Guide to the India-Pakistan Mission Records

PCUSA work in India

The beginnings of American Presbyterian mission work in India antedate the organization of the Board of Foreign Missions. In 1834, William Reed and J.C. Lowrie arrived in India under the auspices of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, the Board's predecessor, and established a station at Ludhiana. Two years later, stations were opened in Saharanpur, Sabathu and Allahabad. In 1840, the India Mission was subdivided into the Punjab Mission, which encompassed the original four stations, and the North India Mission, also known as the Farrukhabad Mission.

The expansion of the North India Mission began and continued throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Mainpuri was opened in 1843, followed by Fatehgarh in 1844, Jullundur in 1846 and Mussorie in 1847. Work at Dehra Dun and Fatehpur commenced in 1853, followed by Etawah a decade later. Hoshyarpur was occupied in 1867 and Etah in 1873, though the latter was not formally constituted as a station until 1900. Ferozepur was opened in 1882, followed by Cawnpore in 1901, Gwalior and Kasgani in 1911 and Shikohabad in 1924.

Work in the Punjab throughout the l9th century revolved around the stations at Ludhiana, Saharanpur, Sabathu and Allahabad. In 1908, Khanna was opened, followed by Rupar in 1910, Moga in 1911 and Kosur in 1913.

In 1870, the work of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in western India was transferred to the Board of Foreign Missions. Thereafter, that field was known as the West India Mission. In addition to the inherited station at Kolhapur, succeeding stations were opened at Ratnagiri in 1873, in Sangli in 1884, in Miraj in 1892, in Vengurla in 1900, in Kodoli in 1893, in Islampur in 1906 and in Nipani in 1910.

The work of the Presbyterian Church in India reflected the Church's concern for the educational, medical and spiritual needs of the Indian people. Coordination of the three missions' activities in these area was directed by the India Council after 1913, while considerable interdenominational cooperation existed as well. A variety of educational institutions which had developed in the l9th century continued to grow in the 20th. Some of these included the Christian Boy's Boarding School, later known as Ewing Christian High School, the Allahabad College and Agricultural Institute, Forman Christian College, the North India School of Medicine for Christian Women and the Isabella Thoburn College.

Medical work was carried out through a variety of hospitals, dispensaries, clinics, sanitariums and leper asylums. Institutions like the Wanless Chest Hospital in Miraj, the Philadelphia Hospital in Ambala and the Fatehgarh Memorial Hospital serve as monuments to the medical work done by the Presbyterian Church in India. Evangelism in India took the form primarily of village itineration where male and female missionaries ministered to the spiritual needs of the populace while simultaneously attending to their medical and educational needs.

In 1904, the Presbyterian Church in India was formed.

In 1924, the United Church of Northern India was organized from the union of the Presbyterian Church in India and the Congregational Church in West India. This church merged in 1970 with six other churches to become the Church of Northern India.

UPCNA Work in India/Pakistan

Missionary work in India began in 1854 with the Sialkot mission and later spread to Eastern parts of the Punjab including stations at Zafarwal (1880), Pasrur (1884) and Badomali (1915). Mission stations in Central and Western India were established at Gujranwala (1863), Lahore (circa 1913?) Sheikhupura (1923), Martinpur (1918), Sangla Hill (1901), Lyallpur (1895) and Sargodha (1905). Along the border of the Jhelum river, mission stations were founded at Rawalpindi (1856), Jhelum (1874), Campbellpur (1916) and Taxila (1921). Near the Kashmir border, stations were founded at Gurdaspur (1872), Pathankot (1882) and Dhariwal (1890).

Work in India, while primarily evangelistic in nature, was also geared towards medical and educational concerns. Missionaries were involved with the creation and supervision of numerous institutions, ranging from village schools and technical training centers to colleges and hospitals. Missionaries in India and Pakistan were also involved in special projects in conjunction with the government such as the irrigation and colonization of the Thal, a 1.5 million-acre desert region west of Sargodha set aside for the relocation of displaced Christian families and families of refugee soldiers in the Pakistan Army.

The first locally-organized presbytery in the Punjab was organized in 1859; the Synod of the Punjab was organized in 1893. The Synod became fully autonomous in 1961, and was renamed the United Presbyterian Church of Pakistan (occasionally, the Synod of the United Presbyterian Church of Pakistan). Following the UPCUSA's adoption of the Confession of 1967, adherents of Carl McIntire in the United States and in Pakistan fomented schism in the Synod. Kundan Lall Nasir and Nazir Yusuf, professors at Gujranwala Theological Seminary, held competing meetings with the Synod in 1967, claiming to constitute the true general assembly, and sued the Synod in Sialkot, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, and Lyallpur, for administrative control and property ownership. Yusuf's and Nasir's factions would later split with each other. Nasir's group continues as the (as of 2016) United Presbyterian Church of Pakistan. The Synod merged with the Lahore Christian Council in 1992, creating the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan, a mission partner of the PC(USA) and member of the World Council of Churches.

Allahabad Agricultural Institute

The institute was founded in 1910, by agricultural missionary Sam Higginbottom, as a department of Allahabad Christian College (presently known as Ewing Christian College). Higginbottom came to India in 1903 and joined the North India Mission of the Presbyterian Church. From 1903 to 1909 he taught Economics and Science at the Allahabad Christian College. With funds secured in America, he purchased 275 acres of eroded land on the south bank of the Jumna River, in Allahabad, as the site of the Institute. Its education, research and rural extension programs were designed to apply the methods of scientific agriculture to the practical needs of rural people. In 2009, Allahabad Agricultural Institute was rechristened as Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHIATS) in honor of the founder.

Forman Christian College

Forman Christian College was founded in 1864 by Dr. Charles W Forman, a Presbyterian missionary from the USA. The college was initially known as the Lahore Mission College, but in 1894 the name was officially changed to Forman Christian College in honor of the founder. In the early years, degrees were awarded through the Calcutta University. In 2004, Forman became a chartered University and from 2009 onwards has awarded its own degrees. In 1972 the college was nationalized by the government. It was returned to the present owners of the college on 19 March 2003. In March 2004, the government granted University status to FCCU. The University embarked upon an exciting new stage in its history in September 2005 when it began a four-year Baccalaureate (Honors) program designed in accordance with world-class standards for accreditation.

Gordon College

The history of Gordon College goes back to 1856 when the present Christian High School, Rawalpindi was founded as a primary school under the patronage of the Presbyterian Mission to provide modern educational facilities to the 16000 people then living in Rawalpindi. The primary school was then raised to high school and in 1887, the area now comprising Pakistan had no university of its own. In 1893, Gordon College headed by Rev. E.E Fife as the first principal started to meet the need of higher education of the area. The college started with intermediate classes and for nine years these classes were held in the present Government Christian High School Raja Bazar, Rawalpindi. The college moved to its present premises in 1902 and in the same year it was raised to a degree college. Science classes began in 1904 and M.A classes in English Literature, Urdu Literature and History were started in 1940, 1948, and 1955 respectively. At the time of independence in 1947, it was the only college and seat of higher learning in the city. The college, like other private institutions in the country, was nationalized in 1972.