Roger Gaikwad (born 13 February 1953) wasNCCI Introduction; Officers General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in India (comprising Protestant and Orthodox Church Societies in India) and has been in office from 2010 through 2019.Asir Ebenezer takes over as NCCI general secretary, Matters India, 5 January 2019.
Gaikwad also served as a Senator of the Senate of Serampore College (University), the nation's first University from 2011-2014Senate, Members of the Senate (2011) representing the Presbyterian Church.
Studies After Gaikwad's graduate studies at the Wilson College, Mumbai, he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in honours (special) by the Bombay University. For ministerial formation, Gaikwad enrolled at the Leonard Theological College, Jabalpur, a Seminary where the Old Testament Scholar Wolfgang Roth once taught, affiliated to the nation's first UniversityMurli Manohar Joshi, Higher Education in India Vision and Action, A paper presented at the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education in the Twenty First Century, Paris, 5–9 October 1998. Internet, accessed 22 August 2008. as a Methodist student from where he obtained a Bachelor of Divinity degree awarded by the Senate of Serampore College (University) after his three-year course from 1974–1977. During Gaikwad's stint at the Aizawl Theological College, Aizawl, he went on study leave and enrolled at the North India Institute for Post Graduate Theological Studies, a joint initiative of the Bishop's College, Kolkata and the Serampore College, Serampore where he pursued a Master of Theology degree specialising in Religions. During the penultimate year of his study, Gaikwad moved to Bangalore and pursued a one-year special course at the United Theological College, Bangalore in 1981,K. M. Hiwale (Compiled), Directory of the United Theological College 1910-1997, Bangalore, 1997. Special course, p.98. then under the Principalship of Joshua Russell Chandran, where he worked on his dissertation entitled Karma and Transmigration in Modern Hinduism: An evaluation of the interpretation of the concepts of the thought of M. K. Gandhi, Aurobindo and S. Radhakrishnan.Roger Gaikwad, Karma and Transmigration in Modern Hinduism: An evaluation of the interpretation of the concepts of the thought of M. K. Gandhi, Aurobindo and S. Radhakrishnan in Thesis Titles, Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College, Bangalore, 1991, p.31
For doctoral studies, Gaikwad joined the South Asia Theological Research Institute where he researched and worked out a dissertation entitled Major Issues in Dialogical Pluralism for Inter-relationship.Roger Gaikwad, Major Issues in Dialogical Pluralism for Inter-relationship, Doctoral Dissertations on Mission: Ten-Year Update, 1992-2001, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Volume 27, Number 3, p.108. after which the Senate of Serampore College (University) under the Registrarship of D. S. Satyaranjan awarded him a Doctor of Theology degree in 1995.Senate, List of the Recipient of the Degree of Doctor of Theology
Ecclesiastical ministry Gaikwad was a Teacher at the Aizawl Theological College, Aizawl from 1978 through 2010.Aizawl Theological College, About Us. From 2002 through 2008, Gaikwad went on leave and served as Director of the Senate Centre for Extension and Pastoral Theological Research of the Senate of Serampore College in Kolkata and returned in 2008 to take over as the Principal of the Aizawl Theological College.
Writings 1997, Rethinking Indian Christianity From A Tribal PerspectiveRoger Gaikwad, Rethinking Indian Christianity From A Tribal Perspective, Religion and Society, Volume 44, CISRS, Bangalore, 1997. 2002, Forces of communalism in IndiaRoger Gaikwad, Forces of communalism in India in Samson Prabhakar (Edited), Inter-play of Religion, Politics, and Communalism in India, BTESSC/SATHRI, Bangalore, 2004, pp.26-42. 2002, Issues in Christian Relationships with People of Other Faiths in AsiaRoger Gaikwad, Issues in Christian Relationships with People of Other Faiths in Asia in The Journal of Theologies and Cultures in Asia, February 2002, pp.33-58. Cited in P. Solomon Raj, New Wine Skins: The story of the indigenous missions in coastal Andhra Pradesh, ISPCK, New Delhi, 2003, pp.44, 132, 137. 2004, Diversified Theological Education,Roger Gaikwad, Diversified Theological Education in Samson Prabhakar (Edited), Together with People: Essays in honour of Rev. D. S. Satyaranjan, BTESSC/SATHRI, Bangalore, 2004, pp.80-88. 2006, Some stances of Christians on integrating peace concerns in our livesRoger Gaikwad, Some stances of Christians on integrating peace concerns in our lives, National Council of Churches Review, Volume 126, 2006, p.477. 2006, The Jubilee - an Alternative to Globalisation - (Luke 4:16-21 and Leviticus 25)Roger Gaikwada, The Jubilee - an Alternative to Globalisation - (Luke 4:16-21 and Leviticus 25) in Leslie Nathaniel, Adrian Watkins (Edited), Gospel and Globalisation: 2nd South Asia Christian Youth Conference, 8–14 June 2005, Whitefield, Bangalore, India, CMS/ISPCK, New Delhi, 2006, p.101. 2008, The Extension Programme of the Senate of Serampore CollegeRoger Gaikwad, The Extension Programme of the Senate of Serampore College in Ross Kinsler, Diversified Theological Education: Equipping All God's People, William Carey International University Press, Pasadena, 2008, pp.91-106.
Honorary commitments Gaikwad was Chairperson of the World Student Christian Federation, Asia Pacific RegionWSCF Theological Reflections from 2005 through 2008. In fact Gaikwad had already been Chairperson of the Student Christian Movement of India during the terms 1996–2001 and again 2003–2005.
As General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in India, Gaikwad is ex officio member of the following ecclesiastical organisations,
Board of Theological Education of the Senate of Serampore College,BTESSC Board Members, Institutional Members Bangalore, Council of Management of the Christian Literature Society, Chennai,CLS Council of Management & CLS Association Henry Martyn Institute,The Annual Report (2013–2014) of the Director Hyderabad.
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