Sikh Missionary

[Big_Tera]

How to spread Sikhism in the UK?

[Jonny101]

How to spread Sikhism in the UK?

Join basics of Sikhi team

[Bundha]

It is up to the young Sikhs to take the mantle. The older generation is beyond redemption.

Organise yourselves in groups and make an action plan and go out and follow it through.

Go to the Gurdwara make langar - sabzi, dhal, chawal, roti, a sweet, then take it our to the streets where the poor and needy are and distribute freely. Don't make a big deal of it, no pomp and circumstance, just humbly go out and feed the poor.

Engage with the children - eg. Make a set of playing cards. Picture of each Guru, Guru Granth Sahib Ji, panj piyaray, four sahibsaday, shaheeds, sants. historical gurdwaray, key events in our history and on the back the information. Distribute to the children.

We need to be proactive we need to put forward intellectual people, who can actually string a sentence together without umming and arring, and put them forward to programs on Radio 4 and whenever there is a faith discussion. For so long we are the ones left out. If there is a Sikh, he is so introverted with no articulation skills whatsoever.

Come on young guys this is your time, don't wait for other people to do it, YOU do it.

[Koi]

Jeewan is parchar

[Big_Tera]

Helping homeless people is a good idea. But I doubt many will become interested in Sikhism. I think we need a more direct approach. How about having events in Gurdwaras where people can learn about Sikhism.

What about Sikh tv stations. Its amazing that we have 3 Sikh channels which cost an enormous amount of public money to fund. This would be an excellent opportuinity to have shows for new people who have converted to Sikhism. Or shows for non sikhs.

But as of yet I have not seen any dedicated shows for non sikhs. All we get for making our donations to these channels and millions we pay in direct debits. and all we get is a few old guys chatting over a cup of tea about anything random. lets have non punjabi presenters who are sikhs who are not brown. lets have japanese, chinese sikhs on the shows. Lets change it up a bit and experiment.

[Bundha]

Bhaji,

Your sentiment is very good, but practically how are you going to set up TV Stations? Who is going to set up these TV Stations?

I don't know but from what I hear it takes about £50,000 a MONTH to run one of these stations , so how are you going to get your hands on this kind of money?

Yes, the existing channels are of limited value. They are aimed squarely for the Punjabi population, run by old men for old people, and the older population love it because the put the TV on and can understand what the presenter is saying.

The presentation is stale, the set designs are stale the whole thing is very drab, I cannot watch it. But who has the resources to set a channel up?

What you need are practical ways that young people can engage with the wider population. The young feel involved and get the experience and the projects are achievable.

Gurdwara events is a good idea. Advertise them in the press and posters, welcome the wider community with open days. Have langar (people love free food), events talks, events for children etc.

[simran345]

Bhaji,Your sentiment is very good, but practically how are you going to set up TV Stations? Who is going to set up these TV Stations?I don't know but from what I hear it takes about £50,000 a MONTH to run one of these stations , so how are you going to get your hands on this kind of money?Yes, the existing channels are of limited value. They are aimed squarely for the Punjabi population, run by old men for old people, and the older population love it because the put the TV on and can understand what the presenter is saying.The presentation is stale, the set designs are stale the whole thing is very drab, I cannot watch it. But who has the resources to set a channel up?What you need are practical ways that young people can engage with the wider population. The young feel involved and get the experience and the projects are achievable.Gurdwara events is a good idea. Advertise them in the press and posters, welcome the wider community with open days. Have langar (people love free food), events talks, events for children etc.

As paji Bundha ji has said have Open days, good idea.

Basics of Sikhi is doing an excellent job, they are coming on the Sikh channels too. Get together with the already established youth on these channels. Rather than set up a new Tv channel, it would be better to approach the existing channels, after all there are 3 already that can cater for all ages.

[genie]

How to spread Sikhism in the UK?

Firstly stop giving money to gurdwaray and their corrupt committee's and start donating money to Sikhi street parchar groups like basics of Sikhi.

Gurdwara funds are going on catering for outrageous genocidal inter-faith weddings and other anti-sikh acitivities in our Guru's presense so why should we contribute our hard earned monies to the anti-sikh committe member morons who are running them? Better we use our collective power and money wisely in converting people to Sikhi on mass rather than being like shy, passive and all girly about it.

Sikhi is a missionary religion and any fool that says it isnt basically rules them outside the religion and must be treated with contempt. We must become hardliners because the softly softly liberal leftist anything goes approch has made a mockey of the faith and making it irrelevant in peoples 21st century modern busy lives.

[jkvlondon]

Firstly stop giving money to gurdwaray and their corrupt committee's and start donating money to Sikhi street parchar groups like basics of Sikhi.

Gurdwara funds are going on catering for outrageous genocidal inter-faith weddings and other anti-sikh acitivities in our Guru's presense so why should we contribute our hard earned monies to the anti-sikh committe member morons who are running them? Better we use our collective power and money wisely in converting people to Sikhi on mass rather than being like shy, passive and all girly about it.

Sikhi is a missionary religion and any fool that says it isnt basically rules them outside the religion and must be treated with contempt. We must become hardliners because the softly softly liberal leftist anything goes approch has made a mockey of the faith and making it irrelevant in peoples 21st century modern busy lives.

I think history proves we were most definitely doing parchaar on the streets in an organised way not ad hoc and it is so obvious that we only started thinking we were non-missionary after the advent of the British ....

[MisterrSingh]

Sikhi is a missionary religion and any fool that says it isnt basically rules them outside the religion and must be treated with contempt. We must become hardliners because the softly softly liberal leftist anything goes approch has made a mockey of the faith and making it irrelevant in peoples 21st century modern busy lives.

We're beyond and above these shallow labels. We're neither hardliners or pacifists. You're choosing to view Sikh through distorted, human-generated standards that do not apply to our path. I appreciate the gist of your argument, but if you know anything about the world we inhabit in its current state - judging by your posts you know quite a lot - the hard-line way for a minority such as us is practically suicide.

We need to stop trying to emulate the inflexible Islamic ways of doing things. That way lies destruction. We haven't got a billion+ strong following to fall back on, AND, I'm sorry to say, our belief in our Guru and our religion is not as strong as the Muslims on the whole. Yes, you may argue it's a belief partly built around fear of the consequences if the party line is not towed, but it is what it is. That's an indisputable fact.

We are more concerned with being loyal citizens in our countries of residence or running around trying to accumulate wealth or keep our spouses and children happy, etc. Our determination to follow our religion is gradually slipping down the list as the years go by. Yet, I still don't think going the mad mullah route is going to arrest that decline. When you've the likes of Sunny Hundal in the west brazenly thumbing his nose at fellow Sikhs to take him on (because he knows any ill-conceived move to silence him will instantly justify his warped stance on Sikh issues) we have to take a smarter approach.

The mistaken notion that Sikhi is a wishy-washy, anything goes faith that's being pushed by certain parties needs to be the first area to be tackled. And you don't do that by going on the physical attack. You do that by using your brain and chipping away at these false notions peddled by non-practicising Western "Sikhs" in the media who aim to usurp the Sikh faith in the west and turn it into a weird desi CofE situation. We do that through preaching and reaching out to the ones amongst us who'd be receptive to the Sikhi doctrine, but have otherwise been dissuaded from the path due to the completely incorrect portrayal of Sikhi being dominated by angry intolerant guys.

That's the first step to increase numbers. Yes, be "aggressive and assertive" in your aims to elevate Sikhi amongst our own people, but going the tub-thumping Islamic way will alienate a hell of a lot of otherwise receptive Punjabis who might've been attracted to the path. Nobody in this current society we inhabit wants to be labelled as an extremist of any sort, certainly not the meek, average, young, PC-riddled Punjabi who wants enlightenment through the Sikh way that's beginning to appeal to him after spending years thinking there was no more to life than than having a good time. That's just one example.

The second step would be to clean house, and on that front I'm afraid I would change tack from the mellower, conciliatory approach I previously mentioned when doing parchaar to our own disillusioned, non-practicising Punjabis. The wolves in Gursikh clothing who populate the echelons of Sikhi across the world need to be purged. And they will understand no language but force. These fake holy men, their entourages, politically appointed jathedars, etc, cannot be allowed to suck the life out of Sikhi. They're taking us for fools. We need to deprive them of the oxygen to operate. That's another issue altogether and not one I'm prepared to discuss on an open forum.