About Us

In 1899 the Mennonite Board of Missions sent three missionaries to India. Dr. William and Alice Page and Bishop Jacob A. Ressler were advised to locate at Dhamtari, Madhya Pradesh, in what is now Chhattisgarh State. Then they were legally recognized as the American Mennonite Mission. This Mission became known as the Mennonite Church in India (MCI).

The motivation for this mission was the famine of the 1880’s and 1890’s in India of which the famine of 1896-97 was most severe. The immediate priority of the mission was feeding the hungry.

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The Mennonite Mission became a pioneer in education as well as medical and vocational training in this area. When mission work began in the region, local people were living in seriously depressed conditions.

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Ressler and Dr. Page built their first mission station at Sunderganj in Dhamtari in 1900 where they started feeding 1400 hungry people every day. The mission in India established a series of stations and outposts. The mission programmes included orphanages, hospitals, health centres, homes for the widows. A leprosy asylum, schools for girls and boys, a short-term Bible school, a vocational school and agriculture farms.

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The original members joined church through baptism of orphan boys and girls, as well as families who came from other areas to work at the mission stations.

By 1910 the Mennonite Mission took deliberate steps to integrate Indian brothers from each congregation into evangelical teams. In January 1912, the missionaries and visiting Mission representatives drafted the constitution for the Mennonite Church, bringing a conference structure into existence. There were four congregations at that time with a total membership of 488.

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After the Independence the new constitution took effect on July 1, 1952, mission and the church were merged into one. In the new constitution the official name of the Mennonite Church was changed to “The Mennonite Church in India”. In 1952 MCI comprised 10 congregations with a membership of 1470 persons with 1205 unbaptized children and youth.

Mr. P.J. Malagar was ordained Bishop of the MCI in May 1955, the first Indian Bishop to hold the office. Since than Bishop O.P. Lal, Bishop C. K. Xavier, Bishop S. S. Kunjam, Bishop C. F. Nath served as Bishops of MCI. At present Bishop Nathaniel Ashawan is the Moderator and Bishop Dr, V. M. Jurri is the Chaiman of the Ministers Council in MCI. Deacon Vikal Pravin Rao serves as the Executive Secretary of MCI.

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At present there are 26 congregations and 6 Out stations in 9 districts in central and south Chhattisgarh with a membership of 4000 baptized members and around 1250 unbaptized children and youth.