The American Baptist mission among the Telugus began so small it was nicknamed the “Lone Star.” Its turning point came with the terrible famine of 1876–78: at Ongole, the missionary John E. Clough put famine-stricken labourers of the Madiga community to work for wages digging a segment of the Buckingham Canal, feeding many through the disaster. When the rains returned, Telugus of the poorest castes asked for baptism in overwhelming numbers — one day in July 1878 saw more than two thousand baptised — in one of the largest movements of marginalised people to the Christian faith that India had known. What older directories logged only as a name becomes, in the fuller histories, a story that grew straight out of famine relief.
A single dim star that, after one night of catastrophe, blazed into a whole constellation.
- Known early as the “Lone Star” Mission for its small and struggling beginnings in the Telugu country, centred first at Nellore
- During the great famine of 1876–78, the Ongole missionary John E. Clough took a contract on a stretch of the Buckingham Canal and put famine-stricken Madiga labourers to work for wages, carrying many through the disaster
- Saw one of the largest mass movements in India after the famine — over two thousand people baptised on a single day in July 1878 (some 7,513 that month), with baptised Telugu believers numbering into the tens of thousands within a generation
- The movement spread north across the Telugu country into the Telangana districts of the Nizam of Hyderabad's dominions — Karimnagar, Medak, Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda
Sources: frykenberg-christianity-india p.270 · frykenberg-christianity-india p.271 · frykenberg-christianity-india p.272 · frykenberg-christianity-india p.273 · frykenberg-christianity-india p.274