Loving God, Loving Others

Medak Diocese

Sir Arthur Cotton, a Methodist Engineer by profession with the help of two Missionaries (Rev. E.E. Jenkins and Rev. George Fryar) traveled in Telangana and were responsible for starting missionary work in a village called Sironcha in 1863. In the year 1878, two Missionaries Rev. Henry Little and Rev. William Burgess arrived at Secunderabad from Madras. The Indian colleague was Mr. Benjamin P. Wesley, and the first Methodist Telugu Service was held in Boggulakunta, Ramkote, Hyderabad on 11th August 1879 in the house of one Telugu layman Mr. Joseph Cornelius. Rev. Charles Walker Posnett arrived in Secunderabad in 1895 and first helped Trimullghery British soldiers. Unsatisfied with the army work, he wanted to launch forth into villages.

In the year 1896, Rev. Charles Walker Posnett visited a village called Medak and built a bungalow thereby staying in a dock bungalow. There were then hardly two hundred Christians in the whole of the Medak area. Ever since the formation of the Medak Diocese on October 03, 1947, we have had six Bishops, who have contributed to the building up of the Church and its activities.

Retired Bishops of CSI Medak Diocese :

Rt. Rev. Frank Whittaker – 1947 – 1960.
Laid the foundation for structural Administrative Organisational work.
Rt. Rev. Eber Priestley – 1961 – 1967. Man of Prayer & Piety.
Rt. Rev. H.D.L. Abraham – 1968 – 1975.
Bold as Martin Luther, the reformer and faithful as Abraham, the Patriarch.
Rt. Rev. B.G. Prasada Rao – 1976 – 1981. Pastoral Bishop
The Most Rev. Dr. P. Victor Premsagar – 1982 – 1992.
Revived the Evangelists Training School and introduced Higher Education. A Theological Teacher and Moderator of the Church of South India.
The Most Rev. Dr. B.P. Sugandhar – 1992-2008
Rt. Rev. T. Samuel Kanaka Prasad, B.D – 2009

The Diocese of Medak is one of the 24 Dioceses of the Church of South India, with 23 national dioceses and 1 in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

The Diocese of Medak is one of the largest Dioceses in the Christian world, including 33 revenue districts of the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh state: Adilabad, Medak, Nizamabad, Rangareddy, and Hyderabad.

The Diocese traces its history to its first Bishop Frank Whittaker, who laid the foundation for the Bishopric’s administrative organizational structure just prior to the independence of India. The Diocese was formed on 3 October 1947 and today the Diocese is headed by Whittaker’s successor, the present-day Bishop of Medak, who has his seat in Medak Cathedral.