The Holy Emmanuel Church is situated at Palaly Road, Urumpirai about 6.5km away from Jaffna town. This Church was built and dedicated in 1955.
The Church was damaged twice, in 1987 during the IPKF military operation and after rebuilding in 1990 it was bombed again. After the 1995 exodus, in 1996 the Church hall was repaired and worship was conducted in the parish hall. The Church was rebuilt and rededicated in 1999. In the year 2000 a house adjoining the Church was bought for a Church parsonage.
An evening study programme for needy children was started in 2002 with the assistance of the NCC and now this programme is continuing with the assistance received from the member of this Church, Mr. Paul Sathianesan, presently in the UK. The Church has a pre-school from 1999.
On Sunday’s the worship is at 8.00a.m. About 45 members attend the service. There are 22 families in the Church parish. After the Sunday school and youth fellowship meetings are conducted.
The CMS was formed on 12 April 1799: three years after the surrender of Colombo to the British Crown; and Ceylon was one of the first fields to which the CMS sent their missionaries. Four men and two women arrived at the Point De Galle on 29 June 1818. Soon afterwards, one of them the Rev. Joseph Knight arrived in Jaffna in November 1818 and commenced evangelistic work at Nellore. Thereafter, Nellore became the mission station for the CMS missionaries to do evangelistic work in places such as Nellore, Chundikuli, Kopay, Kokuvil, Pallai, Uduthurai, Vanni and Vavuniya.
In 1847, the first Bishop of Colombo, the Rt. Rev. Dr. James Chapman visited Jaffna. His Lordship held two confirmation services. They were the first ever held in Jaffna. One was at St. John’s Church, Chundikuli in English and the other was at Nellore in Tamil.
In 1949, Kopay was adopted as a separate Mission District. Of the Christians previously were members of Nellore Church seven belonged to Kopay and these formed the members of the new Church there.
When it was decided to form Kopay into a separate mission station, it was found necessary to build a new Church. The GA of the Province Mr. P.A. Dyke, kindly gave a piece of land of about 5 acres belonging to him as a site for the new Church and a residence for the missionary. The foundation stone of the new Church was laid on the Society’s Jubilee day, 1 November 1849 and another source says it was on 9 May 1850.The Rev. Robert Pargiter, who came to Ceylon in 1844 under the Weslyan Missionary Society and joined the CMS the following year and was ordained in 1847, was then in charge of the station, had soon to leave it to take Chundikuli station.
The inconvenience of holding services in a temporary Church necessitated the laying of the foundation stone of a new Church. The completed building was pronounced and publicly opened for worship on 9 January 1852, costing a bout 400 pounds. The money was raised by the Ceylonese, friends from England and the parent committee in England.
On the opening Day, 9 January 1852, despite the very wet weather, several people turned up from villagers quite distant from Kopay.
In 1853, The Kpoay Training Institute for Catechists, readers and teachers was opened. In September 1863, an important step was taken by the CMS towards the establishment of the native Church.
The Head Catechist Mr. John Hensman was ordained Deacon by the second Bishop of Colombo, Rt. Rev. Dr. Piers Calverly Claughton and was made a priest two years later. He was one of the first pupils of the Nellore English Seminary. After his ordination he was posted to Kopay. He was thus the first Tamil clergyman to be placed in charge of a CMS congregation.
This Church is situated at K.K.S Road Kokuvil. As this Church was started in 1880 on the Holy Trinity Day the Church was named as Holy Trinity Church.
In 1865, the missionaries started the evangelism and after continuing their missionary work for 15 years, in 1880 they were able to build and dedicate the Church. Rev. G.W. Champion was appointed as the first priest for the Church and seven members were baptized y him in 1880.
Four schools belonged to this Church. They are namely:
Kokuvil West C.C.T.M.S
Kondavil C.C.T.M.S
School opposite to our Church-Kokuvil station C.C.T.M.S
Kokuvil East C.C.T.M.S (This school is now known as Ramakrishna Mission School)
The other three schools even though they were taken over by the Government goes as C.C.T.M.S.
This Church was not damaged during the 1995 exodus and the past war situation. More than 300 members were baptized in this Church. There are now 20 families in this Church.
Every Sunday the Service is at 6.45a.m. About 45 members attend this service. Many Hindu members also worship in this Church.
Missionary work started under Rev. Joseph Knight in 1817. Obtaining permission from the CMS he laid the new Church foundation, which was completed and consecrated in 1828.
Rev. Joseph Knight(1818-1840) having being assigned by the Society to work in Jaffna, took up residence in Nallur in November 1818. By 1820 the Rev. J. Knight was fluent enough to conduct services in Tamil. He bought a mission house in Nallur for regular services. In 1823 a very dilapidated Old Dutch Church adjoining the Mission House was handed over to the Mission by the Government. Extensive repairs necessitated the Church being practically rebuilt. Part of the old building at the rear was partitioned off as a mission house and the rebuilding was completed in 1828. It was opened for public worship on 25 July 1828 on St. James Day. The Church was consecrated by Bishop Chapman in 1847. In 1849, a 60 ft tower was added.
This Church was consecrated on 26 June, 1872, having been opened for worship on 3 November 1871. It was built by the great help and initiative of Sir William Twynam who was for several decades the Government Agent of this Province, and Mr. John Toussaint, merchant and landed proprietor, who gave the site on which the church stands and labored with his own hands with the workmen when the building was in the course of erection. His sons, Samuel Fredrick Toussaint and Wallace Toussaint, seem to have taken a considerable share in the project; as far as is known, the latter gave the present altar, choir stalls and processional cross.
The congregation of this church had existed as far as available register records indicate, some 30 years before the present building was put up, and worshipped in the Dutch Presbytarian church in the Fort, being ministered to by the colonial chaplains the first apparently of whom was the Rev. J.C. Arndt whose tenure of office extended to 20 years (1843-1963). In a similar capacity the following also served: the Rev. E. Labrooy, Reginald Yates, Charles Koch and G.H. Gomes. In 1893 the “Colonial Chaplaincy” was abolished. After this the Headmasters of St. John’s College, Chundikuli in the persons of the Revs. C.C. Handy and Jacob Thompson, up to 1911, were in charge of the parish. Then there served as incumbents the following clergy: The Rev. N.G. Nathaniel, Charles Vandenberg and D.G. Gunasekera.
One of Bishop Carpenter-Garnier’s last acts before he left Ceylon was to dedicate on Refreshment Sunday, 1938, the Lady Chapel in the Church where the blessed sacrament is now tabernacle.
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Contact Details
Postal Address
Kandy Road, Jaffna , Sri Lanka
Telephone
0212226527
Email
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The Church at Chundikuli stands on the hallowed site of an old Portugese Church built in or around 1634 and which is reported to have had a congregation of over 2000 adults and 400 children.
When the Dutch captured Sri Lanka they made it a Dutch Reformed Church, and therafter under the British took over in 1796, the church became an Anglican Church. In the that period regular divine services were held under the leadership of a devoted layman named Christian David, who was designated as ‘ State Preacher of the Gospel.”
Christian David retired in 1841. Later the Church fell into disrepair. The Government agent of Jaffna at the time P.A. Dyke proposed the demolition of the old Church and the construction of a new Church building in its place. But the congregation objected to the proposal on the ground that the near and dear ones had been buried inside the Church. The question of demolishing the old Church was revived in 1857 by which time public feeling had undergone a change. Mr. Dyke then proceeded with his proposal to construct a new Church in Gothic Style on another site in the same premises. The remains of those buried in the Church were exhumed and re-interred in St. John’s burial ground Chundikuli.
Work on the new Church was proceeded with and it was completed in 1859 and named after St. John the Baptist. It was consecrated on 14 August 1862.
Structure
It is amazing how this massive and beautiful Church building was constructed, how the massive timber trusses were lifted up and placed in position without the aid of cranes which are available to the modern engineer, how the heavy Church bell imported from England bearing the imprint 1859 was mounted on the belfry and how the deeply steep roof was erected and covered with slates, which have since been replaced with Calicut tiles.
As we enter the Church, we see the beautiful altar with a stained glass window depicting the ascension of Christ. The Church has a pulpit in the shape of a boat. The Church itself is well finished with pews, chairs, lights and fans. There is a transept on the opposite side of the vestry which is used as a side Chapel.
The parish Hall was known as Figg Hall earlier and it belonged to St. John’s College. St. John’s handed it over to the Church for all the activities of the Church.
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Contact Details
Postal Address
St. John’s the Baptist Church, Main street, Chundikuli, Jaffna , Sri Lanka
Telephone
0212226527
Email
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