Hendala Baptist Church and Its Internet Ministry
On 16th April 1812 the first Baptist Missionary landed in then Ceylon. The village Hendala situated on the North of the City of Colombo had a Leprosy Hospital built by the Portugese. Rev. James Chater and his assistant Rev. Hendrick Siers visited the Hospital to spread the Good News to the patients. Gradually they took the Gospel to the adjoining villages. By 1838 a small group of believers conducted Cottage meetings in the village.
In 1840 Rev. J. P. Silva was appointed as the 1st Pastor of the Hendala Baptist Church (HBC). In 1845 three converts were baptized by him. Two Mission stations were opened in Batagama and Kandana where two boys’ schools were started.
(Note :- Text extraced from ' History of Baptist Churches & The Auxiliaries Book')
Hendala is a semi urban area situated in Wattala . It is situated between the Colombo city and Bandaranaike International Airport and is 10km from Colombo city & 28km from International Airport.
People at Hendala are from different religions, speak different languages and follow different customs and rituals. The residents are mainly Catholics.
At present there are over 200 members and approximately 175 worshipers are present on any Sunday for the worship at HBC.
HBC is a member church of Sri Lanka Baptist Sangamaya/church (SLBS/SLBC).
SLBC /SLBS is a member union of Baptist World Alliance
The Internet Ministry
In 2017 HBC initiated a unique project ( coded as BaptistChurch.lk on Internet ) to provide information updates to 'everyone' through Internet from 'ALL' Baptist churches in Sri Lanka. Hence the project was named as 'Baptist Church Sri Lanka'.
The MOTTO of the project is ‘Go into the World and preach the Gospel to every creature’ [Matthew 23:19 & Mark 16:15]
The VISION of the project is to share the Good News to everyone using digital spaces by extesively using platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
The MISSION is to carefully monitor and evaluate developments on Internet based technologies and identify and use specific areas to meet our long term goals.
The Internet Ministry project was approved by HBC in 2017 and the HBC Secretary, in 2017 communicateded SLBS/SLBC in writing about this project and its objectives as HBC is a member church of SLBS. The project leader had a formal meeting with the President and Secretory of SLBS in 2017 , they were pleased to note that the motto of the Project is in-line with the motto of SLBS 'Preach the Word - Reach the World'.
Subsequently after careful evalvation SLBS/SLBC included the website link and Facebook page link on the SLBS printed official Letterhead and on other materials such as official Diary.
SLBC/SLBS started using e-mail facility under BaptistChurch.lk for SLBS/SLBC officials, for its administrative office and few others who opted for e-mail facility representing auxilaries. Thus the official website for SLBS/SLBC was born in 4th quarter in 2017.
By 2023 there was a need for a new Logo in order to better identify the direction of the project. Particularly the commencement of the Instagram page .
The 'Internet Ministry project' has its own rules and regulations for publishing on the Internet.
Our social media pages also use the common heading 'Baptist Church Sri Lanka"
They provide an open space for all Baptists in Sri Lanka to discuss, share ideas, Positives and also Negatives. Subject to set rules and regulations.
These social media channels now reach 1000's of people arround the Globe everyday with many subscribers.
You are invited to have a look at what others say about our services.
We are fully commited to our Motto , Vision and Mission by contiously improving our services in stages. Praise the Lord
