dr.m. ezra sargunam (founder, evangelical church of India)
Bishop Ezra Sargunam is a second
generation Christian. His father was a little boy when he and his heathen
parents became Christians. Later in life, his father came under the influence of
great missionaries like Amy Carmichael and Thomas Walker. Ezra was born on July
19, 1938 in an village in the State of Tamil Nadu,
South India. He was christened "Ezra" because his father happened to read about
the life and ministry of the scribe Ezra (Nehemiah 8) during his morning
devotion several hours before his birth.
At the age of 18, he accepted Jesus Christ at a Billy Graham crusade in Madras.
Interestingly, Bishop Sargunam was a seminary student at the time. Here is
his conversion story as he told it:
?It happened in the month of July 1956. Dr Billy Graham was on his first ever
visit to India for a Gospel Crusade in Madras. On the very first day over 50
thousand people gathered to hear the great evangelist speak. Being a seminary
student, I was one of the counselors at the meeting. And as Billy gave the
invitation, several hundreds surged forward, weeping and sobbing. It was a very
emotional moment and the whole atmosphere was charged with the power of the Holy
Spirit.?
?I concealed my counselor badge with a hymn sheet and walked towards the stage.
We were all shepherded into an area where we were divided into groups for
counseling. As I sat down I must have put the hymn sheet aside and the other
counselors noticed me sitting with the crowd of inquirers. One of them said,
?Hey! You ought to come out and help us. There are too many to be counseled
today.? I told the guy that I myself needed counseling. I removed the counselor
badge and began saying the sinner's prayer with the others and prayed to receive
Christ that night. I received the assurance of salvation that very night. God
began to use me, quite early in life. At the age of 19 I became an evangelist.?
It was later during his tenure as the minister of the Evangelical Church of
India?s (ECI) First Church at Porur near Madras, that Bishop Sargunam had the
vision to plant one church in every village and town among the responsive people
groups of India. Several years later when he assumed the responsibility of
leading the Church in 1974, ECI had only about 50 churches scattered in a few
places in India.
In an attempt to realize the vision God had given him, he prayerfully set a goal
of planting 1,000 ECI churches before AD 2000 and began to strive towards this
end. Praise God, He enabled His servant to realize this goal ahead of schedule
and ECI celebrated the dedication of its 1,000th Church in Madras in January
1998. ECI congregations from all over India as well as the overseas and
indigenous partners of ECI in the Gospel, participated in the special meetings
organized to mark the occasion. At that time, 2,231 converts were baptized and
added to the ECI community - the largest mass baptism in the last century.
The establishing of 1,000 churches has not quenched the thirst of this
aggressive church planter. He has now prayerfully set a target of planting 2,000
churches by AD 2005 - the Golden Jubilee Year of ECI. His ultimate goal in life
is to realise the God-given vision of planting one church among every responsive
people group of India.
Presently, there are about 1,500 ECI churches all over the country with a
membership of more than 350,000. Bishop Sargunam was instrumental in the
planting of over 1,000 of these churches, besides establishing 100 educational
institutions, including primary and high schools, vocational training centres,
and theological seminaries and colleges during the last 30 years. A number of
day care centers
and orphanages (Happy Homes) for children have also been founded by him, wherein
thousands of orphans and destitute children irrespective of caste, culture or
creed, are finding joy and a bright future.
Bishop Ezra Sargunam is a very compassionate, kind-hearted and humane person.
People of all religions love him for his educational and social service. His
motto in life is, ?GOD FIRST, OTHERS SECOND, ME LAST.? He is a friend of almost
all the leading politicians in India, who stand for the cause of the oppressed
and the suppressed. Recognizing Bishop Sargunam's service towards religious and
social harmony, he was appointed by the government as the Chairman of the State
Minorities Commission for three years and has recently extended his tenure.
Please pray for him and the Evangelical Church of India as they minister in this
large and diverse country.
News
Bishop’s refusal
to leave causes unrest
GANDHINAGAR, Dec 9 (UNI) — The Gujarat
Government was today baffled with the “refusal’’ by Bishop M. Ezra Sargunam to
move out of Surat district and said his continued presence and “attempts to whip
up communal frenzy’’ were detrimental to communal harmony in the area.
According to official sources, the Bishop had
refused to meet the district officials or move out of Vyara taluka.
“He is trying to gather people, storm the
disputed site, a religious place, and offer prayers there,’’ the sources said.
The Right Reverend Bishop M. Ezra Sargunam, who
is President of the Evangelical Church of India (ECI), was directed by the Tamil
Nadu Government to return, following a request made by the Gujarat Government in
this regard three days ago.
The Bishop, who is also the Chairman of the
Tamil Nadu Minority Commission, was hospitalised at Surat following his fast
against what he alleged was “erection of a temple in place of a church’’ by the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its supporters recently.
After his discharge from the hospital, the
Bishop, who was staying at a guest-house, refused to meet the district
authorities, who wanted to inform him about the Tamil Nadu Government’s
directive.
Again, yesterday, Minister of State for Home
Haren Pandya made a second request to Tamil Nadu seeking removal of the Bishop
from the tense area and urged the Union Home Ministry to look into the matter,
the sources said.
Even former Congress Chief Minister and Leader
of the Opposition Amarsinh Choudhary had urged the Bishop to leave Gujarat in
the interest of peace and communal harmony.
Mr Choudhary said the issue raised by the
Bishop was not of communal nature but an ordinary land dispute.
Thanks - http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20001210/nation.htm#8
