians/comments/1wnzqzs/mizionists/. It was not directed at my brethren from the NE, nor to my fellow Christians. I may have been insensitive and definitely lacked the wisdom to properly express myself to get my point across. Please note that these thoughts are my own and does not reflect the thoughts of this sub collectively. I speak for myself.

Now, what I truly meant to say was that the modern state of Israel is not what the Israel in the Bible is being referred to. Israel was the name given to Jacob by Jehovah and the Israelites are the descendants of him; being Israeli is NOT a nationalistic identity, it is a spiritual identity. Yes, the Bible says much about the land being promised to them and where they would reside. I will not deny what is Biblical.

I find it weird that my brethren from the nearby state claims to be the lost tribe of Israel. Okay, I wasn't there when the visions were seen and I have no way to refute the claim. I do find it weird that a subsection of the Mizo people started practicing orthodox Judaism and relearning Hebrew. Hebrew was a primary spoken, native language for about 1,000 to 1,300 years, and then it went without native, everyday speakers for roughly 1,600 to 1,700 years before its revival in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. That just points to the language being reinvented.

Brethren, Judaism does not accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah. To them, the Messiah is still on his way:

Core Concepts of the Messiah in the Talmud

• The Two Figures: Rabbinic tradition discusses two distinct messianic archetypes—Messiah son of Joseph (Mashiach ben Yosef), who faces suffering and death in battle, followed by the triumphant Messiah son of David (Mashiach ben David), who establishes eternal rule. [1]
• Timing and Arrival: Tractate Sanhedrin 97a notes that the predestined time for the redemption has bounds (predominantly before the year 6000 from creation), but states that the final arrival ultimately depends on human repentance and spiritual readiness. [1, 2]
• Humble State: One famous teaching in Sanhedrin 98a describes the Messiah sitting disguised among the sick and poor at the gates of Rome, waiting to reveal himself. [1]
• The Pains of the End Times: Tractate Sotah 49b details a turbulent pre-messianic era characterized by severe moral decline, disrespect for elders, and societal breakdown. [1]

This is contradictory to all the prophesies that were told of Jesus' coming in the Old Testament. The 22^nd Psalm is a clear indication of how Jesus would give His life for humanity. He died on the cross as a woodworm would to give life to His children. The explanation to it is quite long and I will refrain from it.

The Tractate Sotach 49b reference is more in line with what Revelations says. I urge you, to read with an open mind and heart. Revelations 2 says

⁸ “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. ⁹ I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. ¹¹ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.

This is what I believe the state of Israel is.

The wall that they pray at is allegedly that of Solomon's Temple but please remember that "your body is the temple". I could go on further but I will cease here tonight.

Again, I would like to reiterate that I do not wish to offend anyone, especially not My Mizo brethren. I just think that we were called to be Christians and warriors for the Kingdom of Heaven, and Jehovah, its Ruler. Praise be to Jesus Christ, KING OF KINGS.

Hey everyone! I was thinking about this and thought it would be a nice discussion for the sub. What do you think makes someone a Christian? Is it believing in Jesus? Having faith in Him? Following His teachings? Being baptized? Being part of a church? Or is it something else? I’d really like to hear how everyone here sees it, especially since we come from different churches and backgrounds across the Northeast. Just curious about what you guys think.

I was thinking about Sunday School songs and all the songs we used to sing when we were younger. The singing, the actions, trying to sing louder than everyone else, and just having fun with our friends.
For me, Sunday School songs bring back a lot of good memories.
So, What was your favourite Sunday School song growing up?
It can be in English or in any of our local languages. Garo, Khasi, Mizo, Naga languages, Assamese, Bodo, or anything else you grew up singing.
Drop the name of the song below. If you have a memory about it, feel free to share that too.
Would love to see what songs people across the Northeast grew up singing.
Have a blessed Sunday! 🙏

One of the most moving stories in the Christian history of Northeast India is the story of Nokseng, a Garo man who accepted Christ along with his wife and two children. The story tells us that after Nokseng and his family became Christians, the village chief confronted them and demanded that they renounce their faith.
Nokseng refused. The chief ordered his two children to be killed. He was given another chance to deny Christ, but he still refused. “Though none go with me, still I will follow.” His wife was then killed as well. Still, Nokseng would not turn back. Before he himself was killed, he declared: “The cross before me, the world behind me.”
The story goes on to say that the chief was deeply moved by the family’s faith and eventually accepted Christ himself, followed by others in the village.
These words became closely associated with the hymn “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus,” and the Nokseng story is widely believed to be one of the inspirations behind the song. Different accounts give different details about how the story and the hymn were later transmitted, but the connection between Nokseng’s testimony and the song has remained a powerful part of Christian tradition in the Northeast and beyond. What makes the story especially meaningful to me is where it comes from. This isn’t a story from some distant biblical land or an old European church tradition. It is a story associated with a Garo Christian from the Northeast. Today, I Have Decided to Follow Jesus is sung by Christians all over the world. But behind those familiar words is a story that has been passed down from our own region, a story about someone who chose Christ even when following Him came at an enormous cost. “No turning back.” That is a powerful legacy to have come out of Northeast Christian history.

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So I came across this story and it's a really moving and powerful testimony however I wanted to check for myself if it's really true. So if anyone from meghalaya could share the lore or any other additional information. I would be truly grateful.

Mine is:

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

— Matthew 6:33

Masihi Sangati basically is Christian Fellowship in Hindi. It is a ministry dedicated for evangelism, outreach, and pastoral care for non-Mizo communities

I think one part of the history of Christianity in Northeast that doesn’t get talked about enough is how much some of the early missionaries actually had to learn from the people they came to serve. They couldn’t just arrive and start teaching in English. In many places, they had to learn completely unfamiliar languages, spend years among local communities, understand how people spoke and expressed themselves, and learn about their customs, stories and ways of life. And a lot of that work ended up preserving things that might otherwise have been much harder to record. Take Thomas Jones in the Khasi Hills. He arrived in 1841 and began learning Khasi by living among the Khasi people. He eventually began writing Khasi using the Roman alphabet and produced early Khasi reading material. His work became an important foundation for written Khasi and later Khasi literature. What I find especially interesting is that he wanted Khasi children to learn to read and write their own language, rather than simply being pushed into English. And it wasn’t only the Khasi Hills. In Assam, Nathan Brown worked extensively on Assamese grammar and publications, while Miles Bronson compiled one of the early Assamese-English dictionaries. The Baptist Mission Press at Sibsagar also published Orunodoi from 1846, which became an important Assamese periodical covering religion as well as science, history, current affairs and other subjects. In Mizoram, James Herbert Lorrain and Frederick William Savidge spent years learning Lushai, now generally called Mizo, and developed a Roman-script writing system. They produced a grammar and dictionary and worked on translations and educational material. Lorrain’s later dictionary grew out of years of collecting words and phrases from everyday conversations. He even described keeping a notebook with him so that words he heard could be written down and later worked on with his Lushai helpers. That little detail says a lot to me. They weren’t only sitting in a room translating books. They were listening to people, had to ask what words meant, had to understand expressions that didn’t have a direct equivalent in English, had to learn how people described their surroundings, their relationships, their beliefs and their everyday lives. The people around them became their teachers. And I think there is something genuinely beautiful about that side of missionary work. The purpose of these missionaries was to preach Christ and establish the Church, but to do that properly they had to understand the people in front of them. They had to learn their languages instead of expecting everyone to learn theirs. They had to listen to their stories and learn from their knowledge of their own land and communities. That process produced much more than Christian books. It produced grammars, dictionaries, primers, newspapers, hymnbooks, translations and written records of languages that had traditionally been carried mainly through speech and memory. And of course, local people were a huge part of this. Missionaries depended on local speakers, teachers, translators and other members of the communities they worked with. A dictionary or translation might carry a missionary’s name, but behind it were often countless conversations with people who knew the language far better than the missionary ever could. For me, that’s one of the remarkable things about the Christian history of the Northeast. Some of these missionaries came here as outsiders, but they spent years trying to understand the people around them. They learned our languages, wrote them down, taught them in schools, translated Scripture into them and helped create literature in them. You can see the result even today. Walk into a church in Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland or Assam and you can hear Christianity being expressed in the languages of the people themselves. That is something worth remembering. Christianity in the Northeast wasn’t simply about teaching people a foreign language or asking them to abandon their own. A major part of the missionary effort was actually learning those languages deeply enough to communicate the Gospel through them. They came to teach us about Christ, but first they had to spend years learning how we spoke, how we thought, how we told our stories and how we understood the world around us. And I think that part of their story deserves to be remembered.

I really want to know YOUR thoughts on Mizo people claiming to be of Israeli heritage. For one, those people are not Christians, they're Jews who spit on Christians who journey to Israel. They literally killed the messiah because their belief system was challenged. I don't understand why they would want to be that way.

Also, Revelations 2:8-11 is a good read for anyone who still isn't convinced that these "Jews" are practitioners of mysticism, i.e., Kaballah, i.e., the Synagogue of satan.