Union Church, is an interdenominational church, located on Old Uddpussalawa Road in Nuwara Eliya.[1]
| Union Church, Nuwara Eliya | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Old Uddpussalawa Road, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka |
| Denomination | India Christian Mission Church |
| History | |
| Consecrated | 1906 |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
The church was founded Rev. Arthur Stephen Paynter in 1906 and was the first church in Nuwara Eliya that was open to all races.
Paynter, was born 8 July 1862 in Bicester, Oxfordshire, England, where his father was a church warden.[2] In 1881 he joined the Salvation Army and traveled to India as a missionary.[2] He traveled throughout India and Ceylon, becoming a Colonel and was in-charge of the Salvation Army in Ceylon.[2] In 1893 Paynter married Anagi (Agnes) Louisa Weerasooriyaa (1863-1962), the daughter of David Weerasooriyaa, from Dodanduwa.[3][4] She had previously joined the Salvation Army on 1 August 1884. They both worked in India and after a few years they resigned from the Salvation Army, over the Army's refusal to admit non-Europeans to its ranks, founding the India Christian Mission (Raj-i-Masih) on 1 November 1897 in Almora District of then Uttar Pradesh State.[2] They moved to Ceylon in 1904, and decided to start a mission in Nuwara Eliya. They had four children, Evangeline, Arnold (b. 1897), Ava Averil and David (b.1900).[4][5] Arnold continued his father's missionary work and in 1924 established the Nuwara Eliya Children's Home (later renamed "The Paynter Home"), for orphaned children,[4][6] and David was an internationally renowned painter, who received an OBE.[3][7] The Paynters constructed the church as a place of worship for Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, members of the Dutch Reformed Church, Scots Kirk, Church of South India and the Salvation Army.[8] Paynter died on 27 July 1933.[2]
The church continues to function as an interdenominational church, with ministers supplied by the Methodist Church in Sri Lanka.[9]
On 17 May 2013 the building was formally recognised by the Government as an Archaeological Protected Monument.[10]
References
edit- ^ "The Province of Sri Lanka". India Christian Mission Church. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "The Founder and the beginning". India Christian Mission Church. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ a b Weerasooriya, R. (3 December 2016). "The Paynter Behind Some of Sri Lanka's Finest Art". Roar Media. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
- ^ a b c "The Paynter Memorial Home". The Island. 17 September 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
- ^ "Sri Lanka Burgher Family Genealogy". Rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
- ^ "Founder". Paynter Home. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
- ^ Kappagoda, D. B. T. (1 February 2017). "Art of David Paynter". The Daily News. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
- ^ "Ferguson's Ceylon Directory". Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited. 1959: 1009.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Bauswein, Jean-Jacques; Vischer, Lukas Vischer, eds. (1999). The Reformed Family Worldwide: A Survey of Reformed Churches, Theological Schools, and International Organizations. W. B. Eerdmans. p. 466. ISBN 9780802844965.
- ^ "PART I : Section (I) — General Government Notifications" (PDF). The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. 1811: 423. 17 May 2013.
Further reading
edit- Darling, Evangeline, ed. (1991). A Story of a Christian Mission. Nedimala Dehlwala, Sri Lanka: Sridevi Printers (Pvt) Ltd.
External links
edit6°58′25.4″N 80°46′8.5″E / 6.973722°N 80.769028°E
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