Lay Preachers
LAY PREACHERS
95. work of a Bishop and to live in the company of a saintly man.
I also found it helpful to speak frequently about his life and work in the churches of the diocese.
Most of our people were keenly interested in him.
LAY PREACHERS
Mr Paul S. Kadambavanam was another missioner who helped us much.
He was a convert from Hinduism. I have known him for sixty years as a devout Christian.
He was the Head Clerk in the Bishop's Office in-Rangoon for twenty-five years.
In 1940, during World War II, like a great many other Indians, he had to leave Burma in a hurry with his family. When he returned to Madras he was about fifty years of age and was quite active in body and mind.
He was eager to continue his service of God and was waiting for His guidance.
He had a dream.
Three friends of his took him to a water tap, made him sit on the washing stone and poured on his head water drawn from the tap. He had a dozen potfuls of water thus poured over him.
He became curious and was restless to know what this dream meant.
At that time I was the Archdeacon of Palayamkottai and wrote a letter inviting him to be the honorary Diocesan Missioner of Tirunelveli with opportunities to lead Revival Meetings, Parish
Missions, Retreats and Bible Classes.
This letter reached him three days after the dream, and seemed to him a clear interpretation of it.
He was being cleansed and made ready for fresh service in the Church.
He began this new career and has steadily followed it to the present day when he is over eighty years of age.
I wrote to him and asked him whether he could spend the whole of 1952 in the Coimbatore Diocese and he readily agreed.
He stayed for a week in each centre and held meetings both for the people and for the workers.
The meetings were all well attended.
He also prayed for the sick and there were some cases of healing.
He spent much time in personal work, particularly seeking to bring about reconciliation in broken homes.
The Rev. H. A. Popley reported that he baptized many Hindus after Kadambavanam's evangelistic meetings on the Nilgiris.
A. J. APPASAMY
An English hymn sums up clearly and beautifully the essentials of Kadambavanam's life and teaching:
He lives!
He lives!
Christ Jesus lives today.
He walks with me and talks with me Along life's narrow way.
He lives!
He lives!
Salvation to impart.
You ask me how I know He lives— He lives within my heart.
After holding some Missions on the Nilgiris, Mr Kadambavanam told us:
There are great opportunities for evangelistic work among the coolies on the tea and coffee estates.
They have real spiritual hunger and are quite anxious to listen to the Gospel message.
Some of the keen Christians on the Nilgiris should be brought together for an informal conference as to how these abundant opportunities could be effectively met.
We sent out notices for a conference on May 18, 1952 in the Wellington Parsonage.
About twenty people came from different parts of the Nilgiris and we spent a morning together, praying and thinking about the best way of carrying on evangelistic work in so fruitful a field.
The conclusion to which we came was that we should get a large number of lay men really interested in the work and ready to take a responsible share in it.
Other parts of the Diocese also expressed the same desire for laymen's work.
And so an Order of Lay Preachers was proposed, of men and women who would agree to take a regular share in the pastoral and evangelistic work of the Diocese.
'They should be recommended to the Bishop for the Lay Preacher's Licence by at least two Presbyters in their area.
They should have done five years of voluntary Christian work, They should undertake to study the Bible and Christian Theology regularly, with the help of four
Tamil books prescribed every year for this purpose.
They should agree to meet together in their own Pastorates once a month for prayer, study and fellowship.
They should be willing to attend an annual Retreat of three days. 'These mu were modified during the years in the light of experience.
LAY PREACHERS
The response to our appeal for lay preachers was quite good.
The earnestness with which many applied for admission to this Order was partly at least due to the spiritual awakening which was going on throughout the Diocese.
On December 7, 1952 a Commissioning Service was held in the Immanuel Church in Coimbatore.
The lovely Service of Holy Communion, authorized by the Church of South India, was used.
The responses were sung to Indian music by a choir, which had been specially trained for the purpose.
A Commissioning Service was drafted by the Liturgy Committee of the Church of South
India, which was quite impressive and helpful.
Bishop E. B.
Thorp, a former Methodist and the Bishop in Tiruchirapalli, preached the sermon. I issued licences to one hundred and eight lay preachers, most of whom took seriously this opportunity which was being given to them for close association with the work of the Church.
Some of the English women missionaries in the Diocese, on their own initiative, were admitted to this Order so that they could identify themselves with the Indian Church.
Other Commissioning Services were held in different parts of the Diocese and licences were given to more lay preachers with prayer and exhortation.
Large and devout congregations attended the Commissioning Services.
Most of our 182 lay preachers were teachers in Diocesan schools or Government schools.
One was the manager of a coffee estate, another a medical practitioner, another a road maistry, yet another a farmer.
Some were clerks.
We had various professions represented by our lay preachers.
Miss Stone was one of our lay preachers.
She had lived in Coonoor for a number of years and had taken an active part in evangelistic work in the Nilgiris.
When the Order of Lay Preachers was begun in the Coimbatore Diocese, she expressed a desire to join it.
She served the Diocese in an honorary capacity.
Though she was getting on in years, she went out every day in her car and called on various well-to-do people in their homes and sold Bibles and New Testaments to them.
This often led to conversation about Christ and His religion.
In the Staff College at Wellington one hundred students came from all parts of India
_ for a year's advanced study in the Defence Services.
She made it a point to call on as many of these men and their families as possible. From time to time organisations like the National Cadet
A. J. APPASAMY
Corps lived in camp for some weeks in the neighbourhood of Coonoor, Excursion parties of students from colleges also came to Coonoor.
She met many such persons and offered to sell them Bibles.
She took a keen interest in new converts to Christianity and their families and sought to help them, both spiritually and financially.
Her death in 1959 left a real gap in the work of the Diocese.
Mr Benjamin, one of the lay preachers in the Coimbatore area, had been doing steady evangelistic work in a neighbouring village.
Two or three days before Christmas (1952) sixty-four persons, including women and children, were baptized there.
He visited them afterwards regularly once a week for some months to give them further instruction in the Christian life.
Many of our lay preachers, say fifty per cent, were taking their responsibilities seriously and were working faithfully in the congregations to which they were assigned.
The other lay preachers, however, were slack and indifferent in their work.
Such lay preachers were asked to return their licences to me. No one, however, did so.
There was no point in their holding the licences if they were not able or willing to help regularly in the work of the Church.
All those who desired to do regular work and continue to hold the Bishop's licence were asked to have it renewed every year.
The Church of South India was very anxious that lay preachers should do some regular study every year and write examinations.
Four books were published in Tamil for this purpose.
T'amilspeaking lay preachers were fortunate that year after year books were printed in their own language for their special benefit.
On the whole, the standard reached by these books was quite high and their price was very moderate.
The books prescribed for 1955 were:
Sin and Salvation by Bishop Newbigin.
Holy Matrimony by Bishop Azariah.
I and II Timothy by the Rev. G. S. William.
Selected Psalms by the Rev. D. S. Vedanayagam.
Arrangements were made for lay preachers in each Pastorate to come together once a month for the study of these books, prayer and fellowship.
Competent leaders were asked to take the classes.
In many centres this was done regularly.
On the Nilgiris monthly