[3] The church, along with other buildings of the Tranquebar Mission, was damaged during the tsunami of 2004, and were renovated at a cost of INR 7 million, and re-consecrated in 2006.

The Tamil converts also did not want to worship in the European Zion Church, as they had negative opinions about their lifestyle and morals.

[citation needed] Starting from 1 October 1706, Ziegenbalg organised the Tamil congregation on Sundays at his house, which was used as a school on other days.

Governor Hassius donated 20000 bricks towards the cause of raising the new church at Tranquebar, and also allotted land at the Sollingar quarter of the colony.

The registers of the church commenced on 12 May 1707, and indicate most of the congregation were servants of Europeans, former converts from Roman Catholicism, many children and women.

Appeals for funds were made to Johann Georg von Holstein the privy counsellor to King Frederick IV in October 1713, and to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) London.

Further after the return of Ziegenbalg from Europe, Governor C B Lundegaard sold the empty land between the houses of the missionaries for 100 royal dollars.

Further, the governor also gave duty-free status for the materials used for building the church and also appointed to two master artisans to oversee the work.

In 1711, he convinced the Martin Luther University at Halle to start scholarly study into the Tamil language.

Ziegenbalg championed the cause of women's education and for abolition of caste system, and gained the respect of the local people.

[13] The New Jerusalem Church at Tranquebar is built in the Danish architecture style, incorporating few Indian elements in the design.

The stones used in construction were quarried from the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) colony of Sadras, 70 km south of Madras, and shipped by boats to Tranquebar.

The baptism font has a pictorial motif by Pastor Jonas Smit, depicting a Brahmin bathing in a river, emerging clean thereafter.

The event was organised by the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC), with many international delegates from USA, France, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, etc.

[1][4] India Post also released a special stamp to mark the occasion, with a portrait of Ziegenbalg and the New Jerusalem Church in the background.