Diocesan Link with the Church in Southern India

Diocese of Karnataka Central

The Karnataka Central Diocese surrounds the area of Bangalore in the State of Karnataka. The main languages for Worship are Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and English. Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley of India, and is one of the fastest growing cities of Asia. It is also one of the leading ecumenical cities of the church of South India. The other major city is Tumkur located about 50 miles from Bangalore. This has a Vocational Training Centre, which is run by the church. This Centre has been providing job-orientated vocational training for under privileged boys since 1878. The Bishop is the Rt. Revd. Vasantha Kumar. There are now 118 presbyters, of whom 7 are women. With the building of 31 new churches over the last few years, the number of churches is now 102, and the Urban Church Extension Committee concentrates on established congregations in new areas. The Diocese is committed to developing its schools and colleges. It has a number of secondary schools and colleges. A Polytechnic for women has started with the opportunity of providing them with courses that will help them find jobs. The hospitals are actively involved in health care. The community based health programmes are an essential part of the hospital's work. The diocese has the support of committed trained and experienced lay people, who help the presbyters in their work. The Fellowship of Professional Workers enables lay professional to meet and share mutual concerns. The Women's Fellowship is a strong part of the diocese, focusing on counselling, child-care and vocational training. Social workers attached to crèches and pre-schools run by the diocese reach out to their neighbouring communities through a variety of development projects. The participation in the Diocesan Youth Movement has strengthened the work amongst young people. The Mission Statement of the Diocese is:- In keeping with its commitment to promote the establishment of an egalitarian society based on Christian values, the KCD has been addressing problems related to casts prejudice, gender discrimination and dalit exploitation. A department for addressing salit and adivasi concerns has been established. The KCD reaffirms its commitment to the spiritual upliftment of the people of God and to empower them to actualise His Mission.

Diocese of Dornakal

The Diocese of Dornakal was established in 1913 by the then Bishop Rt. Reverend V. S. Azariah who was the first Anglican Indian Bishop. He was consecrated as Bishop on 29/12/1912 at St. Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta. He served the church in various prestigious responsibilities from his young student career since 1812 till his death as Bishop of Dornakal Diocese in the year 1945. There was great evangelical moment during his tenure. After him four Bishop's served the Diocese and Bishop Rajarathnam is the current bishop. During the time Bishop V. S. Azariah there were 6 Indian pastors, 172 evangelists and 8000 Christians in the Diocese. At the end of his life the Diocese grew to 240,000 Christians. The present Diocese of Dornakal has 103 pastors, 139 evangelists and there are now 105,887 Christians. The Diocese is primarily a rural Diocese with large number of tribal villages. At present there are 900 congregations. Most of the people are from tribal communities, called Banjara, Koya, Mandula, Erukala and Adivasi hill tribes. The main occupation is predominantly farming and hunting. They are educationally, economically and socially very poor.

Over the past 85 years the Diocese has taken many activities like evangelism, establishing educational institutions, hospitals, homes for orphans and semi orphans and handicapped, home for mentally retarded, for community and women development.