Syngman Rhee Global Mission Center

We are grateful for the world they brought to the classroom and the community, and we are excited for the ways they will shape and transform the world.

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Dismissed mission co-workers, denominational officials draft new theology of mission

After sweeping layoffs, 41 Presbyterians — including dismissed co-workers and denominational leaders — gathered at Union Seminary to begin drafting a new theology of mission for the PC(USA).

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Wondering if now is the time to deepen your ministry practice or what a doctoral program would look like alongside your real, everyday life? Let’s talk it through together at our virtual Doctor of Ministry Virtual Open House on Wednesday, March 4 at 12pm (ET). We’ll go over the D.Min. program format and layout, invite you to the D.Min. Final Project Presentations in the spring, and go over any additional questions you may have. Register today at https://bit.ly/dminvoh

Applications Open for 2026 Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics, and Management for an Economy of Life (GEM School) - WCRC The World Communion of Reformed Churches, together with the World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation, World Methodist Council, Council for World Mission and United Society Partners in the Gospel, has opened applications for the Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics, and Management f...

Applications open for Training in Mission (TIM) – Diploma in Mission Studies 2026 - Council for World Mission Are you open to a wider vision, a deeper commitment, and a strong desire for teamwork and partnership with other Christians around the world, particularly through CWM member churches?

I appreciate the Rt. Rev. Paul Francis, Bishop of the Church of South India Madras Diocese, for taking the time to meet with us and briefly sharing the history and polity of the CSI. We are grateful to the Rt. Rev. Manoj Charan, Bishop of the Church of North India Amritsar Diocese, and the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church Tiruchirapalli Bishop, Rt. Rev. Christian Samraj, for creating learning opportunities for us in their dioceses. We appreciate Centenary Baptist Church in Secunderabad and St. Andrew's Kirk in Chennai for the opportunities to worship with them, which enlarged our understanding of grace.

We are deeply grateful to our allies in theological education, Andhra Christian Theological College, Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Mennonite Brethren Centenary Bible College, and the United Theological College, for the opportunities to break bread, play cricket, worship and learn with, from, and about them. We are grateful for the joy of collaborating with them before and during our time in India.

January 13, 2026

Today, we learned primarily about the figure of Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg (1683–1719), a German Lutheran missionary who along with his compatriot Heinrich Plütschau are considered the first Protestant missionaries to India. They were sent by King Frederick IV of Denmark to the Danish colony of Tranquebar (Tharangambadi) in 1706 to spread Christianity.

Our guide, the Rev. Samuel Raj Nicholson welcomed us and recapped Ziegenbalg’s life and then walked around with us to various sites in town so we could see with our own eyes places he had lived and worked, including:

* The New Jerusalem Church (Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church), where Ziegenbalg is buried. This church with a cruciform floor plan, is notable for three separate entrances for different castes. He also taught lower caste worshipers German hymns that he translated into Tamil. This building is called “New” because the original Jerusalem church is under water.
* The TELC Bishop Johnson Secondary School for boys and the adjoining Ziegenbalg House where he translated the first Tamil Bible. He completed the Tamil New Testament (1708–11) and then translated as far as the book of Ruth in the Old Testament (1713 until his death in 1719). A docent demonstrated the use of a manual printing press.
* Zion Church (Church of South India), built in 1701 was where the first five Indian Protestant converts were baptized in 1707. It was also the church were more than 30 clergy gathered in 1919 to form an ecumenical Indian church, which became the CSI.
* The Danish-Indian Cultural Centre and Maritime Museum, filled with cases of organized relics, with not a few that appeared to have been washed ashore.
* The Danish Fort, just south of our hotel, where we ran into a large group of young girls on a school field trip.

We also visited the Sri Masilanathar Hindu temple just north of our bungalow hotel. This temple was built in 1306, and now lies partly submerged in the Bay of Bengal. Of note, Ziegenbalg contributed to the 1713 publication (1869 English translation) of Genealogy of the South-Indian gods: a manual of the mythology and religion of the people of southern India, including a description of popular Hinduism (B. Ziegenbalg, W. Germann, and G. J. Metzger).

Ziegenbalg arrived in Tranquebar when he was 23 and died 13 years later, several months shy of his 36th birthday. In those 13 years, Ziegenbalg was prolific, contributing to understanding of the Tamil language and education, ecumenical partnerships (he worked actively with the Anglican Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge), and interfaith dialogue.

In the afternoon, with the sun out, we enjoyed the sensations of this sleepy colonial town on the Bay of Bengal.

J.P.Kang, PhD 06