The Church of South India

A brief introduction to The Church of South India (United) for the Anglican Prayer Cycle

In John 17, Jesus prays that all who believe in him may be united as one (John 17:21). This prayer is the motto and inspiration for the Church of South India, which has been called “the most successful and controversial ecumenical project ever.”[1] Christians in India trace their spiritual lineage back to St. Thomas the Apostle, who shared the Gospel with Jewish communities along the Kerala coast back in the year 52 AD.[2] About a century after the Protestant Reformation in the 16^th century, this church began to split into several denominations, around the same time that chaplains of the British East India company were introducing Anglican worship to the region. Initially, British politicians did not want to send missionaries to India because they felt their presence might hurt business, but slave abolitionist William Wilberforce urged the British Parliament to send missionaries to India because he felt that there were practices and traditions that needed Christianity as a remedy, such as the caste system, infanticide, and sati, which is the practice of widows leaping onto the funeral pyre of their deceased husbands.[3]

The first Anglican missionary to India was the Rev. Thomas Norton, who established the first Anglican church and school in Kerala in 1818: Christ Church in Allappuzha. The Rev. Thomas Norton became known as the 2^nd Thomas Apostle to India. Along with other missionaries like Benjamin Bailey, Joseph Fenn, and Henry Baker, Thomas established many hospitals and schools for people of lower castes and translated the Bible into the local language, Malayalam.

On September 27, 1947 (only about a month after Indian independence), the Anglican Church in India[4] joined the Methodists, the Congregationalists, and the Presbyterians in the region to form the Church of South India, the second-largest Christian church in the country.[5] In order for these four Protestant denominations to unite, they needed to agree on the four fundamentals of the Anglican Communion, which are the Scriptures, the Creeds, the Sacraments, and the Historic Episcopate.[6] Although the first three points were easily agreed upon, the historic episcopate raised some contention, especially since Anglican bishops and priests claim apostolic succession, which means they can trace an unbroken line of succession back to the original twelve apostles. The other denominations do not hold the same views on apostolic succession, but they agreed that all new ordinations after the union would be conferred by bishops.[7]

The formation of the CSI proved to be a remarkable success story, which Lesslie Newbigin (a missionary and bishop of India) wrote about in his book The Reunion of the Church: A Defense of the South India Scheme.[8] Ian Markham says, “The challenges facing India need a united church. One cannot work in a setting of so much poverty as a small percentage of the total population without unity. It is almost as if disagreements between denominations are a luxury of affluence.”[9] May we keep all this in mind as we hold the Church of South India in our hearts and prayers.

Fun facts:

• The church logo is a Cross superimposed on a lotus flower, a spiritually significant symbol in India, with the petals of the lotus flower representing the tongues of fire at Pentecost.

• The CSI has opened up ordained ministry to transgender clergy

For a longer overview of CSI, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7Ds7LSa0H0

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[1] Ian S. Markham, “The Church of South India (United),” 355 – 358 in The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Anglican Communion, ed. Ian S. Markham, J. Barney Hawkins IV, Justyn Terry and Leslie Nuñez Steffenson (Malden MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), 357.

[2] Christians in India who trace their lineage back to St. Thomas call themselves “St Thomas Christians” or “Nasrani” (Syriac term for Christians – “Nazarenes”). Many of them are members of the Mar Thoma Church (also known as the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church). St. Thomas is supposedly buried in the San Thome Church, a Catholic minor basilica in Tamil Nadu.

[3] Markham, “The Church of South India (United),” 356.

[4] The Anglican Church in India was an autonomous ecclesiastical provincial called the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma, and Ceylon (CIPBC).

[5] There are about 24 million Christians in India. Although the majority are Roman Catholic, 4 million are members of the Church of South India (CSI). There are 2.2 million members of the Church of North India.

[6] These four “non-negotiables” are known as the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, which are derived from an essay written by Episcopal priest William Reed Huntington in 1870.

[7] “The ‘locally adapted’ historic episcopate,” according to a former Moderator of CSI, “meant a new and simpler style of life and dress. These were indicated by the saffron robes and stole, which were a reminder of the renunciation pledge made by ancient sages of India. But in recent years, purple has become fashionable again, and some of the style of life associated with the regal orientation and wealth of the Western Church, and indeed of secular officials in India.”  P. Victor Premasagar, “Anglicanism and the Church of South India” 178 – 181 from Anglicanism: A Global Communion, ed. Andrew Wingate, Kevin Ward, Carrie Pemberton, WIlison Sitshebo (New York: Church Publishing, 1998), 180.

[8] Lesslie Newbigin was a missionary to India and one of CSI’s first bishops. He writes, “I am sure that there are many things in our Scheme of Union which need to be corrected; but none who has lived through these days can doubt that God has sealed our union with His Spirit, and that even in our weakness and foolishness He will reveal His wisdom and His strength.” J. E. Lesslie Newbigin, The Reunion of the Church (Eugene OR: Wipf & Stock, 1960),viii.

[9] Markham, “The Church of South India (United),” 358.