Aizawl: Prayers and worship services were held in all Presbyterian churches across Mizoram on Monday to mark the anniversary of the arrival of a Welsh missionary who established the Protestant Church in northeastern India.,

The Presbyterian Church with more than 600,000 members is the largest Christian denomination in Mizoram. The state has a total population of 1.16 million.

It was established by Reverend D E Jones, who arrived in Mizoram on August 31, 1897. The Church now observes the day as “Ramthar Ni.”

‘Ramthar Ni’ has been observed by the Presbyterian Church since 1972 and the day is regarded as the day when the Church was established in Mizoram.

Rev. Jones is known to the Mizos as ‘Zosaphluia’ or the older missionary. He was sent by the Welsh Presbyterian Church to Mizoram to open its branch there.

Earlier, two other pioneers Rev. J H Lorraine and Rev. F W Savidge landed in Mizoram, then known as the Lushai country on January 11, 1894. Three years earlier, another missionary Rev. William Williams reached Aizawl from Syhlet (now in Bangladesh) in 1891.

Mizoram Presbyterian Church Synod originated from the Calvinistic Methodist Church (the Presbyterian Church of Wales).

It was the first Christian denomination to arrive in Mizoram and is now part of the Presbyterian Church of India with headquarters in Shillong, capital of neighboring Meghalaya state.

Two years ago, the Mizoram Presbyterian Church snapped its partnership with the Presbyterian Church of the United States over the ordination of gay clergy and practice of gay marriage that the Indians said were against the biblical teachings.

Jones opened a school on his birthday on February 15 1898 at his bungalow which was also used for worship and Sunday schools. In August 1897, the Welsh Mission had arranged a Khasi Christian Rai Bahadur and his family from Khasi Hills in Meghalaya to help Jones. The first enlisted members of the congregation comprised six Khasis and Jones and his wife.

In 2014, the Church had 46 presbyteries and 1,270 churches served by 508 ordained ministers, 53 probationary pastors and 5,010 ordained elders.

The Church also has a unique system of Women Fellowship with mainly married women as its members. By the end of 2009, the fellowship has 143,159 members from 91,423 families.

Another fellowship is for the youth named Kristian Thalai Pâwl (Christian Youth Fellowship) that in 2014 had 136,670 members and 808 branches. They support more than one thousand missionaries, inside and outside of Mizoram. The fellowship aims to teach young people about Christ’s teaching, form them as faithful Christians, help the Church to fulfill its mission and spread the gospel message.

The Church’s Synod Mission Board looks after 17 mission fields in India and sends missionaries to Taiwan, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, China, Nepal, United Kingdom, Samoa, Madagascar, American Samoa and Kiribati. As many as 1,758 missionaries were working overseas in 2014.