Indians Help Boost Congregations in Britain

Indian priests are not only meeting the shortage of priests in churches in Britain, but Christian migrants from India, particularly from Kerala, are helping boost church congregations, recent reports show.

One of the first Indian priests to arrive in Wales to preach Christianity was Rev Hmar Sangkhuma, from the Diocese of Mizoram in northeastern India. Mizoram has a majority Christian population that was initially converted by missionaries from Wales between 1840 and 1960.

Sangkhuma has been offering spiritual guidance to the local Welsh population in Maesteg, near Bridgend.

Not long ago, a Methodist church in Swindon had its first Indian minister, Rev Ajay Singh.

On taking over, Singh remarked that he was surprised that the congregation was not larger. "One of my aims while here will be to increase the size of the congregation; not to just fill the church, but for them to accept God," he said.

According to reports from Stoke, Staffordshire, the Holy Trinity Church in Hartshill hosts two groups of worshippers from North Staffordshire's Malayali community, who hail from Kerala.

Roy Wilshaw, a churchwarden at Holy Trinity, said the new members were really making a difference to the church. He said: "It is lovely. We are in conversation with one another and we invite each other to special functions. It is good for us and good for them. It makes for a better relationship between the two communities."

Mammen Philip, 34, said the Malayali community had used the Holy Trinity church hall free of charge for the last two years. Once a month the mass is held in the Malayalam language.

Philip said: "I think most British people are not very religious. There are 150 to 200 families from Kerala in North Staffordshire and most of them here are Christians, with 90 per cent being Catholic. We are all religious.

"Every week, we go to church. When we came here we wanted to follow our customs and religion and teach our children how to grow in faith."

Others boosting the church congregations in Staffordshire hail from Fiji and Poland.