A Day with the Church of South India (CSI) Madras Diocese

Students from the CSI school for the deaf performing a dance

Student MC of the song and dance presentation

Principal of the Jessie Moses CSI English Medium School with the Bishop and Vijay

The Mission and Evangelism coordinator sharing about the 120 missionaries that the Diocese of Madras has sent out into needy areas

The Leaders of the Women's Board for Social Concerns of CSI

This is Geunhee… On Sunday evening we flew from Raipur to Hyderabad where we stayed over night in an airport hotel. The next morning we took a quick flight from Hyderabad to Chennai where we began our visit with the Church of South India. In Chennai we were hosted by the Diocese of Madras and Bishop Devasahyan. The Bishop welcomed us and our first meeting was with the Board of Women’s Concerns. The women’s ministry of the Diocese is very active with programs for pre-school kids, young girls at risk of prostitution and older women who are widows. In our next meeting we heard reports from the Mission and Evangelism Committee who supports 120 missionaries in the dioceses, the Urban Outreach Committee who is working on evangelism in slum areas that don’t have a Christian witness and a Transgender Ministry that reaches out to young transgenders who are exploited in the temple prostitution system at a very young and vulnerable age. We appreciated deeply the Diocese’s evangelistic zeal to reach people for Christ. In 2009 alone 4,644 persons were baptized and 120 home missionaries were commissioned for evangelism in areas of the Diocese without a Christian presence. One critical issue that was discussed was the fact that the Diocese does not have a single missionary sent out of India for overseas mission. We asked if they might consider sending a missionary to the U.S! That afternoon we traveled to visit the Diocese special school for mentally challenged (Down’s Syndrome) children where 100 special needs kids are in care and education. Our church has supported this particular school and we saw how it was working very well and meeting a critical need in the community because the government does not have many programs for these children. That evening we traveled to Jessie Moses English Medium School, another ministry of the CSI. We witnessed another very highly effective mission of the church for over 2000 students. One of their main programs is beginning Dalit girls from the villages to a boarding school situation where they grow in their self-confidence in a very rigorous academic environment. The church is committed to empowering the marginalized through education and doing a wonderful job. In the evening five CSI sponsored schools gathered together to celebrate our visit with a special program of music and dance. The performances were inspiring especially those of the students from the special needs school and also a school for the deaf. Praise the Lord for all these important ministries that Disciples are a part of through the work of Global Ministries. Although we were extremely excited about what we saw, the day was extremely long and we were exhausted when we returned to the hotel. Tomorrow, we will see the mount in Chennai where legend tells us that St. Thomas was martyred and then hop on a flight to head further South to Madurai.