About Us
Mrs. & Pr. K.E. Abraham
The origin of the Pentecostal movement in the very early part of the 20th century and its growth thereafter can be compared to the growth of the mustard seed in the parable of our Lord and as we read in Mathew 13:31,32. Today the Pentecostal movement has spread its branches to the four corners of the world.It so happened that some of the messages regarding the infilling of the Holy Spirit prepared and distributed by Mr. Burg as the “Midnight Echo” and “Midnight Cry” happened to fall into the hands of Pastor K.E.Abraham. This encouraged him to seek for a similar experience. One Sunday the 22nd April 1923, he had a vision of the crucified Lord and started speaking in tongues. By January 1924, there was a gathering of Pentecostal believers at Mulakuzha (Kerala). They used to come together for worship and for breaking of bread. Soon it developed into a Pentecostal Assembly. Such assemblies sprung up at places of Kerala like Pandalam, Vettiyar, and Elanthoor.
In the beginning, this small groups did not have any special name. It was the God given vision to them that the ministry should go on independently without any domination from outside people, but with the cooperation of people of like belief everywhere. At this time marriage had to be solemnized at Mulakuzha. This necessitated the printing of a marriage register and giving a name to the church. The name adopted was, “The South Indian Pentecostal Church of God.”
Pastor Abraham shifted his residence to Kumbanad. At the new station, he felt the needs to open a Bible School to train the gospel workers. The Hebron Bible School came into being in June 1930 with just one teacher, Pastor Abraham. Pastor P.T. Chacko joined as a teacher next year. Pastor P.M.Samuel, a coworker of Pastor K.E.Abraham was led by the Holy spirit to move to Andhra Pradesh and thus by faith came to Vijayawada and started the ministry. Soon the ministry began flourishing in various parts of Andhra Pradesh and subsequently spread to Tamil Nadu
As the work grew in other parts of India, it became necessary to give a relevant name and as per the decision of the council the name was changed to “The Indian Pentecostal Church of God”.
IPC West Bengal State
Kolkata is the City where Dr. William Carey the father of modern missions worked and created history. He worked in and around The City known as “the City of Joy” and the “City of Mother Teresa” is well known worldwide for different reasons and needs no more introductions. It is the gateway of India, through which, the East India Company came and conquered the whole of India. It was the Capital of India for a long time. Though Kolkata has a great heritage, it is a fact that the Churches have not grown here. The Christian population is only 0.72 % in West Bengal.
In the year 1935 the founder president of I.P.C. Pastor. K. E. Abraham visited Calcutta along with Pastor. P. T. Chacko. From that time onwards there was a regular visit of the leaders to Calcutta and they helped the Pentecostal movement in Calcutta. Pastor C. T. Thomas visited Calcutta in 1949 and Pastor. P.T. Chacko, Pastor. P.M. Philip, Pastor. K. J. Philip Pastor. V.T. Thomas and many others visited Calcutta later on. In the sixties, the need to plant a Church was felt and Br. Gee Varghese took the initiative of starting a local Church and getting it accepted by IPC General Council. Later when the Church members mainly Malayalies left Calcutta the Church was discontinued.
In 1983 the work was restarted in Calcutta under the Northern Region of IPC General Council by few believers. The first Church of IPC in Kolkata was IPC Kolkata Prayer Center. It was a Malayalam Church. The need to start a Bengali Church was felt and after much prayer and effort by the believers and Pastors, the first Bengali Church ‘IPC ChristeSohobhagita’ started in 2007. Soon a Mission Board was formed by IPC Kolkata Prayer Center and work spread to Baguihati (North Kolkata) and to Kharagpur.
In 2009 IPC Kolkata zone was formed under IPC General Council for the furtherance, improvement, and better administration of the work and with an intention to plant more Churches under the leadership of Pastor P.A. Kurian. Soon IPC Kolkata Bible Training Center was started to train native ministers of the Gospel and the work spread to different villages in West Bengal. In 2016 IPC General Council has granted the status of State to Kolkata Zone. Now the ministry of IPC West Bengal State is growing under West Bengal State Council.
| WEST BENGAL | |
|---|---|
| State Capital | Kolkata |
| Official Language | Bengali |
| No. of Districts | 23 |
| Total Area | 88,752 Km2 |
| Population | 9,12,76,115 |
| No. of Towns | 396 |
| No. of Inhabited Villages | 37,469 |
| Population Density (Per Sq. KM) | 1,028 |
| Literacy Rate | 77.08% |
| Hindus | 70.54% |
| Muslims | 27.01% |
| Christians | 0.72% |
| Others | 1.73% |
West Bengal is a dry land for mission work. Though the area has a lot of potentials, the devil has made the land unproductive in all areas. Calcutta is called the gateway of India. The British came to India through this place and ruled the whole India. This is a strategic place which controls a vast area and a great multitude of people. This area is a big challenge for us. We are confident that God will very soon bring a revival here. In fact, He has already started to bring the changes and vision is already being realized through the ministry of Indian Pentecostal Church of God.