Baptist Church of Mizoram

The Baptist Church of Mizoram, abbreviated BCM is a Protestant denomination of India and the second biggest church in Mizoram state in northeast India.

The church was founded by Baptist English missionaries Rev. JH Lorrain (Pu Buanga) and FW Savidge (Sap Upa) in 1894. It has its headquarters at Serkawn, which is a missionary station and town close to Lunglei city, the second biggest city in Mizoram, a minor part of India bordering Myanmar.

Today BCM has 160,344 members in 606 local churches (BCM Statistics 2013-2014).It is the second biggest church in Mizoram after the Presbyterian Church of Mizoram, which was founded in 1897 by an English Presbyterian missionary Rev. D.E. Jones.

Rev. R.A. Lorrain, younger brother of Rev. J.H. Lorrain and founder of the Evangelical Church of Maraland (est. 1907), was the first pioneering missionary to the Mara people in the southernmost part of Mizoram state, completing the task of evangelizing the people of the whole state - Presbyterians in the north, Baptists in the middle and Evangelicals in the south.

Education

The Baptist Church of Mizoram operates the following:

Seminary Academy of Integrated Christian Studies for theological studies
Christian College Higher and Technical Institute of Mizoram for further studies in Arts and Commerce.
Nursing College in Christian Hospital Serkawn
Higher Secondary School Baptist Higher Secondary School, Serkawn

Mission (Beginning)

The year 1968 had remarkable significance for the Baptist Church of Mizoram. In that year, the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS), after working for almost 65 years, decided to withdraw their mission work in south of Mizoram due to the Indian Government’s rejection of their permission to stay longer in Mizoram. In the same year that the BMS decided to withdraw their mission work, the ZBM also sent Rev H. Rokhama as the first cross-culture missionary outside Mizoram. Moreover, on 18 January 1968, Rev C.L.Hminga was appointed as the first full-time ZBM Secretary, and the ZBM had also organized its own office in a separate building. From this time onward, until the Assembly of BCM decided to form a new structure, all the office works of the ZBM was conducted from this office.

A Concise Account of Mission Department

A concise account of the BCM Mission works, as it stands for 46 years (1966 – 2012) from the inception of the BCM Mission Department as the Zoram Baptist Mission, can be made as follows:

Missionary Personnel

ZBM started cross-culture missionary work, employing only two full-time missionaries in 1939. Now, (in 2012) BCM Mission Committee has more than 800 mission workers including missionaries.

Mission Fields and Stations

BCM Mission Committee has 23 mission fields including mission stations in different parts of India and works in partnership with other mission agencies outside India.

Mission Fund

The ZBM (as its previous name) had only Rs. 12.50p (Rupees twelve and fifty paisa) in its initial stage. Now the BCM Mission budget of 2012 - 2013 has grown to Rs.11, 79, 78,000.00(Rupees eleven crore seventy-nine lakhs and seventy-eight thousand).

Churches

BCM Mission Committee has established more than 1436 local churches and 25 preaching stations among different tribes and people groups.

Believers

BCM Mission Committee has roughly 1,81,768 believers in different mission fields and mission stations.

Schools and Students

At present Mission Committee runs 54 mission schools within and outside Mizoram, of which 10 are High Schools, 5 Middle Schools, 39 Primary Schools and having around 6500 students.

Affiliates/Association

BCM is a member of the Baptist World Alliance, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, and an active member of the BMS World Mission.

External links

http://www.mizobaptist.org/ official site of the Mizoram Baptist Church
http://www.mtkp.org/ official site of the Mizoram Baptist Youth Fellowship
A brief history of Pioneered Churches in Mizoram
Baptist World Alliance Member bodies