Brief History Of The Chhotanagpur Diocese ,CNI Church Ranchi

Brief History Of The Chhotanagpur Diocese

Chhotanagpur Diocese was established on March 23, 1890. But a glimpse of the circumstances before that historic day is necessary. Pastor Johannes Gossner was a wonderful man of God and a fiery evangelist for the Lord. He used to send religious servants from Berlin city of Germany to many parts of the world to preach the gospel to other religious people. In this connection, on December 31, 1844, he sent four missionaries from Berlin city, namely A. Schatz, A. Brant, Frederick Bach and E. T. Janke Sahibs to India. Although he was appointed to go to some other place, still God considered it appropriate that he came to Ranchi from Calcutta, as a result, he made his debut in Ranchi on 2 November 1845. In those days the journey was full of tribulations. He started serving the Lord in three ways. (1) By giving education in school (2) By giving medicine to the sick (3) By preaching the word of God.

In the early 1850s, four seekers of faith, namely (1) Naveen Pode of Hetha Kota, (2) Kesho of Chitakuni, (3) Bandhu of Chitakuni and (4) Ghuran of Karanda came to the missionaries and said, “We want to see Jesus ourselves.” . He received such inspiration from the Holy Spirit that the first adult baptism was duly performed on June 9, 1850 of the same year. It is also important to know that in those days, the government officers like Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner etc. appointed in Ranchi were dedicated to the Lord, due to which the missionaries got a lot of convenience in their service. The work of "Gossner Mission" continued smoothly for the next eighteen years, i.e. till 1868. During this period, a large number of religious workers came from the West and despite suffering persecution and suffering, the number of Christians kept increasing. Unfortunately, due to certain reasons, there was a split in the mission in 1868, but later the circumstances improved, and the work of the church continued to grow.

Arrival of Anglican Church in Chhotanagpur

As the first missionary of the Anglican Church, Reverend Priest J.C. Hictley reached Ranchi with his family on 29th June 1869. His two sons and a daughter. For the next 21 years he worked day and night to organize, develop and strengthen the Anglican Church. Meanwhile, a large number of people, including the first priest Bachh Sahib, accepted the membership of the Anglican Church, among whom was Honorable Wilhelm Luther Dawood Singh. Bishop Milman Sahib, who came from Calcutta, ordained him to the post of Deacon and Priest respectively. In this way, Dawood Singh got the privilege of becoming the first native priest of the Anglican Church of Chhotanagpur. Within a decade the congregation number increased to ten thousand six hundred. The religious school was opened only in 1870, where servants were trained to become priests. The foundation of St. Paul's Cathedral was laid in the same year and the consecration ceremony was performed in 1873. Since the formation of the Diocese, His Excellency Bishop Millman has visited Calcutta six times and His Excellency Bishop Johnson has visited Calcutta seven times on different occasions to guide the Anglican Church here. The approval of the Parliament of the Vilayet was necessary to separate Chhotanagpur from the Calcutta Diocese. Thus, after completing all the formalities, Honorable J.C. Hewtley was chosen to be the first Bishop of Chhotanagpur and he was consecrated Bishop on 23 March 1890.

independence from the church abroad

With the enthronement of the first bishop of the diocese, we joined the worldwide Anglican communion and all Anglican dioceses in India are governed and governed by the Church of England. But under a rule passed in 1928, the Anglican Church of Indo-Burma-Ceylon was included in one province and after independence, Pakistan was also included and we were recognized as the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon and thus We found ourselves as a province of the worldwide Anglican communion, independent of the Church of England. This relationship and participation continued till the birth of the Church of North India.

Two years after the establishment of the Diocese, i.e. in 1892, at the request of the first Bishop, the missionaries of 'Dublin University Mission' came to Ranchi and from that time onwards they made Hazaribagh their centre. Thus, in the pastoral-educational and health fields, DUM Mission has made significant contribution to the all-round development of the diocese. His help is still continuing.

A few years after the arrival of the DUM Mission, i.e. in 1909, "British Churches of Christ Mission" was established to serve the Palamu area. A large number of missionaries were engaged in evangelism and social service in difficult circumstances. In the general meeting of BCC held in 1969, the proposal was unanimously passed that Chhotanagpur should join CNI through Diocese, then many priests of BCC were formally accepted into the diocese by the then Bishop of the Diocese, Dilbar Hans. to be done.

Merger of Chhotanagpur Diocese into the Church of North India

After the inauguration of the Church of South India (CSI) in 1947, a plan was made in 1951 for the unity of the churches in North India. The fourth and final amendment of the said scheme was published in 1965. According to which six different churches of North India gave their consent to unite, as a result on 29 November 1970, the Church of North India was born, which also includes Chotanagpur Diocese. Due to circumstances, a situation of isolation had arisen from 17th July 2020.