The Schleswig-Holstein Evangelical Lutheran Missionary Society at Breklum had begun work in the Rajahmundry area in 1845 but five years later was compelled to transfer this station to an American group. In 1882 missionaries Pohl and Bothman, representing the Breklum Mission, with great difficulty succeeded in establishing a field on the northern fringe of the Telegu area in the Koraput district of Orissa state. Work proceeded slowly at first, due to the lack of a written language and the backwardness of the pople, an animistic outcaste group. Stations were opened at Salur and Koraput, an educational system was developed, and literature was prepared in the Oriya tongue. In time a mass movement grew among the Dambas, and heavy reliance was placed on the pastoral services of native catechists. With the internment of Breklum missionaries in 1914, orphaned mission assistance was given by the General Council (ULCA) which sent missionaries from its Rajahmundry field and subsidies. Danish missionaries were permitted to return to the Jeypore area in 1924, German missionaries soon thereafter, so that in 1928 the ULCA board returned the entire field to the Breklum society's administration. In that year the Breklum Mission, retaining the western part of the Jeypore field, organized the first synod. The eastern part of the Jeypore field was transferred to a new Danish society which became part of the Danish Missionary Society in 1932. Following the second internment of German missionaries in the 1940's, National Lutheran Council relief funds were funneled to the Jeypore Church through the FELCI, and American missionaries again manned certain key posts. In 1950 the Indian Church constitution was adopted. The seminary at Kotapad trains lay leaders as well as pastors.


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