Monthly newsletter of the Diocese of Durgapur Donation: Rs. 5/-Vol.: One Hundred and Six October 2015

Women's Convention 2015

Deacon Ordination & Bishop's 12th Consecration Day

The women of DWFCS (Diocesan Women's Fellowship for Christian Service), Diocese of Durgapur, CNI (Church of North India) have been a massive developmental force in the resurrection of a once nearly dissolving Diocese. During darker days, the unflinching faith and sincere continuous prayers of these women were perhaps the few most important ingredient that kept the Diocese together.

The women of this Diocese apart from being daughters, sisters, wives, mothers and grandmothers have been great ministers, social workers, indigenous missionaries, teachers, mentors, fund raisers and great reformers. Today most of the major and successful programmes of the Diocese such as the Children's Ministry and Eye Hospital are owned by DWFCS.

To retrospect their past efforts and in order to plan for the future the women from various pastorates of the Diocese gather every year at the Diocesan Bhavan Campus in Durgapur to attend the Annual event of "Women's Convention". This year the Women's Convention was held at the newly refurbished air-conditioned DWFCS Convention Hall and at the St. Michael's & All Angel's Cathedral at the Diocesan Bhavan Campus in Durgapur from Saturday the 17th to Monday the 19th of October.

More than one hundred women various pastorates gathered for the three day convention, filled with cultural performances, Bible study, talent show, innovative sessions, handicraft making and a gala evening of Beauty contest, to boost the confidence of the women. Revd. Papiya

Durairaj, a well known ordained women Minister from the Diocese of Calcutta and a professor of New Testament at the Bishop's College (seminary) in Kolkata was the key resource person for the convention. Revd. Durairaj, through her various enriching Bible Study sessions brought much light on the theme of the convention "Shining the Light of Jesus".

Mrs. Rita Dutta, President, DWFCS, constantly encouraged the women with her presence and speeches. She specially reminded the women to remember and start praying for the special thanksgiving service of 1st May 2016, when the children's ministry would be completing a decade. Our Honourable Bishop The Rt. Revd. Dr. Probal Kanto Dutta also encouraged the women through his speech.

A special poster marking this 10 years of journey was also launched at the convention and was distributed to every pastorate. Revd. Papiya Durairaj also inaugurated a special bilingual songbook at the convention.

On Sunday the 18th of October, second day of the convention the women attended the Sung Eucharist Service at 8:30 AM at the St. Michael's & All Angel's Cathedral. Revd. Papiya Durairaj in her sermon shared from Luke chapter 8 versus 1 to 3. She highlighted the three most important charecteristics of Women disciples of Christ being that; firstly the women 'chose' to follow Jesus, second that the women 'remained' with Jesus and went wherever He went and thirdly the women also 'gave

themselves up' in other words provided for Jesus and His ministry with resources raised by them.

On the evening of Monday the 19th of October, the women went on a lamp lit procession within the Diocesan Bhavan Campus, with banners and placards displayed by each pastorates. Following this was the Beauty pageant, in which the Ribika Murmu from Santal Mission Pastorate was declared 2nd Runners up, Dipanwita Biswas from Sarenga Pastorate 1st Runners up and Anima Hansda from Barikul Pastorate took the crowning glory as the winner.

We wish the women of DWFCS, Diocese of Durgapur all the best, may they grow in their ministry for years to come.

Trishikh Dasgupta

Being ordained as a Deacon is a major step in the life of a person dedicating himself to priesthood. Many even say it's like being married to the Church. This iconic day came in the life of Sandipan Sinha on Sunday the 20th of September 2015. The ordination was conducted at the St. Michael's & All Angel's Cathedral. He was ordained into deaconate by The Rt. Revd. Dr.

Probal Kanto Dutta, Bishop of Diocese of Durgapur, CNI (Church of North India). The service for him was very special as also were present two other Bishop's; The Rt. Revd. Collin Theodore of Delhi Brotherhood and The Rt. Revd. Onil Kumar Tirkey.

This day was auspicious in another was as it also marked the 12th Consecration Day of

Bishop Dutta, who was ordained into Bishopric on the very same grounds, but only under a makeshift tent back on the 21st day of September in the year of our Lord 2003. The Diocese has come a long way since then; 21 new churches including a Cathedral has been built, numerous institutes and projects have been initiated and the Diocese has grown into 181 churches spreading

across 38 pastorates comprising of 22,500 congregational members. Back then there were only 12 priests managing this

geographically mammoth predominantly Tribal diocese and today there are 24 of them, theologically trained

The children of the various Child Development Centres of DWFCS, Diocese of Durgapur excel in various arts and disciplines. The Self Defense Martial Arts of Taekwondo is a very integral part of their holistic Development. The children have won several medals, certificates, represented the District, State and even in the National Games. Recently in the month of October 15 children received certificates for participating in the "9th

Open State Taekwondo Championship 2015" held in May 2015. Some of these children have even qualified to participate in the 2016

National Championship. We wish these children all the best, may their talents grow in the years to come.

from reputed seminaries from within and beyond borders. Sandipan being the nouveau of them.

The bilingual ordination service, was well attended by all the clergy

of the Diocese, Staff members, parishners of Cathedral, members of the Diocesan Executive Committee, family and friends of Sandipan. We wish him all the best in his ministerial life and

may he grow in love and peace in accordance to the will of God, serving his Maker with all, mind, heart and soul.

The children of DCSDC (Durgapur Child Study and Development Centre), under the able mentorship of Ms. Ruth Pugh, Missionary Teacher and Musician from the Methodist Church, UK, have really excelled in playing and mastering musical instruments specially strings such as the violin, viola, cello, double bass and guitar. These little children from very dark and underprivileged backgrounds today stands apart wherever they trod. They can read, write and play music from any genre.

Many of these children have already appeared for the Trinity College of Music exams.

To add a further feather to their caps, recently on Friday the 18th of September, six of the centre students appeared for music exams held at Kolkata by the "Associate Board of The Royal Schools of Music" Among the candidates were, namely, Sanjay Hansda who passed with distinction for both his Grade III Violin and Grade I Piano exams, Priyanka Das (passed with distinction)

& Bidhan Mahato (passed with merit) for Grade III Violin, Shyamol Kisku (passed with distinction) for Grade II Violin and Philip Tudu (passed with distinction) for his Grade I Cello exams and Simon Kisku (passed with merit) his Grade II Violin exam.

On the 13th of September a meeting of OSL India was held at the Sarenga Central Church, to extend the work of OSL India members at Sarenga in the community. Mr. Tapas Naskar, Evangelist conducted this meeting for 15 full members of

OSL India. It was resolved in the meeting to form a prayer group in each of the area churches under the Sarenga Pastorate. The prayer teams would attend to all kinds of prayer needs of the people of this region. They shall visit each and every house in need of a

prayer in the area. We wish the formation of these new teams all the best. May the life and work of the OSL India Prayer Ministry grow among the Tribal and other people in the forest lands of Sarenga.

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OSL Meeting at Sarenga Central Church

State Taekwondo Certification

Creativity in PuruliaOctober 2015 Vol.: One Hundred and Six

Trishikh Dasgupta

Sudip Singh

DCSDC Children Appear for Board of the Royal Schools of Music Exams

Ruth Pugh

A two days Bible Seminar was organised at St. John's Church, Baldahura from 14-15th October, 2015. Believers from the three churches of Kochpara, Soglepara and Baldahura participated in this Seminar of Biblical enlightenment. Various sessions were taken alternatively by the three speakers, namely, Revd. Romesh Chandra Kisku, Mr. Shyamol Mahara and Mr. Shyamlal Murmu. Different topics from the Scriptures were discussed followed by question-answer and interaction sessions. Believers from other denominations, such as, Roman Catholic, Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church (NELC) and many Non-Christians also been participated in the Seminar. A total of more than one hundred people participated in the seminar.

The Seminar was very successful in every respect. Everyone received the Word of God and enjoyed their learning experience at the Seminar. There was a special time allotted for cultural

performance. Many participants showcased their God gifted talents, in the form of dance, drama, songs and Recitation. Traditional musical instruments used during the performances was a greatly enjoyed by all. The children from Baldahura Child Development Centre have also presented few action songs, which were greatly appreciated by the participants.

The expenditure of the Seminar was neither from the Church nor from the Pastorate, but the people willingly donated the required rice and vegetables and happily enjoyed the Seminar. Great excitement and enthusiasm were seen among the participants as they showed a desire to organise more Seminars of this nature. May God bless the simple and hardworking people of this region, who dedicate themselves to spreading the love and peace of Jeasus Christ amongst each other and to their brothers and sisters of different faiths.

The Children's Ministry of the women of DWFCS (Diocesan Women's Fellowship for Christian Service), Diocese of Durgapur started as a vision oriented action by Mrs. Rita Dutta with 10 children on the verandah of the Diocesan Office in Durgapur. Today that vision has transcended into Six Child Development Centres and four residential Hostels catering to the Holistic Development of more than three hundred and fifty underprivileged children of various cast, colour, religion and creed.

Our today's story focuses on a specific activity of the children of the Community

Study Centre Purulia in Uffmanpur and the St. Martin's Hostel therein. The children of these centre have excelled in academics, special dance tutoring, martial arts, singing, drawing, sewing and winning state certifications. Recently to the joy and amazement of everyone the children of this centre have taken up a special interest of making beautiful handicrafts, that have been greatly admired by all. We wish these children all the best, may their creative flair continue for years to come.

Sonia Soren

Raja Moses

Baldahura Bible Seminar

Rev. R. C. Kisku

The children of the various Child Development Centres of DWFCS (Diocesan Women's Fellowship for Christian Service), Diocese of Durgapur, CNI not only receive a holistic development but are also systematically equipped with various skill sets to ensure a brighter future. One of the strong life skill development and future security programme for them is the Sewing Project, which not only teaches the adolescent girls and women to sew, stitch, knit and master tailoring but also ensures proper certification through examinations by

recognised institute such as USHA International. To add to this recently on Thursday the 24th of September 2015, 31 students of the St. Mary's Sewing Centre, Durgapur hailing from Sarenga and Durgapur appeared for a sewing examination conducted by the renowned USHA International at Sarenga.

This examination was conducted after the students underwent a six months Diploma Course. We encourage all our readers, friends, well-wishers, seniors and God Parents to keep these candidates in your prayers, may their much awaited results be successful.

On Sunday the 4th of October 2015, sixteen candidates from the Kalna Church and nine from the Vidyanagar Pastorate, were confirmed at the Kalna Church. The Rt. Revd. Onil Kumar Tirkey, confirmed the candidates. Revd. Joydeb Ri, Associate Presbyter of the Kalna

Church assisted Bishop Tirkey in this Holy service, inducting these twenty five individuals into the family of Christ. It was indeed a blessed service attended by members of both the congregation, who encouraged and welcomed the newly confirmed candidates into a life dedicated to

the love and peace of Jesus Christ. We wish the newly confirmed candidates all the best, may they grow in wisdom, compassion, love, peace and constructive action towards the development of humanity and utterly dedicated service to the Lord God Almighty.

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As the Editor of Deep it is my great privilege and honour to present to you the one hundredth and six volume of this much appreciated Diocesan Newsletter. We are happy that our team has been able to produce this magazine on a monthly basis. Our special thanks to all our readers, congregational members, freinds, well-wishers and supporters

who have come forward time in and again to make this paper a success. It has helped us greatly to dissiminate information and updates about the Diocese to friends and seniors both within and outside the country. Keep “The Light” in your prayers and may shine for years to come in glorification of his name.

Editorial Team: Amiya Das, Archana Dey, Trishikh Dasgupta, Prosenjit Chowdhury and Debasish MistriPublished by Rt. Rev. Dr. Probal Kanto Dutta on behalf of Diocese of Durgapur, CNI, Diocesan Bhavan, Dr. Martin Luther King Road, Bidhan Nagar, Durgapur - 713 212 , District Burdwan, West Bengal, India.Ph. & Fax: + 9 1 - 3 4 3 - 2 5 3 6 2 2 0

newsletterdeep@gmail.com

ditorialE

Confirmation Service - Kalna & Vidyanagar

AN AMAZING INDIAN

Trishikh Dasgupta

Gift of Savings

October 2015 Vol.: One Hundred and Six

On Monday the 12th of October 2015, a special art workshop was conducted for the children of DCSDC (Durgapur Child Study and Development Centre) of the DWFCS (Diocesan Women's Fellowship for Christian Service), Diocese of Durgapur. The Art workshop was conducted by Mrs. Shipra Dasgupta a

retired Art Teacher of international repute from Kolkata. Mrs. Dasgupta has helped the Diocese of Durgapur in various art related projects during the past many years. The theme for the workshop this year was "My Village My Home". Through the workshop the children not only got a chance to sharpen and showcase

The Rt. Revd. Dr. Probal Kanto Dutta, Bishop of Diocese of Durgapur, CNI, has brought in a wave of Development through his dynamic and visionary leadership in twelve years of his bishopric. Recently through a very thoughtful gesture all the support staff of the

Diocese received gifts of National Saving Certificates, in order to provide them with future savings. All the staff expressed great thankfulness and appreciation to the Bishop for always thinking about their wellbeing.

Prosenjit Chowdhury

Art Workshop

their talents but also learned many techniques of drawing and colouring with pencils, pastels, water colours and sketch pens. Twelve of the best drawings from this workshop would be used to develop the signature

calendar of DWFCS, which is an annual production and reaches selected individuals who come forward to help, pray and support the children of the various Child Development Centres of DWFCS.

May the work of their tiny hands bring glory to the kingdom of God and help in spreading the Love and Peace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Rita Dutta

It was a precious day for the group of twenty eight adherent member to be received in full communion to the Body of our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ at the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Raniganj on Sunday the 11th of October 2015. For them the day was started with gratitude and thanksgiving in their hearts as they were about to partake in the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus for the first time in their lives. Our respected and beloved Bishop, The Rt. Revd. Dr. Probal Kanto Dutta delivered a great heart-touching message reminding about the confirmation vows to the

candidates as well as the whole congregation and earnestly urged all to surrender their lives in submission to the service of the Lord. The congregation greatly appreciated his teaching and once again got a privilege to recall their own confirmation vows that they took earlier in life. The candidates were confirmed prayerfully expecting them to be

involved in the life and activity of the church. The whole confirmation service was solemnized with celebration in the congregation. The newly confirmed members were greeted by others at the end of the service. Almighty God may enrich them in their spiritual journey to be the witness for the Lord henceforth.

Revd. Joydeb Ri

Revd. Subhendu Saren

The Event of Spiritual Journey

Sewing a Brighter Future

Mrs. B. Lal

It has been considered by Indian Christian social thinkers that the political witness of the Indian churches has been weak and inadequate. They have argued that, while the Christian faith was instrument in creating revolutionary ferment in India, the churches in general have shown little awareness of the real problems of Indian society. It has been frequently noted in Indian Christian discussion, that a

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Challengers Trophy 2015

October 2015 Vol.: One Hundred and Six

On Saturday the 15th of August'2015 a football Tournament was Organised by the “Durgapur Diocesan Youth fellowship” Committee, at Sarenga Church Ground. Six Pastorates took part in this Tournament. The teams were mainly from St. Barnabas Church (Purulia), Wesleyan Methodist Church (Ranigunj), Santhal Mission Pastorate (Samadi), Sarenga Central Church, Bankura central Church & St. Bartholomew's Church, Adra.

Mr. Bimal Mahato, a national level Marathon Runner & participated in New York City Marathon year 2005 & ranked 66 among top 100 men & many other Events was the Chief Guest for the Tournament. Also present was The Head of the Association of “Midnapur District Club Association”.

The Final match was Between Santhal Mission Patorate (Samadi) & Bankura

Central Church, in which the team of Santhal Mission Pastorate (Samadi) become the Challengers Trophy '2015 Winners & and received the Winner's Trophy.

Medals were given to all members of both the finalist teams. Other trophies such as the Fair play trophy was given to St. Barnabas Church, for their wonderful performance and in the Finals Best Player of the Tournament Trophy was given to Soumojit Das.

We appreciate the support & coordination of Youth fellowship committee of Sarenga Pastorate, for taking care of the management and making necessary arrangements for the tournament. We are thankful to Rev. Pankaj Pande (Chairperson of DDYF) and the Members of DDYF, for their hard work in making the Event Successful. We are also grateful to our Honourable Bishop Sir & Office Bearers of the Diocese for appreciating & encouraging the Activities of DDYF. All praise & glory to God almighty who is leading the Diocesan Youth Committee in his Mission.

Sukanya Mandi

New Emerging Leader

Glimpses of Women’s Convention 2015

The Good Shepherd Eye Clinic and Hospital is an iconic project of DWFCS (Diocesan Women's Fellowship for Christian Service), Diocese of Durapur, CNI (Church of North India). From its very inception as a small clinic it has conducted around 300 eye surgeries. To add to this success on Tuesday

the 29th of September 20 patients underwent cataract surgeries. Out these many were identified through the local screening camps organised by the hospital in slums and villages.

Our many thanks to renowned eye surgeon Dr. Phalguni Mitra and his team for conducting the surgeries. All patients have fully recovered after their surgeries.

stronghold of a tradition of individual spirituality was a major hindrance for the political witness of the churches. The prevailing opinion in the churches has been that politics is a 'dirty' business, from which Christians should keep their distance. One significant development in Indian Christian social thought in the late 1960s was intensified and univocal call for political action by the churches and Christians.

D. A. Thangasamy, one of those who in the

second half of 1960's called for the need of a 'new Diakonia', emphasised political action: "hence Christian Diakonia will have not used the most potent means of service in the present situation if it stop short of direct participation in the political affairs of the country". The year of Lord 2015, has proved the New Diakonia is still prevalent in the hearts of Indian Christians and hence the political gesture is seen utmost. Mrs. Ava Kashyap one of the members of All

Saint Church, Kharagpur has taken the Christian values and principals in the politics of Indian democracy. With her own zeal and passion to serve humanity, Mrs. Ava Kashyap has won the election of Panchayat from Kharagpur Constituency 2015. All Saint Church, Kharagpur heartly convey her the Blessings and Regards for the days to come and looking forward for the progressive development of the State.

Eye Surgery

Revd. Dn. Sandipan Sinha

&

Niraj Lal