Hans Peter Boerresen was sent to India in 1864 by
Berlin based Gossner Missionary Society to evangelizing North Indian aborigines. He was initially placed at station
Purulia, now in
West Bengal to work along with
Lars Olsen Skrefsrud. In 1867, he and Lars Olsen Skrefsrud left the Gossner Mission along with Edward Colpys Johnson, from the
Baptist Missionary Society. They founded
Ebenezer Mission station at Benagaria in the
Santal Parganas. They started the new mission station to work among aborigines (Santals, Bodos, Bengalis, and
Bihari people) on their own. Boerresen became fundraiser for the mission, while Skrefsrud gave the mission its dynamic character and resolute sense of purpose. Skrefsrud learned the
Santali language and published a Santali grammar in 1873, which was of higher quality than the prior work of
Jeremiah Phillips which dated to 1852. In 1868, he and Skrefsrud settled in
Assam where they founded
Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church, which centered on North India, with members from among Santals (in majority), Bengali, and
Boros. In 1877, Børresen returned to
Copenhagen where he continued his work as a priest. ==See also==