Church of South India - History

History

The CSI union happened on 27 September 1947 at St. George's Cathedral Chennai, only a month after India achieved its independence from the United Kingdom. It was formed from the union of the South India United Church (itself a union of churches from the Congregational, Presbyterian and Reformed traditions) and the southern provinces of the Anglican Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon and the Methodist Church of South India. In the 1990s, a small number of Baptist and Pentecostal churches also joined the union.

The presiding bishop of the inaugural function was the Rt Revd C. K. Jacob of the Anglican Diocese of Travancore and Cochin. A vast congregation gathered in the cathedral at Madras from all over the world. The following historical declaration made by Bishop Jacob at the inaugural.

"Dearly beloved brethren, in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ the head of the church, who on the night of his passion prayed that his disciples might be one, and by authority of the governing bodies of the uniting churches whose resolutions have been read in your hearing and laid in your prayer before Almighty God; I do hereby declare that these three churches, namely - the Madras, Madura, Malabar, Jaffna, Kannada, Telugu, Travancore Church councils of the South India United Church; the Methodist Church of South India, Trichinopoly, Hyderabad and Mysore districts; the Madras, Travancore and Cochin, Tinnevelly and Dornakal dioceses of the Churches of India, Burma and Ceylon; are become one Church of South India, and these bishops, presbyters, deacons and probationers who have assented to the basis of union and accepted the constitution of the Church of South India, whose names are laid upon this holy table, are bishops, presbyters and deacons of this church. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen."

Discussions about the merging of South India's Protestant denominations had begun at a 1919 conference at Tranquebar (today known as Tharangambadi). This famous conference on church union is known as Tranquebar 1919. One of the main leaders of this conference and later negotiations was bishop Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah of the Dornakal diocese, who was the first Indian bishop of the Anglican Church. The Church of South India is considered the result of twenty-eight years of prayers and discussions. By the independence of India in 1947, the union was achieved and the CSI officially established.

The inauguration of the Church of South India opened a new chapter in the history of the churches. This was the first time in history such a union was realised between episcopal and non-episcopal churches. By this union four traditions came together, i.e., Anglican (Episcopal), Congregational, Presbyterian, and Methodist.

One of the three churches to come into the Church of South India was the South India United Church (S.I.U.C.). S.I.U.C. was formed in 1908. This was a union between Congregationalists and Presbyterians. The Basal Mission, district of Malabar also joined the S.I.U.C. in 1919.

When C.S.I. was inaugurated there were fourteen dioceses. Today the church has twenty-two dioceses and more than 5 million members. There are eight dioceses in Tamil Nadu, six in Andhra Pradesh, four in Kerala, three in Karnataka, and one in Sri Lanka.