Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India

Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India is a major Christian conglomeration of six Baptist conventions North East India. It is a member of the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation.[1] It is also a member body of the North East India Christian Council, the regional council of the National Council of Churches in India.[2] The Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India has about 1,431,417 members in 8,245 churches.

History

The first American Baptist missionaries reached North East India in 1836. Nathan Brown and O.T. Cutter, along with their wives, came to Assam hoping to find access to China through the Shans territory to Northern frontier of Burma and Assam. The group sailed up the Brahmaputra river and arrived in Sadiya on 23 March 1836, and there confronted them with dense jungles, hostile tribals and rugged hills. Yet, believing they had been led to a fruitful place they began to learn Assamese language, set up their printing press, and gave themselves to the task of translating, publishing and teaching. Thus began the work of the Baptist in the north-eastern corner of India-the beginning of CBCNEI.

Beginning from Sadiya, the work moved down the Brahmaputra river to the leading towns of Assam plains, for example, Sibsagar, Nowgong and Gauhati. Then the first Church in Garo Hills, was established at Rajasimla in 1867. The first thrust among the Nagas came from the small village of Namsang in Tirap.

Miles Bronson and family settled a short time in that village, but the work was abandoned due to illness in the family before the end of 1840. The next move in Nagaland was by Godhula Brown, an Assamese convert, and the Rev. Edwin W. Clark. The first Church among the Nagas was organized in 1872, at Dokhahaimong (Molungyimjen) village in Ao area. Rev. William Pettigrew started the Baptist Mission work in Manipur in 1896. The work among the (Mikirs) Karbis was started quite early but it did not gain much progress because of the influence of Hinduism among the people. So the work in this area has been restricted to the fringe areas adjoining the plains of Assam.

The field work in North-East India was largely the responsibility of the American Baptist Mission until 1950. In fact, the Mission could not handle the full obligation of the area and so in the 1940 the area on the North Bank of Brahmaputra river was handed over to the care of the Australian Baptist Mission (for Goalpara district) and to the General Baptist Conference (for Darrang and North Lakhimpur districts).

From the early days of the missions in North-East India there were joint meetings of missionaries and nationals to plan the work. In 1914, the National Churches formed themselves into Assam Baptist Convention (ABC). This organization grew in its stature, and finally in January 1950, the Council of Baptist Churches in Assam (CBCA) was formed by the amalgamation of Assam Baptist Missionary Conference under the leadership of its First General Secretary, Rev. A. F. Merrill. Later the name was changed to CBCAM, and finally, the Council of Baptist Churches in North-East India on geographical grounds. Almost all the Baptist Churches in Assam, Arunachal, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland were brought within the Council. So since the year 1950 the field works has been brought under the ministry of the Council of Baptist Churches in North East India (CBCNEI).

Over the years the CBCNEI has grown to now over 7000 Churches in 100 organized Associations. They are administered under six regional Conventions namely, Assam Baptist Convention, Arunachal Baptist Church Council (ABCC), Garo Baptist Convention (GBC), Karbi Anglong Baptist Convention (KABC), Manipur Baptist Convention (MBC), and Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC).

Member organizations

The Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India ("CBCNEI" or the "Council") is a conglomeration of Six Baptist Conventions, namely: Arunachal Baptist Churches Council, Assam Baptist Convention, Karbi Anglong Baptist Convention, Garo Baptist Convention, Manipur Baptist Convention, and Nagaland Baptist Churches Council and their Associations and Churches.[3]

Conventions
  1. Assam Baptist Convention
  2. Arunachal Baptist Church Council
  3. Garo Baptist Convention
  4. Karbi Anglong Baptist Convention
  5. Manipur Baptist Convention
  6. Nagaland Baptist Church Council [4]
  7. Anglican Church of India, Pakistan, Burma & Cyelon

Associate members
  1. Mising Baptist Kebang
  2. Shillong Baptist Church
  3. Zomi Baptist Church
  4. Evangelical Church of Maraland
  5. Evangelical Anglican Church of India

Theological Colleges of CBCNEI

Eastern Theological College (ETC)

Founded in 1905 by the Rev. S.A.D. Boggs, sent by the American Baptist Mission Society now called the Board of International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches in the USA, Eastern Theological College, Jorhat, Assam celebrates 100 years of its ministry in Northeast India and hosts the Senate of Serampore Convocation on 12 February 2005. Eastern Theological College (ETC), the premier theological and training institute of the Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India has been catering to the ever-growing and diverse needs of the region and even beyond in the field of leadership development for the last 100 years. Today ETC boasts of more than 2500 graduates working in various fields of Christian ministry, including more than 800 serving pastors in rural areas.

Affiliated seminaries
  1. Baptist Theological College, Nagaland
  2. Clark Theological College, Mokokchung, Nagaland
  3. Harding Theological College, Tura, Garo Hills
  4. Manipur Theological College, Kanggui, Manipur
  5. Oriental Theological Seminary, Dimapur, Nagaland
  6. Shalom Bible Seminary, Kohima, Nagaland
  7. Trinity Theological College, Dimapur, Nagaland

Hospitals

The Council has Six hospitals which are providing healthcare to the sick and the suffering. They are located in four states in the region.

  1. Babupara Christian Hospital, Garo Hills
  2. Impur Christian Hospital, Nagaland
  3. Jorhat Christian Medical Centre, Assam
  4. Kanggui Christian Hospital, Manipur
  5. Tura Christian Hospital, Garo Hills
  6. Satribari Christian Hospital, Assam

Missions

Mission Desk coordinates mission activities not only of the evangelists from the conventions, but it also functions as a facilitator for mission partnerships between other mission agencies and the local church associations and conventions. The department also organizes community development works among the poor and needy areas of the Northeast region.

Conference centre

Located on the flush green cool campus of the CBCNEI, the Conference Center caters the needs of the Council’s program activities and other Christian Organization program.

Student ministry

The Council runs three hostels for college students. Through these institutions the boarders have the opportunities to attend Bible camps, vesper services, theological lectures, Bible studies, games and sports.

  1. White Memorial Hostel Ministry
  2. Lewis Memorial Hostel Ministry
  3. Shillong Tyrannus Hall

Christian Literature Centre (CLC)

CLC is the literature wing, of the Council of Baptist Churches in North East India in order to cater to the needs of the churches in North East India having various languages and dialects. It was established in 1969.

  1. CLC Guwahati
  2. CLC Dimapur
  3. CLC Imphal
  4. CLC Senapati
  5. CLC Ukhrul

Statistics

Churches and Membership figures as reported to the Baptist World Alliance as of 2016.[5]

Sl. No.ConventionChurchesBaptized Members
1.Arunachal Baptist Church Council (ABCC)1,141132,787
2.Assam Baptist Convention (ABC)86035,839
3.Garo Baptist Convention (GBC)2,498304,812
4.Karbi-Anglong Baptist Convention (KABC)32732,462
5.Manipur Baptist Convention (MBC)1,303196,217
6.Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC)1,615610,825

See also

References
  1. https://archive.today/20120723032506/http://www.apbf.info/member.htm. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. Archived 30 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "CBCNEI". Cbcnei.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  4. Archived 19 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ww.bwanet.org/statistics
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