THE MARAMON CONVENTION

The Maramon convention is the one of the most pre-eminent assembly of Christians convened every year for the proclamation of the Word of God expounded by eminent international and local erudite Christian orators. The Maramon Convention, organized by the Mar Thoma Church Evangelistic Association, an organization of the Mar Thoma Church is reported as one of the largest Christian conventions held anywhere in the world since 1896, next to Keswick Convention held in England since 1875. Preaching, Singing, Bible Study, Intercessory Prayers, Special Sessions for Women and Children etc. are the predominant features of this Asia's biggest spiritual gathering which imparts a wonderful experience for all believers.

The Maramon convention is being conducted every year since 1896 on the vast sand bed on a wide stretch shore of river Pampa, usually in the month of February when the river bed is dry. Maramon and Kozhencherry are 16 kilometers east of Thiruvalla in Central Travancore, in Pathanamthitta District, and had been recognized as places of ancient Christianity influenced culture. About a week before the convention, the vicinity of the venue becomes a scene of great activity for the preparation of the Pandal wide enough to accommodate about 80,000-100,000 people constructed out of bamboo poles and thatched roof by coconut leaves. Large number of people streamed across temporary bridges and sandbag walkways come to the Pandal for hearing the Word of God from all over Kerala, and other parts of India, even from abroad. It is phenomenal scenery that around 100,000 people gathered in hot and humid weather in hot dry sand of the Pamba River to hear of Lord and to sing for Him. All the people well attentively participate in the singing and listen to the religious reading and discourse sitting under this temporary shelter of thatched coconut palm leaves. Convention is normally scheduled for a week, when the sand bed becomes dry to accommodate the sea of humanity.

Maramon convention songs have attracted and inspired so many people since its beginning. All of the Marthoma parishes use the Maramon Convention songs during their worship services, parish conventions, and for prayer meetings as a source for glorifying God. World famous preacher Dr. Stanly Johns was speaker of the Maramon convention for around 50 years. Other World famous Missionaries like Dr. Kagawa of Japan, Sadhu Sunder Singh, Stephen Neil, and Archbishop of Canterbury had preached at Maramon convention. The centenary of the Maramon Convention was celebrated in 1995. The centenary celebration of the Mar Thoma Sunday School Samajam was held in 2005 at the venue of the Maramon convention, and the gathering was known as “Childrens’ Maramon”. The Maramon Convention also displays co-operation and union between different denominations of Churches in Kerala. It fosters an ecumenical outlook, and meaning. It is also a source of spiritual inspiration and enlightenment for thousands of believers. The people in and around Maramon extend solidarity and hospitality to the people coming from far off places. For the last more than 100 years Maramon Convention has become a meeting place of culture and tradition and it became a stature of Indian Christianity. The official web site for the Maramon Convention is www.mtconvention.com where you watch the photos, listen to the speaches and songs of the previous conventions.

Bishops of Mar Thoma Church during Navathy Celebrations

A group formed for the laity of the Mar Thoma Church scattered all over the world to express their opinions freely without any fear or retribution from the church so as to guide the church to transform itself to the reality that it is a global church. Mar Thoma church originated as a movement of the laity in the past in central Travanocre, which is part of Kerala now. Now it is the duty of the laity to lead the church to move forward and help it to transform as a global church by changing its policies, pracitices and precedents and constitution written about 150 years ago only to cater the needs of laity in Kerala. There are several laity faced with difficult situations in their life, but the church due to its failure to accept its global nature has disregarded such situations leaving so many laity without any solutions in real life situations like baptism, marriage and even funeral. So many laity are disatisfied with the way in which the church handled their situations and may have to leave the church or became disinterested in the church. We have to search for the lost ones and we cannot ignore the reality that laity are disinterested in the church affairs. We need to lead the church in its effort to become a global church by suggesting concrete ideas and plans so that the church may change its polices, practices without changing its fundamental belief, faith, and heritage. We need to address how our traditional liturgy can be used in a more contemporary way without losing its originality. We need to educate our young generation about our rich heritage, faith and practices, constituion, and history of our church. This is not a forum for negative criticism about the church or its authority. But we need your ideas and suggestions how the church can change itself as a global church to cater the needs of the laity living all over the world.