View source for Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur and Assam

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox Christian denomination
|name                 = Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur and Assam
|image                = G.E.L.Church, Ranchi - 1.jpg
|caption = Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur and Assam.
|congregations = 1895
|main_classification = [[Lutheran]]
|headquarters = Main Road Ranchi Jharkhand, India  834001
|members = 583,960+ (2013)
|leader = Moderator Bishop Johann Dang
|area = [[India]]
}}

'''Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur and Assam (GELC)''' is a major [[Christianity|Christian]] Protestant denomination in [[India]]. It has hundreds of thousands of members.<ref name="lutheranworld1">{{cite web|url=http://www.lutheranworld.org/Directory/ASI/GosEvLuthCchinChotanAssam-EN.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-03-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100220162234/http://lutheranworld.org/Directory/ASI/GosEvLuthCchinChotanAssam-EN.html |archive-date=20 February 2010 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> It was established on 2 November 1845.<ref>Church Literature - Not available online</ref> It belongs to [[National Council of Churches in India]], [[United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India]], [[Lutheran World Federation]] and [[World Council of Churches]].<ref name="lutheranworld1"/>
It is led by Moderator Bishop [[Johann Dang]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lutheranworld.org/country/india |title=India &#124; The Lutheran World Federation |publisher=Lutheranworld.org |access-date=2016-09-02}}</ref> It is one of the three Lutheran denominations in northeast India along with the [[Bodo Evangelical Lutheran Church]] and the [[Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church]].

==History==
'''The Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church''' with its headquarters located in [[Ranchi]], [[Jharkhand]] (formerly [[Bihar]]) is one of the largest and widespread Lutheran Churches in India. Its past can be traced back to 1845 when [[Johannes Evangelista Gossner]] ([[Germany]]) sent four missionaries namely:
*'''Rev. Emil Satz''',
*'''Rev. August Brandt''',
*'''Rev. Fredrick Basch''' and
*'''Rev. Theodore Yankey'''
for launching the 'Lutheran mission' in India.
[[File:G.E.L.Church, Ranchi - 2.jpg|thumb|Main Building, G.E.L.Church, Ranchi]]
The missionaries left [[Germany]] in 1844 and reached [[Kolkata]] (formerly [[Calcutta]]) in 1845. They were initially heading for [[Mergui]] in [[Myanmar]] (formerly [[Burma]]) in view of preaching the [[Christian faith]] among the [[Karen people]] or in the areas located in the footsteps of the [[Himalayas]]. However, on meeting some people from [[Ranchi]], they changed their plan and headed for [[Chhotanagpur]] and its main town, [[Ranchi]].
They reached [[Ranchi]] on 2 November 1845 and camped on, what is now known as, the 'Bethesda Ground' in [[Ranchi]].

==First Baptisms==
The first [[baptism]] was performed on 25 June 1846 when a girl named 'Martha' received the [[sacrament]]. More children were baptized on 26 June 1846.

Adult Conversion:
*Four [[Kurukh people|Oraon]]  on 9 June 1850
*[[Munda people|Munda]] on 26 October 1851,
*Nine [[Bengali people|Bengali]]  on 1 October 1855,
*Two [[Kharia people|Kharia]]  on 8 June 1866 and
*One [[Ho people|Ho]]  on 10 May 1868 were baptized.

The Rev. [[Johannes Gossner|Johannes Evangelista Gossner]] sent money equivalent to '''₹'''13000 from his personal funds to the missionaries, so that they can build a church in [[Ranchi]]. It was named as Christ Church. The church still stands and is used regularly.

==Protests==
[[File:G.E.L.Church, Ranchi - 6.jpg|thumb|The historical canonball, G.E.L.Church, Ranchi]]
During the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], in the month of July, the church faced widespread protests against it. The students and other Christians of the area had to flee and take refuge in the jungles of 'Dumargari, Bilsereng' which is 38&nbsp;km from [[Ranchi]]. They erected a Stone Cross there to mark the place. The place is now known as 'Khristan Dera' and a service is held at the same place every year on 1 February. It was during those days when  cannonballs were fired by the Mutineers of the British Army stationed there, at the church building in Ranchi. It caused no damage other than blowing-off the top of the building and can still be seen stuck on one of the walls.

During the [[First World War|World War I]] the [[Christian missionaries|missionaries]] were forced to return to [[Germany]] in 1915 and the control of the church was handed over to the Rev. Foss Westcott, the then [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] Bishop, who also happens to be the founder of [[Bishop Westcott Boys' School]].

==Autonomy and Administration==
The church declared its autonomy on 10 July 1919. The body formed to take care of the Church and the sub organizations was called 'Central Church Council'. The Government formed a body called 'Mission Trust of Northern India' to govern and to take care of the church's property. This trust was dissolved on 1928. The trust agreed and handed over all of the church's property to be managed by the 'Board of trustees' until 1938. The Board then transferred all of it back to the Church on 9 May 1940.

The church was duly registered on 30 July 1921 in the office of the Registrar, Joint stock Company, Patna, under the 'societies Registration Act 21 of 1860 (Vide No-273J)'.

The Church was then headed by '''The President''' of the Church. The first president of the church was '''Rt.Rev. Hanukdatto Lakra''', while the position of the first Secretary was held by '''Mr. Peter Hurad'''. The advisory board was dissolved on 10 February 1928. Many of the German Missionaries came back to India in the same year and started working under the Church.

They were put on house arrest starting 1939 when the [[World War II|Second World War]] started.
[[File:G.E.L.Church, Ranchi - 3.jpg|thumb|Main Building, G.E.L.Church, Ranchi]]

The rules were amended in 1948 and the whole area was divided into 15 Synods. The Congregation in [[Ranchi]] was selected as the Headquarters. The rules were amended again in 1960 and the church was divided into 4 Anchals (Units of Districts of the Church) and a [[Synod]] Khuntitoli along with the headquarters being the [[Ranchi]] Congregation. Khuntitoli was declared as the fifth Diocese in 1970.
A '''Central Advisory Board''', 5 Anchals and several other boards were also formed to assist the '''Central Advisory Board (K.S.S)'''.

The '''Central Advisory Board''' decided to amend the rules once again in 1973, the amendments were to come into force from 1975, but due to several reasons the amendments could not. The K.S.S. was formed again but only by the four Anchals of the Church which was unconstitutionally. As a result, the North West Anchal conducted its election on the basis of the 1960s constitution and formed the [[North Western Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church]]. Later on two priests of the [[North Western Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church]] joined the [[North Western Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church|Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church]] and became the North West Ancal. Efforts for a compromise were put in by the [[United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India]] for many years, but all of them failed.

Another effort to make amendments to the rules was made, but even this one failed. The amendments finally came into effect 2 November 1995. According to these amendments, the church has been divided into the Ranchi Headquarters Congregation and 5 Dioceses:
*North East Diocese (Assam, Tejpur)
*North West Diocese (Ranchi and North Western areas)
*South East Diocese (South East of Ranchi, [[Kadma, Khunti]])
*South West Diocese (South West of Ranchi, Orrissa, Rajgangpur)
*Central Diocese (Khuntitoli, Simdega) - The central council included Jatatoli and Kinirkela Parish from the North West Diocese and the Kornjo Parish from the South East Diocese to the Central Diocese in the meeting held during 16–18 May 2006. This was formally announced on 17 January 2007.

==Present day Operations==
[[File:G.E.L.Church, Ranchi - 7.jpg|thumb|Main Building, G.E.L.Church, Ranchi]]
The church has five dioceses headed by the Moderator. [[Ranchi]] is the headquarters and the Dean heads its congregation. At present it has around 5,00,000 congregational members spread over 1687 pastorates (Congregation-wise) in the state of [[Jharkhand]], [[Bihar]], [[West Bengal]], [[Madhya Pradesh]], [[Chhattisgarh]], [[Orissa, India|Orissa]], [[Maharashtra]], [[Arunachal Pradesh]], [[Assam]], [[Haryana]], [[Andaman and Nicobar]], [[Uttar Pradesh]]  and the major cities like [[Delhi]], [[Kolkata]], [[Chennai]], [[Mumbai]] etc. It has its presence in the northeastern states as well.

It runs the following institution -
*A '''[[Gossner Theological College]]''',
*A '''Bible School''',
*Four '''Colleges''',
*Two '''Teachers' Training Colleges''',
*A '''Technical Centre''',
*An '''Agricultural Training Centre''',
*A '''Human Resources Development Centre''',
*Twenty four '''Secondary schools''',
*A '''Printing Press cum Training Centre''',
*A '''Hospital''',
*A '''Dispensary''',
*Three '''Boarding Homes for poor and needy''' and
*[[File:GELLogoCDRbig.png|alt=GEL Church Logo for Holy Confirmation.|thumb|GEL Church Logo for Holy [[Confirmation]]]]An '''Old Age Home'''.

Its overseas Mission partners are [[Gossner Mission]] ([[Berlin]], [[Germany]]) and the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz [[Germany]].

GELC is a member church of the [[United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India]]. The other members are:
<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the-uelci.org/member-churches.asp |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-07-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728091029/http://www.the-uelci.org/member-churches.asp |archive-date=28 July 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

*[[Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church]]
*[[Arcot Lutheran Church]]
*[[Evangelical Lutheran Church in Madhya Pradesh]]
*[[Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Himalayan States]]
*[[Good Samaritan Evangelical Lutheran Church]]
*[[Indian Evangelical Lutheran Church]]
*[[Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church]]
*[[Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church]]
*[[South Andhra Lutheran Church]]
*[[Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church]]

[[File:G.E.L.Church, Ranchi - 4.jpg|thumb|Main Building, G.E.L.Church, Ranchi]]

==Women and Youth involvement==
The Women and youth in the church also play a vital role in conducting relief and awareness programmes, specially to be mentioned are their role during [[Bhopal gas tragedy]] and the [[cyclone in Orissa]].

==See also==
*[[North Western Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church]]
*[[Gossner Theological College]]
*[[Adivasi]]
*[[Christianity in India]]
*[[Christianity in Jharkhand]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.gossner-mission.de Gossner Mission] (founder and partner of the GELC, German)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090605112647/http://www.uelci.org/index.asp United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India]

{{Churches in India}}
{{Lutheran World Federation Churches}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church In Chotanagpur And Assam}}
[[Category:Lutheran World Federation members]]
[[Category:Lutheranism in India]]
[[Category:Lutheran denominations established in the 20th century]]
[[Category:Christian organizations established in 1919]]
[[Category:Affiliated institutions of the National Council of Churches in India]]