Presbyterian Church of India - Origin and History

Origin and History

In 1799 Serampore was a protectorate of Denmark. The early British rulers of India were not in favour of Christian missionaries setting up in India, but Wlliam Cary (1761-1834) established a mission at Serampore in 1799 which became to be known as the cradle of Modern Missions. Two Khasi were converted through the ministry of Krishna Chandra Pal deputised by William Carey in 1813 and working at the trading outpost of Pandua situated in the Sylhet Plains. The same year a station was opened at Jowai in the Jaintai Hills. William Cary heartend by the efforts of Krishna Pal began a translation of the Bible into Khasi using Bengali script. In 1832 Cary sponsored Alexandre B Lish as a missionary at Cherrapunjee. Lish stayed six years learning the language, opening schools and translating the New Testament into Khasi using Bengali script. As this script was unknown to the Khasi at that time this fact accounts for Lish's lack of converts. This account above is the priliminary history of the efforts of the Welsh in Khasiland. William Cary had links with Liverpool The Secretary of the Welsh Mission the Reverend John Thomas Jones from Aberriw in Wales who had a strong desire to work in India had applied to the LMS on medical grounds. The Rverend Jones managed to obtain support from his congregatin and incorporated The Wwlsh Missionary Society and they sent him to work in the Khasi Hills

The Foreign Missions enterprise of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church (later known as the Presbyterian Church of Wales) began at Liverpool in 1840. Earlier this church had supported the work of the London City Missionary Society both in terms of home support and also in overseas agency—four Calvinistic Methodists were sent out by the LMS in the years up to 1840. However there arose a feeling among Welsh Calvinists, especially those in North Wales, that the Welsh Calvinists were not being sufficiently represented in the LMS and that, moreover, the Methodist Churches had not done what they ought to have done in evangelising the Heathen world. A former London City Missionary by the name of Jacob Tomlin had toured the Khasia Hills before 1840 and recommended that the Welsh Calvinists adopt this area as its first mission. The area had been brought under British domination with a military satation at Chrrapunji. In 1874 the Khasia and Juntia Hills and the plains of Assam were designated the Province of Assam. The first missionary, Rev. Thomas Jones, left with his wife for Cherrapunji in November 1840. They arrived at the reputedly rainiest plain on earth in June 1841. The Rev. Jones learned the Khasi language and after one year opened schools with his publication: First Khasi Reader. The Reverende was aided by a number of other Welsh missionary workers and the first two converts to the Christian faith from Khasiland were baptised in March 1846.

The Presbyterian Church in India was founded in 1841. by missionaries from the Presbyterian Church of Wales (formerly the Calvinistic Methodist Church). Rev Thomas Jones and his wife arrived in Sohra and from the town, this work spread to Sylhet today known as Bangladesh and Cachar Plains, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura. But before this around 1813 the Serampore Mission stated working in at the foot of the Khasi Hills. This mission closed in 1838, the Welsh missionaries revived this effort. Rev. William Pyerse arrived to strengthen this work. The first Presbytery was formed in 1867 in Khasi Hills, and 5 presbyteries were established in 1895, resulting in 1896 in what was then called the Assembly. Work was started in 1896 in Sylhet and Cachar, and later another Assembly was formed in there. In 1947 India and Pakistan were divided, the greater part of the area came under Pakistan, the Pakistan Assembly discontinued. In India the Welsh reached Mizoram, and was strenghteen by another missionaries, and the work developed since 1897. By the end of the 1890s the church grew in membership and character, this was the Welsh religious revival, and includes today the whole population. Various tribes in nort Cachar Hills who had been evangelizedby missionaries and local workers were organised as an Assembly, but this assemblies were just regional, not the whole Presbyterian denomination was included. The Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Assam was created in 1926. The highest church court, the Synod was renamed to Assembly in 1956. In 1968 the name Presbyterian Church in Assam was changed to the Presbyterian Church in North-East India. Geographical spread and the merger of several (though not all) Presbyterian groups made the original denominational names obsolete, and the name 'Presbyterian Church of India' (PCI) was adopted as an official name in 1992, the Assembly was renamed to General Assembly by the highest court of the church in 2002.