Celebration of 150 years of service at the Church of The Epiphany, Gurgaon

The tenth of January, 2016, marked t he hundred and fiftieth year since the foundation of The Church of The Epiphany, Civil Lines Gurgaon. The church was built in the year 1866 as a Garrison church for the British Garrison based in Gurgaon. While services were first conducted in English British  for the army personnel based in the Cantonment, (the Hindi service being conducted in a small chapel in what is now Sadar Bazaar, Gurgaon) it was only later that Hindi services began to be conducted in the existing church.

The Church of The Epiphany, at Civil Lines, Gurgaon has had great importance for me especially because my grandfather, Revd. Moti Lal was the presbyter  in charge many years back, and then my Father, Late Frederick Narinder Lal was baptised in this church, and he is now buried in the old church cemetery. My association with the church began from the year 1985 when I migrated from from Ethiopia for further studies. I have been worshipping since then. Most of my uncles and aunts have been baptised in this church. The church has grown in strength and outreach, and new church building had to be built in order to accommodate the growing number of parishioners post the boom in Gurgaon on the sixth of January, 2009.

The Chief guest on the occasion was the Hon’ble Justice Vikrameet  Sen, and the Convenor of the function was Mrs. Marion Sircar. Revd. Brother Monodeep Daniel of the Brotherhood delivered the sermon. He spoke at length about how the Church is most primarily formed out of the fellowship of the devout, and that the building itself comes second. The occasion commenced with a short worship at the old church building followed by the main service conducted in the new church building by the Presbyter in charge, Revd. Sunil Ghazan. The day saw a packed church with members of the congregation turning up in large numbers and a large number of guests arriving in large numbers.

There was a fellowship lunch at the end of the service. Elder members were honoured with garlands, and a video was presented depicting congregation members who worshipped starting from the year 1950. Revd. Patrick Moti Lal, Mr. Roman Mukherjee, and Colonel (retd.) I,P Datta spoke about the history of the church.

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