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| erampore- Johnnagar Baptist Church, rksmvvthenotebook.wordpress.com |
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| location. .Serampore town, west Bengal weather-forecast.com |
The indigenous church movement in Bengal had begun to take shape when the East India company completely took Bengal region including part of the present day Bihar. But intially the EIC was against the missionaries operating in India So the Christian missionaries were on their own. and their purpose was to convert the natives to Christianity. In the early part of the the 19th century, the Baptists were active in constructing churches or Chapels to serve the indigenous population. After 1822, they established a Christian village in this part of Bengal called Serampore. It was meant for mission related establishments and workers.
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| Johnnagar church, Serampore,West Bengal.123.net |
ohn Nagar Baptist Church on William Carey Road (formerly the Carey Baptist Church ) located on the banks of the Ganges, Serampore was founded by Rev. Dr. William Carey (17 August 1761 – 9 June 1834), an English Christian missionary, Baptist minister, translator, social reformer and cultural anthropologist in the year 1880. AS EIC did not accommodate him on the India-bound ship, with the help of a Danish ship captain he landed in India. A dedicated missionary and an educationist he stayed in the house (parsonage) in the church with other missionaries William Ward (Pinter) and Marshman (school teacher). Serampore was a Danish colony (Frederiksnagar) , but the French and Portuguese also had trading activities here. and Carey mostly worked with the Danish Baptists. They formed mission and with great difficulty bought a house for Rs.7000, a big sum in those days. The price hike was due to commercial operations in that area. The missionaries and their families stayed in part of the house.
The big hall in the house served as a prayer area and soon it became the mission chapel; Carey was the pastor nd Marshman and Ward were deacons. The open space in the rear of chapel formed Carey's botanical garden.
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| Serampore, W.Bengal. old Mission chapel. youtube.com |
Carney was particular about translating the Bible into various Indian languages so that his missionary work would be a bit easier and further the natives would get to know about Christian religion. Unlike certain missionaries in present day Tamil Nadu and elsewhere, he never forced either the college students or the natives living near Serampore to convert into Christianity. He set aside a part of the house (later called John Nagar Church) for printing purpose - works mostly included translation of the Bible. For the Bible translation work. Carey himself, sought the help of pundits in the translation work that included Bengali, Sanskrit, Oriya, Hindi, Marathi and Assamese. He also wrote a Bengali Grammar and a Bengali dictionary. The Serampore College and the Carey’s Baptist Church stand as great memorial for him and other missionaries for their contribution in the area of education. baptismal classes, In the old mission chapel baptisms were held and students of Serampore school were taught and fed here. as they themselves were missionaries.
Today Johannagar Church is mostly a Christian residential area known as the Johannagar Church Compound. The Church is being administered by the Diocese of Calcutta, CNI and forms part of the Congregation of Serampore-Johannagar Baptist Church (CNI). Worship services are held on Sunday evenings here.
