About The Church
The Mar Thoma Church
The Mar Thoma Church
Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church (Malankara Mar Thoma Suriyani Sabha as it is called in native Malayalam) is one of the oldest groups of praticising Christians in the world. Believed to be followers of one of the original disciples of Jesus Christ - St. Thomas (also called Didimus or Thomas, the doubter). It is widely believed that the Apostle St. Thomas came to Muziris on the south west coast of India in AD 52 and laid the foundations of Christianity in this part of the world.
Today, the headquarters is located at SCS Campus, Thiruvalla, Kerala, India and has over a million adherents spread worldwide.
The goal and function adopted by the church is:
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To be the repository of the divine doctrines revealed by Jesus Christ and proclaimed by His Apostle
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To maintain these doctrines in their purity
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To promote the spiritual life of its members through the administration of sacraments and by the ministry of the WORD
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To make disciples of all nations by the proclamation of the Gospel to all the world, and through the administration of Holy Baptism in the name of True God
The evolution and growth of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church can be classified into three periods such as Pre- Reformation, Reformation and Post Reformation. The pre-reformation period tells the story of the Malabar Church and its connection with Persia, Portuguese, Dutch and British and their mission influence upon the Church. The reformation story tells the formation of the Mar Thoma Church as an independent Church with spirit of renewal and renascence. The post reform developments portray the story of the spiritual and temporal growth in institutional and developmental perspective.