Registration form for Indian Theological Students' Conference

The registration form for the Indian Theological Students' Conference conducted by the Carey Society, UTC can be downloaded from  https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzvBoUOf1E58eFlNejhFR1BpRFE

 

Indian Theological Students' Conference

The Carey Society of the United Theological College is conducting a students' conference on the theme "Church amidst diversity" on January 23-25, 2017. Students from theological colleges across India are invited to present papers on the sub themes Understanding Diversity, Church and Diversity, Church and Issues of Distribution, Re-Imagining Ecclesia in the Context of Diversity and Mission and Diversity and participate in the conference. For more information please contact Mr. Arun Thomas (Secretary, Carey Society) @ 8095319474 or Mr. John Rogin Jacob (Treasurer, Carey Society) @ 9036480614. The Registration form of the Conference can be downloaded from https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzvBoUOf1E58eFlNejhFR1BpRFE

UTC Youth Carnival

The United Theological College Students Association (UTCSA) will be conducting a Youth Carnival on Saturday, November 20, 2015 at the UTC. The programme will start at 8:30 A.M.
The Theme for this year is "The New in You: Celebration of Friendship in the Cyber World." All the Christian youth of Bangalore are cordially invited to attend the event. There will be 6 competitions (Solo Singing, Group Singing, Choreography, Mad Ads, Elocution and Essay writing).

There will be mouth watering, delicious multi-cultural food stalls and exciting fun games for all who come. All the Churches and youth groups are invited to register. For registration and further details please contact: Moses +918095698804 or Zova +917259158059.

Dedication of the Family Blocks of the Centenary Complex

The dedication of the Family Blocks of the Centenary Complex in the United Theological College, bangalore will be held on Saturday, December 13th, 2014, at 9:30 A.M at the site of the complex and will be followed by a public meeting and lunch in the Charles Ranson Hall.

Shri K.J. George, the honourable Home Minister of Karnataka will be the chief guest, Shri R. Roshan Baig, the honourable minister for Infrastructure Development, Information and Haj, will release the special souvenir and Shri M. K. Gunashekar, the Councillor and Opposition leader, BBMP, will honour the gathering with his presence.

Distinguished and honourable bishops and pastors from various denominations will bless the occasion. All are welcome.

The President, Members of the Executive Committee, Principal, Faculty, Staff and Students UTC

Gift of labour by students and staff

The gift of labour or shrama dana brought together students and staff in the UTC in the evening at 5:00 P.M. in the construction space of the UTC Centenary Mahatma Gandhi Hostel and Quarters building project. The stones which were to be moved from the construction space by the builder was taken by the UTC community and kept aside to be placed in different parts of the campus so that it will not go waste.

The evening brought together both young and old community members and everyone lend their hand in transporting the stones. Women and men moved in tandem and worked towards the slogan "If we are together, we can move mountains."

The coming together became a time of work and fellowship. Work is worship was reflected in the energy showed by all community members.

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.

College opening and covenant service

Welcoming the students

 

The re-opening of the United Theological College, Bangalore was held with the traditional principal’s tea, introduction of students and staff, and the covenant service on Sunday evening. The opening tea which brought all members of the community together was held at 4:30 P.M. while the service was held at 6:30 P.M. in the Tagore Hall. The old students are back after a two month vacation and the new students joining for the BD, MTh and DTh programmes have just arrived. The principal Rev. Dr. John Samuel Raj along with Rev. Dr. Sahayadas and Rev. Dr. Allan Samuel Palanna led the covenant service. 

Covenant service

Holy Communion

Communion

The principal also introduced the new faculty member for the  department of Mission and Ecumenics, Sr. Dr. Rani Joseph Mary Shruti. She is a member of the Congregation of Sisters of Notre Dame, Coesfeld, Germany. This is the first time that a Roman Catholic nun has been appointed as a full time faculty member of the UTC. Sr. Dr. Rani has taught in two theological seminaries in India and has worked among the tribals in West Bengal and other parts of North India.  

The principal welcoming Sr. Dr. Rani Joseph Mary Shruti

BTESSC National Level Theological Students Conference

Participants of the NLTS Conference

BTESSC organized the National level Theological Students Conference from 5^th to 8^th May 2012 at UTC, Bangalore on the theme God of Life, Lead us to Justice and Peace.  More than 130 students from different parts of India and belonging to various denominations and seminaries actively participated.  Representatives from Korea and Sri Lanka also attended.   The  chairperson of BTESSC Rt. Rev. Dr. Isaac Mar Philexinos inaugurated the conference.  In his inaugural address, he narrated the background of the WCC Assembly theme.  Rt. Rev. Dr. Geevarghese Mar Coorilos gave the key note address.  He challenged the students by highlighting present day realities in the light of the theme.  The following resource persons presented papers on specific topics:

Rev. Vinod Victor on Asian Realities and Challenges
Rev. Deenadayalan on Indian Realities and Challenges
Dr. A. Wati Longchar on Theological Education in India: Development, Problems and Challenges
Mr. David Selvaraj on Transformative Learning
Dr. Packiam Samuel on Theological Education in Multi faith context
 

Rev. Raj Bharath Patta and SCMI members conducted worship on all days and bible studies were conducted by Dr. Atula, Rev. Vincent Rajkumar and Ms. Sweety Helen.

The following resource persons led workshops on various issues:

Dr. George Zachariah on Climate Justice
Dr. Samuel George on Disability
Rev. Christopher, Mr. Manohar and Ms. Shubha Chacko on LGBTQ
Dr. Richard Devadoss and Rev. Chandra Mohan on Violence and Peace

The following resource persons led the interest groups on different movements

Dr. Joseph Prabhakar Dayam on Dalit Movement
Ms. Geetha Menon and Rev. Margaret Kalaiselvi on Women’s Movement
Dr. Roy David on Tribal Movement
Rev. Fr. Selvinraj on Students Movement

The secretary of the BTESSC Dr. Mohan Larbeer reported on the conference and stressed on the role of students in theological education. The students who participated in the conference brought out a statement.

"We the 115 theological students from the 37 Senate of Serampore College affiliated colleges and seminaries in India and Sri Lanka with a theological Student representative from South Korea, student representatives from the All India Catholic University Federation, Student Christian Movement of India  including 38 women students send this message to the theological fraternities and Churches in India and at large. This conference was facilitated and organized by the Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College (BTESSC) collaboration with several organizations including the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), Students Christian Movement of India (SCMI), Christian Institute for Study of Religion and Society (CISRS) and aimed to facilitate dialogue between different student communities, cross-learnings and cross fertilization.  There were several theological educators, theologically trained social workers and present students of theology served as resource persons. This conference was held from 5^th – 8^th May 2012 at the UTC Campus, Bengaluru, India on the theme: God of Life: Lead to Justice and Peace (Forth coming WCC Assembly theme).

We the participants dealt with and discussed the issues related to the relevance and challenges of the Students of theology by reviewing the issues including ‘Transformative Learning’, ‘Right to Education’, ‘Eco-Justice’, ‘Disability’, ‘Human Sexuality’, ‘Dalits’, ‘Tribals’, ‘Asian pluri-faith and political  Scenario’,  issues related to ‘Peace and harmony’, ‘neo-developmental policies and polity’ of the states and ‘peoples movements’ including the anti-nuclear movement in Kudankulam, Tamilnadu and Anti-POSCO movement in Jagatsinghpur, Odisha. These were eye opening sessions and all the worship services and Bible studies were centered on the main theme and the issues empowered us and our spirituality to recommit ourselves for the mission of God and to thevarious ministries of the Churches and Society.

We learnt that ….

·         theological studies is not only to serve the Church as pastors and church workers but also to serve the society at large.

·         theologically trained persons must play a major role for the development and growth of any society at large.

·         The God of Bible is the God of all, therefore our services need to be made available for all.

·         the persons with disability and transgender also created in God’s image and they need to be treated with proper respect and dignity.

·         our ecological sins cause pathos for the earth community as climate-refugees, global warming and all kinds of ecological catastrophes.

·         Since the church as a body of Christ will be irrelevant without his presence and agency in remedying the need of the society we affirm that “a church which does not care for and minister in the entire society is not church”.

·         Missio- Dei or the Mission of God needs to be an imperative and therefore, the communities who live on the edges of the societies are to be made participants in mission. This mission in our specific context as in India is imperatively interfaith and social action oriented. Therefore our missions should move beyond to specific faith and confessional and social traditions. We are expected to exhibit sensitivity to plurality of resource for care giving, networking and advocating. This would lead to a meaningful collaboration of all.

We urge that ….

·         the theological fraternities especially the Senate of Serampore to move from notions of the mark-oriented academic programmes in which students are considered and treated as objects. Instead we appeal the concern body to adopt the transformative educational methods to train the students as agencies of God’s image, voice and activity in this world.

·         in the light of the pedagogical discourse at present  the Senate of Serampore present programmatic notions need to relook frequently and regularly from the emerging needs of the society and its relevance. 

·         proactive attention should be given while doing theologies to the already marginalized and discrimination groups and communities such as persons with disabilities, sexual minorities, aged women and children in order that, the theology of today will be just-theology OR justice- based faith expressions. 

·         more theological literature both as reference material and as sermon aids needs to be developed for pastors and church workers and also materials which will aid in conscientization on social issues to be produced theologically as workbooks  for  Sunday School curriculum and other Christian education fora in order to provide a strong basis for building up an inclusive church.

We Propose that……..

·         the Right to Education be advocated through the senate of Serampore designed community based theological educational programmes suitable to all irrespective of  faiths including for atheist and agnostics. 

·         the senate should initiate networks of like-minded individuals locally through its affiliated colleges and organizations to reach out to conscientize the local congregations and local communities in the society at large.

·         the church needs to encourage ordained ministry to include women and persons with disability and transgenders as the history of the church and church leadership has been inclusive of those belonging to the excluded communities.

·         theological institutions should be the  advocates and  initiators of net-work with the states and other stakeholders in making the Church ‘society-friendly’.

·         the theological education in India should keep  students at the Centre in its focus, in formulating its polies, curriculum etc. 

·         to make field exposures not less than six months instead of present three months and enforce the affiliated colleges to follow it strictly.

We demand that…

·         the Senate of Serampore to provide participatory rights of students in all its decision making bodies including curriculum revision since the programmes revolve around students.

·         there should be a Senate level autonomous  grievance and redressel cell.

·         the Senate should facilitate all the affiliated institutions to have a work place policy on gender and sexual harassment and make all the institutions by having a women redressel commission as per the Government norms since it is mandatory and compulsory.

·         a National Forum of theological Students be formed and recognized to dialogue among themselves on issues pertaining to the Church, Society and Theological education vis a vie theological students.

Further, we the participants of the National Theological Students Conference affirm that we will not follow the caste system, accept dowry, follow discriminative regionalism, fanatic denominationalism, patriarchy, classism, corruption, power politics, stigmatization and discrimination etc. as a response to the call of God of life, who leads us to justice and peace."

Adopted by:

The  Participants of the

National Theological Students Conference

08^th May 2012, Bengaluru, India.

From left to right: Bishop Dr. Gheevarghese Coorilos, Rev. Dr. Mohan Larbeer (Secretary, BTESSC) and Bishop Dr. Issac Philexinos (Chairperson, BTESSC)

Mr. David Selvaraj taking a session on "Transformative Learning."

   

College play "Clowns" impresses one and all

The College play “Clowns” was held on the library lawn yesterday evening. The play which started at 7:30 P.M. was planned, organized and executed by the students of the college on a shoe string budget. The play was well attended and appreciated by one and all. The natural location with the effective use of light and sound gave a totally different experience to the UTC community, and guests who had come. The cast and crew included thirty people. 

The initiative to start such a group came from an informal gathering of students who formed an unofficial drama group after an acting workshop in the college. They then started practising small scenes and then took the initiative to conceptualise an entire play by themselves. The director and scriptwriter Deepak Gnana Prakash, who is doing his third year Bachelor of Divinity course, then expanded this group to include more people. The script was ready by early December itself and the character familiarisation process was on by then.

 The team then thought that they should perform for the entire community on a single day and the College day faculty convenor and student co-ordinator were happy to include this in the college day programme.

Female clown Eunice

Male clown Aby

The play “Clowns” revolves around two clowns, one female and one male. The audience sees different incidents through their eyes. Indirectly the clowns draw the audience to reality and push them to take a decision to fight back against the wrongs in society. The first scene involves a baby and her conversation with God, before she is aborted by her parents. The second scene is about a young girl who is going to be given away by her father to the church so that he gets rid of her and benefits in the process. The third scene involves a couple who are in love. The man divorces the woman after two months of marriage because she is barren! The third incident is about a Sri Lankan Tamil girl who is raped by soldiers during the war and only has her brother left. The final scene involves a man who is beaten up because of daring to love a girl belonging to an upper caste. In the final scene an angel appears to the clowns and dares them to fight back.

Director Deepak

 The theological significance of the play is one thing which makes it interesting for a theological college like the UTC. The students worked hard to construct a set and record songs. They practised hard to get into the respective roles and learn the dialogues. The success of the play is also the involvement of campus children and adults as well. All of this was pulled off making use of a low budget. 

Clowns: UTC play to be held on March 3rd

The United Theological College will be staging the play “Clowns” on Saturday March 3, 2012 at 6:30 P.M. on the library lawn of the college. The play engages with contemporary issues in society and how we relate with them. UTC is celebrating the 102^nd year of its theological journey on March 3 in the form of its college day celebration.

The highlight of the college play this year is that it is a students initiative. It has been conceived, directed, planned and executed by students. Students doing their bachelor of divinity studies and Master level studies will be seen acting side by side.

                                          (Behind the stage work in full swing)