Christian Missionaries After Fall Of Sikh Raj

[SikhYouth]

The conversion of Ranjit Singh's son Dalip was the kind of breakthrough that the ruling power wrongly hoped would help blunt the fervour of a people passionately committed to their faith. The aim of the missionaries was to turn the Sikhs away from the source of their determination and strength, from their beliefs which gave them the courage to die in their defense. Missionary activities in Punjab proceeded in close parallel with other attempts to pacify the militant Sikhs 'to whom our attention at first was specially directed.'

An American Presbyterian mission was already established in Ludhiana, south of the Sutlej. No sooner had Sikh rule ended in 1849 than the Ludhiana mission sent C.W. Forman and John Newton to Lahore to start missionary work there. They couldn't have asked for better sponsorship than that provided by John Lawrence, who had officiated as Lahore Resident during his brother Henry's absence, and had a powerful say in Punjab affairs. He was a firm believer in Christian proselytization, and was keen to see the conquest of the Sikh Kingdom followed by large-scale conversions. Other Christian missions, led by the Church of England in 1852, soon followed. The United Presbyterian Mission in 1855, the Cambridge Mission, the Baptist Mission and the Church of Scotland were some of them. The proximity of the missions to the ruling power could have appealed to some potential converts. The conversion figures, however, are not too impressive: they stood at 4,000 in 1881, 300,000 in 1921.

An unintended spinoff of missionary activities in Punjab was the determined move by Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims to rediscover and re-emphasize the essentials of their own faiths. The Sikhs' need for self-understanding was highlighted by two almost concurrent movements. The first was led by Baba Dayal (1783-1855), who underscored the danger of moving away from the rational moorings of the Sikh faith towards worship of idols and images that were antithetical to the Guru’s teachings.

taken from The Sikhs, patwant singh

[Guest MereRamRai]

The conversion of Ranjit Singh's son Dalip was the kind of breakthrough that the ruling power wrongly hoped would help blunt the fervour of a people passionately committed to their faith.

The point is the Bible has nothing in it compared to Guru Granth Sahib Ji, and yet they have over 2 billion following. They spread their Christianity in a number of ways including Sewa and Sikhs have been fighting over chairs and tables for the past 300 years. Take note that in 300 years they already had spread all over Europe and Asia and Africa.

[Singh559]

The main Sikh jathedar should be appointing people to do katha and gurbani all the time at gurdwaras. The system in Punjab needs to be more organized, the lack of availability imo is what drives people to hindu practices, fake baby, and converting.

[jaswinder singh]

handplcked jathedaars and pradhans will never be able to do the needful . only

commoners with convition have done so in the past and so it will happen in

future too . Gurdwara sudhar movement was started and run by the commoners .

Guru Gobind Singh ji very well had the clear picture about this , and so he never

put faith in aristocracy (hindu rulers) and the intelligentia( the priest class ) of

his time . We should take cue from guru ji's life and do something like wise

[Singh559]

handplcked jathedaars and pradhans will never be able to do the needful . only

commoners with convition have done so in the past and so it will happen in

future too . Gurdwara sudhar movement was started and run by the commoners .

Guru Gobind Singh ji very well had the clear picture about this , and so he never

put faith in aristocracy (hindu rulers) and the intelligentia( the priest class ) of

his time . We should take cue from guru ji's life and do something like wise

Now that I think about it, you're 100% right.