The Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar is part of the ancient Christian community in Kerala, India founded by St Thomas one of the disciples of Jesus in A.D.52. The Church established links with the Church in Antioch and Syria and thus antiochean forms of worship were accepted in the Church of Malabar.
Reformation in the Malabar Church was brought about through the missionary endeavours of the Church Missionary Society in London, which sent missionaries to Malabar. With this association with the Anglican CMS missionaries, Abraham Malpan and Geevarghese Malpan initiated reformation in the Church on scriptural principles in the 19th century. The Church maintains and preserves its essential character as an Eastern Church with autonomy, evangelical and Biblical emphasis, reforming spirit, episcopal heritage, its nature as a bridge church (between traditional orthodoxy of East and reformation of the West) and its focus on the place of laity.