Samaw.com

Come May, all the roads in North East India will lead to Saiha in Maraland, southern part of Mizoram. The Evangelical Church of Maraland (ECM) is hosting the 73rd Annual Session of the North East Indian Christian Council (NEICC) at New Colony Local Church in Saiha from 12 – 16 May, 2010.

Office Bearers, Executive Committee Members and other Committee Members will arrive on the 12th and the rest of the delegates will arrive on 13th.

Although the ECM is one of the first members of the NEICC, this is the first time that ECM is hosting the NEICC Annual Session.

The Mara Christians are thus excited about the prospect of North East Indian church leaders gathered in their own home turf.

About 150 church leaders representing all the major Protestant denominations are expeced to participate in the event. All the delegates will be hosted by different families of the New Colony Local Church. There would be a cultural night as well presented by New Colony youth in honor of the delegates.

The Gospel came to Maraland in 1907 brought by the Rev and Mrs Reginald Arthur Lorrain from England. The couple arrived in a village called Saikao (or Serkawr in Mizo) where they established their mission station. They were the first missionaries of the Lakher Pioneer Mission (Mara people were then known as Lakher by outsiders) formed in England in 1905 to reach the Mara people with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Mara people responded to the Gospel favorable that, within 50 years of the coming of the first missionaries, the entire Maraland was claimed for Christianity. The Maraland today has been divided by the international boundaries between India and Myanmar. Half of the Mara people now live in Myanmar side. The population of the Mara people in India is about fifty thousand.

Saiha (Siaha in local Mara name meaning a place where the teeth [ha] of elephant [masia or sia] is found) is a place where the first Mara church purely with the native Mara people was established (in the year 1932). Today, it is the Capital of the Mara Autonomous District Council as well as one of the eight district headquarters of the Mizoram State. Located on the picturesque mountains of Siaha, the town has a population of about thirty thousand.

This is the first time in the history of Siaha, for that matter, Maraland, that such a large gathering of North East India leaders. This would also be the firt time for many delegates to see who the Mara people and what Maraland look like.

Let us hope that they will have a good impression. Let us pray for safefy in travels as delegates travel to and fro Siaha as well as wisdom for New Colony Local Church and ECM as they prepare to host such an important event. Let us also pray that God would bless different programs, and that it would be a sucessful and memorable one.

Note: Contributed by Rev. Dr. Laiu Fachhai.

Source: Maraland.net