A compilation

on
History of Indian Christianity
for
B.Th. & M.Div.
by

Vineesh V P
B.Th. (2018-2021)
New Life Biblical Seminary
Churuvakkal, Kollam, Kerala

Lecture: Mrs. Elizabeth

 Contents
Origin of Christianity in India 1
Acts of Judas Thomas 1
Gregory of Nazianzus 2
Ambrose of Milan 2
St. Jerome 2
Pantaneus 3
Marco polo 3
Ancient songs 4
Living communities 5
Historical findings 5

Immigrations of Christians to India 7

Roman Catholics in India 9
Synod of Diamper 12
Coonan Cross Oath 13
JESUIT mission to India 14
Tranquebar Mission 17
William Carey 19
Pandita Rama bhai 24
LMS 26
CMS 28
History of Christianity in North East India 29
Church Union Movements in India 31
Formation of Church of South India (CSI) 31
Formation of Church of North India (CNI) 32
Contemporary challenges of Christianity in India 34

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1

Origin of Christianity in India

For up to 18th century, it was the strong belief that, St. Thomas,
one of the „12‟ disciples of Jesus had come to India and started
Christianity in India probably in AD 52.but this strong belief of “20
centuries” was questioned from 18th century. But there are some
available evidences that can prove St. Thomas arrived in India.

Foreign tradition / Western tradition.

Acts of Judas Thomas

It is a non-canonical book which was written around AD 227. It

offers some important insights regarding the presence of St. Thomas in
India. According to Acts of Thomas 1:1, put lot to select their
destination for the great commission to be carried out which was given
to them by Lord. India was fallen for Thomas. But he was not willing to
go to India. Then Jesus appeared him in a vision and said to him, go to
India and preach the gospel over there, my grace is with you. The book
gives also the details of a king Gundaphar, who appointed Thomas to
build a palace for him and gave the money for it. Thomas helped poor
people with that money and did not build the palace. He said to the
king, I have built a palace for you in the Heaven. When the king came to
know this, got too much angry and put Thomas to death. But
fortunately the brother of the king died and raised back to his life from
death was describing about the palace built by Thomas for the king

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which he had seen in the Heaven. By this incident the king was saved
and received baptism.

Literary evidences

I. Gregory of Nazianzus.

He was a bishop of Constantinople. He refers Acts of Thomas in

his writings. One section of his writings talks about how the apostles
took up the mission of taking the gospel to the ends of the Earth.
“What ? were not the apostles‟ strongest amidst many nations and
countries over which they spread themselves, that the gospel might
penetrate into all parts, that no place might be void of triple light or
deprived of that truth… peter indeed may have belonged to Judea, but
what had Paul in common with gentiles, Luke with Achaia, John with
Ephesus, Thomas with India, Mark with Italy ?”

II. Ambrose of Milan

He was the bishop of Milan. He too mentioned about Thomas in

his writings. He talks about how apostles recognising the opportunities
offered to them. In order to fulfil their call, they did not allow even the
tough geographical conditions to stop them. “the apostles being sent
without delay according to the sayings of Lord.

III. St. Jerome

He was born in Italy and known as a Christian scholar being

invited by St. Gregory of Nazianzus. He went to Constantinople before
the close of AD 379 and served as Pope‟s secretary. In his writing called

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“the epistle of St. Jerome”, he writes; “He (Jesus) was indeed at one
and same time with the apostles and the angels…” So, afterwards He
was with Thomas in *India, with Peter in Rome, with Titus in Crete,
with Andrew in Achaia”.

International travellers

Pantaneus

Early Church father Eusabius who served as a bishop in Caesarea,

mentions in one of his writings about a man named Pantaneus who
visited India in around AD 180, and there he found gospel of Matthew
written in Hebrew language left with Christians by St. Thomas.

Marco polo

He was another very important source of information. He visited

India in 13th century. He gives a visit description of him, “ Visit to the
tomb of St. Thomas”.

According to him, “one body of St. Thomas , the apostle lies in

the province of Malabar at a certain little town having no population.
This is a place where few traders go. Because, there is very little
merchandise to get. Christians however generally frequent it with
pilgrimage. Marko Polo wrote the details as an eyewitness account.
This again points to the St. Thomas Christians in India.

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Indian tradition
There are several traditions in India regarding the coming of
St. Thomas in India. These traditions include oral, living communities
and written documents about the work of St. Thomas in India. The
community held traditions by Indian Christians differ in the details
regarding how Thomas arrived in India. St. Thomas first landed in south
India, in the ancient courts of Muziris in AD 50 or 52.

The following are the available local evidences. These evidences

are both oral as well as historical.

Ancient songs

Mundan gives the chief local sources in which the best known are
RabbanPattu.

Rabbanpattu is a wedding song popular in Kerala, which dates

St. Thomas‟ arrival in India in AD 50. This song has been traced in the
writingsas early as 1601 and before that date it was hand down orally
for around 48 generations.

Margam kali pattu is accompanied with sacred adnce. It described

to have been introduced into Kerala of the marga or the path of
Christian way of Worship. Apart from this, there are other sources such
as Kerala pathi. Tamil account about Kandappa Raju also mentioned
about Thomas. Regarding the validity of these evidences, the historians
believe that, songs and poetry of a living community handed down
from generation to generation, sometimes offer deeper insights behind
the truth of ethical and religious origins.

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Living communities

A scholar says that, India has peculiar forms of understand that,

they have produced and preserved. In that, the living families have
preserved oral tradition and palm leaf documents which supply the
details regarding their immigrations, habitation and the places visited
interestingly by St. Thomas.

He also says that, the lineage of many St. Thomas Christians show
that these families have succession of priests about 60 or 70 unbroken
generations going back to apostle Thomas.

Some of the oral traditions have been in the form of proverbs. all
these traditions trace their origin to the ministry of St. Thomas in India.
Both western tradition and Indian tradition affirms that, when
St. Thomas converted some Brahmins from Palayur, the rest of the
community left that place. While leaving they said, "the next bath at
Vembanad" which became a proverb. Even today, the Brahmins in the
neighborhood of Palayur, do not eat and drink in that locality.

Historical findings

It is mentioned in Acts of Thomas, king Gundaphar till 1834, was

taken to be mythological character. However, the understanding when
an explorer shared a treasure of coins discovered by him in 1834,
among those coins, king Gundaphar's name was inscripted in both
Greek and old Hindi scripts. More coins were discovered from pujas
region where he is supposed to have ruled during 1st century. as of
today, such coins are found in museum of Briton. Regarding these

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coins, Moffet says that, further researches have dated these coins are
being from the 1st century. But we could conclude that, through some
deny the arrival of St. Thomas in India, most scholar support it. J V Keay
writes in 'History of Syrian Church in India', "the visit of St. Thomas to
south India cannot be truly proved. but the local tradition regarding his
visit is very strong and there is no other rival local traditions as to the
origin of Church in south India". The tradition has been held also
outside India from very early times. Whatever may be the differences
over the point of apostle's first arrival to India, these are enough
evidences to support the fact of arrival of St .Thomas in India.

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Immigrations of Christians to India

The connection of Indian Christianity with Syria and Persia is very

clear. The Syrian Church of Malabar has traditions of at least 2
immigrations of influential people from those countries, who settled
down in India and did much to revive and strengthen the Church here.
The 1st of these immigrations commonly assumed to be in AD 345. It is
said to have consisted of around 400 families and some clergies.

1st Immigration

This story is given in a letter by Mar-Thoma IV in 1721. He wrote

that, after the death of St. Thomas, the faithful diminished gradually in
our country. At that time, in a vision, St. Thomas appeared to the
metropolitan and the king Ubgar of the town and asked, “will you not
go and help India?” After this vision, by the order of the king and the
bishop, 336 families composed of children and grown up people and
clergies came to India under the leadership of Thomas the Cananite.
They came to India and became the inhabitants with the special
permission from king Shiremon Perumal. All these took place in AD 345.
From that time, the Church in India spread in all directions. The town
built by the Syrians are supposed to be Christians‟ quarters or
Kodungallur, which was called as Mhaa Thevarapattanam. To this day,
among the Syrian Christians, there is a social distinction which is saidto
have originated in this settlement. These who were intermarried with
Indians are called Northists (vadakkum bhaagam).The people who did

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not intermarry with Indians called southists (thekkum bhaagam). This is

a small group, claimed to be the direct lineal descendants of Thomas of
Canaa. They do not have any sort of mingling with the northists.

2nd Immigration

The 2nd immigration is dated as AD 823, when a number of

Christians from Persia including two bishops came to India. The earliest
report available about this is the testimony of a bishop in „1533‟. He
writes that, “in the year „1823‟, the Syrian fathers Mar-Sapor and Mar-
Parut came to India and reached Quilon. They went to the king Shakir
birti asked him a piece of land in which they could build a Church and
erect a town for them. He gave the amount of land they desired. And
they built a Church. To this Church, Syrian bishops use to come by order
of Catholics, who sent them.

For this immigration which took place in 9th century,

contemporary evidences are available in the form of 5 copper plates.
Various grants given to the Christians were recorded in these. 3 of
these are at the Jacobite seminary at Kottayam and the other 2 are at
the Mar-Thoma Church in Thiruvalla. They are mostly written in Tamil
and Malayalam. But 2 pages are Pahalavi and Arabic. The contents are
obscure. But the gist seems to be a grant by the local ruler Iyyan Adigal
of Venad.

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9

Roman Catholics in India

India
The later half of 15th century was famous for great voyages and
witnessed the beginning of European colonial expansion. Spain and
Portugal were pioneers in sea voyages. They discovered many lands
and sea routes which are mile stones in history. The arrival of Vasco de
Gama in 1498 brings a new era in the history of St. Thomas Christians.
Up to that period, St .Thomas Christians in India exercised their own
traditions and customs under the guidance of Persian bishops. The
period 1498-1863 is considered as the period during which Portuguese
influence was at its peak in the history of Indian Christianity. The
Portuguese through their political and religious policies, did affect the
life of St. Thomas Christians.

Political policies
The main motive of the Portuguese was to establish trade with
the nations. They also tried to capture the power and to work for their
prosperity as well as the propagation of Papal Christendom. The strong
relationship of Portuguese with Kerala began in „1498‟ doe to the
discovery of new sea route. They had their influence in the community
for about 160 years. This caused a shift in the history of Kerala
regarding trade, politics and religion. Through the military operations,
they succeeded and built some business centers. Cochin and Goa were
their main business centers.

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Religious policies
A bull pronounced by Pope Alexander VI, commanded to the
rulers „ to send good men who fear God and are learned , skilled and
expert in instruct the inhabitants in Catholic faith and good morals‟.
The strong motivating force in their religious policies was their belief
that, “the absolute necessity of Catholic Church for Salvation”. The
people of Catholic Church used their religious policies to bring people
into Christianity. They had different religious policies as follows.

1. Mixed marriage: they considered mixed marriages as one of

the sources of conversion. The soldiers were encouraged to
marry the white and beautiful Indian women.
2. Job offers: they gave preference to the Christians while
employing the people to different sectors. It was decreed that
the public offices could be held by Christians alone. As a result,
many received Christianity for the sake of employment.
3. Direct evangelism: the Portuguese spread Christian faith
through direct evangelism too. The trained chaplains took this
task. They constructed worship places in their territories. The
monks were also involved in this aje3nda.
4. Forced conversion: they used their political and military power
to convert the people of other faiths to Christianity. They
forbade the public worship of people of other faiths inside their
territories.

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5. Political protection: due to the help rented by the Portuguese,

to make people safe from the attack of other people, many
received Christianity.
6. Education: they started schools. The 1st school was in Cochin.
The school was attended by children from all classes in the
society. The children were given financial help also. This
attracted many to attend the school. Children received
elementary education and Catechism classes.
7. Charity: in 1506, Viceroy Francis de Almedia started a hospital
at Cochin (Holy Cross Hospital). The clergy made regular visits
to the patients and offered prayers.

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Synod of Diamper
India
Synod of Diamper, regarded as one of the major events in the
history of Indian Christianity, was a council of 7 days which was the part
of attempt of Portuguese to convert the St. Thomas Christians into
Roman Catholics. It was ended with a congregation conducted on 20th
January, 1599, by the Catholics and headed by the archbishop „Alexis
de Menzis‟. The meeting was attended by 133 St. Thomas priests., 20
deacons and 660 lay people; all together 813 Syrian Christians. Alexis de
Menzis was a cunning man who played a very vital role in this council.
He acted like a humble man himself and hugged the common people
and even washed their feet which made an influential impact in the
hearts of the Syrians. Because that was the first time for them to sea
such a humble bishop in their life. At the end of the meeting, he himself
confessed the Roman Catholic faith and asked the Indian Christians for
the same. Because of his influence some submitted to the Roman
Catholic faith. Subsequently all the historical documents of St. Thomas
Christians preserved were burned into fire, so that it may not be
another reason for them to turn back to their old faith.

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Coonan Cross Oath

India
The Coonan Cross Oath was. In „1652‟ a Syrian bishop named
Ahatallaharrived in India, on a pilgrim to the tomb of St. Thomas at
Mylapore of Tamil Nadu. He met two pilgrims from Kerala there and
sent a letter to Kerala informing the St. Thomas Christians about his
arrival. Meanwhile he was arrested by the Portuguese and was being
carried to Goa in a ship to be sent back to Syria. When the ship was
stoped at Cochin yard, the t. Thomas Christians came to know about his
presence in that ship. So, the presence of a Syrian bishop after long
aroused the St. Thomas Christians to meet him. They approached the
fort and demanded strongly for the release of him to the Portuguese.
But they closed down the gate of fort until the ship had sailed again for
Goa. Again a rumour was spread that Ahathallah was killed by thrown
in to the sea. The rumour spread rapidly and roused the disappointed
Syrians to such fury that they broke into revolt. On the response to the
rumour spread about the assault of Ahatallah, the St. Thomas
Christians in Cochin gathered in a large crowd outside a Church at
Mattancheri (Cochin) and swore an oath at the stone cross there, that
they would no longer be subject to the Jesuit archbishop, called the
“Coonan Cross Oath” Since the crowd was very large and each of them
couldn‟t reach at the cross, ropes were tied to the cross and it longed
up even to the last person of the crowd. Those who couldn‟t reach,
touched the rope and swore the oath. At the event the stone cross
became somewhat slanted, translated in Malayalam as Coonan, and so
the name Coonan Cross Oath is given.

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Jesuit mission to India

Francis Xavier India
Francis Xavier was from a noble family in Navre. As a young man
of 19, he went to the University of Paris, where he spent „11‟ years as
student then as teacher. Here he came under the influence of a
remarkable man, Ignatius Loyola. He was also a member of University
of Paris. He was a enthusiast with a singular power of attracting other
men and persuading them to undertake a course of spiritual training for
the service of Lord. Under the influence of Ignatius Loyola, 6 young
men pledged themselves to live in celibacy and poverty. They worked
out rules for an organised society and got approval from Pope in 1540.
They named this society as society of Jesus (JESUIT). As a result, Francis
Xavier came to India and landed at Goa on 6th May 1542. On reaching
Goa, he started visiting the sick and prisoners. He also gathered
children and gave them elementary Christian teachings. Thus, he spent
5 months there and was sent to Tamil Nadu among the community of
Paravas. He travelled to the district of Thirunelveli. On reaching there,
he could find the Paravas living in 30 villages. There also he used same
missionary methods to communicate Christian teachings. His first
attempt was to find out people who know both Portuguese and Tamil
languages. With their help, he translated prayers, commandments,
Lord‟s prayer etc… into Tamil. He taught the children and entrusted to
teach their parents. After making necessary arrangement in India for
the work of JESUIT missionaries, he went to Japan in 1549 and returned

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to India in 1552. After spending 3 months in India, he left to China and

died there.

Robert De Nobili
Robert de Nobili an Italian Jesuit came to India in the year 1605.
The beginning of his missionary work was among the Parava Christians
in Tamil Nadu. In the year 1606 he was sent to Madura for mission
work. He reached Madura as an ordinary Jesuit priest, wearing the
usual cassock. On his arrival in Madura his relationship with the Hindus
opened eyes to see the great gap that existed between the caste
Hindus and the Christians. He was convinced that a change of
missionary method was indispensable to make his work more effective
in India. In the eyes of the Hindus Christianity was the religion of the
„Franks‟ or „Parangis‟. It was not a complimentary term. It suggested
meat-eating, wine-drinking, loose-living, arrogant persons whose
manners were so far removed form Indian culture. So any social contact
with Christians was unthinkable for a high caste Hindu. Robert de Nobili
is such a context determined to Indianize his missionary methods. As a
member of the Italian nobility he claimed to be the equivalent of a
Kshatriya. He adopted a mode of life equivalent to that of a Sanyasi
Guru. He employed a Brahmin cook and started living in Indian style.
The news of de Nobili‟s work rapidly spread in the area. Many people
came to him for instruction. He was accepted as a guru. In the year
1607 de Nobili exchanged his black cassock for kavi robes and his
leather shoes for wooden sandals. He built a mud-walled house and a
chapel and established himself as a guru, observing a strict ascetic life.
He ate only rice, vegetables, fruits and milk only once a day. He seldom

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went out. People came to see him and his conversation with them in
Tamil attracted many. With the help of a Telugu Brahmin Pandit he
learned Sanskrit too. He also learned some Vedic texts with a hope to
meet the Brahmins on their own ground. His Sanskrit teacher, the
Telugu Brahmin, was baptized in the year 1609. In the same year the
number of converts rose to because they were from several castes
including some Brahmins.

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1st Protestant mission to India

Tranquebar Mission

(Bartholomew Zegenbalg & Henry Pleutschau)

It was the 1st protestant mission carried out to India at
Tranquebar, whis a local place of Tamil Nadu. The first person who
conceived the idea to send Protestant missionaries to India was king
Frederik IV of Denmark. Having failed to find suitable person in
Denmark he sought help from Lutheran Church in Germany. The King of
Denmark got two theological students from the University of Halle who
were ready to go to India as missionaries. They were “Bartholomew
Zegenbalg and Henry Pleutschau”. These men were brought to
Denmark and were ordained before being sent to India as missionaries.
They arrived at Tranquebar at one night of July 1706.

On their arrival in India the missionaries did not get a favorable

welcome from the Danish Government officials. However, they started
their work by setting themselves to learn Portuguese and Tamil.
Meantime they worked among the German soldiers serving in the
Danish east India Company‟s troops. They found another sphere of
work also among the domestic servants of the Europeans. The first
converts were made from among these people. The missionaries also
opened an orphanage. As soon as he was able Ziegenbalg entered into
religious discussions with the Hindus in Tamil. He got good audience
because of his ability to speak in Tamil. As early as August 1707 a small

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mission church was built and the first Tamil converts were baptized in
the following month. Within two years of his arrival Ziegenbalg started
the translation of the NT, a thing which no one had ever attempted in
any Indian language before. By the time of his death he had finished
the whole NT and gone as far as the book of Ruth in the OT. Besides his
Biblical translation he compiled a Tamil-German dictionary and also
wrote in German the result of his enquiries into South Indian Hinduism.
The Tranquebar missionaries did not receive any cooperation from the
Danish government in Indian even though they came as Royal
missionaries. They were rather ill-treated and persecuted. The arrival of
three more missionaries however strengthened the mission work. They
brought with them money and other supplies of mission along with a
clear instruction from the King to the commander that his missionaries
were to be given all necessary assistance and protection. The sick
supported the mission work by raising funds and by printing and
supplying books in India. It also provided a printing press to the
Tranquebar mission. Preaching the gospel in the language of the
people, establishment of charity schools, the printing and distribution
of Christian literature etc were the methods of evangelization adopted
by the Tranquebar missionaries.

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William Carey

William Carey (1761-1834) is known as the “Father of Modern

Missions” because through his writing and 40+ years of missionary
service in India he helped inaugurate the entire Protestant foreign
missionary movement, which marks the entry of the English speaking
world into foreign missions. William Carey was born on August 17, 1761
in the small village of Paulerspury, England to a relatively poor but
religious Church of England family. Carey early developed a great love
for learning and books, and read voraciously, and was especially
interested in geography and botany. He experienced a genuine
conversion to Christ at age 17 after hearing a message by a
Congregationalist minister. He became the village shoemaker and
teacher, and later joined the Baptists and became a lay pastor. At age
20 he married Dorothy, an illiterate village girl, which became an
unhappy and mismatched marriage. Carey gradually developed a deep
interest in missions, and especially read Captain Cook‟s Travels and
dreamed of going to the Pacific Islands as a missionary. In his cobbler‟s
shop he made a globe of leather and a large map depicting all the
countries of the world with all the data he could find about them, and
prayed over them. When he proposed foreign missions as an item of
discussion in a ministers‟ meeting he was told:“Young man, sit down.
When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your
aid or mine.” In1792 he published his classic mission apologetic
entitled “An Enquiry Into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for

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the Conversion of the Heathens”. In May 1792 he preached on the text

Isaiah 54: 2-3, which included his famous slogan: “Expect great things
from God; attempt great things for God.” On October 2, 1792 Carey
and his colleagues organized the Baptist Missionary Society, and Carey
volunteered to go as the first BMS missionary. It was agreed that Carey
should accompany the medical doctor Dr. John Thomas to Bengal,
India. Dr. Thomas, Carey, his wife, her sister and their four children
arrived in India in November 11, 1793. Then Carey lived near Calcutta
for a while, then moved to the Sundarbans southeast of Calcutta for
several months, and experienced many difficulties and much opposition
from the East India Company. Carey then worked as a manager of an
indigo factory near Malda to support his family and mission work for
seven years. While there he learned Bengali and preached the gospel in
local villages and translated the New Testament and much of the Old
Testament into Bengali. He planted a small English Baptist church, but
despite his extensive ministry he did not have one Indian convert. Carey
and his family experienced much sickness, his son Peter died, and
Dorothy's health and mind declined. Disastrous floods forced the
closing of the indigo plantation. Hearing of English missionaries who
had arrived in October 1799 and settled in Serampore, a Danish colony
15 miles northwest of Calcutta, Carey decided to join them, and arrived
in Serampore with his family on January 1, 1800. Among these
missionaries were Joshua Marshman, a school master, and William
Ward, a printer, who with Carey were to form a remarkably effective
and harmonious missionary team, who became known as the
“Serempore Trio.” Carey was the main leader and translator.

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Marshman and his wife were the educators, and established and ran
many schools. Ward was the able printer. The community lived
together in one household and shared resources and work in
communal lifestyle. In May 1800 the first printed leaf of Carey's Bengali
New Testament translation rolled off Ward‟s press, and on March 5,
1801 the first bound Bengali New Testament was dedicated. This NT
became thefirst book ever published in the Bengali language! On
December 22, 1800 Krishna Pal, an Indian youth that Dr. Thomas had
treated and witnessed to, and his friend Gokul, accepted Christ. Despite
opposition shortly thereafter Krishna Pal was baptized, and somewhat
later Gokul and his entire family and Krishna Pal‟s wife and sister were
also baptized. An Indian congregation slowly formed, which from the
beginning was deliberately caste-integrated, e.g., the Brahmin Krishna
Prasad married the daughter of the Sudra Krishna Pal, and all castes
took Communion together freely. By 1834 the Serampore Mission had
planted 26 churches. On April 8, 1801 Carey was asked to become the
professor of Bengali at Fort William College in Calcutta, the highest
English educational institution in India. After much prayer and
discussion, Carey accepted. He greatly excelled in this work, so that by
1806 he was made a full professor, and his reputation and knowledge
grew to where he spoke and taught Sanskrit, Marathi, Hindi and other
languages. The Bible translation work went on steadily. Mainly Carey,
with the help of Marshman and Wardand others, translated the entire
Bible into Bengali, Marathi, Sanskrit, Oriya, Hindi and other languages,
including Chinese, Persian, Burmese, Nepalese, Afghan and Bhutanese.
By the time of Carey‟s death the Bible or parts of it had been translated

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into 40 languages. They also constructed grammars and dictionaries of

many of these languages. On December 7, 1807 Dorothy died. Carey in
May 1808 married Lady Charlotte Rumohr, a Danish lady who helped
him much in his translation work. In May 1820 Charlotte died, and
Carey later married Grace Hughes, who was an excellent companion
who cared for him and nursed him during his sicknesses. On March 11,
1812 a fire raced through the printing works and destroyed valuable
presses, stock paper, type, new Bible translations, grammars and
dictionaries. The missionaries were devastated and feared that
replacement of the loss would take years. But when the English
Christians heard of the loss, they rallied and sent funds and supplies,
and within two months $50,000 was received for rebuilding, and within
a few months the presses were rolling again, and within a year the lost
translations were replaced. In March 1823 William Ward died, breaking
the Serampore Trio, and Marshman died in 1837, after Carey.
Education and the training of indigenous Indian workers had always
been important to Carey and his associates; by 1818 they had
established 126 elementary schools. In 1817 they purchased land to
establish an advanced training school for preparing Indian workers and
to provide liberal arts education in English and the vernacular
languages, on a non-sectarian basis. By the time the college buildings
were completed in1820 the cost reached $100,000, of which the
Serampore Trio contributed no less than $75,000. Dr. Carey served as
the president, as well as professor of divinity and lecturer of botany,
zoology and other sciences. In 1826 the King of Denmark granted a
charter of incorporation, thus establishing the college‟s authority on

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the same basis as European universities, and granted them the right to
confer degrees. After 1813 when more missionaries arrived at
Serampore divisions and a schism developed between them and the
Serampore Trio, which was resolved in 1820. There were also
disagreements with the BMS Home Board for a number of years, but
these also were largely resolved by 1830.Carey was also much involved
in social ministry and humanitarian reform. He was instrumental in the
abolishing of infanticide of baby girls, and he vigorously opposed sati,
the burning of widows on the funeral pyre of their husbands, until it
was officially banned in December 1829. Carey also fought for the kind
treatment of lepers and aided in the establishment of a leper hospital
in Calcutta. For over 40 years without a furlough Carey faithfully served
His Lord in missionary service in India. On June 9, 1834, at the age of
72, this venerable missionary pioneer to India and soldier of the cross
passed on into the presence of His Saviour and into his eternal reward.
Carey founded his missionary enterprise on three basic (indigenous)
tenets: (1) the preaching of the gospel in the people‟s native language,
for which he founded (26) churches; (2) the translation of the Bible into
the languages of India and neighbouring countries, on which task he
especially concentrated his efforts and produced numerous (40)
translations and editions of the Bible;(3) the teaching and training of
India‟s young people, which resulted in the establishment of numerous
schools (126) and Serampore College.

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Pandita Rama bhai

She was an orthodox Hindu. Her contacts with the Christians and
members of Brahma Samaj brought out many changes in her. This led
her to take a hold step to marry a Bengali, not of her caste at the age of
22. Though he died soon she with her child lived in Pune and came into
contact with Prarthana Samaj. Her ministry was mainly rehabilitation of
young widows. Meantime she came into contact with Christians
specially Nehemaih Gorey a bishop with his help she went to England
for further training in her work. In the year 1883 in England she became
a real Christian. Then she went to America for further studies. She wan
an eloquent preacher also and made the Americans aware of the
women in India. Latter in America she wrote a book “High Caste Hindu
Women”. Her speech and writings brought many sympathizers. They
started Rama bhai. Later she came to India in 1889 and opened a school
in Bombay. This was known as “Sarada Sadan”. In the year 1896 she
opened a settlement for young widows in Pune and it was known as
“Mukti”. Many American missionaries also joined her in her mission.
The renaissance led to the increase of the status of women and the
Christians were always in the front in all this. In the Year 1867, some
Nadar Christians in Trinnelvelly revolted against the CMS Missionaries
and they formed an Indian church known as ‘The Hindu Church of the
Lord Jesus”. The second one is “the Bengali Christian association for the
promotion of Christian truth and godliness and the protection of the
rights of Indian Christians”, mainly founded by Lal Behari Day. The Third
one is ‘the National Church Madras”, founded by P. S. Parani Andi,

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1886. The Calcutta Christo Samaj in 1887, founded by K. C. Banerjeea

and J. Govinde Shon is the fourth one. ‘Indian Christian herald’
propagated their view that the Indian church should become Indian in
all ways for India to embrace Christianity. Brahman Bandab Upadyaya
then came as the culmination of the 19th century quest for an Indian
church. K. M. Banerjeas is also one among the important persons. He
wrote a book named “Anjan Witness”, explaining the similarities
between the OT and the Vedas. He attempted to prove than this book
that Christianity was the fulfillment of original Hinduism. A similar book
is also published by Parani Andi named “Are We not Hindus?” in 1888.
Brahma Bandab Upadyaya also worked for an Indian church with an
indigenous form of worship and theology. He is the first Indian Christian
thinker who remained orthodox in doctrine, but at the same time laid
the foundation for a Vedanta based Christian Theology. Some of the
foreign missionaries who were a part of this are C. F. Andrew and
William Millar, K. T. Paul, V. S. Azariah and many others worked hard to
make Christian Indian in its worship and all other areas. This resulted in
the formation of Indian Music, Ashram Movement and Indian Christian
Theology. Along with this came the emergence of Indian Christian
Theology. A. J. Appaswamy, who focused on the Bhakti tradition
contributed to an Indian Christian Bhakti theology; Chakkarai, P.
Chenchaiah are the prominent Indian Christian Theologians.

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History of LMS & CMS

LMS
The London Missionary Society began work in India in 1798, when
Nathaniel Forsyth landed at Calcutta. Unable to establish a mission
there, he moved to the Dutch controlled area of Chinsurah, working as
the only LMS missionary in India for several years. He was followed in
1804 by William Ringeltaube, who initially worked at Tranquebar, but in
1806 established the Travancore [Kerala] mission at Mayiladi.
Ringeltaube's colleague George Cran also reached India in 1804, and
after a brief visit to Madras, moved to Vizagapatam, establishing the
Telugu mission in 1805. He was joined in the work by Augustus Des
Granges. Tranqebar was also used as the starting point for the mission
to Ceylon [now Sri Lanka], with the LMS missionaries Michael Vos,
Johann Ehrhardt and John Palm establishing missions in 1805.
Unfortunately, original material relating to this mission does not
survive, but references to mission work in Ceylon appear in reports up
to 1818, when the mission appears to have been abandoned. The
change to the East India Company Charter in 1813 had the effect of
opening up India to British Missionary Societies. On the eve of the
Charter in 1812, the LMS was working in the Dutch area of Chinsurah
and at Vizagapatam [Vishakhapatnam]. In the Canarese [Kanarese]
speaking areas they had established a solitary station at Bellary, which
was founded in 1812. Ringeltaube's mission in Southern Travancore

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was attracting converts and achieving success. After 1813, the LMS
expanded their mission stations in both North and South India, and this
is reflected in the arrangement of the archive. The South Indian mission
field was divided into linguistic areas, as the mission stations were in
areas where they encountered the seven major linguistic groups. South
India has been described separately, and the records are arranged into
the sub-sections of General, Canarese, Telugu, Tamil and Travancore.
North India has also been given a separate description, and the
materials are arranged into the sub-groups General, Bengal, Gujerat
[Gujarat] and United Provinces [Uttar Pradesh]. The LMS missions in
India developed as two distinct mission fields. Much work was carried
out with Hindu women and Zenana work was often carried out by the
wives of missionaries and then by female missionaries. Often converts
were of the lower castes and outcasts. The strength of Hinduism was
recognised by missionaries as a barrier to increased conversion, and the
LMS realised that it should concentrate more on medical and
educational mission work. Towards the end of the 19th century, the
emphasis was on the development of the Church in India, as distinct
from mission. Increasingly there were indigenous congregations of
considerable numbers and growing numbers of Indian ministers. In
1914 the National Christian Council in India was formed. The Nationalist
political movement in India affected the work of missionaries in the
first half of the 20th century, with the LMS becoming increasingly
sympathetic. After Independence in 1947, Churches in both North and
South India which were associated with the LMS joined Unions of
Churches, setting the scene for self-government of Churches.

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CMS
The East India Company controlled access to India and only
allowed its chaplains to work among the European communities. Henry
Martyn wanted to offer his services to the Church Missionary Society,
however a financial disaster in Cornwall deprived him and his
unmarried sister of the income their father had left for them. It was
necessary for Martyn to earn an income that would support his sister as
well as himself. He accordingly obtained a chaplaincy under the East
India Company and left for india on 5 July 1805. William
Wilberforce campaigned for the revision of the charter of the East India
Company to permit missionaries to work in India. When the Charter Bill
was passed in 1813 the CMS had missionaries ready for the India
mission. The Charles Rhenius and the John Christian Schnarre were the
first CMS missionaries to arrive at India and were sent to work
at Chennai (Madras). Charles Rhenius later worked in Tirunelveli. The
CMS sent 7 missionaries to India in 1814-1816: two were placed
at Chennai (Madras), two at Bengal and three at Travancore (1816)The
Indian missions were extended in the following years to a number of
locations including Agra, Varanasi (Benaras), Mumbai (Bombay) (1820),
Tirunelveli (1820) and Kolkata (1822). New mission stations were later
established in the Telugu Country (1841) and at Lahore in the Punjab
region (1852). While the Revolt of 1857 resulted in damage to the
missions in the North West Provinces, after the revolt the CMS
expanded its missions to Oudh, Allahbad, the Santhali people (1858),
and to Kashmir (1865)

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History of Christianity in
North East India

The history of the Christian movement in the North East can only
be understood as an integral part of a larger process of change -
political, social, economic, cultural and religious. First it is necessary to
be familiar with the political developments that have been primarily
responsible for introducing change. The introduction and subsequent
history of Christianity is integral with this process. Though attention
needs to be given to the various denominations that were established
in the region by western missions, this aspect of the Christian
movement should not be overemphasized because the impact of all
Christian groups has been essentially the same. Finally, Christianity
cannot be understood as integral to the life of the people in the region
without analysis of its social impact. Because this history is written from
a socio-cultural perspective, emphasizing the role of Christianity as a
part of the total history of the peoples of North East India, and because
of the distinctive problems associated with research about preliterate
or newly literate communities it has of necessity to draw on a wide
variety of sources. This includes the traditional primary documentary
sources that historians use such as mission, church and government
records as well as secondary studies of the missions, churches and
individual Christians. Many important records in several different
western languages have yet to be carefully examined and utilized by
historians. Much of the personal correspondence of the missionaries

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belonging to one of the most important Protestant missions that

worked in the region. The great majority of Christians in the North East
come from a tribal background. Missionaries reduced their languages to
a written form and produced the first literature; several generations
were to pass before the people themselves began to produce a
literature of their own. In seeking to understand the socio-cultural
consequences of the introduction and growth of Christianity in North
East India within the limitations imposed by the nature of the sources,
historians cannot function as impersonal scientists

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Church Union Movements in India

In the period of 19th century co-operation work was Started in

India, and they were Called „Union Institution, It was published 20th
Century.4 Protestant Mission and Lutheran church they were begun the
Uniqueness of India. They are in earlier time Missionaries are begun
their mission work together, they had many colleges, Institution,
Mission Schools this ever work are down in land of India there for they
named by „ Union„ through this organization Increase Christianity in
India.“The First fretful attempt at an Inter denominational Union was
formed in 1908.This Union of all Congregation In South India there is a
Presbyterians and leader of Congregation all are in one. All the
missionaries and Presbyterian they were started different type of
Ministry in the nation India. In the Scripture portion says that “we are
one in Christ”.

Formation of Church of South India (CSI)

It was Bishop Whitehead, the Anglican Bishop in Madras raised

the issue of unity in 1910 but nothing came out of the discussion. He
continued to speak and write about this till in the year 1919 an informal
meeting of Indian pastors of the Lutheran, Methodist, Anglican and
South Indian United Churches convened by Bishop V.S. Azariah and
Rev. Santiago, took place in Tranquebar. This meeting issued a
declaration outlining a plan of union. A joint committee for considering
actual negotiations of union was set up and held its first meeting in

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March 1920. It met again and again during the next twenty years. In
February 1920, the Episcopal Synod of the Anglican Province in India
appointed a committee for negotiation. In 1925 the Methodist Church
of South India came into the negotiation and it declared its willingness
to unite with the other two churches in January 1943. In 1945 January,
Anglicans passed are solution to carry out the practical unanimous
desire to enter into union with Methodist and SIUC. In September
1946, SIUC accepted the proposal of the unity. A year was spent in the
final preparation for union. On 27 September 1947, the CSI was
inaugurated in the St. George Cathedral at Madras.

Formation of Church of North India (CNI)

The United Church of North India (UCNI) was formed in 1924

through the union of Presbyterian and Congregational churches. The
UCNI sent out an invitation to other churches in 1924. The Wesleyan
Methodist Church was the first to respond to this invitation. As a result
of these developments a Round Table Conference was called at Luknow
in 1929 to discuss the possibility of Church Union. Several Round Table
Conferences were held subsequently, they prepared a “Basis of
Negotiation” which was made public in 1939. In 1929 UCNI made the
suggestion of Joint Council for union between the UCNI and the
Methodist Church in South Asia. The Joint Council became a separate
platform for negotiations, which continued from 1931 to 1945.7The
RTC was replaced by Negotiation Committee (NC) in 1951 by the church
bodies, (UCNI, the Anglican Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and
Ceylon (CIPBC), the Methodist Church in Southern Asia(MCSA), the

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British and Australian Methodist Church and the Council of the Baptist
Churches in North India) which met in Calcutta in the same year and
drew up the first Plan of Church Union in North India..From 1957
onwards the other two bodies, the Church of the Brethren and
Disciples of Christ joined in the negotiation. The plan reached its fourth
and final edition in 1965. The General Council of CIPBC in 1966had
voted in favour of the fourth edition of the union plan and decided to
join the CNI. The UCNI General Assembly held in 1968 formally decided
to enter the union. The Convention of the Churches of the Disciples of
Christ accepted the plan of NC in 1969. The Methodist Church (British
and Australian Conference) also re-affirm its position in favour of the
plan in 1969.TheAnnual Conference of the Church of Brethren in 1969
decided to join the union. Unfortunately, the MCSA in India on 6th
August, 1970 rejected the plan to join the CNI. The Church of North
India was inaugurated on 29th November, 1970 in the All Saints‟
Cathedral Compound at Nagpur.

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Contemporary challenges of
Christianity in India

The present India is a independent, democratic, republic country

where seen the plurality in religions. There are thousands of religions
and crores of gods in the land of India. Among that Christianity is one
among the minor religions. The over hand of Hindus and BJP is the main
challenge for Christianity in India. BJP says that they will make this land
the PUNYA BHUMI. So they want to wipe out all other sectors of
religious faiths from this land. For that they use their money, muscle,
authority, power, influence etc… Recently they passed anti conversion
bill and the bill prohibition of public spread of religions. It stands as a
real challenge for evangelism and sharing gospel.

Lecture by: Mrs. Elizabeth Compiled by: Vineesh V P B.Th. (2018-2021)