Ministry at Ponneri

Ministry at Ponneri in Thiruppathur District

It was at the beginning of 1995, Rev. Jayasingh went to meet the then chairman of LCM late Rt. Rev. Sam. J. Ponniah who was also the Bishop of the Vellore diocese. While they were talking an evangelist named Sam working in the Yelagiri hills joined them. Mr. Sam was sharing a concern that nobody is there to proclaim the gospel to the people in Ponneri after the demise of Dr. Paton. Dr. Paton was the pioneer to spread the love of Jesus to the people of Ponneri. Rev. Jayasingh accepted the challenge asking Mr. Sam to find a convert from the same community. People in Ponneri are vehement especially when it comes to caste and community. God provided a convert, Mr. Jayaraj Shanmugam from the same community. Hence, the ministry in Ponneri was started on 14th April 1995, which also happened to be a Good Friday.

There was a lot of opposition from the community but Mr. Jayaraj Shanmugam with the grace of God shared the gospel. Initially people opposed saying that you are converting people to Christianity, but we were able to tell them that we are not here for changing the religion but for the changing the hearts of people. People started accepting Christ, some came only for healing, some came to be relived from the evil spirits. After seven years of toil, seven people were ready to be baptised. They were baptised and were added to the CSI Jolarpettai Church. Late Rev. Selvamony and Late Rev. John retired Presbyters from the Kanyakumari Diocese often visited Ponneri and shared the love of Christ with villagers and many started coming for worship.

LCM purchased 25 cents of land through the donation that came from Mr. Nelson Samuel of T.Nagar, Chennai. LCM was able to construct a chapel and a small house for the evangelist. God raised people from Chennai to provide for the construction of the building. Late Mr. Albert of CSI Santhome Tamil Church, Chennai asked his children to donate the birthday gifts for him in cash towards the construction of the Chapel in Ponneri.

Contribution from Kanyakumari through kind for the chapel came in through Mr. Genes Lal and also through the efforts of Late Rev. Selvamony and Late Rev. John.

The chapel was over flowing. So much was the response to the gospel shared by Mr. Jayaraj Shanmugam, Mrs. & Mr. Albert, Mrs. & Mr. Genes Lal, Mrs. & Mr. Prathaban from time to time. Late Rev. Jayamathy Jayasingh monitored the work very closely.

Currently we have a Bible woman Mrs. Glory Prema who is our own fruit of the labour. She works among the woman folk and encourages them in the Lord. We have also appointed Mr. Anbarasan, a convert. He shares the gospel among the men in Ponneri.