[North India Church Review] Army chaplain Revd Henry Fischer founded the church of St John the Baptist, Meerut, India, in 1819 as a garrison church. After three years of construction, the building was consecrated in 1824 by the Rt Revd Reginald Heber, the then Bishop of Calcutta.
Bishop Heber was know as the "poet bishop", and listened to one of his own hymns at the Christmas service in St John's - "Brightest and best of the sons of the morning" - accompanied by the pipe organ.
The church was recently rededicated in a service of thanksgiving for the new millennium. The theme of the service was from Matthew 28:20, "Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." The Dean of Meerut, the Revd S K Masih led the service.
"Now the time has come when we all have to come together in unison and view to be the pillars of tomorrow," said the principal of St John's School, Mr S V Prasad, in his address. "It is our foundation that has to be strong so that our future is secured."
Special prayers were said for the septuagenarians and other senior citizens of the Christian community. The theme of the continuation of the church's ministry was echoed in the final hymn, "O God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come."