St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India

Saint Thomas Christian's - Divisions- History

The St. Thomas Evangelical Church is one of several groups of Saint Thomas Christians who trace their origins to St. Thomas the Apostle who, according to their tradition, came to India in AD 52.

Until 1961, the Church's history was deeply connected to the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church.

In the 1800s, South Indian Christians were in contact with British missionaries during the time of British colonialism. The missionaries facilitated the translation of the Bible into Malayalam in 1811; this was the first vernacular Bible in Kerala. Further changes introduced by the influence of missionaries led to a schism within the Thomas Christians.[1]

By the 1830s, some clergy in the St Thomas Church were looking at reform, particularly in the area of rituals. This movement led to the St Thomas Church establishing the Mar Thoma Evangelistic Association (MTEA) in 1888.[2]

In the 1950s, reforms within the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church led to some members creating the Mar Thoma Pathiopadesa Samathy (St Thomas Organisation for Sound Doctrine) in 1952. In 1960, four presbyters (P John Varghese, P I Mathal, CM Vaghese and KO John) were suspended. This led to the establishment of the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India (STECI), on January 26, 1961, with 20 ministers and 25,000 lay Christians.[3]

STECI established the Jubilee Memorial Bible College in Chennai in August 1987.[4] The college trains students from almost 20 different denominations and has links to the Biblical Graduate School of Theology in Singapore and Columbia International University in the US.

In 2023, the Church has seven dioceses. Four of these are in Kerala; the others are "Bahya Kerala" ‘’Gulf and Singapore’’ and ‘’North America and Europe’’.[8] The dioceses cover 240 parishes.[9]

Clergy in 1961

• Bishop KN Oommen (Late)
• Bishop P John Varughese (Late)
• Bishop Dr. TC Cherian (Retd.)
• Bishop Dr. MK Koshy (Retd.)
• Bishop A.I Alexander (Retd.)
• Bishop Dr CV Mathew (Retd.)
• Bishop Most Rev Dr Thomas Abraham (Presiding Bishop from 2019)
• Bishop Rt Rev Dr Abraham Chacko (Prathinidhi sabha Adhyakshan from 2019)

• Board for Evangelistic Work
• Board for Youth Work
• Board for Women's Work
• Board for Sunday School Work
• Education Board
• Department of Music & Communications

• P. T. Chandapilla

• Official website