Mizoram Presbyterian church observes ‘day of gospel arrival’

Aizawl: Mizoram Presbyterian church on Saturday observed the 134th anniversary of the arrival of the first Welsh Presbyterian missionary Rev William Williams in the then Lushai country as ‘Chanchintha thlen ni' or the ‘day of gospel arrival', a senior church leader said.Praise and worship services in the local churches on Saturday night will be dedicated to the advent of Christianity among the Mizos with the preachers delivering sermons with a theme — ‘The gospel and Mizo culture'.Rev Williams arrived at Guturmukh (Kutbul Kai in Mizo) near the river Tlawng in Mizoram from Syhlet (now in Bangladesh) and visited Aizawl where he preached Christianity to some Mizos. Earlier, both the Presbyterian church and the Baptist church unitedly observed Jan 11, the anniversary of the arrival of two Welsh missionaries — Rev James Herbert Lorraine and Rev Frederick William Savidge — on Mizoram soil on Jan 11, 1894, as ‘Missionary Day' and even jointly celebrated the gospel centenary on Jan 11, 1994. It was earlier believed by all that Lorraine and Savidge known to the Mizos as Pu Buanga and Sapupa respectively were the first missionaries to preach the gospel in the Lushai country.However, a Mizo historian Lalhruaitluanga Ralte undertook a research and wrote a book titled Zoram Vartian or Dawn of Zoram in which he devoted a chapter to how Rev Williams preached the gospel after arriving in the Lushai country on March 15, 1891. The Presbyterian church adopted Williams' arrival as the day Christianity entered Mizoram while the Baptist church continued to accept Jan 11 as the arrival of Christianity.Williams was accompanied by Benjamin Aitken, an elder of Free Church of Scotland and sub-editor of Calcutta-based newspaper The Englishman, who volunteered to join him in his expedition.