The Church of South India (commonly known as CSI) is the successor of the Church of England in India. It came into being in 1947 as a union of Anglican and Protestant churches in South India. With a membership of over 4 million, it is India's second largest Christian church after the Roman Catholic Church in India.[3] CSI is one of four united churches in the Anglican Communion.
The inspiration for the Church of South India was born from ecumenism and inspired by the words of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospel of John, 17.21
The church accepts the Lambeth Quadrilateral as its basis and recognises the historical episcopate in its constitutional form. The CSI Church is the second largest church in India based on the population of members, next to the Roman Catholic Church, and also the largest Protestant denomination in the country.
Synod
The church is governed by a synod based in Chennai and headed by a presiding bishop bearing the title of Moderator who is elected every two years. The current moderator is G. Devakadasham, Bishop of the Kanyakumari Diocese (Tamil Nadu).The deputy moderator is G. Dyvasirvadam, Bishop of the Godavari diocese (Andhra Pradesh).
Dioceses
The church is further divided into 22 dioceses, each under the supervision of a bishop, including one diocese encompassing Jaffna, Sri Lanka. The dioceses are governed by diocesan councils composed of all clergy in the diocese as well as lay people elected from the local congregations.
Congregations
The church has 14,000 local congregations with 3.8 million members worldwide. While the majority of the members are in India, congregations exist in Sri Lanka where a full diocese is organized, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. CSI members also worship in different parts of India including New Delhi, Kolkata, Bhopal, Bhilai, Mumbai,Pune
