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Church of South India
| Church of South India | |
|---|---|
 Logo of the Church of South India | |
| Abbreviation | CSI |
| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | United and uniting |
| Polity | Mixed polity with episcopal, congregational, and presbyterian elements[1][2] |
| Administrators | Justice R. Balasubramanian Justice V. Bharathidasan Judge S. Bhaskaran |
| Moderator | Vacant |
| Deputy Moderator | Vacant |
| Distinct fellowships | Christian Conference of Asia, National Council of Churches in India, Communion of Churches in India |
| Associations | Anglican Communion, World Methodist Council, World Council of Churches, World Communion of Reformed Churches |
| Region | Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Telangana and Sri Lanka |
| Origin | 27 September 1947 (Day of Union, not date of establishment) Tranquebar, Tamil Nadu (Presently Under the Pastorate of Karaikal - Tranquebar, Tiruchirappalli - Thanjavur Diocese) |
| Merger of | Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (Anglican), the southern district of the Methodist Church, South India United Church (which was a union in 1904 of the Continental Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches), Basel Mission Churches in South India[3] |
| Separations | Anglican Church of India (1964) Anglican Catholic Church (1984) |
| Congregations | 14,000[4][5] |
| Members | 3,800,000[4][5][6] |
| Ministers | 3,300[4] |
| Hospitals | 104[5] |
| Secondary schools | 2000 schools, 130 colleges[5] |
| Official website | www |
| Part of a series on |
| Christianity in India |
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The Church of South India (CSI) is a united Protestant Church in India. It is the result of union of a number of Protestant denominations in South India that occurred after the independence of India.[3][7]
The Church of South India is the successor of a number of Protestant denominations in India, including the four southern dioceses of the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (Anglican), the South India United Church (Congregationalist, Presbyterian and Continental Reformed), and the southern district of the Methodist Church.[8][9]
The Church of South India is a member of the Anglican Communion, World Methodist Council and World Communion of Reformed Churches.[10][3] It is one of four united Protestant churches in the Anglican Communion, World Methodist Council and World Communion of Reformed Churches, with the others being the Church of North India, the Church of Pakistan, and the Church of Bangladesh.
Being a United Protestant denomination, the inspiration for the Church of South India came from ecumenism and the words of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of John (17.21); as such "That they all may be one" is the motto of the Church of South India.[5]
With a membership of nearly four million,[4][5] it is the second-largest Christian church based on the number of members in India.
- ^ "History". Church of South India. 2010. Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
The Church of South India is the result of the union of churches of varying traditions Anglican, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Reformed. It was inaugurated in September 1947, after protracted negotiation among the churches concerned. Organized into 22 dioceses, each under the spiritual supervision of a bishop, the church as a whole is governed by a synod, which elects a moderator (presiding bishop) every 23 years. Episcopacy is thus combined with Synodical government, and the church explicitly recognizes that Episcopal, Presbyterian, and congregational elements are all necessary for the church's life.
- ^ Watkins, Keith (3 November 2014). The American Church that Might Have Been: A History of the Consultation on Church Union. Wipf and Stock Publishers. pp. 14–15. ISBN 978-1-63087-744-6.
The Church of South India created a polity that recognized Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Congregational elements and developed a book of worship that bridged the liturgical traditions that came into this new church. It set up a plan by which existing ministries were accepted while including processes which would lead to the time, a generation later, when all ministers would have been ordained by bishops in apostolic succession. The Church of South India was important as a prototype for a new American church because two factors had come together: the cross-confessional nature of its constituent parts and the intention to be, in effect, the Protestant Christian presence in communities all across the southern territories of its nation.
- ^ a b c "Church of South India". World Methodist Council. 9 November 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
The Church of South India is a United Church that came into existence on 27 September 1947. The churches that came into the union were the Anglican Church, the Methodist Church, and the South India United Church (a union in 1904 of the Presbyterian and Congregational churches). Later the Basel Mission Churches in South India also joined the Union. The Church of South India is the first example in church history of the union of Episcopal and non-Episcopal churches, and is thus one of the early pioneers of the ecumenical movement. The CSI strives to maintain fellowship with all those branches of the church which the uniting churches enjoyed before the union. It is a member of the World Methodist Council, the Anglican Consultative Council, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the Council for World Mission, and the Association of Missions and Churches in South West Germany.
- ^ a b c d Team, CWM Communications (7 March 2018). "Member Church Feature: Church of South India (CSI)". Council for World Mission.
- ^ a b c d e f "Church of South India International Resource Center". CSI Congregation of Great Lakes, Michigan. 2007. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
WCC-CSIwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Author:Sushil Mittal, Gene Thursby -Religions of South Asia: An Introduction
- ^ Shelley, Bruce (10 December 2013). Church History in Plain Language: Fourth Edition. Zondervan Academic. ISBN 978-1-4016-7685-8.
Outside the United States the most significant merger was the Church of South India, formed in 1947 through the union of three religious bodies: the Anglican Church of India, Burma and Ceylon; the South India Province of the Methodist Church; and the South India United Church, itself the result of a movement that brought Presbyterian, Congregational, and Dutch Reformed bodies into the union.
- ^ "oikoumene.org". Oikoumene.org. January 1948. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
- ^ "The Church of North India (United)". Anglican Communion Office. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
Along with the Church of South India, the Church of Pakistan, and the Church of Bangladesh, it [the Church of a North India] is one of the four United Churches.
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