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Indian Christianity

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HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA : M. M. NINAN<br />

In January 11, 1894 Mizoram pioneer missionaries Rev. J.H. Lorrain (Pu Buanga) and Rev. F.W.<br />

Savidge (Sap Upa) arrived in Mizoram from England, United Kingdom bringing with them the gospel of<br />

Jesus Christ that has since changed the history of Mizo people.<br />

Pioneer message-bearers to the unreached tribes<br />

This was the situation awaiting two missionaries, J H Lorrain and F W Savidge, who entered the region in<br />

1894 with the backing of the ‘Arthington Aborigines Mission’. The strategy of the Arthington mission was<br />

to send out missionaries two-by-two to unevangelised tribes. Within four years, Lorrain and Savidge<br />

learnt the Lushai language, translated Luke, John and Acts and published a Lushai grammar and<br />

dictionary.<br />

In 1897, the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists extended their work to Lushai, so Arthington withdrew his<br />

workers to avoid the duplication of missionary resources. However, Lorrain and Savidge desired to stay<br />

in the area and so formed their own mission, the ‘Assam Frontier Province Mission’, staying in the<br />

northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. In 1901, the Welsh mission agreed to cede the work in the<br />

south Lushai Hills to BMS. The BMS India Secretary wrote to Lorrain and Savidge suggesting that they<br />

return to Lushai under the auspices of BMS, and they arrived at Lunglei in March 1903.<br />

Evangelism Mizo-style<br />

In Lunglei there was an existing Christian community of 125 who had been converted by Welsh<br />

missionaries during visits from their station further north. Lorrain and Savidge began by preaching a<br />

traditional evangelical message of salvation from sin, but found that the Mizos had ‘no sense of sin and<br />

felt no need for such a Saviour’. So they changed their approach to fit in with the Mizo worldview,<br />

proclaiming Jesus as the vanquisher of the devil and his powers – and found a radically different<br />

response.<br />

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