The Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India is a Baptist Christian denomination in North East India. It is a member of the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation. It is also a member body of the North East India Christian Council, the regional council of the National Council of Churches in India. Its presently led by Mr. Norbu Lama as President and Rev. Prof. Akheto Sema as General Secretary.

History

The first American Baptist missionaries reached North East India in 1836.^[1] Nathan Brown and O.T. Cutter, along with their wives, came to Assam hoping to find access to China through the Shans territory to Northern frontier of Burma and Assam. The group sailed up the Brahmaputra river and arrived in Sadiya on 23 March 1836, and there confronted them with dense jungles, hostile tribals and rugged hills. Yet, believing they had been led to a fruitful place they began to learn Assamese language, set up their printing press, and gave themselves to the task of translating, publishing and teaching. Thus began the work of the Baptist in the north-eastern corner of India-the beginning of CBCNEI.

Beginning from Sadiya, the work moved down the Brahmaputra river to the leading towns of Assam plains, for example, Sibsagar, Nowgong and Gauhati. Then the first Church in Garo Hills, was established at Rajasimla in 1867. The first thrust among the Nagas came from the small village of Namsang in Tirap.

Miles Bronson and family settled a short time in that village, but the work was abandoned due to illness in the family before the end of 1840. The next move in Nagaland was by Godhula Brown, an Assamese convert, and the Rev. Edwin W. Clark. The first Church among the Nagas was organized in 1872, at Dokhahaimong (Molungyimjen) village in Ao area. Rev. William Pettigrew started the Baptist Mission work in Manipur in 1896. The work among the (Mikirs) Karbis was started quite early but it did not gain much progress because of the influence of Hinduism among the people. So the work in this area has been restricted to the fringe areas adjoining the plains of Assam.

The field work in North-East India was largely the responsibility of the American Baptist Mission until 1950. In fact, the Mission could not handle the full obligation of the area and so in the 1940 the area on the North Bank of Brahmaputra river was handed over to the care of the Australian Baptist Mission (for Goalpara district) and to the General Baptist Conference (for Darrang and North Lakhimpur districts).

From the early days of the missions in North-East India there were joint meetings of missionaries and nationals to plan the work. In 1914, the National Churches formed themselves into Assam Baptist Convention (ABC).^[2] This organization was founded in January 1950 as the Council of Baptist Churches in Assam (CBCA) and was renamed Council of Baptist Churches in North-East India. ^[3] The First General Secretary was Rev. A. F. Merrill. Later the name was changed to CBCAM, and finally, the Council of Baptist Churches in North-East India on geographical grounds. Almost all the Baptist Churches in Assam, Arunachal, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland were brought within the Council. So since the year 1950 the field works has been brought under the ministry of the Council of Baptist Churches in North East India (CBCNEI).

According to a denomination census released in 2023, it claimed 1,500,000 members and 8,300 churches. ^[4]

Member organizations

The Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India ("CBCNEI" or the "Council") is a conglomeration of Six Baptist Conventions, namely: Arunachal Baptist Church Council (ABCC), Assam Baptist Convention,Garo Baptist Convention (GBC), Karbi Anglong Baptist Convention (KABC), Manipur Baptist Convention (MBC), and Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC).^[5]

Schools

Affiliated seminaries

It has 11 affiliated theological institutes. ^[6]

1. Arunachal Theological College, Moinhappa, Arunachal Pradesh
2. Baptist Theological College, Pfutsero, Nagaland
3. Clark Theological College, Mokokchung, Nagaland
4. Eastern Theological College, Jorhat, Assam
5. Harding Theological College, Tura, Garo Hills
6. Manipur Theological College, Kanggui, Manipur
7. Mon Theological College, Mon, Nagaland
8. Oriental Theological Seminary, Chümoukedima, Nagaland
9. Shalom Bible Seminary, Kohima, Nagaland
10. Trinity Theological College, Dimapur, Nagaland
11. Witter Theological College, Vankhosung, Nagaland

Affiliated University

The North East Christian University was founded in 2013 in Dimapur. ^[7]

Hospitals

The Council has Six hospitals which are providing healthcare to the sick and the suffering.^[8] They are located in four states in the region. The first hospital work started with the American Baptist Mission Hospital in Assam in 1915 consolidating the work of Dr. Herbert William Kirby.^[9]

1. Babupara Christian Hospital, Garo Hills
2. Impur Christian Hospital, Nagaland
3. Jorhat Christian Medical Centre, Assam
4. Kanggui Christian Hospital, Manipur
5. Tura Christian Hospital, Garo Hills
6. Satribari Christian Hospital, Assam Satribari Hospital

Conference centre

Located on the flush green cool campus of the CBCNEI, the Conference Center caters the needs of the Council’s program activities and other Christian Organization program.

Student ministry

The Council runs three hostels for college students. Through these institutions the boarders have the opportunities to attend Bible camps, vesper services, theological lectures, Bible studies, games and sports.

1. White Memorial Hostel Ministry
2. Lewis Memorial Hostel Ministry
3. Shillong Tyrannus Hall

Christian Literature Centre (CLC)

CLC is the literature wing, of the Council of Baptist Churches in North East India in order to cater to the needs of the churches in North East India having various languages and dialects. It was established in 1969.

1. CLC Guwahati
2. CLC Dimapur
3. CLC Imphal
4. CLC Senapati
5. CLC Ukhrul

Statistics

Churches and Membership figures as reported to the Baptist World Alliance as of 2016.^[10]