April 10, 2010

GENEVA – Dr Kunchala Rajaratnam, a layman who served the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India (UELCI) for over four decades, and was formerly Asian region secretary for The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), died on 7 April at his home in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, southern India, at the age of 89. He was director emeritus of the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute.

A former president of the National Council of Churches in India, Rajaratnam was a leader who "challenged not only the church in India but the global ecumenical church to make Dalit liberation a primary missionary objective," said Rev. A. G. Augustine Jeyakumar, UELCI executive secretary.

LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko paid tribute to Rajaratnam as a leader who "challenged his colleagues to redefine partnership in mission.

"He was forthright in his views and seldom compromised his commitments to justice and fairness. He did not mince his words and when necessary he spoke in capital letters," said Noko in a statement issued at the LWF headquarters in Geneva. "Yet, even on those occasions, those of us who knew him well realized that deep down in his personality there was a softness that made him likable," he noted.

The general secretary said that in Rajaratnam's death, Lutherans and the ecumenical movement have lost "a voice in pursuit of justice." The Indian church leader "served the Lutheran churches and the ecumenical movement in India with distinction, passion and a very high level of commitment for a period of over five decades," said Noko. "He demonstrated tremendous imagination when he encouraged in specific ways self-reliance among the churches in Asia."

Rajaratnam held various positions in his church and was leader of the Gurukul college beginning in 1971.

From 1975 to 1979 he was the secretary for Asia in the then LWF Department of Church Cooperation and was a member of the LWF Executive Committee from 1985 until 1990.

Rajaratnam founded the Centre for Research on New International Economic Order, based in Chennai, in 1979. In 2006, his church elected him as executive secretary of the LWF National Committee in India.

He had been executive secretary of the UELCI – which brings together 11 Lutheran churches – until 2002 and was formerly chief editor of its magazine, The Indian Lutheran.

LWF Deputy General Secretary Rev. Chandran Paul Martin represented the organization at Rajaratnam's funeral today, Saturday, 10 April, at the Gurukul auditorium.

Lutheran World Information