The Andhra Christian College or A.C. College is one of the oldest colleges in India located in Guntur Andhra Pradesh. It started in 1885. AC College is part of the education enterprise of the Protestant churches. It admits intermediate, undergraduate and graduate students and awards degrees through the Acharya Nagarjuna University, Nagarjunanagar to which it is affiliated.
The Convention of Baptist Churches of Northern Circars (CBCNC) is a Baptist Christian denomination in north coastal Andhra Pradesh. The churches are part of the Telugu Christian community of Southern India. Its language is Telugu. It is affiliated to the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and the World Council of Churches (WCC).
Council of Christian Hospitals (COCH), an autonomous body that facilitates management of medical institutions founded by Missionaries of Canadian Baptist Mission. COCH is a body corporate under Indian Societies Registration Act and has its registered office in premises of one of its participating hospitals, that is, CBM Christian Medical Centre, Pithapuram in East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh.
Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC) was constituted in the year 1927 in Andhra Pradesh, India. It is the Indian successor to the United Lutheran Church in America which was started as a self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating church among Telugu Christians.
M. Victor Paul was a biblical scholar who served as President of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church from 1993 to 1997.
K. Devasahayam was President of the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church from 1965 to 1969.
Ryder Devapriam was systematic theologian who taught during the 1960s and the 1970s at the Andhra Christian Theological College, a Protestant Regional Theologiate in Secunderabad, affiliated to the nation's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University) {a University under Section 2 (f) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956}with degree-granting authority validated by a Danish Charter and ratified by the Government of West Bengal.
Telugu Christians or Telugu Kraistava are a religious community who form the third-largest religious minority in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. According to the Census of India, there are over a million Christians in Andhra Pradesh, constituting 1.51% of the state's population, although a decrease from the 1971 census figure which was 2%, as a result of low birth rates and emigration. Most Telugu Christians are Protestant, belonging to major Indian Protestant denominations such as the predominant Anglican Church of South India, Pentecostals such as Assemblies of God in India, India Pentecostal Church of God, The Pentecostal Mission, the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches, the Salvation Army and several others. There also is a significant number of Roman Catholics and Evangelicals. Although the Franciscans of the Roman Catholic Church brought Christianity to the Deccan area in 1535, it was only after 1759 AD, when the Northern Circars came under the rule of the East India Company, that the region opened up to greater Christian influence. The first Protestant missionaries in Andhra Pradesh were Rev. Cran and Rev. Des Granges who were sent out by the London Missionary Society. They set up their station at Visakhapatnam in 1805 AD. Regions with significant populations of Telugu Christians include the erstwhile Northern Circars, the coastal belt and the cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Telugu Christians have one of the highest literacy and work participation figures and most even male-to-female ratio figures among the various religious communities in the state.
E. Prakasam, a Lutheran, was the first Indian President of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society whose ministry was primarily based in the Guntur District and also in East Godavari District, West Godavari District, Krishna District, and Visakhapatnam District. Being one of the established Indian Pastors, Prakasam was elected as president and served from 1944 to 1950 after which he resumed his Pastoral duties as a Lutheran Pastor.
A. N. Gopal was the second Indian President of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society and served from 1951 to 1955. On completion of his term, he was assigned the responsibility of president of the Lutheran Theological College, Rajahmundry.
G. Devasahayam was the Indian President of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society and served during the periods 1956–1960 and again from 1963–1964. During his second stint as President of the AELC, Devasahayam participated in the opening of the newly formed Andhra Christian Theological College then located in the same campus of the Lutheran Theological College in Rajahmundry.
K. Krupadanam was the Indian President of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society and served for a short period from 1961-1962. His tenure was embroiled in a legal wrangle but ultimately the AELC Church Society won the case.
Samuel William Schmitthenner was a Lutheran who served as the President of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society in Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, India from 1969 to 1981.
B. Suneel Bhanu is President Emeritus of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society who served a term from 2009 through 2013. At present, Suneel Bhanu teaches at the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College, Chennai.
N. Ch. Joseph was the President of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society.
Ch. Victor Moses is President Emeritus of the Protestant Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Society headquartered in Guntur. Victor Moses is an Old Testament Scholar and a member of the Society for Biblical Studies, India, an august body of learning having members well versed in Hebrew and Greek languages hailing from the Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and Pentecostal traditions.
William Powlas Peery was a Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America/Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church who taught theology at ecumenical institutions, the Andhra Christian Theological College at its erstwhile location in Rajahmundry and also at the United Theological College, Bangalore both of which are affiliated to the nation's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University), Serampore.
Bishop Babbili Prabhudass(died 1996) was the first elected Bishop - in - Karimnagar Diocese of the Church of South India which was ecclesiastically bifurcated from the Diocese of Dornakal of the Church of South India in early 1978. Prabhudass led the bishopric for a period of five years from 1978 through 1982.
The Kretzmann Commission was constituted in 1969 by the Board of Governors of the Andhra Christian Theological College, Hyderabad to:
survey and study the task of theological education in the Churches related to the College Society
