The Mennonite Churches in India
India became the first mission field for Mennonite Brethren when Abraham and Maria Friesen were sent from Russia to work with American Baptists in 1890. In 1899 the first MB missionaries were sent from North America. MBs are primarily in the province of Andhra Pradesh, and come from all castes, although the first converts were from the outcaste community. Almost from the beginning, MBs have operated schools, Bible schools, seminaries, hospitals, clinics, social programs and publishing enterprises. Despite some leadership struggles, the Church is continuing to grow. In 1991, it had 45,000 members, with 70 evangelists reaching 300 villages. Today, it has 65,000 members, with 103 outreach couples reaching over 500 villages.
The Mennonite Church in India
The Mennonite Church (MC) began famine relief work in India in 1899, but soon developed hospitals, orphanages, schools and church structures. There are now about 3000 members, mainly from a Hindu background, in 19 congregations in the province of Madhya Pradesh.
A separate conference, the Bihar Mennonite Mandli, was started as an outreach among poorer, animistic people in the province of Bihar in 1947. That conference now has 542 members in 14 congregations.
The Bharatiya General Conference Mennonite Church
The General Conference Mennonite Church (GC) began work among lower-caste Hindus several generations ago, focussing on education, medical work and evangelism. The church is experiencing some leadership divisions. It is now a community of 12,000, with 22 congregations in 55 places of worship.
The Brethren in Christ Church
The Brethren in Christ sent their first missionaries to the province of Bihar in 1914. Their ministry included establishing orphanages, schools, hostels, medical work, care of widows and evangelism through preaching and literature distribution. In 1950, they also began reaching out to tribal peoples, who soon made up over 80% of the church. By 1975 there were 1800 members.
An outreach was begun in the 1960s in Nepal when some tribal people moved there in search of land. There are now 350 members in 10 congregations there.
In 1980, a new outreach was started in the province of Orissa. There are now 800 members in 24 congregations there.
Altogther, there are over 3000 BICs in the three areas.
The United Missionary Church in India
The Mennonite Brethren in Christ and the Missionary Church Association began work in India in 1908 and 1903 respectively. The parent bodies merged to form the Missionary Church in 1969 and are no longer part of the Mennonite World Conference. However, the Indian branch still is part of MWC. It has about 4200 members in 42 congregations in Calcutta, West Bengal province and Bihar province. It operates schools and camps, and has ambitious outreach goals.
Due to government restrictions and the growing maturity of the Indian churches, the last North American missionaries left India 10-25 years ago.
In 1961 the six Mennonite conferences in India formed the Mennonite Christian Service Fellowship of India, as sort of an Indian equivalent to Mennonite Central Committee; it organizes conferences and responds to victims of natural disasters.
from reports by Connie Faber, Valerie Weaver, Ruth Unrau, Harvey R. Sider and Rich Preheim
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