Marshalswick Baptist Free Church

The Rev Pallabaptti Theophilus, his wife Mradhuravani, and their son-in-law, Pastor Prakash Raj, spent some time with the fellowship at Marshalswick Baptist Free Church following the Baptist World Congress, held in Birmingham at the end of July.

Attending the Congress had provided these three with an opportunity to make their first visit to Britain - and they wanted to experience life at a Baptist church in the UK before they went home. At the end of the Congress, Theophilus was - as he put it - waiting to see whom the Lord would send, and along came Marshalswick's Graham Clarke.

Theophilus was brought up in the Baptist church in Karkinara, where his grandfather was the pastor and his parents - members of the church - were teachers in the town. Theophilus was born prematurely and had not been expected to live. Like Hannah in the Bible, his mother had prayed that, if God would spare her son’s life, she would dedicate his life to God's work.

This, however, had little effect on Theophilus, who showed much more interest in English literature than in the things of God. Commenting on his first visit to London - made while he was staying in Marshalswick, he said: "Having studied English literature all those years ago, it was a dream come true to be able to visit London - so that I could see Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and some of the historic places that are mentioned in the great works of English literature."

Theophilus received a degree in English literature and was planning further study but then, in his 21st year, he became seriously ill.

"I resolved that, if I became well again, I would dedicate my life to serve God," he said. And so, when he had recovered his health, he entered Serampore College to study for a bachelor of divinity degree. Opened on 15th July 1818, Serampore College was founded by William Carey, Joshua Marshman, and William Ward, of the Baptist Missionary Society.

After graduating - some 25 years ago - Theophilus worked first in West Bengal, at a place near Kolkata (Calcutta); then moved to Calvary Baptist Church in his home state of Andhra Pradesh, before arriving at the Simms Memorial Baptist Church, in Vizianagram, Andhra Pradesh. Some six years later, arguments had broken out among the members of the church which were so serious that they have resulted in litigation. So, in 1995, Theophilus and his family decided - while staying in contact with all the members and former members of Simms Memorial Baptist Church - to begin a new work. They chose, as their headquarters, a building some 200 yards from their previous church and the Baptist Christ Fellowship (BCF) began.

"The churches in India cater for Indians who are Christians," said Theophilus. "So we decided to reach out to the Hindus."

In ten years, Theophilus and Mradhuravani have seen the BCF grow to a church of nearly 600 members (out of a population of some 200,000 in Vizianagram).

"Church members listen to the word of God, share their testimonies and pray," Theophilus said, "and we have seen members of the church experience some miraculous healing in their lives.

"Hindus - and former Hindus - tend to place a great emphasis on caste," he added. "We believe that it is important to elevate those within the church who are of a low caste, so we do this by encouraging them and training them to become deacons and evangelists within the church."

The BCF has carried out a number of surveys of the surrounding villages before starting its evangelistic work.

Theophilus explained: "We want to find out first if there are any Christians in a particular village. If there are, we go to another village because we don't want to upset another church's mission or 'steal' other people's converts.

"So far, we have identified six villages within which we're working - and we currently have more than 30 people in each village who have become Christians.

"The people in these villages are exceptionally poor. They don't have money to build a church, for example. What they do to support the work of the church is to save a handful of rice from each meal that they cook and give that to the village's evangelist for the evangelist to give to those who are in need. The evangelists receive 500 rupees (about £7) a month from the BCF for their living expenses.”

Theophilus and his wife have four daughters, one son and eight grandchildren. Two of their grandchildren are children of their daughter, Diana Rose, who is married to Prakash Raj. Prakash is pastor of the Calvary Telugu Baptist Church (CTBC) in Chennai - once known as Madras - in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Chennai is now home to some 600,000 people - some 80 of whom belong to the CTBC.

"I became a Christian in 1994, when I was 20 years old," said Prakash, "so I have spent 11 years in the Christian ministry so far.

"We work among some of the poorest people in Chennai, many of whom live on the streets. We work with children, educating them and providing homes for orphans. We have ministries devoted to women and young people, along with evangelism and medical programmes."

Prakash hopes to continue his studies during his stay in the UK - which will last until November.

"We need your prayers for new churches to be planted in the villages around Vizianagram; for increases in the number of Christians and the continued development of their spiritual lives," said Theophilus. "We need your prayers - and more tangible support - to enable our evangelists to take the gospel to these villages."

"We would also ask you to pray for our ministry among older women and widows - who do not receive the State-funded support that widows in the UK receive," said Mradhuravani. "Please pray, too, for our church's 'Bible women' as they take the gospel into the houses of their neighbours."

Theophilus explained that, in India, a man - even a minister - seen entering a house to talk to a woman during the day (while husbands are at work) is frowned upon. So the women of the church - known as 'Bible women' - undertake the day-to-day, door-to-door pastoral and evangelical roles.

Prakash added: "In Chennai, we need money to build a proper church building, which can also act as a place where we can educate the children who live in the slums."

In addition to the collections that were taken at the end of the services in the church on 7th August to support the work of the BCF in Vizianagram and Calvary Telugu Baptist Church (CTBC) in Chennai, Theophilus and Prakash received further gifts from Marshalswick Baptist Free Church.

If you would like to find out more about the work of the BCF and the CTBC, you can contact:

Rev P Theophilus, Baptist Christ Fellowship, Near Hotel Ravi Raj, MG Road, Vizianagram - 1, Andhra Pradesh, India - 535 001 and Pastor Prakash Raj, PO Box 2527, Chennai - 600 030, Tamil Nadu, India (email osprakashraj2001@yahoo.co.in).

By Robert Little.