When undertaking work on Christianity at KS2 it is appropriate to include materials on the Diocese of Vellore for comparison with your own local practices.  If you follow the links below, (which have the same titles as the strands of the Cambridgeshire Agreed Syllabus)you will find both information and photographs to support this work.  You will also find some suggestions for Indian linked classroom activities.

Worship     Buildings     People     Writings     Festivals and Fasts     Rites of Passage     Self and Community (social projects)      Natural World (medical projects) Teaching Suggestions

INTRODUCTION TO VELLORE – A RURAL DIOCESE IN SOUTH INDIA

In 1976 the large Diocese of Madras in the Church of South India was divided into two parts and the southern part of its territory became the Diocese of Vellore.  Two thirds of the territory of the Diocese of Vellore lies in the north of the state of Tamil Nadu, and the rest in the south of the state of Andrah Pradesh.  This means that two different languages are spoken in the Diocese – Tamil in the south and Telagu in the north.

There are no large cities in this Diocese, but there are a handful of small towns and hundreds of small, poor, rural villages.   The largest town is Vellore itself  which has approximately 400,000 inhabitants – although this may sound like a lot of people, this is only a medium sized town by Indian standards!  The Diocese of Vellore has about 50 urban churches and over 600 rural churches -685 church congregations in all.  These 685 churches serve over 150,000 Christian families i.e. about 900,000 Christians. This is approximately 10% of the total population of the area. The Diocese is divided into four areas (North, South, West, Central) and each area consists of between 15 and 20 pastorates.  A pastorate is the area supervised by a pastor (or pastorate team) and usually consists either of a town church with several villages attached, or a network of small village communities. 

The Church of South India is a united church: in 1947, shortly after India achieved independence, the Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and United Reform churches of the south of India united as one church (this did not include the Roman Catholics and some Pentecostal churches or the ancient Mar Thoma Church).  Before this date there were a number of different missions working in the area now in the Diocese of Vellore – in particular the American Arcot Mission, but also missions from Britain and Germany.  The church buildings and the forms of worship services often reflect these different national origins, although the Church of South India has, of course, developed its own particular style and practices.

This is the logo of the Church of South India: the scripture verse which surrounds it comes from John 17:21 and shows how the many different churches represented in South India joined together. The cross represents Jesus' death for us, bringing freedom from sin. The other design is the lotus flower from India, which is a traditional picture of God being near us. The lotus grows out of mud, like the beauty and purity that can grow in our lives out of Jesus' sacrifice. The cross is red (for life) and the lotus is saffron (for holiness). You can also see the yellow lotus as representing flames = flames symbolise transformation and the work of the Holy Spirit.

All the churches of Cambridgeshire are linked to the churches of the Diocese of Vellore through the Cambridgeshire Ecumenical Council.  The photographs below show Bishop William of Vellore and Reverend Paul Hills (Chairman of the Cambridgeshire Ecumenical Council) signing a new version of the Covenant in 2005.

Follow this link for photographs of everyday life around the Diocese of Vellore.

Vellore District's Website see also India Facts and Figures and Information about the Church of South India

Powerpoint of the 2006 Cambridgeshire Visit (powerpoint requires long download time)