The St. Thomas Mar Thoma Church Bristol began as a small gathering of a few families who had moved from the Middle East and Kerala to Bristol for employment. Longing for Christian fellowship, the newly arrived families gathered at the residence of Mr. Z. Abraham (Prakash) for a prayer meeting for the first time on Christmas Eve of the year 2000 and then again on New Year's Eve of the year 2000.
On 16th June 2001 on Mr. Prakash's initiative, all the Kerala Christian families in Bristol got together at Baptist Church hall in Eastville for a prayer meeting. Around fifty people attended the prayer meeting. Following this meeting, these families met at one other's houses every week for prayer. Gradually, the Mar Thoma families got in touch with our mother parish St. John's Mar Thoma Church in Hounslow and requested the vicar Rev. K.V. Cherian to arrange a prayer meeting in Bristol.
On 25th January 2002, under the leadership of Rev. K.V Cherian, Mr. Abraham Kuriakose (Benoy) arranged the first Bristol Mar Thoma prayer meeting at the Baptist Church hall in Eastville. Around sixty people attended this prayer meeting. The following day, Rev. K.V. Cherian met all the Mar Thoma families in Bristol. The next prayer meeting was held on the 3rd June 2002, lead by Rev. K.V. Cherian. A few more Mar Thoma families got introduced to this prayer meeting. Following this meeting Rev. K. V. Cherian visited a few more families in Wales and Bath area and discussed about the possibilities of conducting regular communion services in Bristol.
To participate in a Holy Communion service in our mother tongue was the dream of every member of the Mar Thoma community in Bristol. By God's grace, this dream was realized in August 2002. The first Holy Communion service was held on 24th August 2002 at St. Anne's Church (COE) Eastville. This service was lead by Rev. Prasad Mathew (vicar of St. James Mar Thoma Church, London) and Rev. K. V. Cherian (St. John's Mar Thoma Church, Hounslow). The message was delivered by Rev. Sam Valsalan. An inaugural meeting followed the service in which Rev. Jane Hayward (vicar of St. Anne's Church (COE)), Rev. Sam Valsalan (Methodist Church) and Rev. Fr. Richard McKay (vicar of St. Nicholas Catholic Church) were the main guests. Around one hundred and fifty people attended the ceremony which included people from London Mar Thoma churches and from other sister churches in Bristol.
We made a formal arrangement with St. Anne's Church (COE) Eastville, to conduct the Mar Thoma Holy Communion service on a regular basis. On 23rd Nov 2002, a general meeting was held following the Holy Communion service. A decision was taken to conduct a Holy Communion service every second Saturday morning from 2003 January onwards. Two members were selected to coordinate the prayer meetings and Holy Communion services.
In order to form a Mar Thoma congregation in Bristol, as advised by vicar Rev. K.V. Cherian in June 2003 we requested the mother parish to recognize the prayer group in Bristol, as an official prayer group of the St. John's Mar Thoma Church, Hounslow. The St. John's Mar Thoma Church congregation accepted the request and forwarded the request to the diocesan bishop Rt. Rev. Dr. Euyakim Mar Coorilos. Our bishop subsequently approved the Bristol prayer group as an official prayer group of St. John's Mar Thoma Church, Hounslow in July 2003. Following the approval, a management committee was formed in Bristol to arrange prayer meetings and Holy Communion services regularly.
In August 2003, we celebrated the first anniversary meeting with a Holy Communion service. From August 2003 onwards the service was rescheduled to second Sunday evenings at St. Anne's Church (COE) Eastville. During this period Sunday school and choir were formed to train the younger children. The Sunday school had separate sessions while the elders met for prayer and Bible study.
In Mar 2004 Rev. John Thomas was appointed as the new vicar of the mother parish as part of the general transfer. Rev. John Thomas also continued his work in Bristol along the same direction as the former vicar. Sunday school started at the church hall before the prayer meeting and service.
In April 2005 Rev. John Thomas took the initiative to form a Sevika Sangham in Bristol. Active support of the women's wing is a blessing to the congregation.
The last two years has seen a steady growth in the number of Mar Thoma families around the south west region of UK. During this time, the laity felt the need in extending pastoral care towards the newly arrived families. Towards this end in October 2005, the executive committee approached the members for their support to form a congregation under the leadership of Rev. John Thomas. Unanimous support was received from the members to request the diocesan bishop for the Bristol prayer group to be made an independent congregation. This request was made through the mother parish. In March 2006, the diocesan bishop Rt. Rev. Dr. Euyakim Mar Coorilos issued a circular (kalpana) DC/139/2006 sanctioning the Bristol prayer group as a new congregation.
From 1st April 2006 onwards Rev. Benu John was appointed as the first vicar of the congregation. The formation of a congregation has allowed pastoral care to be extended to more than fifty one families living in Bristol and the neighboring areas. Rev. Benu John and family settled in Bristol and extended glorious support to all the families in the congregation. Worship services were held on all Sundays. Holy Communion services were conducted in Malayalam and English on second and fourth Sundays alternatively. Since August 2006, Bristol congregation has had a carol service and watch night service every year. From the year 2007 onwards, Passion Week services were also started.
The Bristol Mar Thoma congregation functioned as a full fledged parish from its first year itself. So the general body met on 29th April 2007 unanimously decided to upgrade the congregation to a parish. The request was forwarded through our diocesan bishop Rt. Rev. Dr. Euyakim Mar Coorilos to the Episcopal synod. The Episcopal synod met on 29th August 2007 and approved the request. Our Metropolitan Philipose Mar Chrysostom declared that from 1st of October 2007 Bristol Mar Thoma Congregation would be known as "St. Thomas Mar Thoma Church".
When Rev. Abraham Mathew was appointed as the vicar of the newly formed parish, we reached a new milestone in the history of Mar Thoma Church. Two thousand years ago St. Thomas came to the Malabar coast and established seven curches in Malabar (Kerala). As members of the Bristol Mar Thoma community we take pride in being the seventh parish to be formed on the UK mainland in the name of St. Thomas. It has been a great privilege for the Bristol Mar Thoma community to be granted a parish in the golden jubilee year of the broader UK Mar Thoma community.
St. Thomas Mar Thoma Church
St. Leonard's Road. Eastville. Bristol BS5 6HD. United Kingdom.
