Brief History of the Advent of Christianity Among the Simtes (1917–1958)

1. The Pioneer Missionaries & First Inroads (1910–1917)

The Christian gospel spread initially in the Northern District of Manipur through William Pettigrew around 1891. In the southern district, the message was introduced by Welsh Presbyterian missionary Watkin R. Roberts at Senvon on May 10, 1910.

Watkin Roberts was a young Presbyterian minister in Wales who felt called to foreign mission work after hearing an impassioned sermon by Reuben A. Torrey. In October 1908, Roberts arrived in Aizawl alongside medical missionary Dr. Peter Fraser and his wife. While Fraser treated patients, Roberts distributed medicines.

In 1909, Miss Emily Davis of England sent a gift of £15 to Roberts. He allocated this sum to print 104 gospel tracts containing the text of John 3:16, sending them to the traditional chiefs of the southern hills in Manipur.

Upon receiving the tract, Chief Kamkholun Singson sent a handwritten reply carried by three young men traveling to Aizawl: 'You yourself come down and explain the tract.' Despite Political Agent Major H.W.G. Cole refusing travel permits due to local instability, Roberts risked his life, trekking to Senvon on May 10, 1910, accompanied by Thangkai, Lungpau, Savawma, Vanzika, and Thangchiingpuia.

This breakthrough led to the formation of the Thadou-Kuki Pioneer Mission (TKPM) in 1914. By 1916, mission work extended into Tripura and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. In 1919, Roberts reorganized the mission under the name North East India General Mission (NEIGM). In 1917, through early TKPM evangelists, the gospel first entered the ancestral Simte villages.

"You yourself come down and explain the tract."

— Kamkholun Singson, Chief of Senvon, letter to Watkin R. Roberts (1910)

2. Traditional Resistance & The Thanlon Village Narrative (1917–1935)

The Simtes are one of the indigenous Kuki-Chin tribes residing in the southern hills of Manipur, primarily within Churachandpur and Pherzawl districts. Early reception to Christianity was met with formidable resistance.

Traditional Simte society was rigidly structured around hereditary village chiefs who maintained strict allegiance to animist sacrificial rites ('Daibil') and communal rice-beer feasts ('Zu'). Village chiefs perceived the new Christian doctrine as an existential threat to traditional authority, customary laws, and community cohesion.

In Thanlon, evangelists including Pastor Vanchhunga, Thangkai, Lungpau, and Thangvang Guite were mocked, threatened, and officially expelled. Elder Mr. Zagin recounted that early preaching was conducted under intense fear in secluded jungle clearings outside the village perimeter.

When Chief Lumthang of Thanlon discovered secret gatherings taking place, he dispatched the village crier to verify the reports and ordered village youth to forcibly cast the evangelists out of the territory.

Despite severe opposition from elders, younger Simtes began to embrace the faith. On June 9, 1935, Mr. Nengzagou converted to Christianity, inaugurating secret worship inside a thatched hut known as 'Phoh Buh'.

"The gospel was first heard among the Simte as early as 1917 but its propagation was rather slow. The new faith was not readily accepted by the Simte because they were faithful to their animist worship. Also, the Simte villages were highly organized with the chiefs at the top. The chiefs of the Simte villages did not welcome the new faith, which made the inroad of Christianity into the tribe slow and rather very difficult."

— Rev. Khamkhosiam Hangnung, Former Executive Secretary, NTBCA (Oral Interview, 2018)

3. Pastor P.K. Englian's Ministry & Spiritual Fatherhood (1939–1943)

As the seed of faith sprouted in Thanlon, the NEIGM dispatched Pastor P.K. Englian to provide pastoral care to the fledgling Christian flock from 1939 to 1943.

Pastor Englian provided foundational discipleship and literacy training. Even after his subsequent transfer to Kaihlam village, he made repeated foot journeys across rugged terrain to visit and strengthen the Thanlon believers. Consequently, Pastor P.K. Englian is remembered in oral tradition as the spiritual father of the Thanlon Simte Christians.

Under his guidance, the Thanlon congregation began active outreach to neighboring settlements, igniting a broader awakening across the Simte hills.

4. Village Chronicles: Sumtuh, Leizangphai, Dumsau, and Khuangnung

The gospel expanded village by village through native initiative and oral testimony:

Sumtuh: The gospel was initially sown by Evangelist Thangvang, but lack of systematic discipleship hindered growth until 1936, when Evangelist Tongpu Tungnung arrived. Pioneer converts included Thangzaneng, Kailal, Chinkhopau, Gindailou, Tualzagin, and B. Vumzagin. Church services were initially held in Lushai until vernacular materials were translated. In 1939, the first local church building was formally consecrated.

Leizangphai: In 1947, Ramlian Hmar, Lungpau Vaiphei, and Thangkai Vaiphei preached in Leizangphai. In contrast to Thanlon, the village received the message with minimal chieftain opposition. Pioneer convert Mr. Zamnang was convicted by reading John 3:16. Under the leadership of Ngulzathang, a permanent church was erected in 1950.

Dumsau: Pioneer Christians included Thongzakham, Thangkhotong, and Chinzakhup, evangelized by Dengkung and Thomlian Leivang. Lacking a church building, believers hiked on foot every Sunday to the neighboring Hmar village of Mualbem to attend worship and Sunday school. In 1956, after the entire village shifted downhill, a dedicated sanctuary was built under the guidance of Pastor P.K. Englian.

Khuangnung: Sown by Pastor P.K. Englian, first convert T. Chinzakhup constructed a thatched church in 1953. Uniquely, Khuangnung practiced strict indigenous autonomy—maintaining a self-governing, self-propagating, and self-supporting governance model until formally affiliating with the NTBCA in 1958.

"I read the book of John 8:12 and came to know that, 'In the beginning was the word... In him was life and the life was the light of men.' I was convinced by these words and I became a Christian."

— S. Ngulzathang, Pioneer Convert in Sumtuh Village

5. Division in NEIGM & The Path to Autonomy (1948–1951)

In the early mission decades, Simte Christians depended entirely on non-Simte evangelists employed by the NEIGM (predominantly Hmar and Paite workers). In 1948, the NEIGM reorganized its administration into five presbyteries along ethnolinguistic lines:

1. Simkhang (South-West) Presbytery 2. Simsak (South-East) Presbytery 3. Malkhang (North-East) Presbytery 4. Malsak (North-East) Presbytery 5. Vangai Presbytery

The Simtes were placed under the Simsak Presbytery, which was predominantly Paite-speaking. In 1949, Simsak Presbytery was reorganized as the Manipur Christian Convention, and later renamed the Evangelical Convention Church (ECC).

Simte believers faced institutional marginalization within the Paite-dominated presbytery: no native Simte evangelists were salaried, and requests for mother-tongue scripture translation were dismissed. Friction accelerated after Watkin Roberts split with H.H. Coleman in 1930 to establish the Indo-Burma Pioneer Mission (IBPM). When Simte leaders sought association with IBPM, NEIGM barred Simte delegates from attending the General Assembly, effectively terminating formal relations.

6. Foundation of the Simte Christian Association (SCA, 1951)

Determined to secure ecclesiastical self-determination, pioneer leaders B. Khupzakham, B. Nengzagou, Lamzakhai, H. Tualchin, H. Thongzakham, and Th. Gindailou convened a historic convention at Mongon village in Thanlon Sub-Division on March 22, 1951.

Nearly 300 delegates representing twelve Simte villages deliberated on strategies for indigenous church growth and spiritual independence. The assembly voted unanimously to establish the Simte Christian Association (SCA).

The inaugural SCA Standing Committee comprised: B. Nengzagou (Chairman), B. Khupzakham (Secretary), and Committee Members Dongkhosoi, Jamkhai, and Gindailou. The SCA operated entirely on indigenous tithes and local self-support.

"Delegates from twelve villages numbering almost three hundred deliberated the ways and means for church growth. They felt the urgent need for crusades to preach the gospel to their own people in their own mother tongue."

— L. Jeeyaselan, Impact of Missionary Movement in Manipur (1996)

7. Partnership with Baptist Mid-Missions (BMM, 1947–1958)

Operating as an independent association, the SCA recognized an acute need for sound theological training, pastoral mentorship, and mother-tongue biblical resources.

In August 1947, Henjamang Thangsing, a patriotic Simte medical student at Berry White Medical School in Dibrugarh, consulted Manipuri evangelist K.A. Koireng Singh about seeking mission partners. Koireng advised him to visit Cachar, Assam.

While serving at the Alipur Mission Hospital and Burrow Memorial Christian Hospital in Cachar between 1949 and 1950, Thangsing met Rev. Dr. James S. Garlow, Field Superintendent of Baptist Mid-Missions (BMM). Both men forged an immediate spiritual rapport and agreed in principle to partner in ministry.

In 1954, the SCA began dispatching Simte youth to Alipur for formal theological and nursing education. In October 1957, Dr. Garlow visited Thanlon and Dumsau, where he personally baptized 50 converts.

In 1958, Dr. Garlow and Rev. John E. Wilkens visited the hills accompanied by their sons, cementing the historic partnership between SCA and BMM. By that time, 21 local congregations representing 3,294 baptized believers formed the association.

In 1959, the SCA was formally renamed the New Testament Baptist Christian Association (NTBCA) at Dumsau Village, eventually registered under the Societies Registration Act in 1973.

8. Translation & Dedication of the Simte Holy Bible (1965–1993)

Throughout their association with the Paite Presbytery, Simte believers had repeatedly petitioned the Bible Society of India (BSI) for a Simte translation. The BSI consistently rejected these appeals, citing small population numbers and Paite assertions that Simte was merely an identical dialect.

Following the BMM alliance, Dr. James S. Garlow prioritized the mother-tongue translation of the Scriptures, mobilizing financial backing from partners in the United States and the Trinitarian Bible Society (TBS) in London.

Under the leadership of Simte scholars H. Thangliankham, B. Nengzachin, and L. Thangkhochin, the translation of the Simte New Testament and Psalms was completed between 1965 and 1973. In 1975, the first shipment of printed New Testaments arrived from London, celebrated with a joyous three-day thanksgiving feast at Joutung Village.

On November 24, 1992, the complete Simte Holy Bible (both Old and New Testaments) arrived in Churachandpur. Formal dedicatory services were celebrated on January 20, 1993 at NTBC Lamka, followed by historic celebrations at Tualbual (Thanlon) on March 15, 1993, marking the triumph of mother-tongue literacy and spiritual identity.

9. Conclusion: Faith, Identity, and Intangible Cultural Heritage

The early Simte Christian pioneers faced fierce chieftain persecution, social ostracization, and linguistic marginalization. Yet, their commitment not only transformed the spiritual landscape of southern Manipur, but also catalyzed the institutional emergence of the Simte language into print culture and modern education.

Today, the history of the advent of Christianity among the Simtes stands as an essential chapter in the tribe's cultural memory—a testimony to indigenous resilience, community solidarity, and the preservation of mother-tongue heritage.