6.45AM,, Every Sunday
6.45AM,Every 1st Sunday
Every Friday - 7.30PM To 9.00PM
Methodist Church in India:- Is a Protestant Christian denomination of India. Its seat is in Mumbai. It has hundreds of thousands of members. It is a member of the World Council of Churches, Christian Conference of Asia, the National Council of Churches in India and World Methodist Council.
The Methodist Church in India (MCI), is an "autonomous affiliated" Church in relation to the United Methodist Church.
History
According to Mr. P. Dayanand, a leading researcher on the subject, Methodism first came to India with the arrival of Rev. James Lynch to Madras (now Chennai), at a place called Black Town (Broadway), later known as George Town, in 1817. Lynch conducted the first Methodist Missionary service on 2nd March, 1817 in a stable. The first Methodist church was dedicated in 1819 at Royapettah. A chapel was later built and dedicated on 25th April, 1822 at George Town. This church was rebuilt in 1844 since the earlier structure was collapsing. At this time there were around 100 Methodist members in Chennai, all of them either European or of Eurasian descent.
In 1856, the Methodist Episcopal Church from America started mission in India. The Methodist Episcopal Church began its work in India in 1856, when William Butler came from America. He selected Oudh and Rohilkhand as the field of effort, and being unable to secure a residence at Lucknow, began work at Bareilly. The first War of Independence broke up the work at Bareilly, but in 1858 Lucknow was occupied and Bareilly re-occupied and the work of the Mission started anew. In 1920 the Methodist Missionary Society was organized to supervise the missionary work in India. In 1930 the Central Conference of southern Asia elected the first national Bishop. Since the Independence of India in 1947 all bishops have been Indian nationals. Missionaries were sent to Borneo in 1956 and to the Fiji islands in 1963.
In 1981 the Methodist Church in India was established as an "autonomous affiliated" church in relation with the united Methodist church. This ushered in a new era for Indian Methodism.
The church is now independent in organization and has adopted its own constitution and book of discipline and articles of faith.
Beliefs
The Methodist Church in India understands itself as the body of Christ in and for the world as part of the Church universal. Its purpose is to understand the love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ, to bear witness of this love to all people and to make them his disciples.