Yes:
• Yes. Many Nagas are only Christians by name. They do not practice what they preach. Naga Christianity is confined to the four walls of the church only during the devotional service on Sundays. For the rest of the week their attitude and behaviour is not Christian.
• Churches and other religious based institutions fare well in executing its agenda, as far as its congregation is concerned. But unfortunately, its scope often fails to go beyond the welfare of its congregation. In a time when every help and support from established institutions is the need of the hour, only a handful of these religious institutions have come forward to lend a hand, financially, assistance in provision of man power, opening its doors to host patients etc. The state government and its administration can surely use a helping hand from these institutions. Given that more than 90% of the population in the state is a Christian, it is as much a duty of the church to fight this pandemic as it is of the state administration.
• Yes. Don’t you think that because Christianity came from outside there was not proper education on what it is to be a Christian? After they left, the Naga church leaders should have educated the masses on living a Christian life. I think this was missing.
• Yes. Nominalism is suffocating the Christianity in Nagaland. Sadly, our churches are also contributing to it because the congregation is only a mirror of the church. To continue in nominalism will lead us to doom.
• Yes. We do not read the Bible the way it is supposed to be read and understood. The lessons from the Bible are the constitution of our daily lives. But we do not follow it. We are nothing more than nominal Christians.
No:
• Tribalism plays a bigger role in any given situation.
• No, I think most Nagas are Christians only by name and not in our daily practice.
• When our churches are organised along tribal lines what more can we expect. Nominalism is the outcome of tribalistic culture in our churches. We cannot blame nominalism.
Others:
• Even after looking at the dictionary for the word “nominalism” I still found it hard to understand the question.
• The answer is not as simple as the question because there are so many different factors involved. We Nagas are too narrow in our mindset and this has affected our beliefs as well.
• I wouldn't say that it is the biggest challenge but it is one among the biggest challenges which plagues the Church and society in general. It might be due to the fact that most Naga Christians are not well versed with the Biblical doctrines and the fundamental teachings of the Bible because we rely mostly on hand-to-mouth system of interpreting it rather than analyzing it ourselves based on personal understanding. The other issue is the inability to separate our tribalistic tendencies to look at God from just our own one-sided point of view and expecting Him to work for us and not the other way around.
• Most of the first and second generations of pastors were lay pastor who were not educated in the seminary but who out of conviction to serve the lord joined the ministry. We cannot blame that generation. But look at the current generation of church workers who have studied in different seminaries. They should be doing much more.
