Joseph John (1906–1998) was a minister of the Church of South India and founder of the Deenabanduparum Rural Life Center, a model village and organization to support the poor, in India's former

Madras State Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and ...

Biography

John was ordained in 1934 and worked as a pastor in the Serkadu area of

Katpadi Katpadi () is a locality in Vellore, at the northern part of Vellore city in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Its railway is located on the gauge line between Chennai-Bangalore and Villupuram-Tirupati. Politics and geography Once a village, Katp ...

Vellore Vellore (English: ), also spelt as Velur (), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Palar River in the northeastern part of Tamil Nadu and is separ ...

District,

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

. He reportedly met

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

, who encouraged him to start an organization to help the poor in memory of C. F. Andrews, who was known as "Friend of the Poor," or Deenabandhu. John left the ministry in 1948 to serve poor and casteless people in the remote Madras State. He acquired of seemingly uncultivable land in the Palasamudram mandal in the Chittoor District of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. He named it Deenabandupuram (Place of the Friend of the Poor). The organization World Neighbours supported his work starting in 1955. Landless people were given plots of land at the Deenabanduparum Rural Life Center and granted a revolving loan fund to get them started. John's son Karuna directed the center's agricultural extension program, which showed locals how to use irrigation and fertilizers to improve farming. World Neighbors helped train villagers in skills such as carpentry, metalwork, and printing. His other son, physician Prem Chandran, introduced low-cost medical care and a family planning program with his wife Hari. The clinic had 25 beds and some mobile units by 1974. The John family also established a comprehensive community health project emphasizing sanitation, nutrition, and increased food production, and created the Nava Jeevan (New Life) project to bring

leper Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...

s back into society. Rotary International did a public health survey of the area to help measure need. An elementary school was also established. John worked with the Tamilnadu Christian Council on an irrigation agricultural project for small farmers in

Tamilnadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language— ...

. Lüder Lüers and

Bread for the World Bread for the World is a non-partisan, Christian advocacy organization based in the United States that advocates for policy changes to end hunger. Bread for the World provides resources to help individuals advocate to end hunger, which might inc ...

also provided support. John's missionary work strived to relate Christianity to Indian culture and drew inspiration from Indigenous architectural style for building new churches. A notable feature of his style is baptismal font in the form of a

lotus flower ''Nelumbo nucifera'', also known as sacred lotus, Laxmi lotus, Indian lotus, or simply lotus, is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. It is sometimes colloquially called a water lily, though this more often re ...

, with a cross planted in its midst. His churches were designed as pillared temple halls built from stone, with carved motifs. These motifs often combined Hindu and Christian symbols or Hindu and Muslim architecture. In addition to commissioning churches, John began a number of local festivals. A film called ''Village of the Poor'' was released in 1954 by Alan Shilin Productions.

Personal life

John moved to Deenabandupuram with his first wife, Ranjitham (Aaron), who graduated from the Union Missionary Medical School in

. Both of John's sons graduated from the

Christian Medical College Vellore Christian Medical College, Vellore, widely known as CMC, Vellore, is a private, Christian community-run medical school, hospital and research institute. This Institute includes a network of primary, secondary and tertiary care hospitals in a ...

. Karuna graduated with a degree in agriculture from a school in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and Prem Chandran received an MS in Public Health from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, USA. He specialized in leprosy. Like Gandhi, John always wore clothes made from

khadi Khadi (, ), derived from khaddar, is a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth promoted by Mahatma Gandhi as ''swadeshi'' (self-sufficiency) for the freedom struggle of the Indian subcontinent, and the term is used throughout India, Pakistan ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:John, Joseph 1906 births 1998 deaths Indian Christian clergy Church of South India Christian clergy from Andhra Pradesh