Arcot

Arcot is a town in Vellore District of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Strategically located on the Palar River on the route between Chennai (Madras) and Bangalore, the town was the scene of much fighting in the 17th and 18th centuries between local Muslim Nawabs, the Hindu Marathas, the British, and the French. The Development of Arcot regions The Arcot region is also one of the quickest areas to develop mainly due to the influence of Danish Missionaries in the region. The people who lived in the Arcot region especially in and near the temple town of Tiruvannamalai, where belonging to a clan called the arcots, these were warriors and landowners, some of them were ancient dravidians. The Danish Missionary Society (currently Dan Mission), did its ministry among the people in these parts and the Danish Missionary Church was formed, they established lot of schools and hospitals in the surrounding villages along with the help of the arcots. The first missionary of the Danish Missionary Society (DMS) was a German Rev. C.C.E. Ochs. He started his first Mission station Bethanien at Melpattambakkam in South Arcot in 1861. Now all its activities has been transferred to the nearby town Nellikuppam. The second mission station of DMS was opened at Tirukkoyilur in 1869 by Rev. P. Andersen and was called "Siloam". Siloam church was consecrated on 10th October, 1886 and on the same day the first Indian pastors were ordained and more than 30 persons were baptized. A week later a church was consecrated in an outstation, Sengalmedu. The beautiful church in Pop ham's Broadway in Madras was built in the year 1892. Saron, a third mission station of DMS was opened in the year 1882 situated just outside the town Tiruvannamalai. In 1898 a mission station was built in the town, from 1905 called "Carmel". The fourth mission station in the Arcot District "Bethesda" in Kallakurichi was built in 1893 by Rev. A. Larsen.DMS started its mission stations at Panruti, Vriddhachalam, Devanampatnam, Darisanapuram, Servaroj Hills etc.In the year 1913 Church constitution was inaugurated. This church is serving Tamil speaking population in the districts of South and North Arcot, Tamil Nadu.The Arcot Lutheran ChurchIn the late 1950s the church was handed over to Indian hands with Bishop D Peter being the first Indian Bishop, the church was renamed the Arcot Lutheran Church and is known by that name till this day. Thanks to the missionaries who visited the arcot regions, the schools and hospitals were opened to all which was earlier only the privilige of the so called high caste brahmins. Education and Health was given to all people and today if the Arcot region is flourishing with learned men and women is because of the seeds sown by the Danish missionaries and volunteers from arcot families. The people from the Arcots who became christians in the initial stages had to face a lot of struggle in sharing the gospel but they used to walk barefoot to villages and removed the superstitious beliefs of people. One of the very famous veteran preachers was the late Rev. L.Joseph, a man known for his honesty, sincerity and simplicity. He used to write songs and sing it, most of the stories in the Bible he would sing to the audience. This captured the audience and this is how the church grew. To this day the church functions effectively in being a charitable institute with hospitals and schools and many rural development schemes, now with only a little help from abroad the church runs these project, which were the result of commitment of a few men and women who dared to bring equity in a society which used to be torn by caste system and oppression. [for more details:b_vjg@yahoo.com]Template:India-geo-stub