History of St.Pauls Tamil Church, Byculla
Since 1886
Our Church which comes under the diocesan of Bombay, is one of the oldest churches in Bombay. This church was established in the year 1863 & is the ever-first tamil church at Mumbai. No Wonder, being recknoned as the Mother Church of Tamil congregation in Mumbai . During 1861-62 an anglo-indian priest, Rev. J. wilson had conducted a worship in a classroom of Robert Money school to a mixed congregation of Tamil's, Marathi's and Hindustanis. The arrival of Madras based missionaries at Bombay in 1862 enroute to London conceived the birth of a Tamil Church.
By now, plans for a Church at Kamathipura was prepared and approval was recieved from the Bishop. The building was ready in 1871 and was consecrated on St.Pauls day, Jan 25th 1872.
In 1929 an old baptist chapel located in Bellasis Road, Byculla had been bought mainly through the S.P.G Mission sources and got converted as St.Paul's Tamil Church which was dedicated on August 27, 1929. The administration of St.Paul's church was effectively with Hindustani congregation and a joint committee was in existence where the Tamil congregation needed to share fifty percent of the expenses on maintenance. Tamil service was held at 8 am. On the instruction of the then Bishop on 19th june 1949, the Tamil service was shifted to Christ church, Byculla under Rev. P. Arthur, where the worship continues to be held till date.
The strength of this church lies with the 170 families at present. The church has a wonderful Choir, Women's Fellowship, dynamic Youth Group, Men's Fellowship and Sunday School. With every time aspect, the Church kept changing to betterment. Today the Church members are working towards the upliftment of downtrodden people in the society through a lot of outreach work like visiting prison, old age home, orphanages & so on. Regular Divine Services and other activities are conducted on respective days. The Presbyter-in-charge along with the Pastorate Committee and the congregation members work towards reaching Christ's mission and vision to the humankind.
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Our Mission
Here to Glorify God
At St. Paul's Tamil Church, we believe that the Bible is the true word of God, and that through faith in Jesus Christ and in doing His work, we may find redemption and reconciliation as His disciples. We pursue the Glory of God through worship, service, and biblical guidance and education.
Since 2000, we have strived to create a community in which the ideals and principles of our Savior are the driving force behind our everyday lives. We provide congregants a place where they can worship in a comfortable environment, and learn to extend the word of God to others.
Our Belief
Our Message to the Community
There is one living and true God, an infinite, all knowing Spirit, Immutable, perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, eternally existing in three persons โ Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
God is sovereign in creation, revelation, redemption and final judgment. Holy Scripture (all 66 books of the Bible) is divinely inspired, infallible as originally given and supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. Human kind is universally sinful and guilty since the fall, rendering all human beings subject to God's wrath and condemnation.
We are redeemed from the guilt, penalty and the power of the sin only through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, as our Representative and Substitute. Salvation is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
Jesus Christ the second person of the Trinity is coequal, cosubstantial, coeternal with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. He was born of virgin, lived a sinless life, died voluntarily for our sins, rose again bodily on the third day, ascended to heaven and He is going to personally return to this earth.
The necessary work of the Holy Spirit is to convict the individual sinner, grant him the grace for repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ. The indwelling and the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer is to administer gifts for the benefit of the Church and producing spiritual fruit in the lives of individual believers.
The one holy universal Church is the Body of Christ, to which all true believers belong and Christ is the head.
Baptism and the Lord's Supper are two ordinances that are committed to the local Church. Baptism is the solemn act of testimony of a believer. Lord's Supper is the commemoration and proclamation of His death until he comes.