Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur and Assam

Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur and Assam
Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur and Assam.
Classification	Protestant
Leader	Moderator Bishop Johann Dang
Region	India
Headquarters	Main Road Ranchi Jharkhand, India 834001
Congregations	1895
Members	583,960+ (2013)

Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chotanagpur and Assam (GELC) is a major Christian Protestant denomination in India. It has hundreds of thousands of members. It was established on 2 November 1845. It belongs to National Council of Churches in India, United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India, Lutheran World Federation and World Council of Churches. It is led by Moderator Bishop Johann Dang.

The Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church with its headquarters located in Ranchi, Jharkhand (formerly Bihar) is one of the largest and widespread Lutheran Churches in India. Its past can be traced back to 1845 when Johannes Evangelista Gossner (Germany) sent four missionaries namely:

for launching the 'Lutheran mission' in India.

The missionaries left Germany in 1844 and reached Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in 1845. They were initially heading for Mergui in Myanmar (formerly Burma) in view of preaching the Christian faith among the Karen people or in the areas located in the footsteps of the Himalayas. However, on meeting some people from Ranchi, they changed their plan and headed for Chhotanagpur and its main town, Ranchi. They reached Ranchi on 2 November 1845 and camped on, what is now known as, the 'Bethesda Ground' in Ranchi.