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BETHLEHEM CHURCH, PORAYAR.
By Mrs. ANBURANI SELVARAJ,
Dept. of English
The T.E.L.C. Bethlehem Church at
Porayar is a historical monument which every Indian ought to be proud
of. For it is the Second Protestant Church in India and Asia. It has completed 258 years of its existence and stands a witness to Provost Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg and Reverend Henrich Pluetschau, the first Protestant
Missionaries to India
despatched by king Fredrick IV of Denmark in 1706. Their historic landing on the
Tranquebar Coast, then a Danish Settlement, was no mean enterprise. They sowed
the seeds of religious transformation, lingual deliberation and social revolution and they
bear fruits to till date.
The Danish - Halle Missionary Society approved of constructing a Church in the heart of the Town Porayar as the New Jerusalem Church at Tranquebar constructed in
1718, was inadequate to accommodate all the believers in and around Porayar and Tranquebar. With
the help of the then Danish Governor Christian Brun the land which
belonged to Ramalinga Nayakar was procured and the foundation was la id in the year
1743. The needed timber was despatched as a gift from Ceylon by the Dutch Governor. The Bethlehem Church was dedicated on 1st June 1746. Rev. Ambrose was the first Indian Tamil Pastor who
tirelessly strived to earn more souls and to cafe for them.
It looks The Bethlehem Church is destined to withstand not only the tests of time
but same calamities too. For instance, it was plundered and looted in the year 1756 and
in the year 1871 it was bombarded by a Storm. It had braved through the
disasters to remain a land mark beckoning all to
Porayar. The necessity for first renovation cropped up in the year 1964 and the second renovation work was undertaken in 1978. The Mother Teresa of Porayar, Sister
Hildegard Klein, Manager and Correspondent, Gnapoo Illam gathered funds from Germany to
construct the wooden balcony in 1980 which houses the choir and the
new altar.
The chiming bells and belfry have their history of their own. When the church was renovated after the storm in 1871 the two
old bells were replaced by three bells in the year 1877. But the famine plaguing the villages forced the
construction of the belfry to be delayed.
Finally the German missionary Kabis began the belfry construction in 1884, which,
he was completed and dedicated in the year 1888 by Rev. L. Panperrian. The Porayar congregation proudly celebrated its centenary in 1988.
The third renovation of the church of great magnitude with enormous
budget proposal began in 1988 and was done in phases. Thus country tiled roof was replaced; the walls were chemically cured and plastered; a new RC conical tower was constructed; illustrative Gospel grills were mounted on the window frames and the
altar was raised with a marbled flooring. Pastors, the Pastorate Committees and the Congregation had worked over a period 6 years spending nearly 20 lakhs to preserve this monument for posterity.
The Herculian task was over and the Renovated Church was rededicated on
13th April, 2004, by Rt. Rev. Dr. T. Aruldoss, Bishop of Tranquebar with great fanfare. It was attended by Revered Pastors, well wishes and the congregation. A
Souvenir was released
commemorating the occasion. The day owed its grandeur to the prayers and earnest efforts of Rev. T. Samuel Thangaraj, Pastor; Prof. Cand.
W. Edwin William, Asst. Pastor; the Pastorate Committee and the congregation. It shall stand
to witness for years to come as a testimony of the past, commitment of the present and place
of worship and fellowship of the future. It shall stand to Proclaim the Gospel and to
Glorify God Almighty, the Saviour of Mankind.
" A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD A BULWARK NEVER FAlLING"
MARTIN LUTHER
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