Mar Thoma Yuvajana Sakhyam is the youth wing of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church (known as

Mar Thoma Church The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, often shortened to Mar Thoma Church, and known also as the Reformed Syrian ChurchS. N. Sadasivan. A Social History of India'. APH Publishing; 2000. . p. 442. and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar ...

).Founded in 1933 at the

Maramon Convention The Maramon Convention, a Christian convention in Asia, is held at Maramon, Pathanamthitta, Kerala, India annually in February on the vast sand-bed of the Pampa River next to the Kozhencherry Bridge. It is organised by Mar Thoma Evangelistic A ...

, it has spread its wings to all the continents, bringing youths of the

Mar Thoma church The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, often shortened to Mar Thoma Church, and known also as the Reformed Syrian ChurchS. N. Sadasivan. A Social History of India'. APH Publishing; 2000. . p. 442. and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar ...

under one umbrella. In its long history, it has produced many eminent personalities in the church and in the society. It was in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, in the 1st century CE,

Thomas the Apostle Thomas the Apostle ( arc, 𐡀𐡌𐡅𐡕𐡌, hbo, תוֹמא הקדוש or תוֹמָא שליחא (''Toma HaKadosh'' "Thomas the Holy" or ''Toma Shlikha'' "Thomas the Messenger/Apostle" in Hebrew-Aramaic), syc, ܬܐܘܡܐ, , meaning "twi ...

arrived to preach the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

to the Jewish community. Some of the Jews and locals became followers of Jesus of

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

. They were known as Nasrani people and their church was Malankara Church. They followed a unique

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Syriac Christian Syriac Christianity ( syr, ܡܫܝܚܝܘܬܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܬܐ / ''Mšiḥoyuṯo Suryoyto'' or ''Mšiḥāyūṯā Suryāytā'') is a distinctive branch of Eastern Christianity, whose formative theological writings and traditional liturgies are expr ...

tradition which included several Jewish elements and Indian customs. Mar Thoma Church is part of this Malankara Church, still fully independent, without being part of any other Churches.

Objectives

The Mar Thoma Yuvajana Sakhyam was organized with a view to help the youths of the

to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour; to train in worship and the fellowship of Christian life; to participate in the mission of the Church; to have faith in Christian values; to organize and conduct camps, meetings, discussions to increase the knowledge and experience of youth in the Holy Bible, church's faith and practice.

History

As a programme of the centenary celebration of reformation in Malankara Church, Yuvajana Sakhyam was organized in 1933 by a resolution of the Sabha Prathinithi Mandalam (representative assembly of the Church). The first committee included Rev. V. P. Mammen as President; Rev. K. E. Oommen and Rev. C. M.John (later Dr.

Juhanon Mar Thoma Juhanon Mar Thoma XVIII Metropolitan (7 August 1894 – 27 September 1976) was the Metropolitan of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church from 1949–1976, who gave leadership to the church and at the same time actively participated in social ...

Metropolitan) as Vice Presidents; and Mr. V. E. Thomas (later Rev. V. E. Thomas, Singapore) as Secretary. The first meeting was held on 11 November 1933.Mathew, N.M. ‘’Malankara Marthoma Sabha Charitram’’, Volume III. Pages128-129. By 1937, there were 40 branches for the Sakhyam. 40 representatives attended the first general body meeting held on 26 February, that year. In 1945, Mr. M. M. Thomas (later Dr. M. M. Thomas) was appointed as a full-time Organizing Secretary. Under his dynamic leadership the Sakhyam struck deep roots and spread its branches far and wide. (In 1966, Dr. M.M.Thomas was the delegate of the Mar Thoma church to the fourth assembly of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

. He was the chairman of the WCC Central Committee till 1975. Later he was appointed by the Government of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

as the Governor of a state in

Organization

Most of the Mar Thoma parishes have branches of the Sakhyam. A group of such a branches form a Center. There are a number of such centers under each Diocese. The constitution prescribes that the President should be a bishop of the Church.

Establishments

The Golden Jubilee Memorial building, main office building is at

Tiruvalla Thiruvalla, alternately spelled Tiruvalla, is a town in Kerala and the Headquarters of the Taluk of the same name located in Pathanamthitta district in the State of Kerala, India. The town is spread over an area of . It lies on the banks of ...

was opened in 1986. It is close to the

office. In connection with Silver Jubilee celebrations, a Youth Center was built in

Adoor Adoor (sometimes spelled ''Adur'') is a Municipality in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala State, India. It is the headquarters of Adoor Taluk and Adoor Revenue Division. Etymology Adoor (Ad-oor) in Malayalam translates as "Ad" means "separ ...

. It can accommodate about 200 young people to camp there. The Sakhyam has its own printing press to provide training and employment to the youth. In 2006, another Mar Thoma Youth Center was inaugurated in Bangalore,

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

, South India.

Publications

*From 1956, Sakhyam publishes a monthly magazine, Yuva Deepam in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

. *Ripples, English version of Yuva Deepam first published in 1994. *In 2003 Jeeva Vani, the

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

Quarterly publication commenced

References

{{reflist

External links

http://www.marthomayuvajanasakhyam.com

http://marthomasyrianchurch.org

XIII MAR THOMA YUVAJANA SAKHYAM NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2011
Christian organisations based in India Mar Thoma Syrian Church Christian youth organizations Christian organizations established in 1933 1933 establishments in India Youth organisations based in India