History page 3

educationist.A dedicated Chairman of the District for 17 years, he was one among the four who laid the foundations of our Church, and preached the first sermon on that Easter morning of 1889. This year marked the end of his illustrious, dedicated services, as he entered into eternal fellowship on April 19, 1896. If Rev. Hudson was great in attainment yet another loss to the English circuit was the death of the Rev. Romilly Hall Ingram, whose life of great promise, ended the same year. A brilliant scholar in science, “his mental gifts, carefully cultured, specially fitted him for work in India, and he entered upon it in the spirit of complete consecration to the service of Christ in this land.” (Mysore District Report 1896).

Despite bereavement and disease, this Church of God continued to exist.. Here, in St. John’s Hill, the work suffered a little due to the removal of the pastor to the Kolar Gold Fields. Though Rev. Harris an evangelist of the “Joyful News” served the Church for a few months, he returned to England after 4 years of hard circuit work. Inspite of the absence of a regular pastor “the excellent congregation,” gathered regularly for worship. The office bearers of the Church decided to work with renewed zeal to conserve the best interests of the Church. Ministering to a large “Eurasian population” in terms of pastoral visitation was most challenging in these circumstances. Yet a strikingly beautiful attribute of the Church in 1896, goes like this:- “The life of the Church is steady and consistent, harmonious and strong. We have no disputes to settle here, for brotherly love continues. “ (Mysore District Report 1896 Appendix-II) . Certainly a beauty of the spirit, with all its warmth and radiance.

The Rev. Thomas was appointed pastor of the St. John’s Hill Church in 1897. He could serve only for 7 months, for his health being poor, he returned to England in September 1897. It was difficult to stabilize and consolidate the work of the Church due to all these changes. The congregation was eagerly hoping for a permanent appointment. Meanwhile the Rev. F. Goodwill who was appointed to Kolar, was to reside among our people at St. John’s Hill. The interest of our members in all the activities of the Church and their willing services were a matter of pride and joy then, and now a part of our rich heritage.

The Rev. W. B. Trewhella, took over the St. John’s Hill Church during the closing months of 1898, and continued to act as pastor during the year, the District Synod having confirmed his appointment. During his tenure, he observed that the Sunday mornings services were poorly attended, but the attendance at the Evening Services were well sustained. Special attention was directed to the Wesley Guild, where the young minds were enlightened on literary, social and temperance matters, and equal care directed towards their spiritual nurture, making the Guild a useful auxiliary to the church. It must be noted that during this year, 1899 the Church underwent the much needed cleaning and renovation.

20TH CENTURY

The Threshold A. D. 1900, was a year of mingled feelings. The Rev. R. A. Ellis who was appointed to take charge of the St. John’s Hill Church in January continued to do so till August when he was transferred to Kolar as the failure of Mr. Newham’s health at Kolar, necessitated Mr. Ellis’ presence there. Hence for some time the St. John’s Hill Church was under the pastoral care of the East Parade Minister and Mr. R. Donaldson, one of our dedicated local preachers. This was the arrangement till Mr. Newham’s health made it possible for him to resume his work temporarily.

The congregation at St. John’s Hill at the turn of the century consisted largely of pensioners and others permanently resident in Bangalore. The work done here was likely to bear fruit soon. The ardent desire at this time was to see that this Church became a self- supporting and active Church. The past year showed an increase in the congregation and was a year of useful activity. A weekly service for the poor was held at the Pensioner’s Room and the congregation that attended them strongly felt the need for such work.

In 1901, there was a falling off in the attendance at the services on Sunday and during the week, largely due to sickness.

The Mysore District Report of the year 1902 is a comprehensive account by the three pastors of the English circuit – The Rev. Ellis, Rev. H. H. Newham and the Rev. E. V. Paget of the St. John’s Hill Church. Touching upon the many sided tasks of the English Churches, they presented a graphic account of the spiritual and social efforts launched by the Church- the challenging work among the soldiers, the miners, the children of the regular and the Sunday Schools, and attempts to find feasible solutions to make life easy for a socially neglected community- the Eurasians.

On the spiritual front which always had precedence, we read of a 10-day Evangelistic Programme, a series of meetings held during the middle of the year. The planning and preparation of these meetings also involved Churches belonging to other denominations. The purpose was to bring about “a quickening of spiritual life in our English Churches”. The limitations of time and space do not permit elaborate accounts of every task outlined earlier. Suffice it to add, that the Sunday School in St. John’s Hill was most encouraging and was fraught with great promise.

Extended Care

In a large garrison town, where the effect of strong drink were markedly visible, considerable interest was diverted to temperance work. Most of the women of the