Orissa Baptist Evangelistic Crusade (OBEC) is an association of Baptist Christian churches in the state of Odisha in Eastern India. It is affiliated to the Baptist World Alliance. Its headquarters is in Bhubaneswar.
History
editOn 7 February 1822, William Bampton and James Peggs of the General Baptist Missionary Society of England reached Orissa at the Pattamundai Coast and preached in Berhampur. The first baptism, of Shri Eron Senapoti, took place in Berhampur on December 25, 1827.[1] The first ordination of the Oriya preachers Gangadhar Sarangi and Ramchandra Jee Jachuck took place in 1835.
In 1867 the Indian Auxiliary Mission was formed and continued until 1899. After this, the Indian Baptist Missionary Society was formed and continued till 1909, after which that society continued under another name, Utkal Christian Church Union, until 1933, when it changed its name again not as a Union but as part of a Central Council. Later the Orissa Baptist Evangelistic Crusade took over the evangelical responsibility of Orissa Baptists since 1969 independently.
According to a census published by the association in 2023, it claimed 3,842 members and 34 churches.[2]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ The Centenary Volume of the Baptist Missionary Society, 1792-1892, edited by John Brown Myers, page 251
- ^ Baptist World Alliance, Members, baptistworld.org, USA, retrieved May 5, 2023
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