The Derbyshire Churches in Partnership with The Church of North India

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The Partnership

The Derbyshire Churches Partnership with The Church of North India began in 1977 and involves the Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Churches in Derbyshire. It began because the leaders of the Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Churches expressed concern at the inward-looking nature of so many of the local churches. It was suggested that, in order to widen their outlook, they could "twin" with a United Church somewhere in the World in which all four denominations were involved. The only church they could find which met the criterion was The Church of North India. It so happened that the then bishop of Derby, the Rt. Revd. Cyril Bowles, had already had conversations with a member of the Church of North India, and so an approach to this church was enthusiastically received. It was to be a genuine partnership in which each partner could contribute equally, sharing insights, ideas, experiences, successes and failures, in order to foster mutual understanding and support.

The Derbyshire Churches and Church of North India Partnership was inaugurated in a service in Derby Cathedral on Saturday 21st May 1977 when Bishop Nazir, the Moderator of the Church of North India, spoke of the Church as a world-wide family and welcomed this initiative as an imaginative contribution to its togetherness. He celebrated the Eucharist using a Church of North India liturgy. It was a deeply significant and moving occasion.

You can read more about our early history on our History page.
Visits up to 2005 are described on this page      and recent events can be found here
groups of churches in different parts of Derbyshire have formed their own links with diocese in the Church of North India
     The Church of North India

The Church of North India (CNI), the dominant Protestant denomination in northern India, is a united church established on 29 November 1970 by the bringing together of the main Protestant churches working in northern India. The merger, which had been in discussions since 1929, came eventually between the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon (Anglican), The United Church of Northern India (Congregationalist and Presbyterian), the Baptist Churches of Northern India (British Baptists), the Churches of the Brethren in India, The Methodist Church (British and Australia Conferences) and the Disciples of Christ denominations.

CNI covers all of the states of the Indian Union with the exception of the four states in the south (which are covered by the Church of south India) and has approximately 1,250,000 members in 3,000 pastorates.

To vist the CNI website click here

Current CNI Newsletter
(This link will take you to the CNI website home page where you can follow the link to their current newsletter, or any other recent newsletter.)