I have learned something new today: you can get a Ph.D. in converting the heathen!

DEVELOPING A CHURCH PLANTING MOVEMENT IN INDIA
By DANE WINSTEAD FOWLKES
submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in the subject
MISSIOLOGY
at the UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE
SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR PIETER VERSTER
November 2004

Here’s the abstract, if you’ve got a hankerin’ to head on over to India and undermine the Hindu religion, it might be useful.

This dissertation acknowledges the need for Church Planting
Movements among the unreached peoples of India. Of particular concern to
this study is the application of Church Planting Movement strategy to
forward caste Hindus of India.

It traces the historical development of group or people movement
strategy and then compares that strategy with traditional missionary
approaches in India. It shows that evangelizing households is the primary
strategy of the New Testament and the most appropriate strategy for
initiating Church Planting Movements. The thesis carefully examines
salvation understanding in the Hindu context and its relationship to the caste
system. All of this lays a foundation for a proper approach to evangelization
of forward caste Hindus in light of the fact that there have been no
documented Church Planting Movements among forward caste Hindus in all
of India.

The paper concludes that the best approach to facilitating a Church
Planting Movement among forward caste Hindus is by not planting
churches. As contradictory as this sounds, the paper shows that Christian
disciples remaining within Hindu culture and familial systems holds the
potential for the most indigenous approach to establishing multiplying
churches among forward caste Hindus.

Now I’m wondering…are there equivalent documents in India that describe how to peel American Christians away from their churches? It would be useful information to have.