CNI celebrates 36th Anniversary, relaunches website

The Church of North India (CNI), the dominant Protestant denomination in northern India, recently celebrated its 36th Anniversary, re–commiting itself to "Unity, Witness and Service" and relaunched its official website after almost ten years.

Hundreds of believers from various Dioceses, congregations, institutions and organizations participated in the celebrations, November 29 which began with a Eucharist Service at the Synod headquarters of Church of North India in New Delhi.

Addressing the faithful, the Rev. Dr. Enos Das Pradhan, general secretary, CNI, said that CNI was committed to worshipping God and establishing peace through its continuous engagement of restoring justice and dignity of God's creation and by working towards being a "transformed and transforming" community.

"May the 36th year of our united journey in this land be always a reminder to us that our God is trustworthy and may we be united to inspire and challenge others to be in unison," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Margaret Sumadh, Asia Secretary in United Church of Canada, highlighted the beauty of unity in diversity, the retaining of
the essence of the bodies that come together yet preserving finer qualities of each of these bodies.

Recognizing and valuing diversity rather than differences is vital. She reiterated that maintaining the unity is more crucial than getting the churches united.

During the celebrations, the official website of the CNI was also relaunched jointly by The Rt. Rev. Karam Masih, Bishop of the Delhi Diocese and The Rev. (Dr.) Enos Das Pradhan.

Noting that the website was being relaunched after nearly ten years, the Rev. Pradhan, shared his vision of making this website more informative keeping in line with the latest technology to keep the different bodies of CNI, the Dioceses of CNI and their related institutions and organisations as well as all partners of CNI being linked together.

According to Mr. Sudipta Singh, director (Programmes), CNI, the objective of the was to facilitate communication amongst all bodies and agencies within and without CNI, creating mechanisms of linking each of them, sharing stories of success and celebration, as well as struggles of the life of the people.

Though presently, only 9 out of 26 dioceses were linked to the website, yet, by the end of 2007 the remaining Dioceses will be trained and equipped by the CNI Institute of Information and Technology of the Programme Office to develop and maintain their websites, Singh said.

The CNI is a trinitarian church that draws from the traditions and heritage of its constituent denominations. The basic creeds of the CNI are the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed of AD 381.

The Church is organized on an Episcopal structure and is subdivided into 26 dioceses, each under the supervision of a bishop.

The main administrative and legislative body is the Synod, which meets once every three years to elect a presiding bishop, called a Moderator, and an Executive Committee. The Moderator acts as the head of the church.

CNI participates in many ecumenical bodies as a reflection of its commitment towards church unity.

Domestically it participates in a joint council with the Church of South India and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church. It is also a member of the National Council of Churches in India. Regionally, the CNI participates in the Christian Conference of Asia and on an international level it is a member of the World Council of Churches, the Council for World Mission, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, World Methodist Council and in full communion with the Anglican Communion.

The CNI is also in partnership with many other domestic, regional and international Christian agencies.