CSI Garrison Wesley Church

CSI-Garrison Wesley Church
సి.ఎస్.ఐ గారిసన్ వెస్లీ చర్చి
Location Secunderabad
Country India
Denomination Church of South India
(comprising Wesleyan Methodist, Congregational and Anglican missionary societies - SPG, WMMS, LMS, CMS, and the Church of England)
Previous denomination Wesleyan Methodist
Churchmanship Low church
Weekly attendance 250 families[1]
Website www.csigarrisonwesley.com
History
Founded 1881[2]
Founder(s) British Indian Army[2] troops who later handed over the edifice to the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS)[2]
Architecture
Status Church
Functional status Active
Heritage designation INTACH Award[3]
Designated 2015[3]
Architectural type Chapel
Style Carpenter Gothic[4]
Years built 1853[1]
Completed 1881[1]
Construction cost INR 10 million (1 crore)[1]
(cost of renovation)
Specifications
Materials Lime and mortar[1]
Bells None[1]
Administration
Diocese Medak
District Town DCC[5]
Division Trumulgherry Pastorate
Clergy
Bishop(s) The Right Reverend A. C. Solomon Raj, CSI[6]
Priest in charge The Reverend D. Prasanna Kumar, CSI[6]
Laity
Organist(s) Sri Vinod Rao Banja[7]

CSI-Garrison Wesley Church (built in 1853)[1] located in Trimulgherry is among[4] the oldest churches in Secunderabad under the auspices of the Protestant Church of South India (CSI) within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Medak. Situated in Lal Bazar civilian area of the Secunderabad Cantonment, the CSI-Garrison Wesley Church is in near vicinity of the Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (MCEME), and the church has continued to attract not only its regular worshipers but also the new visitors from the nearby military stations of the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force through its regular Sunday Mass as well as its annual Good Friday, Easter and Christmas programmes.[8]

Though the Sunday Mass was begun initially in accordance with the Wesleyan Methodist traditions since the beginnings in 1881,[2] it now follows the Church of South India liturgy as the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS), the co-founders[2] of the church, had unionized[9] itself into the Church of South India that was formed on 27 September 1947[9] at the CSI–St. George's Cathedral, Chennai. The Diocese of Medak has comprised of Wesleyan Methodists who form a substantial majority[10] in the Diocese when compared with the Anglicans who form a very small number and together they regard the Medak Cathedral and look forward to their Bishop for divine leadership.

Renovation and rededication

Renovation

Since the edifice had been standing for more than 150 years, efforts were initiated in 2013[11] by then Pastor, The Reverend S. P. Vidyasagar[11] to raise awareness about the aging rafters and garner majority opinion from the members of the church who stood for restoration of the church in lieu of demolition and reconstruction of a new edifice. Then-Moderator's Commisary, G. Dyvasirvadam inspired[11] the church to raise contributions in order to restore the edifice and willing members then responded by making significant contributions to take up the restoration works at a cost of Indian Rupees 10 million (1 crore),[1] entrusting the work to a Tamil Nadu restoration architect.[1]

Rededication

After the efforts put in by the church for nearly two years, the newly-restored edifice was rededicated in December 2014 by The Most Reverend G. Dyvasirvadam who by then had become Moderator of the Church of South India Synod which was directly overseeing the ecclesiastical affairs of the Diocese of Medak. Then-Pastor, The Reverend Jyothy-Sunder, CSI led the Rededication Mass in the presence of the past Pastor, The Right Reverend A. C. Solomon Raj, who is now the Bishop in Medak.

Recognition

In 2015,[3] the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage awarded its Heritage Award to six[4] establishments, one of which was the CSI-Garrison Wesley Church, recognizing the efforts put in for renovating and restoring the church.[3]

History

Christianity in India

King Gondophares receives a letter from St. Thomas in Gujarat.

Saint Bartholomew, one of the Twelve Apostles landed[12] in Maharashtra and began his mission in Kalyan[13] and was followed by Saint Thomas[12] who landed in Gujarat during the reign of King Gondophares[14] and initiated the Gospel in parts of Bharuch[15] and Taxila before traveling southward to Kerala in 52 A.D. where he won many converts and established many churches, eventually traveling to Tamil Nadu where he was martyred in 72 A.D. After centuries of inactivity, the missions were again revived with the arrival of Saint Francis Xavier in 1542 followed by Robert de Nobili in 1605 who arrived in Goa on the western coast. The first Protestant missionaries arrived in 1706 with Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Plütschau of the Lutheran Missions who landed at Tranquebar on the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu. However, the modern missions began to take shape only with the arrival of the Baptist Missions in 1793 led by William Carey, the Father of the Modern Missionary Movement.[16]

It was with this background[9] that Jawaharlal Nehru,[17] the first Prime Minister of India remarked in a parliamentary debate in 1955[18] in the Lok Sabha that,

"Christianity in India is as old as Christianity itself."

Christianity in Hyderabad

The Roman Catholic missionaries first set foot in Hyderabad in 1535[2] during the sixteenth century followed by the American Methodist missions in 1873,[2] the Baptist missions in 1875,[2] the Mennonite Brethren missions then followed by the Wesleyan Methodist missions in 1878[1][2] during the nineteenth century.

Succession of Bishops-in-Medak

While this was so, the British Indian Army had stationed itself in Secunderabad by 1798[19] itself and there were already Christians of British origin[20] and among them were Wesleyan Methodists who had already begun worshiping following the Wesleyan Methodist traditions and it was the military troops[2] who were led by a Presbyter had laid a cornerstone of the church in 1853.[1]

The beginnings of the church

Once the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society set foot in Hyderabad in 1878,[2] the missionaries led by Henry Little, William Burgess and the Indian Evangelist Benjamin Wesley[2] who pioneered the spread of the Gospel and helped in establishing of churches in areas northward of Hyderabad winning of new converts to the fold of Christianity. Meanwhile, efforts were made by visionary Pastors to form the Church of South India for which missionary societies came forward for negotiations who included[21] Anglicans, Baptists, Congregationalists, Lutherans, and Wesleyan Methodists.

However, the talks towards Church Union did not go well with the laymen hailing from the Baptists and the Lutherans in spite of efforts by their Clergy[22] led by Professor Muthyala Theophilus, CBCNC and William Powlas Peery, Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC)[23] to join the Church of South India. Meanwhile in 1923,[24] the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society participated in the negotiations towards Church union and formally agreed to join the Church of South India in 1947 and Frank Whittaker became the first Bishop of the Diocese of Medak.

The CSI and aftermath

From 1947 onward, the church came under the Church of South India overseen by a Bishop residing in Medak, the ecclesiastical headquarters of the Diocese of Medak and was overseen by Bishops beginning with Frank Whittaker. The Bishops used to appoint Pastors to lead the congregations in Christian love and faith so that the Christians lead selfless lives and set example for others. The Clergy consisted of Pastors who had theological grounding under able scholars in seminaries either at the Andhra Christian Theological College or at the United Theological College, Bangalore.[2] The church also had visiting preachers from the nearby seminary, the Andhra Christian Theological College as well as other non-CSI churches in the city.

Clergy

Present

The present Pastor is The Reverend D. Prasanna Kumar,[6] CSI who has been designated as the Presbyter-in-Charge of the CSI-Garrison Wesley Church. The Reverend, in addition to graduate degrees in the sciences[6] and education[6] happens to have entered the spiritual realm during the bishopric of the Old Testament scholar, Bishop Victor Premasagar who sent him to a seminary to pursue studies leading to Bachelor of Divinity[6] at the Protestant Regional Theologiate (United Theological College) between 1985-1989[25] in Bangalore during the Principalship of Joshua Russell Chandran where he studied under notable faculty comprising religious scholar The Rev. G. D. Melanchton,[25] AELC, the New Testament scholar The Rev. K. James Carl,[25] South Andhra Lutheran Church (SALC) during the period of the Old Testament scholars, E. C. John, Theodore N. Swanson and D. N. Premnath.[25]

Past (ascending)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Reddy, Ravi (2016-12-21). "162-year-old church in Secunderabad restored". The Hindu. Hyderabad. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 P. Y. Luke, J. B. Carman, Village Christians and Hindu Culture, Lutterworth Press, Cambridge, 1968, pp.15, 17, 24.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "INTACH awards for six monuments". Hans India. Hyderabad. 2015-04-18. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  4. 1 2 3 "Timeless Bells". Hans India. Hyderabad. 2015-12-24. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  5. ↑ Diocese of Medak.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Church of South India Synod, Medak Diocesan Clergy.
  7. ↑ Words of Life, Community Bible Newsletter of the CSI-Garrison Wesley Church, Volume 1, Issue 2, February 2013, p.4.
  8. ↑ "Christmas is big this time". The Hindu. Hyderabad. 2015-12-24. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  9. 1 2 3 Manohar Samuel, Christianity in S. Muthiah (Edited), Madras, Chennai: A 400-year Record of the First City of Modern India, Volume 1, Palaniappa Brothers, Madras, 2008, pp.160-184.
  10. ↑ Clifford P. Morehouse, Delegation visits native parish services during tour of CSI in The Living Church, Volume 133, Number 2, 1956, p.13-14.
  11. 1 2 3 Words of Life, Community Bible Newsletter of the CSI-Garrison Wesley Church, Volume 1, January 2013, p.1.
  12. 1 2 George Nedungatt, Quest for the Historical Thomas Apostle of India: A Re-reading of the Evidence, Theological Publications in India, Bangalore, 2008.
  13. ↑ A. C. Perumalil, The Apostles in India, Xavier Teachers' Training Institute, Patna, 1971.
  14. ↑ See Acts of Thomas
  15. ↑ James Kurikilamkatt, First Voyage of the Apostle Thomas to India: Ancient Christianity in Bharuch and Taxila, Asian Trading Corporation, Bangalore, 2005.
  16. ↑ Timothy C. Tennent, Invitation to World Missions: A Trinitarian Missiology for the Twenty-first century, Kregel, Grand Rapids, 2010, p.259.
  17. ↑ Jawaharlal Nehru, Discovery of India, Penguin, New Delhi, 2008.
  18. ↑ Andrew Wingate, The Meeting of Opposites?: Hindus and Christians in the West, Cascade Books, Eugene, 2014.
  19. ↑ Kalpana Markandey, Geeta Reddy Anant (Edited), Urban Growth Theories and Settlement Systems of India, Concept Publishing, New Delhi, 2011, p.98.
  20. ↑ Lasania, Y. Yunus (2015-11-21). "162-year-old and still going strong". The Hindu. Hyderabad. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  21. ↑ Rajaiah David Paul, J. Kumaresan, Church of South India-Lutheran Conversations: A Historical Sketch, Christian Literature Society, Madras, 1970, p.40.
  22. ↑ D. J. Jeremiah, The Relationship of the Baptist Churches in Andhra Pradesh to the Church Union Movement in South India since 1919 in Reflections on Theology Today: Papers Presented by the ACTC Faculty during the Academic Year 1988–89 on Theology and the Mission and Ministry of the Church, Andhra Christian Theological College, Hyderabad, 1990, pp.54-73.
  23. ↑ CSI-Lutheran Inter Church Commission
  24. ↑ Paul M. Collins, Christian Inculturation in India, Ashgate Publishing, 2007.
  25. 1 2 3 4 K. M. Hiwale (Compiled), Directory of the United Theological College 1910–1997, Bangalore, 1997. Former members of staff, pp.1-7; Past students of the graduate course, p.72.

Further reading

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