Church History
C S I St. Stephen’s English Church, Pallavaram
Church History
The history of St. Stephen’s English Church dates back to the year 1823, when it was linked together with St. Thomas Mount under one Chaplaincy. Military personnel, their families and civilians then had to trek the nearly 5 km stretch to St. Thomas Mount to worship. Taking this hardship into account, the Military opened up one of their main guard buildings at Pallavaram in 1847 for both religious and educational use. Leaving aside the age of the Church building, the history of our Church at Pallavaram dates back to this year, when worship started at Pallavaram and interestingly the first baptism on the Church records dates to 1858, 11 years after the church got established in Pallavaram.
In 1901, since the building housing the Church was found unfit for use, the then Barrack No. 4 (currently housing St. Stephen’s Matric. School) was opened up for use both as a Church and School. Thus, the first worship in the present campus started at 1901. After the first World war (1914-18), the Barrack was considered unfit for use and subsequently, the worshippers were left with no place for worship.
Many people strived and particularly 4 widows – Ms. Light Foot, Ms. C. Gomes, Ms. A.E Drink Water and Ms. E. Mc Kenzie started a Church building fund with the approval of the Chaplain. The Government allotted the land adjacent to Barrack No. 4 (where our Church stands today) on perpetual lease and on August 20, 1934, the foundation stone was laid by his Excellency Sir. George Frederick Stanley, the then Governor of Madras. The need for the Church was so intense that the Church (barring the main entrance and two vestries) were completed in just 11 months and was consecrated in honour of the first Martyr, St. Stephen on 21 July 1935 by the then Bishop Harry Waller. The main entrance and vestries were completed in December 1950.
The school housed in Barrack No. 4 was named as St. Stephen’s Church School and was directly administered by the Church till early 1980’s when the CSI diocese took up the administration and the School was then renamed as St. Stephen’s Matriculation School.
Throughout, St. Stephen’s remained as one among the few Anglican Churches in the erstwhile Madras Presidency and after the Church of South India (CSI) was formed on 27 September 1949, it became a part of the CSI. The Church today continues to be one among the few CSI churches following the Anglican worship and is currently part of the St. Thomas Garrison – St. Stephen’s English Church Pastorate. In 2012, the Pallavaram Cantonment named the road leading to the Church from the GST road as “Stephen’s Church road” and put up the signage to this effect at the road entrance.
St. Stephen’s today has members worshipping not only from in and around Pallavaram, but from the farthest ends of the city, besides people from other states who have made Chennai their second home due to the IT boom and few families from the army residential enclave situated beside the Church.
Rev. Dr. A. Ruben Jeyakumar is currently the Chairman and Presbyter of the Church. The Church has services every Sunday at 8:00 AM (Holy Communion on I, II & IV Sunday and Matins on II & V Sunday). Sunday School is held at 8:20 AM.
Vision & Mission
The Church of South India (CSI) affirms that the purpose of the union is to fulfill the priestly prayer of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church “That they all may be one, and that the world may believe that you have sent me”. And the Church of South India would become an effective instrument of God’s mission so there will be greater peace, closer fellowship and fuller life in the Church and a renewed commitment for the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through word and deed.
The intertwining of the lotus with the cross along with fiery tongues of the Holy Spirit is an authentic Indian expression of people’s communion with God.
The mission statement of the CSI is “The Church of South India affirms that the church is the servant of God to carry on the mission rooted in Jesus Christ and based on the scriptures. The church through her mission, expresses solidarity with the broken communities for a new hope to face the challenges of life. The cross continues to be the sign of hope for the witnessing church, which strives towards unity, peace and reconciliation as a vibrant channel of God”.
