CSI Krishna Godavari Diocese at a Glance
Krishna Godavari Diocese is one of the 24 national dioceses of the Church of South India formed in September 1947. The Diocese is located in the state of Andhra Pradesh covering all the coastal districts in the state. Geographically; the diocese is extended into 8 revenue districts of the state and has a coastline of above 1000 km. The total population of the diocese is 3 lacks only and almost all the congregations belong to the Dalit community and some pockets are tribal. It has a total of 150 parishes with 700 congregations. 90% of the congregations are rural and it is the rural congregations with which the diocese is identified. There are more than 20 villages where the entire population belongs to exclusively the Church of South India.
The Diocese is a pioneer in development for centuries and has been implementing various programs in the fields of education, health, social development projects, skill training to youth and women, child care programs, relief and rehabilitation programs for the empower and liberate the people to face the challenges in the society and to lead a dignified life.
By the end of the 19th century, the Anglican Church in the entire Telugu speaking land was under the jurisdiction of the then vast Diocese of Madras. The Dornakal Diocese of the Anglican Church was formed along with the installation of the First Indian Bishop of the great reputation late V. S. Azariah in 1912 and became the first Telugu Diocese in Anglican tradition by the first indigenous missionary society named as The Indian Missionary Society of Tinnelvelly (IMST), comprising of all the coastal districts and some parts of Telangana province. The Diocese of Krishna-Godavari, in turn, bifurcated from the erstwhile Dornakal Diocese in the year 1947 with Rt. Rev. Y. Muthyalu as its first Bishop. It was one of the five Anglican Dioceses which were joined in the Church Union named as Church of South India on the 27th September of the same year along with other 8 dioceses of Methodist and S.I.U.C Church backgrounds.
The Church in India is sprouted up with the unfolding efforts of the missionaries from various evangelistic missionary societies or associations belonging to different Christian traditions from different western nations. The Church Missionary Society (CMS) is one of such society founded in the year 1799. During the British rule in India in the 19th and 20th centuries, the western missionary agencies received repeated requests from the English Government officials to extend their missionary work as the then Indian society was very much backward in terms of poverty, literacy, health, caste discrimination, gender discrimination etc., There were many blind faiths and superstitions prevailed in the society. Dalit and women were the most vulnerable communities in the society.
The two southern rivers in India namely Krishna and the Godavari plays a vital role in the culture, economy and the means of living in the life of the people of Telugu speaking land in the south-eastern coastal plains of India. During 1842, Goldingham, the then English Collector of Krishna District wrote to CMS Home Board, requesting to send the missionaries as he came to a conclusion that this area direly in need of missionary services in filling the spiritual vacuum by providing the educational and other social upliftment programmes. Immediately the CMS responded by sending two missionaries namely Robert Turlington Noble and Henry Walker Fox in the same year. Rev. R.T. Noble mainly concentrated on educational ministry, while Rev. H. W. Fox vigorously involved in evangelization. Both these missionaries operated their entire missionary activities from Machilipatnam, which is an ancient port town of south eastern coast of India. Missionary movement was succeeded by many missionaries such as, Mr & Mrs. Sharkey, Canon F. W. N. Alexander, Rev. A. E. Goodman, Rev. Harrison, Rev. Darling, and Sis. Carol Graham.
By the end of the 19th century, the Anglican Church in entire Telugu speaking land was under the jurisdiction of the then vast Diocese of Madras. The Dornakal Diocese of the Anglican Church was formed along with the installation of the First Indian Bishop of the great reputation late V. S. Azariah in 1912 and became the first Telugu Diocese in Anglican tradition by the first indigenous missionary society named as The Indian Missionary Society of Tinnelvelly (IMST), comprising of all the coastal districts and some parts of Telangana province. The Diocese of Krishna-Godavari in turn bifurcated from the erstwhile Dornakal Diocese in the year 1947 with Rt. Rev. Y. Muthyalu as its first Bishop. It was one of the five Anglican Dioceses which were joined in the Church Union named as Church of South India on the 27th September of the same year along with other 8 dioceses of Methodist and S.I.U.C Church backgrounds.