{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 196,
  "chapterName": "1970. Inauguration of the Church of North India",
  "pageFrom": 419,
  "pageTo": 422,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 419,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n419\n4. Pastors or Priests\nIn any particular place or community, the Ministry of the Word\nand the Sacraments will be exercised by the Pastors. A Pastor\nwill normally be posted by the Association or Presbytery to minister\nin a particular town, village(s) or district called a ' pastorate\n5. Bishops\nThe Bishop will be a servant of Christ and for Christ's sake a\nservant of His flock in a Church Council area.\nUnder the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in Christ's name\nhe will have a concern for all who live in the Council area, whether\nChristians or not; and within the Christian community he will care\nparticularly for the other ministers in the area Bishops will be\nelected by the Church Council concerned subject to the approval of\nthe Assembly\n6. The ordained ministers of all the uniting Churches shall be\naccepted as fully ordained ministers of the CNEI.\n7. Future ordination of ministers shall be evolved as the\nChurches grow together. So also will the form of ordination...\nVII. The Organization of the Church\n1. The Organisation of the Church of North-East India will\nconsist of the Local Church, the Association or Presbytery, the\nChurch Council or Synod or Diocese, and the Assembly...\n196. INAUGURATION OF THE CHURCH OF\nNORTH INDIA (1970 A.D.)\nThe Church of North India was inaugurated on 29th November\n1970. It's constitution was similar to that of the Church of South\nIndia with certain features of the Ceylon scheme included. Its most\ndistinctive feature was the unification of the ministries of the uniting.\nchurches. Bishop D. M. Kennedy gives the following eye-witness\naccount of the inauguration. Work in Progress: The CNI History,\nIII, Indian Church History Review, vol. VII, No. 1 (June 1973),\npp. 20-24.\n'The glorious long-awaited day has come:\nAll glory be to Thee, O God;\nThis is the song of every heart...'\nThese words of the special Hindi lyric, beautifully sung on the\neve of the Inauguration of the CNI by a special CARAVS Choir,\nsummed up the feelings of all in the vast congregation which",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 420,
      "ocrText": "420\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nassembled on the Inauguration Day itself. The setting was in the\nspacious grounds of All Saints' Cathedral, Nagpur, that geographi-\ncally convenient and ecumenically-minded Christian centre; the\ndate was Sunday, 29 November 1970, the first Sunday in Advent.\nAs the Cathedral was not large enough to accommodate the vast\ncongregation of some three thousand Christians from India and\noverseas, the ceremonies were held in a large pandal outside. It was\nperhaps appropriate that the new Church should begin its pilgri-\nmage in a tent! In the colourful opening procession the official\nrepresentatives of the six uniting Churches (The Council of the\nBaptist Churches in Northern India, the Church of the Brethren\nin India, the Disciples of Christ, the Church of India, the Methodist\nChurch (British and Australian Conferences), and the United\nChurch of Northern India), ministerial and lay, each marching\nfor the last time under their own denominational banner-were\npreceded by the Overseas representatives and the representatives of\nsister Churches in India itself, prominent among them the tall,\nimposing figure of Archbishop Raymond of Nagpur, representing\nthe Roman Catholic Church. Mr. A. K. Kisku, M.P., Deputy\nMinister of Education and Youth Welfare, Government of India\n(who was representing the Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi)\nand Dr.. M. M. Thomas, Chairman of the Central Committee of\nthe World Council of Churches were appropriately seated at the\nfront of the large congregation.\nAfter the opening hymn, Declarations accepting the Plan of\nChurch Union in North India (4th edition)-including Part I, the\nConstitution, and Part II, regarding the Inauguration of the Union\nand Interim Arrangements' were read in the hearing of the\ncongregation by duly authorised lay representatives of the six\nuniting Churches. These Declarations, together with the names of\nbishops and other ministers accepting the Constitution of the CNI,\nwere placed on the Communion Table and brought before God in\nprayer. The presiding minister, the Right Reverend Dr. Gurbachan\nSingh, retiring Moderator of the UCNI (Presbyterian-Congre-\ngationalist) General Assembly, then solemnly declared 'that these\nsix Churches within the area of union have become one CHURCH\nOF NORTH INDIA'. In response to these momentous acts and\nto his tremendous declaration, so quietly and reverently spoken,\nthe vast congregation burst into the Doxology.\nAfter a moment or two of silence, the Sacrament of the Lord's\nSupper began. It was according to the Liturgy of the Church of\nSouth India and was observed, on this First day of the Inauguration\nceremonies, after the Reformed or presbyterian tradition. The\nsermon was preached by the Reverend Dr. Rupert Davies, President\nof the British Methodist Conference. Within the setting of the",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 421,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n421\nSacrament, some eighty ministers, including the former Anglican\nbishops, were 'unified by prayer and the laying-on of hands of a\nnucleus of three ministers of the new Church-the Most Reverend\nLakdasa de Mel, formerly Anglican, the Reverend Dr. Benjamin\nPradhan, Chairman of the Inaugural Committee, formerly Baptist,\nand the Reverend C. C. Pande, Secretary of the Inaugural Com-\nmittee, formerly Methodist. (Note: Those 'unified' unified included\nthe eight Bishops Designate', formerly Anglican Bishops, assigned\nto CNI Diocese; nine Bishops-Elect from the five non-Anglican\ntraditions; four retiring Bishops (formerly Anglican Bishops, not\nassociated with Dioceses); and nd also representative and accredited\nPresbyters of all six uniting Churches, chosen in such a way that,\nas far as possible, each Diocese of the CNI was represented by at\nleast one presbyter who later assisted the Diocesan Bishop at the\nDiocesan Unification ceremonies.) As agreed to in the Plan of\nUnion, 4th edition, these three ministers had, a few minutes previ-\nously, themselves been commissioned with prayer and the laying-on\nof hands by representatives of all the six Churches now united,\nplus four other ministers from outside the area the Moderator\nof the Church of South India (the Most Reverend P. Solomon),\nthe Right Reverend Mar Theophilos (representing the Metropolitan\nof the Mar Thoma Syrian Church), the Reverend W. Manners of\nthe Presbyterian Church of Assam, and the Reverend E. L. Wenger\nof the Baptist Church, Dacca, East Bengal.\nAll who witnessed this Unification Rite-so much discussed\nand argued over in the long drawn-out period of negotiation-\nwere able to note its true significance. It included an unequivocal\naffirmation by all the representative ministers, non-Anglican as\nwell as Anglican, of the reality of their existing ordination as an\nordination to the ministry of the Universal Church. This was\nfollowed by the paradoxical statement by all-Anglicans as well as\nnon-Anglicans of their willingness to receive from God whatever\n'of Christ's grace, commission and authority' He might wish to\ngive to each. A prayer with the same 'intention' was followed\nby a silent laying-on of hands on groups of ministers coming forward\ntogether, not on a denominational but on a regional basis; and in\na marvellously reverent stillness the Service moved on to the sharing\nin the Bread and Wine and to the triumphant recessional hymn,\nGlorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God'. We\nmarched now, not in our denominational groups, but as one body\nunder one banner, of the Church of North India.\nOn the morning of Monday, 30 November-appropriately it was\nSt. Andrew's day-eight former Anglican Bishops, assigned to\nDioceses in the CNI, were confirmed in their appointments. At\nthis ceremony Dr. Benjamin Pradhan presided. Then followed\nthe Consecration of nine new Bishops coming from the UCNI,",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 422,
      "ocrText": "HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\n422\n'British' Methodist, Baptist, Disciples and Church-of-the-\nBrethren traditions. The Bishops taking part in the Consecration\nwere the retiring Metropolitan of the Anglican Church in India,\nthe Most Rev. Lakdasa de Mel, and the Right Revs. Christopher\nRobinson and John Sadiq, together with the Moderator of the CSI\nand Bishop Mar Theophilos of the Mar Thoma Church. The\nOrdinal used was that of the Church of South India and, at very\nshort notice, the Moderator of the CSI preached a moving sermon\non the pastoral office of a Bishop. The ceremonial, though dignified,\nwas simple; and the questions put to the new bishops and answered\nby them left in no doubt their commitment and that of the whole\nChurch of North India to the Apostolic, Biblical and evangelical\nfaith. The Service again culminated in Holy Communion, the\nBread and Wine being given on the second day to groups of com-\nmunicants who came forward to different parts of the pandal, and\nreceived the elements, standing, from the Bishops and Presbyters.\nThe Inauguration ceremonies, which had been carried out on a\nbackground of tremendous goodwill and active co-operation from\nChristian and indeed non-Christian Nagpur, and which had been\nenriched by several cultural programmes of outstanding interest\nand merit, reached a fitting climax in a very simple Service of\nThanksgiving, with prayer, Bible reading and hymns, on the after-\nnoon of 30 November. It began with an act of remembrance of\nsome of the great pioneers of Church Union in India, including\nDr. Augustine Ralla Ram and Dr. Donald Sully, this part of the\nService being appropriately and impressively conducted by the\nRev. C. C. Pande, the veteran Secretary of the Inaugural Commit-\ntee, who had been the friend and colleague of most of the people\ncommemorated. It ended with a stirring and prophetic sermon\nby one of the youngest members of the Inaugural Committee, the\nRev. S. K. Biswas of Calcutta Cathedral, who was so soon to play\nan outstanding part in the relief of the refugees from Bangla Desh,\nbefore the CNI was one year old. With his challenging words\nringing in their ears, the Bishops and representative Presbyters\nand laymen began to disperse on their return journeys to the nine-\nteen far-flung Dioceses of the new Church, there to carry forward\nin their own regional languages and their Diocesan areas the work of\nreconciliation and unification so memorably begun at Nagpur.",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}