ABOUT US

The church began when a few young men (Late Bro. C.K. Varghese, Late Bro. C. P. Kunjan, and Late Bro. C.K. Ittichan) came to search for a job in Bangalore. These young men were attending a Tamil fellowship soon after coming to the Lord. However, since all of them were Malayalees, they wanted to worship the Lord in Malayalam. Bro. Late K.C. Pappachan and his family joined hands with these young men to start a church in a small house in S. R. Nagar (Sampangirama Nagar) later registered under the Assembly of God church in the year 1969.

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pastor John was the first pastor of this small community followed by the Late Pastor Philip and his family (They were both students of SABC during that time). These few families worshipped the Lord in spirit and truth. The lifestyle was in poverty which incurs problems with rent and offering support to the pastor and his family, this led to 2 family members deciding to live together to ensure reduced expenses. As time passed the increased size of members attending this fellowship could not be sustained in the current space, which led to plans for expansion to a much bigger place to house the increasing number of members. Unfortunately, they needed help thinking of the funds for purchasing the land and construction.

 

However, the words of the Late Mrs Ittianma Pappachan who said, “Let’s do it, we can do it by the grace of God!” encouraged the church to take a step towards this goal. Ultimately, through contribution requests and asking for help the funds to purchase the plot have been secured but now the question of where and how to construct the church was on everyone’s mind. During that time there was a man of God from the USA named Dr Andrew McDearmid visiting SABC and wanting to contribute in some way to the Lord’s ministry, learning of this news Bro. Pappachan and his family and Pastor Philip and his family reached out to Dr Andrew on behalf of the church. Fortunately, the church received a large share of the funds for the construction and the rest was pitched in by church members, their families, relatives and friends.

 

These incredible feet have spiritually encouraged the next generations and new members on the kind of faith the church was established on. The main goal was to build a space big enough to house 200 people comfortably and to be made in a Kerala-style building, there was no space for a baptism tank hence the stage served a multipurpose as both a stage and a baptism tank. This fellowship is devoted to spreading God’s word so they used to bring lunch and collectively have their lunch and proceeded to visit hospitals, local areas, etc. to share the word of God.

​

 

Eventually, the church focused on Sunday school

and its activities this ministry encouraged many children in the

locality to gather and through them, God did terrific work in

their families and helped their families to receive salvation

in Jesus Christ. These early members of our church paved the

way for prayer and doing God’s work vigilantly and selflessly

for future generations. The fifth Sunday school anniversary

was held at the YMCA hall where many attended irrespective of

group or denomination this lit the fire for the church’s steady growth.

​

​

The church didn’t have a good parsonage since there were no full-time pastors, it was during Rev. A.G. Samkutty’s first pastoring term. By the time Rev. A.G. Samkutty transferred the church had grown and the finances were much more stable. During Late Rev. T.M. Daniel’s term as pastor, the church had grown to its fullest and many members had settled into good and blessed livelihoods and lives, many people migrating to Bangalore looking for good jobs became part of the church. Under the leadership of Rev. A.G. Samkutty’s second term as pastor, the church extended to 3 different locations which are currently functioning as full-fledged churches. The pioneers of the church took on roles of the functioning committee hence the C.A. Committee came into existence, where men and women of the church were given equal opportunities to hold office for various affairs of the church. Sunday school was reformed into its working style under the leadership of Re. Devdas (who was then a member), during Rev. O.J. Thomas’s term the pastorage was rebuilt and made a new space for Sunday school. As time passed the need for a Tamil service came up since there were Tamil members joining who didn’t understand Malayalam hence a new service for Tamil members was started in the morning hours led by Bro. Robert and Rev. D. Justin John.

 

Pastoring of Rev. O.J. Thomas was succeeded by Rev. Mani Immanuel, during his time, English service came into existence. Mrs Kanamma Mani reintroduced the women’s wing which was diminished during Rev. A.G. Samkutty’s time. Rev. C.G. Baboos succeeded Rev. Mani. Rev. Baboos encouraged the youth to take an active part in the church and also opened opportunities to preach in the English services. Music was added as an important part of the church worship which led to bringing up great and talented musicians and preachers. The church also has a Kannada service in Bommanahalli. During Rev. Baboos’s term, many church members had taken up a full-time ministry. Rev C. G. Baboos introduced various prayer meetings and (3 days monthly, 7 days half-yearly and 21 days yearly) fasting prayers and also combined services. Rev. C.G. Baboos holds the title of the longest-tenured pastor of Salem A.G. Church. 

 

Now the church has Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada services, and the vision of the church’s pioneers is carried onto the future generations bringing up ministry-minded individuals striving to serve the Lord and share the Gospel passionately and helping souls taste and see how good our Lord Jesus Christ is.