Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church


Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church is a major Christian denomination in India. It was established in 1882. At that time the founder of the SHEL mission in Germany was pastor Christian Jensen, who was praying for the people of India. Pioneer missionaries Rev Ernest Pohl and Rev. Herman Bothmann.came to India and reached the Koraput district of Odisha on 31 May 1882 and started mission work. They faced many problems. Gradually they learnt the local language, culture, customs, and the traditional system of the local people. The first woman, Asimuti Behera of the village Joba under the Kotpad mission station, was baptized by the missionary Timmke on 6 December 1886. Day by day the indigenous people took an active part in the congregation and they knew the living God. The people took part in various mission programmes.
Now the church has more than 250,000 members. It has its own bylaws approved by IGR of Odisha, as per the society registration act of 1952, and the synod has four elected officers: Bishop, Synod Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer. They serve for four years. The current office holders are Rt. Rev.Ashish Kumar pal as Bishop of JELC, Rev. Bidhan Kumar Nayak as Synod Chairman, Manoj Kumar Hial as Secretary, and Biroj Kumar Beniya as Treasurer. The headquarters of JELC function in Pohl & Bhothmann Bhavan, JELC central office, pin code -764001.
Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church.is associated with the National Council of Churches in India, United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India, Lutheran World Federation, and World Council of Churches. The other churches belonging to the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India are:
JELC has got its unofficial Oriya Language Lutheran Hymns Book Android App Offered by Premasis Satman.