Treasurer's Message 2011

Manoj P. Jacob
Treasurer,
Wesley English Church
(Biennium 2001-03, 2009-11, 2011-13)

Many of my best memories of childhood are intricately entwined with Wesley English Church. My first memory of Wesley English Church is the Sunday School. My mother would drop me at the gate and our sexton Rathnam would take me by my hand and lead me to the Sunday School room. As a young child, Sunday School used to be a fascinating window by itself where for an hour Mrs. Karat, Mrs. Paul and Ms. Simon held us in thrall with narrations and songs connected to the Word of God. Of course there were fun and games but over the years those days spent in the Sunday School laid the foundations of our life as adults.

We, later graduated to the youth where we had meetings on Saturdays, discussing the Lord’s teaching with a little more understanding of how it related to life in the real world. At the Wesley Youth meetings there were lively discussions on how we could contribute to make our world a better place, being in that time and space where responsibilities do not cast their long shadows over our youthful fervour. Each one of us had an opinion and I would specially like to thank Bhaskar Paul, the Youth Secretary for taking time out to welcome the younger ones into the youth and helping us in that transition from Sunday School to the Youth League (We were a batch of 18 candidates who had just got confirmed). We joined the youth when many of the then stalwarts of the youth were slowly beginning to think of careers and transitioning out of the Youth - Bhaskar Paul, Prasad Karat, David Ramesh, Eugine, Deva, Vanaja and Niraja, Edwin, Vanitha and Anitha, Esther and Ruth Abraham, Moly, Yvonne and Brenda, Sudhir, Shanthala and Manjula to name a few.

We also had some of our elders who guided us – our thinking, our talents and most of all our reading. You could walk into any of the elders’ houses and they would have the best books and would be willing to spend time with you discussing these. Kafka, Khalil Gibran, Rumi, Ayn Rand and many such. Some of the elders who were instrumental in moulding our generation were Uncle SK Abraham, Uncle Karat , the irrepressible Uncle Sonny whose abiding interest in theater rubbed off on many in the youth , humor a minute Uncle Swamidass, Uncle Pannicker with the perpetual twinkle in his eyes, Uncle Ebenezer, the strict army major who could be real fun as you got to know him and regale you with his tales of the army and places in India and abroad, Uncle Stanley and Uncle Arthur – one an engineer the other a lawyer, always calm and composed Uncle David, and Uncle Moses who was willing to debate any topic and many others. In those days, Wesley used to be a quaint church with a considerable Anglo- Indian community. Starting the service on time, keeping the sermon strictly to 20 minutes, finishing at 10am, if it was a normal service and at 10.30am, if it was a communion service. An unwritten dress code existed and jeans and t-shirts worn by us youth was generally frowned upon.

These people were family and many rejoiced and also shared in each others sorrows. Sunday was a day you could meet with not much tension, a few points of debate on the Sunday sermon and mostly some gentle guidance to the members from the elders. As we grew up and took up more responsible positions in the church, in many ways it was a natural progression. I suppose that the elders then had set an example of what was required of us.

Dr Anthony Issac, the current Secretary and Uncle Silas the Treasurer, over the last two decades and currently the Property Convener, have written eloquently in this souvenir about our past Presbyters and the finances and programmes of the Church over the last three decades.The Secretary has also mentioned in detail about the works taken up and completed during this biennium. Rather than do a recap of the same, I would like to dwell on the human side of the work.

Each one of us is delighted that the church as a family had decided to renovate the building in which we worship. As our bodies need nourishment so does the House of God.Our Church was bequeathed to us by our forefathers. It has withstood the test of time and has been a silent witness of all our joys and sorrows.The labour, hard work, dedication and commitment that went into the building of this Church has been so beautifully brought to life by the narration of Mrs. Hemalatha John in this souvenir. When this structure showed signs of age, we felt the need to undertake renovation, keeping in mind at all times to preserve the aesthetic value. In the committees we debated about how to raise the money for this huge task. Wesley was always considered a church of modest means. For bringing this project to life and for its completion, our special thanks goes out to, two of our Presbyters. Rev. Prem Mitra who recognized the need for urgent work to be taken up and who took the first tentative steps to bring to some form of reality this task. Rev. Prem Mitra was primarily responsible for a huge boost in the participation of the Sunday School and the encouragement of Praise and Worship in the services. Kenny, Herbert and Bindu were also responsible for this shift as dedicated Sunday School teachers in no small measure. Now the children really wanted to participate and once this was the case, the parents became more involved. This shift in participation was the first touch in the rebuilding of God’s Temple.

Our next presbyter, Rev. Florence Deenadayalan, was a refreshing change and a lady at that. She came in with no baggage- about Wesley being a church of modest means or she decided to throw such perceptions out of the window.She saw work which needed to be done and set about doing it. Her creed was if one is doing God’s work the means and money will follow. I will not be embellishing facts when I say that she has wrought a miracle in our church. She succeeded in raising the money and transformed the church. What we have now is a place of worship which we can be proud of. What we can take home from this is that when the positives are focused on, then the good qualities in us grow and we, as a people, are capable of great things.

What is not to be missed is that Wesley is a unique church among the ‘A’ grade churches in the CSI - KCD; the only church with no additional incomes from rentals or without any school being attached to it. All income is generated from the parish members and when we realise that such generous giving is possible then we again realise the central truth that the church is the primary building block or corner stone of the CSI-KCD. We would neglect this only at our own peril if we give more importance to the functioning of institutions. In spite of these perceived handicaps, our Presbyter has been able to cajole and convince the parish to generously contribute. She has been responsible for several positive changes, the notable among them being: the blessing of children, raising support and money for the members who are sick, all night prayers, having two Communions in the month, printing new hymn books (we are thankful to Edwin and family also for support on this project), planning a bell tower (we appreciate the support from Kannappa and family for this project) and of course insisting on her part, that the Temple of God looks to the eye like we really mean it.

Taking over the accounts of Wesley Church for the second time from an institution called Uncle Silas is a real responsibility. I would sincerely, as the present Treasurer, like to thank him for the systems put in place, which makes any incumbents work simpler and especially for his yeomen service to Wesley English Church. He has been a real pillar to the Wesley Community.

As the Treasurer, I would also like to extend my thanks to two members who are primarily responsible for two of our outstanding programmes. Late Uncle Samuel for the Mission Fund and Uncle Shyamsunder for the Scholarship Fund. I would also like to thank the choir for their magic of music which they brought to the church over the years. A special thanks to evergreen Uncle Victor who has been there every Sunday from the time I can remember, Aunty Mano, Aunty Rani, the current choir director Uncle Chandy and every member who have been part of this choir over the years. A special word of thanks to Nehru Isaac who is now in Malaysia with his family for the years of music with Wesley Family and the current Praise and Worship Team led by Herbert and Bindu for their dedication.

In closing, I would like to thank the Presbyter, the Pastorate Committee for their support and commitment, each and every member of our church who participated in the work and who gave generously off their wealth, time, talent and skill and much more than was expected, each as per their means. In all our endeavors to renovate God’s Temple, we acknowledge that we were blessed by the presence of our Lord and his gentle, but sure, clearing of the path he has chosen for each one of us. We now have a church building we can be proud of and it is the responsibility of each member to build the Body of Christ - i.e. our Wesley Family. In this we can only receive guidance from the Presbyters but it is a responsibility which is ours alone. May the Lord empower us.

God Bless.