College day held in UTC

The 105th College Day of the UTC was held yesterday in the Charles Ranson Hall at 4:30 P.M. The director of CISRS Rev. Dr. Vincent Rajkumar was the chief guest.

Rev. Dr. John Samuel Raj, Principal

The principal Rev. Dr. John Samuel Raj gave the gyst of the college activities and what is being planned for the year ahead. He also outlined the work of different departments in the college and what all areas the college is concentrating on.

Rev. Dr. Vincent Rajkumar, Director, CISRS

The College Day was celebrated with fanfare and college prizes for the Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Theology courses were given away. The chief guest Rev. Dr. Vincent Rajkumar concentrated his speech on theological education. He said that Theological Education is an engagement with God in preparing disciples for God's mission. God's mission is to transform the world. But when God is replaced by Church as the center of mission, mission becomes the work of pulling people into the church.

Group song

Theological formation according to the CISRS director should enable students to find where God is present in our times. Theological education is not to produce a new labor force for the church; but to prepare disciples for God's mission. Ministerial formation is to equip students with ministerial skills with kingdom values. It is to understand the world as God understands the world.

Mr. Anil Kumar

The chief guest and his wife Ms. Rani Rajkumar gave away the college prizes to the students. Rev. Jeyakumar, the Carey Society Vice President prayed, Mr. Calvin Sushith Ambler, the Carey society secretary and Mr Anil Kumar, the College day co-ordinator and Rev. Lalawmpuia Hauhnar, the Registrar of UTC were present and  Dr. George Zachariah, the College Day convenor gave the vote of thanks.

Photos- Mr. Benedict Immanuel, BD I.

 

UTC College Day celebration

The 106th UTC College Day celebration will be held in the Charles Ranson Hall tomorrow at 4:30 P.M. Rev. Dr. Vincent Rajkumar, the Director of CISRS will be the chief guest and will deliver the College Day address.

College Play "Discovering Magdalene"

The College play "Discovering Magdalene" will be held tomorrow at 6 P.M. in the Charles Ranson Hall in the UTC. The play is written and directed by Mr. Iswara Prasad Santiago and will feature the students of the college. The College play is being held as part of the College Day celebrations. The Faculty adviser Dr. Nalini Arles and the student convener Mr. Daniel Vivek are coordinating the play.

College day in UTC

The 104 th college day of the UTC was held in the Ranson Hall of the UTC yesterday at 4:00 P.M. The chief guest of the programme Advocate Rajendra Sail, the founder general secretary of the Raipur Churches Development and Relief Committee (RCDRC) and president of the Chattisgarh Unit of the People's Union for Civil Liberties gave a thought provoking and hard hitting talk on how theological education should be changed to become relevant today.

India needs a cow-dung theology where theology should emerge from the organic engagement of the church with the experiences of the rural masses in India, he said. Recollecting his forty years of association with the United Theological College, which started during his tenure at the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society under the mentorship of M M Thomas, he observed that the purpose of theological education has been reduced to the manufacturing of pastors who preach, chant and stay away from trouble.

Instead, he proposed the need for a radical envisioning so that the church will become an ally of social movements in India by participating actively in their struggles to create a new world. Drawing from his five decades long vocation as a social activist in Chattisgarh, Advocate Sail gave a contextual analysis of Indian society and challenged the community to pitch their tents in the lives of the rural communities to witness how God is making all things new through the agency of the dalits, women and other oppressed communities. To this end, he called upon the community to consider closing down UTC for one year, and invited the students and faculty to share in the lives of the rural communities for a year, and then come back to the college to engage with the bible and other sources. He also proposed a radical involvement with the social movements such as POSCO and Narmada as a component in theological education. He concluded his speech with the poem, “If you believe in heaven, make it a reality in the here and now.”

  

The Principal, Rev. Dr. John Samuel Raj presented a detailed report of the activities of the College during the academic year 2013-14. Dr. Nalini Arles, the faculty adviser of the College Day Celebrations welcomed and introduced the chief guest, and Mr. Gandham Daniel Vivek, the convener of the College Day Celebrations proposed the vote of thanks. Students and friends from the Kolar Gold Fields presented cultural progrmmes. Rev. Dr. R. Sahayadhas said the opening prayer, and the celebrations came to an end with prayer and benediction by Rev. Dr. C. I. David Joy. 

Reported by Dr. George Zachariah

Photo credits- Mr. Calvin Sushith Ambler (BD III)

JK

College day on March 1, 2014

The 104th College Day (UTC was founded in 1910) of the UTC will be held on March 1 at the Charles Ranson Hall at 4:00 P.M. Mr. Rajendra Sail,  the founder general secretary of the Raipur Churches Development and Relief Committee (RCDRC) and president of the Chattisgarh Unit of the People's Union for Civil Liberties will be delivering the main address for the College Day.

Mr. Sail was awarded the Dr. Hunter P. Mabry prize for Social Justice in 2008 by the United Theological College.

The College Day will have a report from the principal, followed by the distribution of college prizes for students of the college. The faculty advisor for the College Day this year is Dr. Nalini Arles and the student convenor is Mr. Daniel Vivek.

College Day 2013

Dr. Meenakshi Bharath lighting the lamp

 The 103 rd College Day programme was held yesterday at 4:00 P.M. in the Charles Ranson Hall. The chief guest Dr. Meenakshi Bharath, a doctor and environmentalist inaugurated the function and gave the main message. She said that the students graduating would be flying out of their nests and everyone has the repsonsibility to take care of the environment. Dr. Meenakshi said that we could plant a sapling and take care of it for two years and in return it would take care of us for several years together. She requested the students to value and uphold the morals they have imbibed from this institution and help one's locality and country while returning.

Dr. Meenakshi Bharath

 The principal Rev. Dr. John Samuel Raj presented the principal's report and gave thanks for the lives of those who passed by this academic year. He also remembered those who are closely associated with the college and sought the help of the faculty, students and staff for taking the college forward. He thanked the faculty, staff and students for their contributions to the college and was grateful for the work rendered by various departements and their chair persons. He sought the help of everyone for the Mahatma Gandhi hostel building project.

Release of the College Day newsletter

Dr. Rini Ralte, the faculty advisor for the college day welcomed the chief guest and deacon Aji Samuel, the student co-ordinator thanked the gathering.

Dr. Rini Ralte, faculty advisor of the College Day

Deacon Aji Samuel, student co-ordinator of the College Day

The prizes for the students were given away during the College Day programme and different BD and MTh students collected the prizes.

Rev. Dr. Lalmuankima, Registrar

Mr. Sam Sunny Anand of BD IV who won several prizes

MC's Imotila Longkumer and Rency Thomas George

Inter church choir competition CADANCE held in UTC

 
An Inter-Church choir competition CADANCE was held in UTC today evening as part of the College Day celebration. Participants from different churches took part. St. Gregorios church came first, St. George Cathedral second and St. Mary's Cathedral third.

The winners St. Gregorios church, Hebbal

College Day food fest

The College Day food fest was held today from 8 in the morning to 12 noon. Different language fellowship groups of the college cooked food and offered it to the community and guests from outside. The Naga fellowship, Mizo fellowship, Telugu fellowship, Tamil fellowship and Malayalam fellowship cooked a variety of  food. This food get together is a once a year event held during the College Day celebration. This year it was well attended by the community members.

The Mizo fellowship

Tamil fellowship

Telugu fellowship

Naga fellowship

Malayalam fellowship

Juke box

The proceeds of the sale go to the needs of the college

The entire community got together to celebrate the richness of each culture

Food menu

Food menu

UTC goes ethnic

As part of the College Day celebrations a competition was held yesterday at the Charles Ranson hall to show case the different ethnic wear and culture which is the speciality of UTC. Students from different parts of the country walked the stage and enthralled the audience by their clothes and graceful movements.

The class wise competition was judged by a three member panel from the college and drew rich appreciation from those present. The teams and organizers made sure that this was an event which involved the spectators as well.

BD III and BD II shared the first place and MTh I and BD I shared the second place. The variety on offer and the creativity of the students made it very difficult for the judges to come to a decision.

Dr. Nalini Arles summing up the performance. She was supported in judging my Ms. Arpana and Fr. Jerry

Dr. Allan, the Vice President of the Carey Society and his wife Ms. Arpana

Boqhito shaking a leg

Dr. Rini on the right is the faculty advisor for the College Day

The night also witnessed some walking and dancing from the faculty members present and this coupled with the brilliant performance of the students made it an unforgetable evening.