To
Honorable Sri YS Jagan Mohan Reddy,
Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh.

Sub : Save Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC) Properties.

The Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC) was founded as a mission field of the then United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA) by Rev. John Christian Frederick Heyer on 31 July 1842.

The AELC was constituted in 1927. Prior to this it was a mission of the United Lutheran Church in America (now part of the ELCA). With more than 400,000 members, the AELC is considered the third largest Lutheran church in Asia. It has been a member of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) since 1947.
 
American Missionaries like John Christian Frederick Heyer, Dr. Anna Sarah Kugler, W. D. Coleman, and W. P. Peery have not only established the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church to spread the Gospel of Christ, but also have established schools, colleges and hospitals with a vision to edify the Christian community in India.

Due to lack of Godly fear among the spiritual leaders and the ongoing crisis in the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC), it has become a laughing stock within the Christian community.

Worldwide Christian communities have been watching how the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church worship services are conducted under the supervision of police personnel guarding the premises.

The two parties within the AELC church have filed court cases against each other at the cost of dignity and reputation of AELC churches leaving a bad example for the Christian community. All those incidents have been published and broad casted on various print, electronic and social media platforms which brought a bad testimony to the church.

Although leadership crisis in the AELC is clearly evident, the main thing the Christian and non-Christian communities have witnessed is that the AELC assets worth crores of rupees have been leased, further leading to illegal encroachment by the people who exploit the properties for their personal benefit and selfish desires.  The properties under AELC are estimated to be worth 70,000 Crore Rupees.

From the past few years the AELC authorities under the tenure of various leaders have handed over the AELC assets to other organizations and individuals in the name of lease, rent and sale.

Several members of the congregation, activists and AELC properties protection committee,  have been protesting and fighting against the lease and sale of AELC properties which have been leased by the AELC leaders defying the Constitution of AELC.

These people and organizations fighting for the justice are not getting proper support and attention from the government authorities and also from church congregation. It is extremely painful to lose the valuable properties earned by the missionaries and handed over to AELC for the benefit of the church and society around us.

The churches, schools, colleges, and hospitals established by the then missionaries are being closed due to lack of proper vision and maintenance.

Missionaries with a good vision and intention to help the Christian community have established these properties but the previous, present leaders instead of using it with proper planning for the benefit of the Christian community are using to fulfill their selfish desires. This could be due to their greediness for money or due to political pressures, or for personal purposes they have leased/sold the AELC properties to organizations and people who do not care for the church or the community.

We demand the AELC leaders (authorities) to act on the below mentioned issues and resolve them at the earliest.

Our Demands:


1. To prepare and provide the list of the properties under the AELC, mentioning the church name, their location, area (in sqm or acres), present ownership and other details.

2. To provide and publish the complete details about the AELC properties which are existing and which have been leased/sold till date.



3. To plan and take up measures to bring back the properties that have sold/leased violating the AELC constitution.



4. Demand to setup an official website for AELC wherein all the details of the AELC properties under each church and the status of those properties should be provided.


5. We demand to make changes to the AELC constitution, By-laws to safeguard the AELC properties.

Sign my petition and request AELC Moderator to take immediate measures for the above mentioned demands which is to protect the properties of AELC and to bring back the properties that have sold/leased violating the AELC constitution. 

Sign my petition and request Hon’ble Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Chief Minister, and Hon’ble Mekathoti Sucharitha, Minister for Home &Disaster Management, State of Andhra Pradesh to kindly intervene and please help to resolve the issues in AELC and take appropriate action to save the properties of AELC.

Together, we can make a difference by signing this petition to ensure that we bring back the former glory of AELC which was dedicated to serving the society.

Yours Sincerely, 

#SaveAELCTeam