Rev.
C. Y. Thomas
| Kerala, the State, clothed in nature's finery, protected by the rocky mountains in the East and washed by the waves of the Arabian Sea in the West, has been blessed with Christianity from the I st century. Tradition has it that it was St. Thomas, the Apostle of Jesus who brought Christianity to Kerala. The Ancient Syrian Church of Malabar had links with Christian centres in West Asia. The winds of the Reformation which rocked Europe in the 16th century swept in India as well with the coming of the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, the London Missionary Society and the Basel Mission. Now Christians form about 2.5% of the population of India and 30% of the population of Kerala. The majority of the people in India are Hindus, Muslims are of a sizeable number. The people of India live in religious amity in the multi-religious environment. | 
|
The
C.M.S. in Travancore
The
history of the Madhya Kerala Diocese dates back to the work of the
Church Missionary Society in the state
of Travancore.
| The
Rev. R. H. Kerr and the Rev. Claudius Buchanan, visited the
Malabar Syrians in 1806, during the episcopate of Mar Dionysius
I. It was Lord William Bentinck, who sent Dr. Kerr to Travancore
for the purpose of investigating the state of the native church.
E. M. Philip tells us that, "he (Kerr) expressed to
the Metropolitan of the Syrian Church a hope that one day a
union might take-place between the Syrian and the Anglican
Church and that he seemed pleased at the suggestion." |
|
The
next friendly Anglican visitor was Dr. Buchanan, who evinced a keen
desire that the Syrian Church and
the Church of England should be brought closer together. His speech at
the C. M. S. Anniversary in 1809 and his famous book, "Christian
Researches in Asia", drew the attention of the English people to
the Syrian
Christians of Travancore.
Mission
of help to the Syrians
The C. M. S. Mission of Help to the Jacobite Syrians of Kerala
was started in the year 1816, of which the initiative came from Col.
Munro, the then British Resident of
Travancore. There
were two main purposes behind the mission of Help to the Syrians.
First of
all, through
the work of the C. M. S.
Missionaries among
the Syrians, to effect the
renovation of their church and to raise them from their degradation.
Secondly, the British resident as well as the missionaries hoped
that, "a strong and friendly Christian Community will be a support
to the British power in Malabar".
Rev. Thomas Norton was the first missionary who came to
Travancore in this connection. He
was soon followed by Benjamin Bailey (1816), Joseph Fenn (1818)
and Henvy Baker Sr. (1819) who are popularly known as the "Kottayam
Trio". These three
concentrated their work among the Syrians, whereas the pioneer
missionary, Norton focused his work among the
outcastes in Alleppey.
Though the relationship between the missionaries and the Jacobite
Syrians went on well without many problems in the beginning, it did not
last long. The change of
leadership in the Jacobite Syrian community as well as the change of
missionaries caused much problem in the relationship. During the second
half of the Mission of Help, the pioneer missionaries went on furlough.
While they were away new men came on the scene, Joseph Peet (1833-1865)
and W. J. Wood Cock (1834-1837). The
young missionaries were rather impatient about the slow progress being
made and were sometimes rash in their actions. The visits of the Rev.
J.
Tucker, Secretary of the C. M. S. Corresponding Committee at Madras,
and Bishop Wilson, the Anglican Bishop of Calcutta did not heal the
wound, these two being uncompromising evangelists. This was followed by
a Synod of the Syrian Christians at Mavelikkara on 16th January, 1836,
in which the Jacobite Syrian Community under Mar Dionysius IV, the then
Malankara Metropolitan decided to break all their relationships with the
Church of England. With
this we see an early death of the twenty year old C. M. S. Mission of
Help to the Syrian Church of Travancore.
Missionaries
Turn To the Masses
The dissolution of the contract between the C. M. S. and the
Syrian Metropolitan after 20 years of beneficial work was no doubt says,
C. M. Agur "a great disappointment." With the snapping of
ties, the missionaries directed their attention to the despised and the
down trodden Ezhavas, Hill Arrians, and the outcastes of Central
Travancore.
Due to the impact of the work of the C. M. S. among the Syrian
Christians, soon after the separation with them, a good number of Syrian
Christians who were attracted towards the reformation joined the
Anglican Church. In certain
cases, the whole Syrian parishes joined with the missionaries.
Therefore, the missionaries began to serve them as parish priests
too.
Kottayam
Mission
Even before the formal break with the Syrian Christians, the CMS
Missionaries at various places had started work among the
non-Christians. After 1836 we find in the C. M. S. records, references
to the 'Kottayam Village Mission' with Bailey in charge of it and 'the
Kottayam District Mission' under Baker, with his headquarters at Pallom,
five
miles to the south. They also continued educational work and built
another college at Kottayam, the C. M. S. College in 1838.
The new college made its real start in 1840 when the Rev. John
Chapman took charge of it.
The missionaries were the pioneers in the field of printing.
Having acquired the necessary mastery over Malayalam, Bailey translated
and printed two complete editions of the Holy Scriptures and two of the
Common Prayer Book. Besides
these, he wrote a big English and Malayalam Dictionary and another
Malayalam and English Dictionary. In
1848 the first Malayalam periodical "The Treasury of
Knowledge" was published and is still coming out as the Diocesan
Magazine.
In 1843, Bishop Wilson said about the future work of the
missionaries as, "You had no other course to take but to build
churches for yourselves, to go on with your own schools, to multiply
copies of the scripture, to erect, as you have done, your own college,
and to carry on an open unfettered mission for the good of the heathen
and Muhammadans generally,
and of the individual Roman Catholics, Roman Syrians and Syrians around
you who might voluntarily and peaceably avail themselves of your labours..."
Church building was one of the principal activities of the Kottayam
Mission in the forties. At
Mallappally, Kottayam, Pallom, Kollad, Olessa, Ericadu, Changanacherry,
Mavelikkara and Mundakayam, fairly beautiful churches were built.
Of these, the largest as well as the most beautiful was the Holy
Trinity, Kottayam, which
Bishop Wilson called, "the noble Gothic church, the glory of
Travancore," It was the work of Bailey whose laborious
service in Kottayam went on apace, undeterred by
the split.
Kottayam
District Mission
There were two congregations in Kottayam District-Pallom and Kollad. Henry Baker Junior carried on vigorously and in 1847 he completed
the construction of churches at Olessa, Velluthuruthy and Ericadu.
At the close of five years' work the membership of the Anglican
Church in the combined districts numbered 552.
By this time another district had been formed at Thiruvalla and
Hawksworth was in charge of it.
Rev. M. J.
Chandy was ordained in Madras in 1847 and was the second Malayalee
to receive Anglican Orders, the first having been the Rev. George Mathen
in 1844. In 1856, four more
Indian clergy were added to the Anglican Church.
The Annual report for 1856-57 states, "The Travancore
Mission exhibits the best proof of real progress in the fact that native
congregations which have been gathered together by the labours of
missionaries have now been committed to the charge of native
clergymen." By 1870, their number was fifteen.
Hill
Arrian Mission
The year 1848 was a turning point in the work of the C. M. S.
Missionaries, as they began to work among the Hill Tribes of Central
Travancore. The principal
tribe among whom the C. M. S. Missionaries concentrated their work was,
the Hill Arrians. This
Mission was the out come of
the request of a delegation from among the Hill Arrians to the C. M.
S. Missionary, the Rev. Henry Baker Junior, often been known as the
'Apostle of Hill Arrians."
Alappuzha
Mission
| The
first Anglican Missionary to arrive in Travancore was the
Rev. Thomas Norton who
settled at Alappuzha in 1816 on the suggestion of Col. Munro.
Norton was happy to be at Alappuzha, outside the Syrian sphere,
so that he might concentrate his evangelistic efforts on the
medley of races and religions in that commercial town. The
Sunday after his arrival, he preached significantly on the
parable of the grain of mustard-seed at the first Anglican
service held in Travancore. |
 |
The
beautiful church was completed in July 1819.
And in the meantime he had gained sufficient mastery over
Malayalam "to lay myself out in the delightful work of making known
a Saviour's love". The
"laying out" was so effective that when he died in 1840 the
Church was well established, the membership numbering 560 drawn from all
classes.
The
Cochin Mission
The first missionary to be stationed at Cochin was the Rev. Thomas
Dawson. But he had to
return home early in 1818 on account of
ill-health. In 1820,
the Kottayam Missionaries were paying regular visits to Cochin every
fortnight. Services were
held in the fine old Church of St. Francis
which Dawson has repaired.
The
work of evangelization gathered prodigious momentum with the arrival of
the Rev. Samuel Risdale in 1824. He
threw himself heart and soul into the work among a very mixed population
comprising Indian, Portuguese, Dutch and English elements.
He obtained a grant of land from the government and gathered a
little Christian village around him.
A boys' school and a Girls' school were soon started. Risdale had
a number of converts, the most notable of whom were John and
Constantine. John was a
Brahmin, and Constantine was Rama Varma, the son of Vira Kerala Rajah.
Mavelikara
Mission
Mavelikara became a C. M. S. station
when the Rev. Joseph Peet
took up his abode there with his family.
Within a few months of his arrival at Mavelikara, he had built a
church designed to hold 400 people, and at the end of five years there
were four congregations-Mavelikara,
Poovathoor, Kodukulanji and Mallappally, with a membership of about 500.
He started seven schools which
had 200 students on their rolls.
Peet
went home on furlough and Hawksworth took his place in 1845.
Persecution raised its ugly head again as soon as Peet vanished
from the scene. His return
was hailed with joy by the rich and the poor alike.
The great missionary laboured on in Mavelikara right into the
sixties. The Rev.
Joseph Peet rested from his labours at Mavelikara on August 11,
1865. When he died at the
end of thirty years' unremitting toil, he was incharge of eleven
substantial churches with members totalling more than 2500.
The
Mallappally Movement
Mallappally
has a place of honour in the history of the Mission.
Mallappally was the first nonconvert (Anglo-Syrian) congregation.
Rev. George Mathen was the first Malayalam clergyman of Anglican
Church. He ministered to
the Mallappally people. The
Missionary who did most to foster the movement in its infancy was the
Rev. John Hawksworth. He
wrote to the committee in the early part of 1851 as, "For some
months past there has been a very hopeful movement among the poor slaves
in the neighbourhood of Mallappally.
In this country; these poor creatures are regarded by the higher
classes, and even by common coolies, as utterly unclean and polluting.
A school room was
erected at a place called Kaippatta. Mr. Mathen was the school master.
The slaves heard and received the word of God with great joy.
Among the slaves, one of the first to be baptised was named Abel,
which had taken place in 1854. There were thirty desiring baptism, but
only eight were admitted. This
Kaippatta incident caused a great excitement in Mallappally.
Diocese
of Travancore and Cochin
| Early in 1876, the Society began negotiations with the Secretary of State for India so that a new see might be formed under the Jerusalem Bishopric Act for the Church of England in the Native States of Travancore and Cochin. And towards the end of the year a public announcement was made that the Rev. J. M. Speechly, then Principal of the C. N. I., would be the first Bishop of the New Diocese. It was also made clear that "the appointment of an experienced European Missionary as a Bishop was a preparatory step to the ultimate appointment of native Bishops". |  |
Rev.
J. M. Speechly (1879-1888) was consecrated as the first Bishop for the
newly formed Anglican Diocese of Travancore and Cochin, on St. James'
Day, the 25th July 1879, in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and he arrived
at Kottayam on January 27, 1880.
The
main intention of the Society to form a diocese was, "to build up
well-trained native congregations under native pastors... to resign all
pastoral work into their hands" and for the missionary gradually,
"to relax his superintendence over the pastors themselves, till it
insensibly ceases". To this end there began a steady increase in
the number of the local ministers and the condition of the Native Church
began to be improved.
In 1888, the Rt. Rev.
J. M. Speechly left for
England and was unable to return, and
the Rt. Rev. E. N.
Hodges (1890-1904), a C. M. S. Missionary from Ceylon followed him as
the Bishop of the diocese. He was installed in the Pro-Cathedral,
Kottayam in November 1890.
In
1894 an Industrial school with a boarding house attached, was opened in
Kottayam for Dalit Christians. It
was the resort of the Christians from the backward classes, when their
huts or church sheds were burned down and their crops carried off by
angry upper class people. But
things were changed when a government proclamation informed the public
that "all high roads, markets and courts of justice are open
to all". Bishop Hodges
issued an order to the effect that all church buildings in the diocese
were to be opened to Christians from every community.
Adoor
Mission
During the episcopate of Bishop Hodges, the first missionary enterprise
of the diocese organised as its Home Mission, was started at Adoor in
1903. A decade of strenous
evangelistic work was amply rewarded.
In 1914 there were 9 stations with 321 christians.
In the course of thirty years the field widened and the number of
stations increased to 20 with a total membership of 2600.
There were two primary schools and a weaving school started in
1945. Most of the people
were backward in every walk of life.
Bishop
Hodges retired in 1905 and was succeeded by Bishop Charles Hope Gill
(1905-1925), who was consecrated in Westminister Abbey and arrived in
Kottayam in 1906. He had
served as a CMS Missionary in North India for eighteen years. It
was during his episcopate that teachers and catechists from the
backward class community were first
admitted to the Cambridge Nicholson and Buchnan Institutions.
The
Centenary Celebrations
The centenary of the founding of the Mission was celebrated in 1916.
There were local celebrations in various parts of the Diocese,
which culminated in the central celebrations at Kottayam.
The Pro-Cathedral was full to over-flowing for the main
thanksgiving service, and there was as recorded, at the time, 'an
enormous gathering' for the public meeting held in the place where the
Centenary Memorial Building was to be erected.
Educational
institutions were going from strength to strength.
The director of Public Instruction of Travancore State wrote in
1917: "What struck me most about the Kottayam College was what I
should describe as the collegiate atmosphere. I have never felt this any
where in South India as I have felt it here".
Diocesanisation
The Diocesanisation which began in 1879 fulfilled in 1920, when Bishop
Gill constituted, "Travancore and Cochin Diocesan Council" to
assist in the management of the temporal affairs and financial business
of the church. Its first
business was to relate all existing organization to the diocesan
council, and a standing committee was appointed.
Karappuram
Mission
In 1921 an extensive effort to reach a thousand Ezhava Families living in the coastal areas was set on foot by an independent committee, in relation with the church. With Miss. Isabel Baker's (C. M. S. Missionary) generous contribution, a school, hospital and a coir factory were established under the title 'Karappuram Mission' in the Shertellai area. In 1953 the Diocese undertook full responsibility of the mission but it continued to fail.
Bethel
Ashram
In 1992, Miss. Neve, a C.
M. S. Missionary, felt the need to serve the women of the diocese in a
wider sphere than in the Training School (B. I. Pallom), where she was
working. Miss.
Rachel Joseph, a high school teacher, joined her in the new
venture. They rented a
house in Alappuzha and undertook various activities among the women
there. The name 'Bethel'
was adopted, and their work soon attracted women students from all parts
of the Diocese.
Parkal
Mission
The fourth Bishop of the Diocese, the Rt. Rev. E.A.L. Moore, (1925-1937)
was a missionary in Madras. He
was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury and was welcomed to
Kottayam with much enthusiasm. Bishop
Moore was a bachelor of rather austere and ascetic habits, and far from
taking a salary, put back his allowances into a diocesan fund.
Diocesanisation progressed rapidly and a well - drawn up
Constitution was passed in December,
1926 and came into force on 1st January, 1928.
Medical
Mission
In 1938, a deaf school was started at Pallom and in 1941 it was moved to
a rented house in Tiruvalla. In
1951, a section of the Tholassery Mission Compound was given for the
school and good buildings were constructed.
The Sisterhood connected with Bethel and
fore-runner of the Women's Order of the C.S.I. was formed.
In 1944,a large group of women of the Church was admitted by
Bishop Corfield as Associates of the Ashram Fellowship.
There were about 500 members at the time of its inception.
Indigenous
Leadership
In 1944 Bishop Corfield, quite unexpectedly, resigned as the fifth
Bishop of the Diocese of Travancore and Cochin. Archdeacon C.K. Jacob
was selected to the Bishopric, the first nonmissionary Bishop, and he
was consecrated in 1945. Bishop
Jacob was well known for his fervant life of prayer and his knowledge of
the Bible. Besides, he had
an intimate knowledge of the Diocese in all its parts and majority of
the Church Workers were his students.
His first Diocesan Council was memorable in that it was conducted
for the first time entirely in Malayalam as well as the first under an
Indian Bishop.
The
Diocese under the Church of South India
| The
formation of the Church of South India, was one of the
remarkable events in the History of Christianity.
Bishop Jacob was the Presiding Bishop at the great
service of Inauguration and Consecration of the new Bishops
which took place in St. George's Cathedral, Madras. |
 |
Under the initiative and able leadership of Bishop Jacob, the Third
World Conference of Christian Youth was held at Kottayam in 1952.
The Rajpramukh (former Maharajah) inaugurated the conference and
it was attended by
300 delegates from various countries.
Due to ill health, Bishop Jacob resigned in 1957 and in December he was
called to his eternal abode. The
church mourned at his death, that a great bishop, a true shepherd of his
flock, and tributes to his outstanding life and leadership poured in
from all over the world.
The Rev. M. J. Chandy was appointed as moderator's
commissary, and cared for the diocese faithfully till the new bishop was
consecrated.
| By the middle of 1958, the Rev. M. M. John, (1958-1974) the then vicar of Kanjikuzhi Pastorate, had been selected to the Bishopric. He was already well-known through out the Diocese, and had higher training in Canada. He was to be our first Bishop with in the C.S.I. and the first to be consecrated within the Diocese itself. In July 1960, the Peet Memorial Training College at Mavelikara was inaugurated on the upstairs of the huge old mission Bungalow where the Rev.Joseph Peet had lived and served from 1838 to 1865. In 1964, a second college was started by the Diocese at Mavelikara. |  |
The College is named after
Bishop Moore, a true scholar and an educationalist.
In the same academic year, a high school was started at Olessa,
and permission was obtained to open a high school at South - Puthuppally,
a long-felt need of the Southern Pastorates.
The following year a Technical Training Institute was started at
Muttom, in the Melukavu District.
1966 was the Triple Jubilee year of the start of the work of the CMS in
Travancore. The Diocese
celebrated the Jubilee in November,
1966 and to commemorate the Jubilee, an annual convention was started at
Kottayarn. Notable speakers
from all over the world were invited and a large number of people
attended the convention. The
10th session of C.S.I Synod which meets in turn in different dioceses,
was held at Kottayam during the year.
Another event of the Jubilee year had been the Golden Jubilee of
the Youth Movement of the diocese, which was started in 1916.
About 300 young people with their leaders attended the 50th
Annual session of the youth conference in May and public meeting was
arranged in the CMS College, Kottayam to mark the occasion.
The conference decided to start a Youth Centre at Changanacherry
and to send missionaries outside Kerala to work among the people, those
who have not yet heard the Gospel.
The Diocese was divided mainly into two Zones-North and South Zones, and
placed under two district ministers, Rev. C.I. Mathi and Rev. M.V.
George respectively. During
this period there were ten district councils, each district council was
under the charge of a district chairman, a senior pastor.
Assistant
Bishop
Andhra
Mission
The diocesan Youth League had selected Mogulappally, a very backward
village 14 miles away from Parkal, as their mission field
which they named as Andhra Mission.
The Rev. P.O. Ninan and his wife were the first missionaries and
they went to the mission field in 1967.
Today there are six centres with 31 christian villages, two
missionary pastors and six church workers.
There is one homeo hospital, one tailoring school, one
typewriting institute. Here
the work is mainly among the higher caste people.
Missionary
Conference
District missionary conferences became a regular feature, organized by
the district chairman and the missionary.
The conference started with a thanksgiving service, then a
colourful procession and in the afternoon a public meeting. To a great
extent this missionary conferences helped to inspire the missionary
spirit of the church and led several to commit themselves for the
Christian work.
The Diocese observed the year 1973 as the 'development year' and Mr. K.
J. John was appointed as the development officer. The Treasury of
knowledge, celebrated its 125th anniversary in 1973, its first
edition had come out in 1848. Likewise
the youth publication 'Yuvalokam' also celebrated its Silver Jubilee, in
the same year.
In May, 1974, Bishop M.M
John retired after 16 years of fruitful episcopal ministry.
Several educational institutions were started during his period.
The Diocese developed and extended its work in various spheres.
He was followed by the Rt. Rev. T. S. Joseph, (1974-1981) the assistant
bishop, as the 8th bishop of the Diocese of Madhya Kerala.
He was installed in the cathedral on 27th
December, 1974.
Professional
Fellowship
A retreat was organised at Buchanan Institution, Pallom for those who
were working in various institutions, on 9th August 1975.
At the business session of this meeting, it was decided to form
the Professional Fellowship and elected Rev. M. C. Mani as its president
and M.C. Andrews, secretary. It
was also decided to conduct zonal conferences once in three months.
Today, it is one of the best organizations in the diocese, having
units in almost all the churches. Professional
Fellowship is publishing a monthly periodical named 'Atmaya
sandesam' in which the articles are mainly contributed by the laity.
Frontier
Mission
The Diocese began a frontier mission within the diocese and Rev. K.
Michalel John was appointed in charge of the mission.
It was a mission work among the people, who were living in the
most backward areas. There
were eight sisters to assist this mission work.
Pallom and Kanakkary were the two
centres, they had concentrated for their work.
In each area about 1000 families were chosen to assist them in
bettering their social, economic and religious life.
The sisters used to visit the houses and teach the poor people
how to manage their home, children and advise them what are the
precautions they have to take to resist various diseases.
The workers of the frontier mission also help the poor people to
budget their expenditure according to their income and teach them to
save a little money for their unforeseen needs.
C.S.I
Ascension Sevananilayam
"Ascension Sevananilayam" was started in 1978 near Kottayam
Medical College in order to help the patients those who are coming to
the Medical College Hospital for treatment.
It serves as a true resting place to the sick and the suffering
with a pastor always available for their spiritual need.
Those from far away places find this institution to be of immense
help.
B.J.S.M
Hospital
Bishop John Sashtiabda Purthi Memorial Hospital, Kodukulanji was
inaugurated on 2nd April,
1978. It was constructed
with the help of the Protestant Central Agency, West Germany and about
54 lakhs of rupees expensed off for the completion of the hospital
complex. Though conceived
as the nerve centre of the Diocesan Medical activity, it did not come up
to expectation. Stiff
competition and lack of medical personal were the causes for this as in
the case of many other hospitals of the Dioceses.
Uttar
Pradesh Mission
In 1980, the diocese celebrated it centenary at Kottayam.
One of the notable decisions of the centenary
was to open a new mission field in Uttar Pradesh in memory of the
Diocesan Centenary and this mission is often known as the centenary
mission. Mr.& Mrs. P.N. Ninan were
sent as the first missionaries and they started their work at Qazipur in
1982. Today there are 3 missionaries to look after the mission
vigorously. A school, a
nursery school and a clinic are running in addition to the mission work.
The Rt. Rev. T. S. Joseph retired on 18th January, 1981 after
successfully completing his tenure of 7 years as the Assistant Bishop
and 6 years as the Bishop of the Diocese.
A man of prayer and simplicity he shepherded his flock
faithfully. Rt. Rev. M. C.
Mani, (1981-1993) became the 9th Bishop of the Diocese and he was
consecrated on 8th February,
1981 at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kottayam.
In order to help the poor and the needy, who came from various castes
and subcastes the diocese started the 'Bishop's Discretionary Fund'.
In 1981, a School for the partially Hearing was started at Adoor
and is one of the pioneer schools in this field.
This has developed into a full-fledged school.
Another remarkable contribution of this period was the beginning
of a Junior college at Melukavu. The
College was named after the great missionary Rev. Henry Baker and it was
dedicated and formally inaugurated in
November, 1981.
Theological
Institution
A Theological Institution was started in 1989 at Kottayam, the
headquarters of the Diocese for the continuing education of pastors,
evangelists and for lay training. The
Diocese endeavours to build up a library and also an archives in
Kottayam. Moreover, the
Diocese constructed a Retreat Centre in 1991, where seminars and
workshops for the clergy, evangelists and for the laity are conducted.
Bishop Rt. Rev. M. C. Mani retired on 3rd July, 1993 after 12 years of
episcopal ministry and Rev. Sam
Mathew was selected for the Bishopric.
He was consecrated as the 10th
Bishop Diocese on 1st
September, 1993.
The main intention of this period was a spiritual renewal in the
Diocese. Bishop urged his
clergy and church workers to make their congregations active and lively.
He instigated them to divide the congregation into small prayer
groups, each group under the leadership of a lay leader and provided
Bible notes to teach in these groups.
All the organizations - Women's Fellowship, Youth Movement,
Sunday School Union, Professionals' Fellowship and Choristers'
Association are very active and vibrant wings of the church.
Renovation of the village churches, mission houses and development of
the marginalised communities are to be the priority of the Diocese.
Active support and co-operation of the people are needed to take
up these issues. A
Commission named 'Jerusalem Mission' is instituted to carry out a
detailed and comprehensive study of all the churches in the Diocese to
identify the needs and potentials.
This can be the beginning of the attempt to revive and re-vitalise
the church to cater to the needs of the present time.
Through out the diocese, Missionary Festivals are organized in order to
inspire the missionary thought of the people.
Tens of thousands of people with Bible participated in the
rallies organised in the various districts of the Diocese.
These Bible Rallies created new enthusiasm among the people and
raise new challenges in the christian community.
Besides, these district level rallies, where 25 to 50 churches
come together for witnessing, bring down the ecumenical activity to the
grass root level.
This Indian church looks forward eagerly to a time when the Gospel will
bring perfect justice and peace among the people of India, and the whole
creation with its fascinating divergencies will be united in the
Salvation. It is primarily
through the concern for the total humanity that the Church
fulfils its mission.
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When we look back into the pages of history, we can understand that how God guided and united this Church into one flock. The Church Union Movement in South India which eventually resulted in the birth of the CSI on 27th Sept. 1947, is one of the greatest miracles in the history of Christianity. After twenty-eight years of joint consultation in trying patience and fervent hope, the negotiating churches finally entered into an organic union. The Church Union in South India was also an answer to the effectual prayers of God's people in several lands.
Long before the dawn of the 20th century the need for mutual
consultation and co-operation was keenly felt among the various
Protestant or Evangelical Churches in South India.
They included the Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians,
Methodists and Congregationalists.
These denominations were so badly divided that they could present
only disunited front to the people of other faiths.
The lack of solidarity was very glaring and the denominational
churches were quite ineffective in witnessing Christ.
Under these circumstances, the need for united action and closer
co-operation was felt very much in several quarters.
Missionaries in different parts of India felt around 1850 that
they should meet periodically in conferences in the interest of their
common work. Accordingly
Provincial Conferences were held in major cities such as Calcutta
(1855), Benares (1857), Ootacamund (1858), Lahore (1862), Allahabad
(1872) and Madras (1879). With
the spread of Western education, gradual growth of self-reliance and the
spirit of independence among various groups, there came an urge for a
united Christian Community, unhampered by denominational differences.
The formation of the South Indian Missionary Association in 1897
was another development. The
South Indian Missionary Conference of 1900 held in Madras brought
together some one hundred and fifty missionaries representing some
forty-five different missionary organizations.
By
the turn of the century there were strong forces in the mission field in
South India which were clearly working
in a unifying direction. The
founding of the Christian Literature Society, the Christian Endeavour
Convention, the Y.M.C.A. (1890), the Student Volunteer Movement of India
and Ceylon (1896), Indian Missionary Society (1903) and the National
Missionary Society (1904), was of great importance, for these
organizations and movements were instrumental in bringing together
European and Indian Church leaders of different denominations on a
common platform and for a common cause.
Similar role was played by educational institutions such as the
Madras Christian College, the Women's Christian College, Madras, the
United Theological College, Bangalore and Jaffna College, North Ceylon.
These joint enterprises in which several churches shared
undeniably provided great impulses for union.
In
India the organic church union was started in 1901. The first of its
kind was a federal union of two Presbyterian missions in South India.
In 1908, the South India United Church (SIUC) was formally
constituted. We can say
that, it was a union paving the way for a wider church union.
The SIUC was an amalgamation of Presbyterians and
Congregationalists.
In
1919, two or three of the Indian delegates to the National Missionary
Council at Jabalpore conceived the idea of a Conference of Indian
ministers to consider the question of church union.
An informal meeting accordingly took place at Tranquebar in May,
1919. Those present were
members of Anglican and South India United Church.
Bishop V.S.Azariah and Rev.V.Santiago played a leading role.
They decided to proceed further with the question of church union
on the basis of Lambeth Quadrilateral.
Lambeth Quadrilateral was a four point formula accepted for the
church union by the Anglican Bishops in 1888, who used to meet together
in Lambeth every ten years. The four point formula are as follows
a.
The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments,
b.
The Apostle and Nicene Creeds,
c.
Two Sacraments- Baptism and
Lord's Supper and
d.
The Historic Episcopate ( Episcopally ordained ministry ).
After the Tranquebar consultation, the churches officially
appointed a Joint Committee. The
first meeting of the Joint Committee was held at Bangalore in March 1920
and a Scheme of Union was drawn up.
Further signs of encouragement appeared on the horizon when the
Methodist Church entered into the negotiations in 1925. In the Joint
Committee meeting held at Bangalore in 1929, an agreement was reached
among the three negotiating churches that all their ministers should
become, by the act of union, ministers of the Word and Sacraments in the
United Church.
In
the first phase of the consultation, the Congregationalists did not
accept the Historic Episcopate and the theory of Apostolic Succession.
The Methodists also demanded much importance for the ministry of
the laity. Difficulties
were faced from the Anglican side too.
The crucial question of the balance of power between Bishop and
the Synod created some problems, which, however, were tackled by the
Joint Committee. Necessary
changes were made in 1932 in the edition of 1929 Scheme of Church Union.
Again and again revisions were made periodically in the drafted
church union scheme. When
the negotiations entered their third decade there was widespread
weariness and pessimism "There seemed no end of revision and no
sign of decision". In 1941 the Joint Committee came out with
seventh edition of the scheme of union (which came the final scheme).
The negotiating churches gave their approval.
When this decision was reached, it was felt that the churches
were ready to advance more
definitely than before. By 1947, the concerned General Councils of the
three churches, (SIUC, Anglican and Methodist) voted in favour of the
church union and the way was now wide open for the inauguration of the
union in September of that year.
India
became independent on 15th August, 1947 and the bitter
struggle for political independence ended.
A new chapter was opened in the political scene of India and
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister.
The same year also witnessed the end of the long process of
negotiations for church union. Thus the CSI was constituted by the union
of the Madras, Madura, Malabar, Jaffna, Kannada, Telungu and Travancore
Church Councils of the South India United Church; the South India
Province of the Methodist Church comprising the Madras, Trichinopoly,
Hyderabad and Mysore Districts; and the Madras, Dornakal, Tinnevelly and
Travancore & Cochin of the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon.
Bishop C.K. Jacob of the Travancore & Cochin Diocese was the
presiding Bishop at the great service of Inauguration and Consecration
of the new Bishops which took place in St. George's Cathedral, Madras.
The CSI began with fourteen dioceses and a membership of
10,17,184 of whom 2,63,680 were communicants. The North Tamil Church of
the SIUC which in 1946
decided not to join the CSI, joined the United Church in 1950. The
Bombay Karnataka Council of
the United Basel Mission Church in India joined the CSI in 1958. The
Anglican Church of Nandyal Diocese
which chose to stand outside the union in 1947, merged with the CSI in
1975. Today the Church of
South India consists of 21 Dioceses covering entire South India and Sri
Lanka.
This
Indian Church looks forward eagerly to a time when the Gospel will bring
perfect justice and peace among the people of India, and the whole
creation with its fascinating divergencies will be united in the
Salvation. It is primarily
through the concern for the total humanity that the Church fulfils its
mission.
- Rev.C.Y.Thomas.