World Council of Churches (WCC) General Secretary, Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, will be the main speaker at the largest Christian gathering in Asia.

The 112th Maramon Convention, which takes place 11-18 February at Maramon, Kerala, India, is organised annually by the Mar Thoma Evangelistic Association, the mission and evangelism wing of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, one of the WCC's member churches in India.

The week-long event brings some 200,000 Christians to each session from all over the country and Diaspora Indians from other continents to the dry sandbed of the river Pampa between the villages of Maramon and Kozhencherry, in South Central Kerala.

Rev Kobia will address the convention on two separate occasions. On 17 February, he will inaugurate the year-long celebrations of the Platinum Jubilee (75th anniversary) of the Mar Thoma Youth Association - the Mar Thoma Yuvajana Sakhyam - which has over 900 branches in India, the Middle East, Africa, North America and Europe. He will preach at the convention later the same day, and on 18 February will preach again at the convention's valedictory session.

Rev Kobia's week-long agenda in southern India will also include meetings with the executive committee of the Church of South India at the church headquarters in Chennai, and with the Holy Episcopal Synod of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church at its headquarters at Devalokam in Kottayam.

In Bangalore, Kobia will participate in the inauguration of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society (CISRS), and address a national ecumenical youth gathering.

In Kochi, he will inaugurate the Cancer Care Programme of the Shanthigiri Ashram, and lay the foundation stone of a multipurpose community disaster shelter in a tsunami-affected village sponsored by the Christian Agency for Social Action (CASA), a member of the ACT International.

With over 24 million Christians, comprising 2.3 per cent of the country's population, Christianity is India's third-largest religion. The first Christians in India were converted by the apostle Thomas, who arrived on the Malabar Coast in Kerala in 52 AD; Christianity in India underwent major transformations during the colonial and post-independence periods. The two main regional concentrations of Christian population are in Kerala, South India, and in North-East Indian states.

Rev Kobia will be accompanied by Dr Mathews George Chunakara, WCC programme executive for Asia and visual arts coordinator Peter Williams.