Church of South India Jubilee Fund boasts million dollar success

ALC/ENI, India, September 27, 2007

To celebrate its 60th anniversary, the Church of South India has raised the equivalent of Taxi Heathrow Airport US$1 million for social projects, after most of its four million members each contributed at least 10 rupees, or 25 US cents, towards a special jubilee fund.

"This jubilee is unique, as the entire church from top to the bottom is involved," the church's general secretary, Pauline Sathiamurthy, told Ecumenical News International.

The foundation of the Church of South India in 1947 marked the world's first formal union between an Anglican church and non-Anglican denominations. The anniversary will be celebrated on September 27 at St. George's Cathedral in Chennai, where the inaugural service of the united church took place 60 years ago.

"This is a historic occasion in the life of our church," said Sathiamurthy.

The united church brought together Anglican, Congregational, Methodist, Presbyterian and Reformed traditions. It covers the four southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and also has a diocese in the Jaffna region of Sri Lanka.

Jubilee celebrations began in mid-September in the Thoothukudi-Nazareth diocese in Tamil Nadu. Then, Bishop J. A. D. Jebachandran kick-started a motorcycle rally, and, followed by thousands of young bikers, rode 160 kilometers (100 miles) through historic church centers.

At the time, the diocese said the rally was to instill, "the spirit of celebration in the minds of congregations."

The million-dollar jubilee fund will be used, among other things, to finance endowment scholarships for poor children, especially girls, renovate 60 church orphanages and historic churches, and provide drinking water to 120 villages.

"The jubilee celebration will not end with these projects," Vijay Kumar, the CSI's diaconal ministry director, told ENI. "We will make every effort to make the church more committed to the service of the poor, and need of the times," he said.

Kumar also explained that the church is to launch a "green program" to increase awareness of conservation, bio-diversity and renewable energy issues, and to promote the church's eco-friendly programs.

Discussions about church unification in India began at a conference in Tranquebar (now Tarangambadi) in 1919. Subsequently, the Church of South India came into being after India attained independence in 1947.

Source: Ecumenical News International www.eni.ch 07-0746