Ahmadi Marthoma Church

The members of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church started migrating to various countries in the globe decades ago, and wherever they lived / settled, they were quite enthusiastic in getting together and worshipping the living God under their own identity.

During the second half of 1940s, a number of Indians were recruited to Kuwait by Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) when the oil exploration and drilling process were in progress in collaboration with Anglo Persian Oil Company and Gulf Oil Corporation. Among them, there were a number of Syrian Christians of different denominations from Kerala who had the privilege to be a part of the KOC workforce and reside in Ahmadi.

A small group of 5 among them met for the first time in a tent in August 1949 at Ahmadi Ridge (the present KOC Main Office area) for prayer. They continued their weekly fellowship meetings with prayer, intercession and discussions from the word of God. Within a very short period, the attendance increased considerably and the necessity for a place to have a common worship was seriously felt by the group. The Holy Spirit guided them to fulfil God’s plan. The common worship was started at Precincts No.4 Recreation Hall on Saturday, the 18th February 1950. The Rev. R. T. G. Pearson, Church of England Chaplain, inaugurated this worship service. Ever since, this common worship attained spiritual growth and developed into what was lately known as the ‘Ahmadi Malayalee Christian Congregation’.

Although worship services were regularly conducted by some of the members, the need for an occasional visit of a member of the clergy from the home Church was greatly felt. Efforts pursued with this object in view, resulted in the visit of Rev. Philip Oommen (now His Grace The Most Rev. Dr. Philipose Mar Chrysostom Valiya Metropolitan) in April 1952 as a guest of Kuwait Oil Company. The visit of Rev. Philip Oommen was a remarkable turning point in the history of Ahmadi Malayalee Christian Congregation.

Most of the Indian Christian believers from Kuwait City were attending worship services in Ahmadi Church under the flagship of Ahmadi Malayalee Christian Congregation until the time ‘Kuwait Town Malayalee Christian Congregation’ (KTMCC) was formed in 1952.

A memorable event witnessed by the Christian community in Ahmadi was the dedication ceremony of the St. Pauls Church in November 1956 by the Rt. Rev. W. H. Stewart, the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem. The Rt. Rev. C. K. Jacob, Bishop of the Church of South India represented the Malayalee Christian Congregation on this occasion.

Since then, the Anglican Church Chaplain was in-charge of St. Pauls Church, Ahmadi. He was authorized to allocate timings to all the different congregations for conducting their own worship services. The timing allocated to Malayalee Christian Congregation was from 07:00 to 08:30 p.m. on every Saturdays.

Worship services were conducted jointly by the Mar Thoma and CSI leaders. Mar Thoma Holy Communion services were conducted at this Church once in two months for its members by the Vicar of Kuwait Mar Thoma Parish since its inception at the American Mission Church (now known as the National Evangelical Church of Kuwait – NECK) in May 1963. Rev. M. O. Oommen took charge as the first Vicar of Kuwait Mar Thoma Parish. Ahmadi / Fahaheel area was one of the prayer groups of Kuwait Mar Thoma Parish until Ahmadi Mar Thoma Parish was formed in January 1984.