The Madras Unitarian Christian Church

Introduction

St Mark’s is a partner church to the Madras Unitarian Christian Church in South India. The Madras Church (Madras is now officially called Chennai) is a remarkable and isolated Unitarian congregation which celebrated its bi-centenary in December 1996. Both its origins and its thriving present activities are of great interest.

History

Its founder was William Roberts (1770-1838), a native Tamil born on the Malabar coast who was orphaned at an early age, kidnapped, and sold as a slave to an English captain. On being set free he took the name of William Roberts, and discovered Unitarianism in 1793 by reading the writings of Lindsey and Priestley. Quite independently of any European agency he formed a congregation of native Unitarian Christians, with himself as their minister. He opened correspondence with the Unitarian Book Society in 1816, published a Tamil liturgy, based on Lindsey's Prayer Book, maintained regular services and enrolled more than one hundred members.

Activities of the Madras Church

The church community serves local people in central Chennai, many of whom live at subsistence level and are in need of various forms of social assistance.

In addition to the regular Sunday morning services, the church also acts as a school. One room is now available to train local girls in sewing and tailoring, providing them with the skills to make their own clothes. The second room provides space for both a Sunday school and evening school classes. The school, which has ten trained teachers, provides much needed tuition to city children.

Our Partnership with the Madras Church

The Unitarian community in South India has been partnered with Edinburgh and Glasgow Unitarians for a number of years now. They depend on the support we can give through the ‘Madras Fund’ for their unique and wonderful social outreach projects, which benefit the underprivileged people and children of the church, and the children of the Unitarian school in the Dalit village of Ammanabakkum.

During the last ten years Edinburgh and Glasgow Unitarians have maintained a strong commitment to Unitarians in Chennai. Jon Bagust from Edinburgh visited Chennai and Ammanabakkum for the sixth time in December 2005.

This may be the most isolated Unitarian Church in the world, but with the assistance of an active partnership it is able to offer a great deal of help to its local congregation, and to the village children of Ammanabakkum. Once a year we forward money from the Madras Fund to cover specific projects identified by the Madras congregation.

In recent years the projects have included the following –

  • additional space to start a daily afternoon/evening school for the local children
  • providing sewing machines for teaching tailoring skills to the young women of the church
  • providing teachers for the evening and tailoring classes
  • providing essential clothes and bedding material for those church members in greatest need
  • providing scholarships for some children to attend schools and colleges

The village 'Night' School at Ammanabakkum Village

Educating Dalit Children in the Unitarian village school in South India

This thriving village school run by the Unitarian Church of Chennai is also funded by Edinburgh and Glasgow Unitarians through the ‘Madras Fund.’

The village which has two thousand inhabitants, lies some thirty miles from Madras and is quite remote due to poor roads, which can be impassable during the monsoon season.

Some of the village children have no possibility to learn to read or write because they work in the fields during the day, but now they do have the opportunity to attend a school which is run in the late afternoon and early evening.

It currently has almost one hundred children aged from seven to fifteen, who attend daily and are taught in two classes.

In recent years our funding has paid for:

  • two new schoolrooms
  • a perimeter wall
  • two toilets and running water
  • providing two teachers for evening classes
  • providing books, note books and uniforms for the school children

Our commitment

Our commitment to the Madras Church is ongoing because the needs of the local people which the Church serves are so great. When £300 pays for a new classroom, we know that our contributions counts.

Administration of the Madras Fund is entirely voluntary, so every penny reaches those who need it.

India’s recent economic growth has been dazzling, but sadly its inequalities are becoming even more polarised. The rate of malnutrition in children under five is a shamefully high 45%. Of the one billion population, four hundred and thirty three million people live below the poverty line. This constitutes 36% of the world’s poor. A future of greater wealth seems assured for some, but for so many today’s reality is that India remains a terrifying place to be poor.


Rev. Harrison Kingsley arriving for Service
Sunday Schools after Service
Sunday Service about to begin

Rev. Harrison Kingslay, Mrs Gabriel, Miss Tamil Selvi (night school teacher) in the new classroom
The eager children of the night school in their classroom, being introduced to Jon Bagust
Ammanabakkum School

A Special Appeal - ‘The Madras Church Development Project’.

For the Restoration and Development of the Church Building in Chennai.

The church was founded 200 years ago by a native Tamil. Their brick built church dates from 1813 and is now in a very sad state of repair. The extremes of weather, including the worst monsoon rains in living memory in December 2005, have taken their toll.

Our appeal fund to raise the £30,000 fund needed to redevelop the old church building was launched in February 2006. We have already received donations of approximately half of the total, but need to reach £20,000 to start the first phase of re-building.

The rebuilding will enable our friends in south India to continue the valuable service they are giving to inner city Chennai, and also to the nearby village of Ammanabakkum. Their social outreach programme benefits the local underprivileged people and the children who attend the Unitarian schools at the church in Chennai, and the Dalit (untouchable caste) village of Ammanabakkum.

This isolated Unitarian community depends on our support. As we have no paid staff and no expenses, every pound you contribute will be used directly on this project.

Please support this appeal as generously as you are able. As a Unitarian hymn says,
‘Our world is one world, its ways of wealth affect us all’.

Be assured, your donation today will be most warmly welcomed, and received with deep and sincere gratitude.

More information about this important project and an appeal leaflet…here

Donations

 Those willing to support the work of our Unitarian friends in Madras are invited to send a contribution to Mike West, Fund Treasurer, St Mark’s Unitarian Church 7 Castle Terrace Edinburgh EH1 2DP Scotland UK, making your cheques payable to the ‘Madras Fund’.