ESTABLISHMENT OF MINISTRY

Early Period : In the year 1851 Welsh Presbyterian Missionary William Pryse set forth to India with a will to preach the Gospel in Manipur. However after reaching Jiribam, he decided to return back to Silchar and settled there and started work as a Missionary. In 1856 he started a school and within a span of 7 years i.e. 1863, it became a High School with a strength of 150 students.¹ 

Although he was working very hard and doing a good ministry, due to the scarcity of missionaries in Sylhet he did not get any support from anyone. Moreover, since he was not officially sent by Wales Presbyterian Church as their missionary, so according to a resolution taken in their General Assembly at LiandLeos in 1867 his ministry was stopped.² After a period of several years, a resolution was taken to start a fresh ministry in Barak Valley in the General Assembly held at Aberdare during 13-15 December 1885, and in its response Rev.Dr T.J. Jones, Miss Laura Evans and Miss Elizabeth Williams set out in 1893 and reached Silchar. These three missionaries distributed Gospel Tracts in the Bazar, Mela and through their ministry they received new members, and the first man to receive baptism in Silchar was a high class Hindu youth named Ganga Prasad Upadhyaya on 26 July, 1895 he was baptised by Rev. Dr. T.J. Jones³ (After his baptism, his name was changed to Prem Ranjan Upadhyaya, and it is believed that the present Premtola in Silchar was named after him) These missionaries were helped by ‘three other missionaries belonging to the Indian Aborigine Missions ’ namely Rev. J.H. Lorrain, Rev. F.M. Savidge and Rev. William Pettigrew⁴. 

In 1893, the second Mission station was established at Karimganj. With the initiative of Dr. Helen Rowlands, a Widow Care Centre-cum-Dispensary (Dipti Nibash)  was operated by Dr. O.O. Williams to look after the widows and sick people of the Namasudra community and preach the Gospel among them. As per Presbyterian system of administration, they encouraged the people to become self-supportive. In 1896, Dr. Williams baptised Raj Kumar Sharma as the first Christian in that area. From that time onwards, the ministry works have been going on uninterrupted till today. 

General Meeting : Under the guidance of English Missionaries, the 23rd Srihotto–Cachar Assembly was held at Bogura in present Bangladesh on 27 February 1947. As per the Assembly Statistic of 1946, there were 1095 full-communicant members and 823 children.

Under PCI General Assembly : Due to the political land demarcation during Indian Independence, the Cachar-Sylhet Assembly was divided into two parts. During 1948 - 1959 they tried to maintain communication between themselves with much difficulty.⁵ Since it became almost impossible to maintain further communication, the PCI General Assembly started nurturing the churches under Cachar area from 1958 to 1973 with the help of the following ministers.  

S.no.	Name	Designation	Period
1	Rev. Zairema (Dr)	Assembly Officer	1958 - 1968
2	Rev. Ram Rymbai	Assembly Officer	1969 - 1971
3	Rev. E.M. Chullai	Assembly Officer	1972 - 1973

Under Mizoram Synod :  The Assembly Biennial Meeting held in Churachandpur, Manipur in 1972 discussed the scope of development and upliftment of the churches in Cachar area and forwarded a proposal to the Assembly Executive Committee that the churches under the Cachar area should be under the care of any Synod. The Assembly Executive Committee subsequently forwarded the proposal to the Cachar District Meeting Standing Committee to choose any particular Synod for looking after them and thereby in their Resln. No.1 of 1st Aug 1973 at Silchar the churches of Cachar area gladly resolved to go under the umbrella of Mizoram Synod. 

Then on 23rd to 25th April 1974, on the initiative of the PCI Assembly Executive Committee, a joint meeting was held in Silchar with the representatives from Mizoram Synod and Cachar area churches where the charges and responsibilities of Cachar area churches were handed over by the PCI General Assembly to the Mizoram Synod on 25th April 1974. From that day onwards, the Mizoram Synod has been taking care of the churches in Cachar area (presently Barak Area) till today.

The Barak Area is one of the administrative Areas of the Mizoram Presbyterian Church Synod and has an Administrative Secretary to look after both the Mission and Pastoral works within the Area.

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(Footnotes)

¹ Sinha Amal Kanti, The activities of Welsh Presbyterian Mission in Barak Valley, International Research Journal of Social Sciences, Department of History,  Janata College, Assam University. Silchar. V0l 2(9) 2013. (P-19)

² Vanlalchhunga Rev.Marvellous Mission. Shalom publications, Aizawl. Mizoram. 2008 (p 145) 

³ Koiri Sanat Kumar, Cacharer nana Itihas. Puja Publication,Hospital Road Silchar, Cachar, 2013 (P-116) 

⁴  Ibib 

⁵ Dr. Zairema Rev. The Presbyterian Church in Barak Valley. Article. Pub in Barak “Silver Jubilee Celebration Souvenir“  pub by Silver Jubilee Committee. Barak Presbytery 2002