Molungkimong village gate in Kohima. Telegraph picture

Kohima, April 23: A tribute to an unruly Assamese boy who grew up to be a missionary and sowed the seeds of Christianity in Naga hills was an integral part of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council’s platinum jubilee celebrations.

During the celebrations, which concluded here last evening, the church thanked Godhula Brown, who was born Gendhela Barua and known as babu among Nagas, for his contribution in spreading Christianity in Naga hills.

Though much of the credit for spreading Christianity in the Naga hills of the then Assam state has been given to an American missionary, Edward Winter Clarke, Godhula was the first missionary to set foot in Naga hills in 1871. He had gone to Molungkimong village in Mokokchung district from Sivasagar to see the feasibility of opening a Baptist Mission Centre there. In 1872, he went with his wife to reside there. On December 10, 1872, nine people from the village were baptised and another 15 on December 22.

Godhula belonged to the Ahom clan. He was unruly and was even expelled from school on disciplinary grounds. Later, he joined as a soldier under the British where he learnt English. He was converted and baptised in Sivasagar church in 1860 and worked with William Ward as an evangelist and teacher. He married Ward’s student, Miss Lucy.

Godhula and his wife were good singers, preachers and explorers. Godhula became the first itinerant who took the Gospel to many Ao villages and beyond. Clarke had set foot in Naga hills only in 1876 and returned in 1894. He left the Naga hills in 1911. Godhula later became a good friend of Clarke and worked under him as an evangelist.

Godhula and his wife played a major role in founding the Naga church, a Molungkimong Baptist Church release said, adding that due credit should be given to him for the success of the American Baptist mission in Naga hills during the initial years.

Godhula is a household name in most of the churches in Mokokchung district, especially in Molungkimong where the first seed of Gospel was sown and a church established in the late 1870s.

It was because of his hard work that the Namsissu Church, located near Teok in Jorhat district, got started in 1889. It will observe its Quasqui Centenary in 2014. Godhula died at Namsissu. The Molungkimong Church has erected an epitaph there in his honour.