75 Vol. 4/1 Jaunary- June, 2014 New Life Theological Journal Good News for the Fishers of Central India: Origin, Identity, and Destiny Shivraj K. Mahendra * (shivrajkm@gmail.com) INTRODUCTION: A NEW VENTURE “It is my firm belief … that God is going to use the Church in India … to bring in a tremendous harvest of souls. The greatest service the churches can render to India, and every other land, is to make available to more and more people that knowledge of Christ and that faith in Him which will lift individuals, families, castes, classes, minorities and whole states to the plane on which God intends them to operate to His glory and to the welfare of the nation.” – Donald McGavran 1 In sincere agreement with the spirit of the above statement, in addition to a personal vision and burden, in this paper I seek to make available the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ to the unreached people group called Dhimar (Fishers or Fisher folks) of Chhattisgarh, Central India. In doing so, an attempt is made, firstly, to learn about and understand the religio- cultural world of the Dhimars from an anthropological perspective. Secondly, I also venture to propose a biblical theology of mission for Dhimar people, responding to some of the pertinent issues in regard to their religious beliefs, cultural practices and identity as a people. Finally, I have tried to highlight selected methods and strategies of evangelism and church planting for establishing indigenous church among the Dhimars. Methodologically, my effort will be to utilize the insights from anthropological readings towards seeking answers for the questions such as, who are the Dhimars? How has their cultural identity been shaped? How do they perceive this identity for themselves and how others see them? What are the socio-religious issues that the Dhimars are faced with? Further, in order to present possible biblical theological responses to these * Rev. Shivraj K. Mahendra comes from Chhattisgarh and has served as a missionary in Uttarakhand since 1997. He has taught at Doon Bible College and New Theological College in Dehradun. He is the author of A Christian History of Uttarakhand, Vol. I (2014), and A Christian Response to Pornography (2012). Currently he is pursuing PhD in Intercultural Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary, USA. NLTJ 4/1 (January-June 2014)75-90