True Jesus Church in India

The True Jesus Church, started in China, is a nontrinitarian Christian denomination growing out of the Pentecostal movement. The True Jesus Church in India was brought there on two separate occasions. The first wave, which occurred during the early 1930s was by a former member of the Church of South India who had visited Peninsular Malaysia and returned to India after his conversion. The second wave occurred during the early 1970s by an Indian pastor who visited Singapore and returned to India after his conversion.

True Jesus Mission in India

Zacchaeus S. Ponniah was originally a member of the Church of South India. In 1930, he travelled to Ipoh, Malaysia to seek employment opportunitiesref|AFM. While there, he came into contact with the True Jesus Missionref|AFM. He accepted the gospel of this church, received baptism and was later ordained as a deacon on July 1931ref|AFM. Zacchaeus later returned to his hometown in India during 1932 and preached the gospel in the Tirunelveli and Madathupatti of Tamil Nadu State. Within a three hundred kilometre radius from his hometown, six churches churches were established under the name "True Jesus Mission". The churches he established later grew to the present day membership of seven thousandref|AFM.

However, due to the outbreak of the Second World War, contacts with the True Jesus Mission in Malaysia were lost. During the 1950s, the True Jesus Mission in India made several attempts to re-establish communications with the General Assmbly Headquarters of True Jesus Church in Shanghai but this failed because, unknown to them, the TJC General Assmbly Headquarters had already relocated elsewhere and was no longer situated in Shanghai. Not long afterwards, the Sino-Indian Border Conflict occurred and this made any communication attempts with the True Jesus Church in China virtually impossible. Nevertheless, they still held firm to their original church beliefs and did not join other christian denominations within India. Some church members later moved to other parts of India within Tamil Nadu and Kerala State and established churches there as well.

True Jesus Church in India

In 1969, Pammal James, an Indian Pastor of a Charismatic Church denomination, travelled to Northern Malaysia. While on a one-day stopover in Sungai Petani, he heard a group of True Jesus Church members singing hymns during a family service. He was surprised that they were speaking in tongues during a prayer session and admired them. After discussing the beliefs and doctrines of the church with them, he began attending church services in Ipoh and Singapore before receiving baptism. Upon his return to India in 1970, Pammal James evangelised in India where he established True Jesus Churches in Ambattur and Pammal. Now there are two thousand True Jesus Church believers in those areas.

In 1977 they evangelised in Kerala State and later to the Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Resumption of Contact: Attempts at Unification

In 1996, two youth belonging to the True Jesus Mission temporarily resided in Pammal. During 1997, to their surprise and astonishment, they encountered the True Jesus Church building in Pammal which also had the Tamil equivalent of the church inscribed on the signboard (உண்மையான இயேசு தேவாலயம்) - this Tamil name of the True Jesus Church turned out to be the exactly the same Tamil name of the True Jesus Mission as well! They became very curious and after inquiring with the True Jesus Church believers, they discovered that they belonged to the same church and contact with the True Jesus Church church was finally renewed again in 1997.

Due to the sixty long years of isolation from ohe other True Jesus Churches along with the lack of preachers to pastor the churches, some of the teachings of the True Jesus Mission members have slightly deviated; for example, they did not perform full immersion in baptism and also did not believe that speaking in tongues during prayer is essential for every believer (this type of phenomenon was also found in parts of Mainland China). Nevertheless, for the last few years, attempts at reconciliation and unification have worked positively and harmoniusly. In fact, as at 2001, eight hundred of their believers have transferred to the True Jesus Church and two hundred of those believers have received baptism with full immersion. Many of their English version signboards have been adjusted from "True Jesus Mission" to "True Jesus Church".

As of 2004 there are churches and prayer houses in the following states:

* Andhra Pradesh State: Ariyalur, Karimanagar, Kuppamaturam, Negveli and Veppur.
* Tamil Nadu State: Ambattur, Chengalput, Pammal, Thiruvothiyur, Tirunelveli, Tirunilai, Otteri and Paduvancherry.
* Karnataka State: Bangalore
* Kerala State: Vandiperiyar

Notes and References

* TJC Holy Spirit Monthly, October 2004.
* During those early years prior to the Second World War, the English translation of the church was known as the "True Jesus Mission" in South-east Asia; After the Second World War, the English name was changed to the more accurate present-day translation: "True Jesus Church"; nevertheless the Chinese name always remained the same (真耶穌教會).
* TJC Holy Spirit Monthly, July 2001.

ee also

*Christianity in India
*True Jesus Church in Singapore
*True Jesus Church in Myanmar

External links

* [http://www.epcra.ch/papers/hamburg99/Varghese.htm Pentecostalism in India]