The sight of sari-clad figures on the pulpit will become more familiar in the years to come as the nearly 170-year-old Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church (GEL), Ranchi, is getting more gender-friendly.

In the next three years, the GEL Church is likely to double the number of its women priests.

At present, 20 of the 211 priests at GEL Church are women, seen wearing white saris with blue borders, or light brown saris.

In 2018, if all the women currently pursuing bachelors in theology (BTh) at their Theological College in Ranchi agree to join priestly orders, the number will go up to 38, Johan Dang, moderator of the GEL Church in Ranchi told The Telegraph.

In 2014, eight women had taken admission to the three-year BTh that has 40 seats in each session. In 2015, there are 10 women.

"The 2014 batch will pass out in 2017, this year's batch will complete their course in 2018. So, it means 18 more women will be eligible as priests in 2018," Dang said. "We will definitely invite all of them to join us as priestesses," he said.

"We concede that after graduation, not all the women might like to join priesthood due to varied personal reasons," Dang added as a caveat. "The GEL Church does not compel anyone to embrace priesthood."

Twenty years ago, the GEL Church, on the occasion of its 150 anniversary, had thrown their doors open to induct three women as priests.

"Today, that number stands at 20. In the next three years, this number is likely to go up to 38. We stand committed to grant equal opportunities to women," Dang said.

Since priests in GEL don't need to opt for celibacy, women priests have their families. Yet, Dang said, they balanced their family lives with their church activities perfectly well.

"The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) remains committed to ensuring gender justice at all times. The recently held LWF meeting from April 12 to 15, 2015 at Taiwan, in which I was a participant, has reiterated its policy of caring for all god's creation by pursuing a policy of gender justice and ensuring equal opportunity for men and women. Accordingly, GEL Church in Ranchi, is encouraging women to enrol themselves in the three-year BTh to make them eligible to be ordained," Dang said.

"In addition to our women priests, we have 10 women pracharaks working alongside 1,069 male pracharaks," he added. "Church services apart, our pracharaks are engaged in social, cultural and religious and healthcare activities that serve as a vital link between society and church. We want to encourage women to actively participate in church activities through our youth and women wings."

GEL Church made a humble beginning in Chotanagpur when four German missionaries handpicked by Father Johannes Evangelista Gossner, the founder of Berlin Mission, arrived in Calcutta in 1844 and reached Ranchi in 1845.