Christ Church, Hyderabad

The CSI Christ Church is one of the earliest Churches in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The church is situated in Ramkote locality of the twin cities Hyderabad and Secunderabad and 24 km away from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Shamshabad. For Church administrative purposes, it falls under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Diocese of Medak and caters to a diverse Tamil-speaking congregation of about 500 members. The church was consecrated and dedicated in 1869, and is the oldest Tamil Church in Hyderabad.

Prior to 1869, Tamil-speaking Christians from the Hyderabad area travelled all the way to St. Thomas's church in Secunderabad with their families in bullock-carts to worship in Tamil, which proved to be a hardship and inconvenience. In 1867, the Nizams' Government, with Prime Minister Sir Salar Jung, donated a small parcel of land with sufficient donations to construct a church. The foundation stone was laid by the wife of Major General Grant, commanding subsidiary forces of Secunderabad in 1867 after an impressive address by Sir Richard Temple. In two years' time, Christ Church was constructed, and dedicated in 1869 on Christmas Eve by the Rt. Rev. Frederic Gell, Bishop of Madras Diocese.

On 3 October 1947, the churches in South India united to form the "Church of South India (CSI) Medak Diocese". The Rev. Whittaker, chairman of Wesley Church Hyderabad, was consecrated as the first Bishop of the diocese, and in 1950 he ordained Rev. G. D. Samuel to minister to the Christ Church congregation. Since 1947, eight Bishops have contributed to the edification of the church and its activities.

In commemoration of the church's 100-year history (1869–1969) in Hyderabad, the church building was enlarged. Construction was made possible by contributions from church members and a loan from the Diocese.

On 15 June 1979, Christ Church School, located inside the church compound, was inaugurated by founding members Rev. D. Justus Moni (first Manager and Correspondent), Mrs. Enid. David, the late Prof. A. P. Rajaratnam, the late Mr. George Michael, the late Mr. W.A. Deva Das, the late Mr. C. John Rose and the late Mrs. Victoria Robert, Rev. S. M. Jothi Raj (Manager and Correspondent [1984–1987]), and Rev. A. Bennet(Manager and Correspondent [2003 – July 2014]). When inaugurated, the school served 8 students. Now the school has attained high school status, and has grown to accommodate 500 children. 100% results have been reported in SSC in the last few years. The Rev. S. Sathia Joseph has served as Manager and Correspondent since July 2014, and Mrs. Shirley Solomon, the present Head Mistress, now leads a staff of 15 teachers and 5 support staff.

This celebration was inaugurated on 2 October 1994 by Bishop B. P. Sugandhar at the confirmation service, and began with various construction projects such as the extension of the wings of the church, repairing of the roof, addition of a choir vestry, etc. Special meetings with Dr. Ken Gnanakan were held on 26 and 27 November 1994.

1880–1887, Rev. A. Sebastian, CSI 1947–1949, Rev. S. Christudoss, CSI 1949–1957, Rev. G. D. Samuel, CSI 1957–1959, Rev. J. V. Navamani Raj, CSI 1960–1960, Rev. T. Krishna Rao, CSI 1961–1964, Dr. A. C. Abraham, Laity 1964–1965, Rev. P. R. Dharma Raj, CSI 1965–1967, Rev. G. D. Samuel, CSI 1967–1968, Rev. P. R. Dharma Raj, CSI 1968–1978, Dr. A. C. Abraham, Laity 1978–1982, Rev. G. D. Samuel, CSI 1978–1984, Rev. D. Justus Moni, CSI 1984–1987, Rev. S. M. Jothi Raj, CSI 1987–1993, Rev. A. Bennet, CSI 1993–2003, Rev. D. Justus Moni, CSI 2003–2014, Rev. A. Bennet, CSI 2014-2023 Rev. S. Sathia Joseph, CSI 2023–present Rev. Naveen Kumar, CSI

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).