The evening session of the second day of the All India Congress on Church in Mission (AICOCIM) featured a plenary address by Dr. Sanjay Patra, who called on Christians in India to embrace their role as “salt and light” in society through relevance, entrepreneurial initiative, professional excellence, and ethical witness.
Patra, a longtime leader in India’s nonprofit sector and a voice for accountability in Christian organizations, acknowledged the challenges facing churches and ministries today but insisted that their greatest opportunity lies in building credibility in the public square.
Patra noted that Christians’ lives in India are closely observed by the public and urged leaders to reflect on how the community is being perceived.
Relevance through rootedness
A central theme of Patra’s address was the importance of relevance. He argued that the credibility of the Church in India depends on being rooted in the nation’s soil rather than dependent on outside resources.
He noted that many organizations have long relied on external funding but warned that such dependency undermines sustainability. “How rooted are we within the country?” he asked. “If we are not, our relevance is in question.”
Patra highlighted examples of churches sustained entirely by local giving, emphasizing that when people see value in their community, they are willing to support it. He urged ministries to encourage entrepreneurial ability among believers, not only to generate income but also to create jobs and contribute meaningfully to society.
“We can only become salt and light if we become relevant in the context we are in,” he said.
Patra also called for Christians to pursue professional excellence and take up roles in public service. He lamented that the next generation is sometimes steered toward shortcuts or limited aspirations rather than encouraged to strive for excellence.
“In today’s competitive world, relevance will only be meaningful if we are professionals who excel in what we do,” he said. “Excellence is not optional; it is essential if we are to be a witness.”
He challenged Christian organizations to model this commitment by recruiting and supporting people of the highest caliber, rather than offering positions as fallback options. “Have we done a disservice by lowering the bar?” he asked, pressing leaders to foster ambition and aspiration among young people.
Integrity as public witness
Throughout his remarks, Patra returned to the theme of integrity. He cautioned that professionalism without ethics is hollow and that Christians must be distinguished by their accountability and transparency.
“As a Christian, am I able to make a distinction or a difference between the way the world would operate and the way I would operate?” he asked. “That is where we are judged.”
Patra shared candid reflections from his own career, noting that while some Christians struggle with professionalism, others from different faith backgrounds have demonstrated remarkable integrity. He recounted the story of a former colleague who declined a lucrative job offer because it required him to betray client trust. “He may never become a Christian,” Patra said, “but he was influenced by the environment we created, where integrity mattered.”
For Patra, this illustrates the impact Christian values can have in shaping workplaces and communities. “We need to create ecosystems where Christian values and principles are practiced,” he said. “Our witness is not in numbers but in how we live out those values.”
Entrepreneurship and stewardship
Patra devoted significant attention to the importance of entrepreneurship and wealth creation. He stressed that creating wealth is not opposed to Christian faith but is an essential aspect of stewardship.
“We sometimes misread the Scriptures, thinking money is the root of all evil,” he said. “It is the love of money that is the root of evil. Unless we create wealth, how can we serve others?”
He called on Christian entrepreneurs to see their role as not only sustaining their families but also creating livelihoods for others. In doing so, he said, they add value to society and make the Church’s presence felt in practical ways.
Yet Patra acknowledged challenges within the Christian community, including reluctance to share resources and uneven attitudes toward work. He observed that professionalism requires a different mindset, one that sees work not as entitlement but as service. “Even our attitude to work must reflect the teachings of Jesus,” he said.
Preparing for the public square
Patra urged churches to be intentional about preparing believers for roles in the public square, where their witness will be scrutinized. He contrasted two approaches often found in congregations: one that pushes young people into church activities without preparing them for broader societal engagement, and another that overemphasizes academic success without connecting it to faith.
“We must push people to be ready for the public sphere,” he said. “Are we teaching the next generation to aspire, to compete with excellence, and yet to balance responsibility with reliance on God?”
Patra acknowledged that this balance is difficult, as the pressures of professional life often tempt believers to compromise. He described his own practice of “de-learning and relearning” at the end of each day, listening for the Spirit’s voice to guard against dulling sensitivity to God’s guidance.
Witness through example
Patra concluded with stories that illustrated how Christian values can shape environments and be a witness to their faith by their actions. He described opportunities where he was pressured to engage in corrupt practices but refused, choosing instead to model transparency.
“There are opportunities and there are challenges,” he said. “We have to pick our game.”
In another instance, he recalled being asked whether his organization was “Christian.” His response, he said, was to emphasize not institutional identity but the values by which they operated. “We are not a Christian organization, but we operate with Christian values and principles,” he said.
This, he argued, is what it means to be salt and light: influencing society through integrity, relevance, and excellence.
“We must stand up and be counted,” he said. “Our prayer and our hope must be that all of us would become salt and light in the public space, not perfectly, but faithfully, reflecting Jesus in what we do.”
