Published Paper Details:

Abstract This study investigates the nexus between community belonging, cultural identity, and Christian mission within the Devanga community of the Kongu region in Tamil Nadu. Although existing scholarship has predominantly examined the community's historical antecedents, weaving heritage, and socio-cultural traditions, scant attention has been accorded to the manner in which communal belonging and cultural identity inform responses to Christian mission. Employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the study draws upon ten focus group discussions involving sixty-three participants, including Devanga community members, Devanga Christians, pastors, and Christian leaders. It explores how identity is articulated, preserved, and reconstituted amidst the forces of globalization, migration, urbanization, educational mobility, and occupational diversification. The findings indicate that community belonging remains the fulcrum of Devanga identity and cultural continuity. Responses to Christian mission are shaped less by doctrinal contestation than by concerns of communal cohesion, cultural preservation, and social legitimacy. Consequently, conversion is often experienced not merely as an individual act of faith but as a profound renegotiation of collective identity and communal relationships. By elucidating the intricate interplay between belonging, identity, and faith, this study contributes to contemporary missiological discourse and advances a more nuanced understanding of religious change within culturally plural societies. The research advocates contextually informed, culturally attuned approaches to Christian mission that meaningfully engage with the lived realities of community and identity.