Two hundred hungry people sit in Wentworthville’s RedGum Function Centre while, in the kitchen, two cooks fiercely battle it out for the dish of the evening.

In the kitchen on the left, a South Asian woman is explaining and demonstrating how to make Chicken 65. On the right, Archbishop Kanishka Raffel drops marinated chicken into a pan of boiling oil. They’re preparing for a blind taste test at the International Food Night, one of four events designed to help spiritually curious people from South Asian backgrounds explore faith.

The first week of winter saw almost 500 people attend across four events held at different locations in Western Sydney. Dubbed “Explore Faith week”, the different evenings featured musical performances in different languages, dinners, interviews, Bible talks, Q & A sessions and prayers.

The nights were initiated by Archbishop Raffel himself to help people of South Asian heritage explore what makes faith in Jesus unique and different from other faiths.

The Rev Clive B, a cross-cultural training consultant with the SATYA Network, says that the heart of the week was to help churches build on their relationships with South Asians, and help them share Jesus with their friends and neighbours who might be interested or have questions about faith.

Breaking stereotypes about Christianity

“A lot of South Asian culture is hierarchical,” says Clive, who co-ordinated the week of events. “Once people hear that an archbishop is doing something, they will respect it and they’re interested, even if their background is Buddhist or Hindu.

“Many South Asians think that Christianity is a Western religion, and equate Christianity with Western culture. To have a Sri Lankan archbishop really breaks that stereotype and helps them to see that Jesus is for all nations, loves everybody, and anybody can come to him.”

There is a growing need to connect and build relationships with South Asians. Since 2020, South Asia has been one of the largest sources of new migrants to Australia. Over the period from 2021-2023, more than 100,000 people migrated from India alone. This was followed closely by Nepal (almost 50,000 people) and Pakistan (close to 25,000). Just last year, India became the top birth country of overseas residents for the first time.

Conversations about Christ

While hundreds attended these events, Clive says this is just the beginning of helping churches welcome those from other backgrounds.

“We want to give churches inspiration and confidence to build relationships with South Asians, have spiritual conversations with them and share our faith,” he says. “It’s not a weird thing to talk about faith in South Asian culture.”

Conversations about faith with South Asians are close to Archbishop Raffel’s heart. His own journey of faith was greatly changed when friends encouraged him to read the gospels and ask hard questions about who Jesus might be.

“In the summer of 1985 I had a conversation with one friend who said that being a Christian meant he had lost control of his life to Jesus Christ,” the Archbishop said. “It was a provocative thing for him to say because, as a Buddhist, I was trying to take control of my internal life, my desires and ambitions… at the end of our conversation he said would you read something if I gave it to you? And he gave me Mark’s gospel and John’s gospel.”

Upon reading the gospels, the Archbishop found an authenticity he hadn’t expected and was struck by the person of Jesus. “Christianity diagnoses the problem of the world as our desire to make ourselves number one above God… Jesus says, ‘I am the good shepherd and I lay my life down for my sheep’. The Buddha says you must do your own work, but Jesus says, ‘Come to me all who are weary and laden and I will give you rest’.”

Connecting together

Across the Explore Faith week, churches in Toongabbie, Wentworthville, Stanhope Gardens and St John’s Cathedral in Parramatta worked together with the SATYA Network to host these events.

Two evenings focused on topics such as “Why Jesus in a world of many paths?” and “Is faith in Jesus a free pass?”. The International Food Night featured a cooking show between the Archbishop and some South Asian cooks, with interviews and testimonies shared by Christians.

To wrap up the week, spiritually open people were invited to a prayer night at the cathedral in Parramatta, where they heard a Bible story, were prayed for, and shared dinner with believers afterwards.

“There’s an excitement in doing this together,” Clive says. “We can build bridges into communities and make real connections. Pray for churches now with the hard work of follow up. Culturally, it feels foreign for Hindus to explore a different religion. But we want them to know that Jesus is for them!”

Back in the hall at Wentworthville, an array of judges from the audience have come forward to critique the cooking. Whose chicken will reign supreme?

With a score difference of one point, the Archbishop loses to the hosts. As the SATYA network likes to say, ‘You can’t cook curry in a hurry!’. In other words, it takes a lot of time and love for South Asians to come to know that Jesus is the one true Lord.

Pray

• for believers to have a heart for and a commitment to build relationships with those from South Asia, particularly for new migrants
• for South Asians to see that Jesus is not a God for Western people, but that he is Lord of all nations
• for the spiritually curious with questions about Christianity, that they will find satisfying answers in Jesus