Diocese of Medak of the Church of South India


The Diocese of Medak is one of the prominent Dioceses in the Church of South India, a Protestant Uniting Church with its headquarters in Medak comprising nearly 200 Presbyters ministering to Telugu, Lambadi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindustani, English and other linguistic groups numbering nearly 1/3rds of a million spread over 105 pastorates and administered through 3 District Church Councils, namely, the Town DCC, the Medak DCC and the Godavari DCC geographically located in the erstwhile civil districts of Adilabad, Nizamabad, Medak, Rangareddy, Hyderabad and Mahboobnagar in Telangana.

History

Christianity in India

, one of the Twelve Apostles landed in Maharashtra and began his mission in Kalyan and was followed by Saint Thomas who landed in Gujarat during the reign of King Gondophares and initiated the Gospel in parts of Bharuch 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.
It was with this background that Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India remarked in a parliamentary debate in 1955 in the Lok Sabha that,

Christianity in Telangana

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

The beginnings of the church

Once the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society set foot in the erstwhile Hyderabad State in 1878, the missionaries led by Henry Little, William Burgess and the Indian Evangelist Benjamin Wesley who pioneered the spread of the Gospel and helped in establishing of churches in areas northward of Hyderabad City 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 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 led by Professor Muthyala Theophilus, CBCNC and William Powlas Peery, AELC to join the Church of South India. Meanwhile in 1923, 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. 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.

Ministerial formation

The Ministerial Secretary of the Diocese of Medak acts as the Vocation Promoter and for those discerning their avocation towards priesthood, the Diocese of Medak through its Ministerial Secretary examines candidates to determine their preparedness for the priestly vocation at varying points of time. First, candidates are admitted to the Diocese of Medak and attached with a Priest in congregations and after a year or two they are sent for ministerial formation to a seminary affiliated to the Senate of Serampore College. Presently, the Diocese of Medak divides candidates between the Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad and to the United Theological College, Bangalore.
It was in Medak that the first seminary was established prior to 1947. Incidentally, this College moved over to Dornakal and became the Andhra Union Theological College which later in 1964 joined hands with the Anglicans, Baptists, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Methodists and Wesleyan Methodists to form the Andhra Christian Theological College, originally located in Rajahmundry and moved to Secunderabad in 1972. The Diocese is also represented in the United Theological College, Bangalore which was established in 1910.
The Diocese of Medak through its scholarly Clergy has also been involved in ministerial formation both at the Andhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad and at the United Theological College, Bangalore. Some of its Clergy who have been sent on lien to teach elsewhere include,
Name of the PresbyterSpecializationSeminaryYear's taught
Frank WhittakerTheologyAndhra Union Theological College, Dornakal1960-61
Eric J. LottReligionsAndhra Union Theological College, Dornakal, Andhra Christian Theological College, Rajahmundry/Secunderabad and United Theological College, Bangalore1962-64, 1964–76, 1977–88
M. VidyanandamOld TestamentAndhra Christian Theological College, Rajahmundry1964-66
P. Victor PremasagarOld TestamentAndhra Union Theological College, Dornakal and Andhra Christian Theological College,Rajahmundry/Secunderabad1964-66, 1966–80
R. YesurathnamSystematic theologyAndhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad1973-01
P. Surya PrakashNew Testament and HomileticsUnited Theological College, Bangalore1991-00
Ch. Vasantha RaoOld TestamentAndhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad and United Theological College, Bangalore1994-17, 2017-
M. John SundarNew TestamentAndhra Christian Theological College, Secunderabad2007-14

Diocese Administrators

The Bishops that have led the Diocese of Medak were notable and exemplary and having focused on the objective of the Mission and Evangelism as shown through the Gospels. The lives of the Bishops have been documented by Church historians and available in book form include,
During the 1950s, the Diocese accommodated Bishop Bunyan Joseph of the erstwhile Anantapur-Kurnool Diocese which had since been integrated into Rayalaseema Diocese. He was Assistant Bishop - in - Medak and worked together with Frank Whittaker, Eber Priestley, B. G. Prasada Rao and others. Bunyan Joseph also served as Presbyter - in - Charge at the CSI-Church of St. John the Baptist, Secunderabad during 1956-57 and 1960-61 until he finally retired in October 1963.

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