Photo courtesy of www.methodist.org.uk
'I have never abandoned my Sikh culture. My understanding of Sikhism and respect for it has grown as a result of my Christian discipleship.'

The Rev Inderjit Bhogal was the first President of the Methodist Conference of Great Britain from black roots. He is the Director of the Urban Theology Unit in Sheffield, where he is also minister at the Inner City Ecumenical Mission

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ with roots in the Sikh faith. I was born in Kenya into a deeply religious Sikh family.

We moved to the UK in 1964. It was then, as a teenager living in Dudley, West Midlands, that I experienced racism and exclusion for the first time in my life.

I also started to read the New Testament and to attend a Bible class. The story and teachings of Jesus Christ inspired and captivated me. I began to centre my life on Christ, and to challenge racism.

I joined the Methodist Church where I found welcome and friendship. Through Bible study and prayer, my faith grew and I was ordained a Methodist Minister in 1980; in 2000, I became President of the Methodist Conference.

But I have never abandoned my Sikh culture. My understanding of Sikhism and respect for it has grown as a result of my Christian discipleship.

Faiths

I have always been conscious of the fact that we live in a world of many faiths and these different traditions are not a temporary feature of human life. The UK, like other countries, is multi-faith as well as multi-ethnic. Religious diversity is not going to disappear.

There have been church aspirations and prayers to convert all people of the world to Christianity for centuries. Many people of other faiths are evangelistic, too, and try to convert everyone, including Christians.

The time has come to acknowledge there is not one faith that everyone will convert to, even though this will remain a hope for many. It is more important to concentrate religious fervour and energy into inter-faith dialogue, and inter-religious co-operation.

This would be a great contribution to peace, particularly in a world where different religions compete rather than co-operate over land, territory and space. We need such initiatives to promote hospitality, not hostility and atrocity.

I believe God is one and enlightens everyone. I believe people all around the globe have for centuries been responding to the one God's light and self-revelation, and that great histories of response have developed into what we call religions or faiths - shaped by different languages, foods, climates, colours, dreams, visions, great messengers of God. Consequently all religions are different.

I believe that the existence of people of many faiths is within God's purposes.

Quote

It is easy to quote single lines from the Bible like "no one comes to the Father but by me" (John 14:6) to challenge the experience of God, outside Christianity.

People of many faiths living as neighbours provides ample opportunity for us all to share our experiences of God, discuss differences, to challenge racist and exclusivist views and to build relationships of respect. Scriptures contain God's call to 'inclusivism' also. Together we can tackle poverty more effectively.

Loyalty to Jesus goes hand in hand with openness to people of other faiths and the searching challenges they present to Christians. Meet with your neighbours of other faiths, share your faith stories with them. Ask them to share with you their experience and understanding of God.

This is an important part of Christian witness today.

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