The life of Rev. P. P. Thomas
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Rev. P. P Thomas
Born: 8-9-1927 | Died: 20-3-2005
Early life and dedication for the Lord's work
Rev. P. P. Thomas zealously served the Lord till the age of 78. He was born on September 8th, 1927, as the fifth child of Evangelist P. P. Pothen and Mrs. Mariamma Pothen. Better known as Pallathil Papi Upadesi, P. P. Pothen was a member of the Anaparambal Mar Thoma Parish and a self supporting voluntary evangelist. He used to host many servants of God in his home regularly. At the age of 6, Thomas accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour through the preaching of one Mrs. Eliamma Oommen. Prayers and conversations in the family environment he committed himself to a life of evangelism. When he completed his high school education, he had two options to choose from. The first was to seek secular employment and work in order to support his parents and brothers and the other was to devote himself to the work of the gospel. He chose the latter with the blessing and support of his parents and siblings.
Journey to the Lord's Vineyard:
He joined the South India Bible Institute at Bangarpet and to train himself for the ministry. At the age of 20, he had an experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit and he was empowered and on fire for the Lord. He learned the Kannada language and worked as a missionary with World Gospel Mission in the villages of Karnataka till 1962.
In 1956, he married, Mary Thomas, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. V.M. Thomas, Valiakalayil, who had migrated to Nilambur in Malabar from Kuriyannoor in Central Travancore during the late 1940’s. She too was a graduate of SIBI, Bangarpet and at the time of their marriage, she was working as a missionary of the Mar Thomas Church’s Hoskote Mission.
Preparation for the ministry
During 1954–55 for some time, under the leadership of Mr. K. V. Cheriachan of the All Kerala Christian Fellowship, the Lord used His servant to energise and spiritually challenge the churches in Travancore.
After their wedding, the newlyweds were waiting by the roadside for their bus in Nilambur, when they noticed a man who seemed not to have been touched by civilisation, walking by. When Thomas inquired eagerly about the community of this person, he came to know that he belonged to a tribe living in the hills. He realised that the cause of their being out of touch with civilisation and its blessings, was that they had not heard the gospel of the living Christ, their Saviour. Mr & Mrs. Thomas continued on to serve the Lord in Bangarpet with the image of this tribal man in their hearts and an earnest desire to preach the gospel among them.
Ordained ministry and evangelism in Malabar
In response to the request from the newly formed St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India which he chose to join, he agreed to become a presbyter of the church. He was ordained as an Achan (Presbyter) in 1961, by the Presiding Bishop of STECI, the Most Rev. K.N. Oommen and Right Rev. P. John Varghese. Though initially he was posted in Nilambur in Malabar region as per his request, he was sent to serve in the parishes in Bombay, Pune and Ahmedabad in 1963. Rev. P.P. Thomas returned to Malabar in 1967 on transfer to resume his calling to be a missionary among the peoples in Malabar. In addition to the pastoral ministry in the churches, he saw this as his calling: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6). He offered himself up as a sacrifice to bring the gospel of salvation through Christ Jesus to the more than fifteen million people of Malabar.
Formation of Malabar Bible Fellowship:
The STECI parishes of South Canara, Gudalur, and Malabar were spread over three states over which Rev. Thomas was the sole vicar. He would organise gospel meetings alongside these parish members over and above the regular church programs. On one day of the week, he would bring believers from other churches also to the parsonage for prayer, where they would plan to go eight to ten kilometres on foot to do open air preaching, distribute pamphlets, and distribute bibles and other christian literature.
In the late nineteen sixties when the schism in the STECI resulted in court cases and a loss of the original vision, Rev. Thomas did not join either party but worked tirelessly for church unity and spiritual revival. Toward this goal, the Evangelical Church Revival Movement was started in 1969 by the like-minded believers in the church, who did not associate with any party. Rev. Thomas functioned as the President of the ECRM as long as it existed. He incurred the active displeasure of both parties as a result of his independent stance. However, this opened the way for him and the parishioners who shared his vision, to focus exclusively on the evangelisation of Malabar as a result of the weekly prayer meetings held at the parsonage in Nilambur, Malabar evangelisation began to progress. Those who were interested in prayer and the mission, brought with them their own humble and limited abilities and financial resources, and continued to evangelise the nearby areas. Some of those who gave their all for this effort were, K.M. Mathai, K.M. Chacko, A. K. Easow, O. T. Thomas, P.M. George, C.A. Thomas, Kutty Upadesi, Vallakalil V. J. John, M.C. Varghese, A.V. Varkey, Easow Koshy, Ponvelil John (Kuttichayan), Evangelist K. George and a few others. As a result of the desire of these brothers and many elderly ladies in the parishioners who were supporters of these activities (like Valliamma Thazhathekkoottu who lived to be 118 years) and as led by the Lord during their weekly prayer meetings the Malabar Bible Fellowship was formed in 1974 and was registered as a Charitable Society in 1976. The first missionary, O.T. Varghese (current MBF President), and the late Rev. P.V. Eapen, were appointed as the first full time missionaries. Today about 8 missionary families and one single lady missionary are staying in different districts of Malabar and doing the Lord’s work zealously. The Lord was pleased to see hundreds of people coming to Christ and enabling the planting of several churches in many places. The desire of Rev. Thomas whose life was a life of faith from beginning to end, a desire which he used to express very often was that the lamp of his life should extinguish while he was preaching the gospel. And the Lord graciously granted his wish.
His last hours
Our P.P. Thomas achan, who was zealously doing the Lord’s work and tirelessly so, had planned for an intensive week of evangelism during the Passion week of 2005. He was much concerned by the fact that open air preaching was not happening as in the past and he had planned for a week long series of such meetings in different places. The first of such programs was to take place on the Palm Sunday evening. After the regular morning service at the church, he was preaching at a public meeting in the heart of the Nilambur town at 4 pm and ended his speech by giving the Bible to a drunkard and asking him to read it and challenged him to be saved, so that he can see him in the Kingdom of God. Before he ended the message, he had what later turned out to be a massive heart attack. He rested for a few minutes and after drinking a soda, he continued to preach and concluded the message. He was completely exhausted by then. After coming home and resting for half an hour, he was still not feeling well and he was taken to Grace Hospital. At 8:05 in the night, he went to his eternal rest, to the bosom of his Heavenly Father.
Every Sunday after the services that started early in the morning, the teaching of the Word, the sermons, the duties of the parish, the affairs of the Fellowship, and listening to the spiritual, material, and family problems of the common believers, the Lord realised that he had fought the good fight enough, run the race and had kept the faith. Now he needed to rest. His passing and the manner of his passing shook up a lot of believers and motivated them to stand up for the gospel and involve themselves more deeply in the Kingdom of God. His mortal remains were interred a week later in the MBF cemetery at the Bible Fellowship Centre.
It is our desire that the life and ministry of Rev. P. P. Thomas, a humble servant of God, will inspire many in the years to come to be faithful stewards of the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.