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evangelism and were found to be more effective than the institutions run by the government.

1.      Motivating factors for Mission

There could be various factors that might have motivated the Evangelical Church of ECM and MEC Maraland to send out missionaries to different places in India, Myanmar and abroad. One may wonder why Mara Christians have been very enthusiastic about mission work and what makes them to put such effort into this task. Maras have drawn motivation for mission from the Bible, although the evangelical Church is yet to have its official statement of a biblical theology of mission. This does not mean that the Mission Board does not have a biblical basis for mission. As already discussed the Maras have an unwritten but smoothly agreed upon theology of mission. At this stage one has to study their songs, messages, teachings and writings and even mission related actions to understand the motivation for the mission and evangelism work.

1.1.Biblical and theological factors

One important thing in mission is the biblical-theological perspective that not only motivates people but also determines the priority given in mission. Biblical and theological factors that motivate Mara Christian can be discussed as follows:

1.1.1.      Obedience to Christ

Mara mission in general seems to have been influenced by the old paradigm in its outreach and literal understanding of the so-called the great commission given by Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching to observe that all I have commanded you; and lo I am with you always, to the close of the age”. This commitment to mission is clearly expressed in the report of the Review Committee of Mission of the evangelical Church. The Evangelical Church therefore, is committed to mission as its responsibility, in order to show obedience to Christ. The commitment is so intense that the church extends its areas of operation, sending more missionaries and increasing its financial contribution to mission. Besides the missionary mandate biblical text, there are theological reasons for people to be committed to mission.

1.1.2.      Constrained by love and thanksgiving

Another prominent motivation for mission is the love of God. That love leads and motivates one to deny himself/herself to be a blessing to others. Many Maras are involved in mission because of the impinging “constraints by the love of Christ” (2 Cor. 5:14). The Maras are grateful to God for all He had done for them and are therefore actively involved in mission to show their gratitude to God for what He has done for them. They feel that what they received freely must be given out freely as an expression of their gratitude to God.

1.1.3.      Election

The other motive is the election of the Mara Christians for mission. The Maras claim that as God has chosen Israel out of many nations, so God chose the Maras to evangelize the people of India and Myanmar and so on. With such feeling Maras earnestly believe they have a special responsibility to spread the gospel.

So we, evangelical Church narrate the rationale for this:

Maras are the only tribe who claim to be one hundred percent Christian. The Gospel came to us across the oceans, valleys and hills. We have grown so fast and received so much of manifold blessings. Therefore we feel strongly that God has chosen the Maras to be His agent in spreading the gospel.

Moreover, the Maras considers themselves to be “ambassadors” for Christ, quoting Paul who says, “We are ambassadors for Christ” (1Cor.5:20). Though this concept of election and ambassador seems to be fruitful among the Mara people, it needs to be restrained as it could lead to the extent of claiming themselves as God’s only chosen people among other people.

1.1.4.      Eschatological Factor

The Mara Christians believe in the imminent coming of Jesus Christ and therefore shouldered the responsibility of evangelizing the whole world before Jesus returns. Christian mission as understood by the Maras is to proclaim the good news to the whole world before Jesus comes again. This created in Mara Christians an irresistible urgency to preach the gospel. Many Maras left home to preach the good news of salvation to others not only in Maraland, but also in the states of Tripura, Manipur and Assam in India, Rakhai State in Myanmar and to other countries as well. Like Paul of old, they felt convinced that it was necessary for them to preach at home and abroad. The conviction that gospel proclamation is urgent has not died out even after the whole Mara population has become Christian. Songs are still composed to impressed and motivate people on the urgency and the need of mission. However, this concept could easily lead people to other-worldly Christian thinking that Christians should not be involved in this sinful world and there is therefore no point in tampering with the structure of society because Jesus is coming at any moment.