The
MGOCSM-ANDHERI is the local expression (of the St. John
the Baptist Orthodox Syrian Church at Andheri) of the
largest Christian Students movement in the whole of India.
It incorporates the very values of its mother Organization
namely Worship, Study and Service. The Unit today consists
of around 50 students of which around half are actively
involved in its functioning. Our victory will lie in
harnessing the rest of the college going students and
Youth from our around 300 families strong Parish.
1985
The 1st meeting of the MGOCSM-ANDHERI was presided over
then by our ex-vicar Late Rev Fr. Easo at the residence of
one of our senior members and was attended by a few
youngsters of our parish. This was the beginning of the
group but there was required a real push to proceed on as
most of the youngsters were really not aware of the reason
to have such a group.
1986-90
During this phase the MGOCSM-Andheri unit toddled slowly
by having a few dedicated members to genuinely move ahead
and we had Mr. Biju Mathew appointed as the first
secretary of the unit.
It was during this time that Fr. Philip Kuruvilla, then a
seminary student visited all the churches in Mumbai as a
representative of our Late Lamented Valiya Thirumeni Mar
Theopilos (H.
G Dr. Phillipose Mar Theophilus - Former Mumbai Diocesan
Metropolitan till 1997) to revive all the MGOCSM
units.
Fr. Philip Kuruvilla visited Andheri several times and
conducted meetings and Bible study sessions on Sundays
after church and meetings at member’s residence which was
then known as Cottage Meetings.
We had two meetings scheduled every month: Cottage
Meetings (2nd Saturday), Church Meetings (4th Sunday).
It was under the direction of our ex-vicar Rev. Fr.
Varghese that a strong group of 50 members attended the 2
day conference at Vashi in 1989.
1990-95
The MGOCSM unit moved ahead with more members joining in
and working for the church through worship and service.
The unit had a choir group for the Holy Qurbana in
English. The choir group had the privilege to perform at
the KCC (Kerala Christian Council) functions and win
prizes at competitions.
The unit had undertaken a fund drive to donate at the
various orphanages food, clothing and monetary help.
1995-2000
This was one of the best times that our unit grew in
content and size.Under the leadership of our ex-vicars Saji Achen (Rev. Fr
Matthew Thannimmoottil) and Santosh Achen (Rev. Fr Scariah
Varghese), a strong group was formed with many activities
undertaken for the church. Geogy Jacob was the unit
Secretary during this period.
At the annual conference at Vashi we had again around 40
members from our unit. Most of the members present were
new to the group and after attending the conference were
motivated to be involved in the unit activities. Most of
them today lead the MGOCSM Andheri unit.
2001 - Till Date
The present MGOCSM-ANDHERI
unit was motivated and regrouped primarily as an outcome
to Annual Conferences held at Vashi in 2000 and 2001. By
the End of 2001, MGOCSM-ANDHERI came of age making a foray
into the cyber world. Our Yahoo group was instituted in
September 2001 and since then communication between
members has increased like never before. This served as a
point of entry for many people by acquainting on the net
first and then on a personal level. Visits to YMCA run
orphanages were made. The Unit took part in organizing
community events at the parish and helped raise funds
through these events. We undertook House Visiting as a
part of membership drive and can proudly say have managed
to get a few 'Christmas and Easter Church Goers' back into
the active mainstream of the Church. Today we meet
regularly on every Saturdays and Sundays. On the former
day we have the weekend discussions, Scriptural Exegesis
and an understanding of the foundations of our Church and
on the latter day we have Choir practice sessions
and effective community mingling. It is important to note
that we are mostly a group of students who are trying to
understand the cultural and the theological background of
our Church and community against living in a cosmopolitan
non-native non-Christian culture. We are still in the
incipient stage and have a long way to go. Please read the
next section about the activities that we have undertaken
over the last year and our action plan over the next
couple of months.
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