Leadership That Inspires

Born on 8 July 1862 in Bicester, Oxfordshire, England, Rev. Arthur Stephen Paynter came from a distinguished Cornwall family with roots in brewing. At the age of eighteen, a spiritual awakening turned his path away from the family business and toward a life devoted to religious service.

He joined The Salvation Army in 1882 and worked closely with its founder, William Booth, before dedicating himself to missionary work in India. In 1897, together with Rev. Henry Martin Greet, he co-founded an Anglican Mission in India's Kumaon region, and went on to establish the India Christian Mission (ICM) in the Almora District, later extending its work to Punjab, Nainital, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Chennai.

On 28 September 1903, in response to a request from the local community, he arrived in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, where he was welcomed by the local Zamindar and where the mission's roots in this region began. His decades of radiant faith and selfless dedication laid the foundation for the legacy of service, care and education that ICM continues to carry forward today.

Under the visionary leadership of Most Rev. Dr. Victor Amrutha Rao Nakka, the first Bishop of the India Christian Mission Church, the Church underwent a reformation in the year 2000 and became autocephalous — self-governing — while carefully preserving the rich heritage and apostolic foundations laid by its founders.

Central to his vision was the conviction that faith and service to the community are inseparable from access to good education. He believed that no child should be denied the opportunity to learn because of family circumstance, and worked to bring quality, English-medium education within reach of families in even the smallest towns and villages.

That same belief — that every child deserves an education rooted equally in knowledge, values and opportunity, regardless of background — continues to guide institutions raised under ICM, including ICM Jubilee English Medium School, to this day.

Trained within a rich tradition of priestly service before returning to lead the India Christian Mission Church, Bishop John S D Raju Nakka has guided the growth of ICM into an organised body with dioceses across Krishna-Godavari, Punjab, Tripura and West Bengal, alongside mission and education centres in Hyderabad, Uttarakhand and beyond.

As President of the Andhra Pradesh Council of Churches and Vice President of the Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches, he has consistently championed education as a cornerstone of community upliftment — holding that schools built on strong values give children not just knowledge, but confidence, character and a genuine path forward.

It is this same vision that shapes the mission of ICM Jubilee English Medium School: to nurture young minds in Hanuman Junction and the surrounding villages through education that is affordable, inclusive, and rooted in Love, Care and Serve.