Diocese of calcutta

Biren Roy Road (West) Barisha – Kolkata – 700 008 : Worship Service Timing – 8:00am

St. Peter’s Church was a chapel for UTS (United Theological School) under the Oxford Mission in 1947. The Oxford Mission felt that there should be a church to cater to the needs of the local congregation, so the Rev. Carleton took the initiative to start St. Peter’s Church inside the Oxford Mission compound in Barisha.
Thakurpukur is an old Mission station and there has been a Christian population there for many years, but there were probably no Christians in Barisha before Fr. Douglas founded a house of the Oxford Mission in 1906. The Oxford Mission work was confined to their own compounds and although Fr. Douglas exerted considerable influence in the locality he did not attempt to work among Christians or Hindus in the neighborhood.
From 1947 onwards the surrounding area underwent rapid development and was changed beyond recognition. It was partly due to the inflow of refugees from East Pakistan. New houses, ‘colonies’, busties, factories and bazaars sprang up on every side. Among these new people were many Christians who had come from East Pakistan or who had found employment in the local factories or who had moved out of Calcutta and finding that there was an active Church in the area chose to settle here. By 1959 there were at least fifty Christian families in the area. As no other Church had been established in the area, ministration was given to Christians of all denominations and from the establishment of the U. T. S. By the end of 1953 it was becoming clear that a step forward ought to be made in the establishment of a properly constituted parish. A provisional committee was established in 1945 by nomination. The parish was formally inaugurated on the 20th of June, 1945 when the Metropolitan, the Most Rev. Arobindo Mukherjee dedicated the Church to St. Peter. The dedication was the choice of the new Committee. St.Peter’s then took its place among the Parishes of the Diocese and – from that day there was a notable increase in enthusiasm.
For some years a procession of witness went out on Holy Saturday singing and distributing leaflets inviting people to attend a Lantern lecture on the football field. In 1959 the procession was abandoned in favour of invitation leaflets to every non- Christian house in the area in the course of Holy Week. The preaching was attended by a much larger crowd than before. Apart from this annual effort little was done to preach the Gospel to non-Christians. The increase in the numbers was mainly due to the movement of Christians into the area and natural increase of Christian Community but there were also Hindu and Muslim converts.
After various experiments a Sunday School was held during the Morning Service, the children going out before the sermon to their classes in the U. T. S. premises on three Sundays in the month and on the other Sundays and Festivals they stayed for the whole service. This Sunday School was started from the Theological School with help from Nazareth Home. After the experiment of a joint school it was found best for Nazareth House to have a separate Sunday School at a different time.
At their annual Chapter in January 1959 the Oxford Mission decided to give notice to the Bishop of their intention of withdrawing Fr. Carleton from the U. T. S. and St. Peter’s Parish in 1960. The Rev. Canon J. K. Shah took charge as the Principal of Union Theological School as well as Priest-in-Charge of St. Peter’s Church.