Title: Lutherans Celebrate 300 Years of Ministry in India ELCA NEWS SERVICE
June 22, 2006
Lutherans Celebrate 300 Years of Ministry in India 06-087-FI
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg arrived in Tranquebar on the southeast coast of India on July 9, 1706, to bring Lutheran piety to the Tamil people. He became a part of the Tamil culture, and 300 years later the mission he founded and the people he influenced celebrate his arrival.
A 16-member delegation from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will be on hand to help Lutherans in India celebrate the tercentenary of Ziegenbalg's arrival. Programs are planned July 1-9 at the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute, Chennai (formerly Madras), and in Tranquebar (Tarangambadi), India.
"We want to be in solidarity with our Lutheran sisters and brothers in India on this very important celebration," said the Rev. Joseph K. Chu, director for mission interpretation and support -- Asia and Pacific, ELCA Global Mission.
"The Lutheran church started when the Rev. Ziegenbalg arrived in Tranquebar and engaged earnestly in evangelism 300 years ago," Chu said. "Not only did he have the zeal for evangelism and dedication, he was a gifted linguist. He quickly learned the Tamil language and made the gospel understandable for people."
"This is probably one of the earliest if not the earliest Lutheran mission in Asia," Chu said. "We have much to learn from our Lutheran sisters and brothers in India on how they have struggled to keep the ministry growing over the past 300 years."
The celebration begins July 1 with the opening of an exhibition in Chennai on the history of Lutheran mission in India.
His Excellency Thiru Surjit Singh Barnala, governor of India's Tamil Nadu, has been invited to deliver an inaugural address July 3 for the celebration on the Gurukul campus. India's minister for communication and information, Thiru Dayanidhi Maran will issue a commemorative stamp in honor of Ziegenbalg. Dr. Kalaignar Karunanidhi, Tamil scholar and former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, will address the gathering.
A seminar on Ziegenbalg's contributions to civil society, such as the printing and translation of the Bible into Tamil, production of the first Tamil grammar book and his pioneering work in herbal medicine, will be offered July 4 in Chennai.
July 5-6 will feature an international consultation on Christian mission. Seminar leaders will come from Egypt, Germany, India, Sweden and the United States, including the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF).
The LWF is a global communion representing 62.3 million of the world's nearly 65.4 million Lutherans. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Academy of Ecumenical Indian Christian Theology and Church Administration will host a convocation July 7 in honor of those who contributed to the cause for which Ziegenbalg arrived in India.
July 8 the celebration will move about 140 miles south down the Indian Ocean's Bay of Bengal to Tranquebar for a rededication of the New Jerusalem Church, which Ziegenbalg first dedicated in 1718. Ziegenbalg died the next year, at the age of 37, and his body was buried at the church.
An Ecumenical Jubilee Thanksgiving Service in Tranquebar will mark the tercentenary July 9 to praise God for the service of Ziegenbalg. Hanson and other international guests will lead worship.
"India holds a special place in my heart," said the Rev. Angela L. Shannon, Trinity English Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, Ind. She completed her third year of seminary education with a parish internship at the Lutheran Center in Hyderabad, India, through ELCA Global Mission's Horizon Internship Program.
"My internship was a watershed experience that enlarged my vision of God's activity in the world. Consequently, it changed my life and they way that I do ministry even today," Shannon said.
"My sisters and brothers in India modeled the ministry of hospitality for me in a way that goes beyond mere entertaining. It is this lesson that I have carried and embodied the whole of my ministry with God's people," she said.
"I would like to establish relationships between members of Trinity English Lutheran Church, where I serve as associate pastor for mission and outreach, and members of a local Lutheran church in Chennai with an eye toward taking a group (from Fort Wayne) there for a visit," Shannon added.
In addition to Chu, Hanson and Shannon, other members of the ELCA delegation will be the Rev. Karen Bockelman, assistant to the bishop, ELCA Northeastern Minnesota Synod, Duluth; Becky Cusey, vice president, ELCA Northwestern Minnesota Synod, Moorhead; Ruth Fairchild, vice president, Women of the ELCA, Northern Illinois Synod, Rockford; Lucy Francisco, student, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa.; Frank Imhoff, associate director, ELCA News Service; Terri Lackey, managing editor, Lutheran Woman Today, Women of the ELCA; Andrea Pohlmann, editorial production manager, The Lutheran magazine; Esther Prabhakar, vice president, ELCA Northern Illinois Synod, Rochelle; the Rev. Rafael Malpica-Padilla, executive director, ELCA Global Mission; Art Milton, chair, Global Mission, ELCA Northern Illinois Synod, Rock Island ;Kathryn S. Montira, student, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa; the Rev. Rolf P. Wangberg, bishop, ELCA Northwestern Minnesota Synod, Moorhead; and the Rev. Gary Wollersheim, bishop, ELCA Northern Illinois Synod, Rockford. -- -- --
Gurukul Lutheran Theological College maintains information on the tercentenary at http://www.gltc.edu/tercentenary/ on the Web. The ELCA delegation will host a blog (Web log) at http://lutheransinindia.blogspot.com/ during the trip.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog