About

In 1817, Rev. James Lynch arrived in Madras as one of the first Wesleyan Methodist missionaries. Two years later, a Wesleyan Methodist school was established at St. Thomas Mount — the hill where the apostle Thomas is believed to have been martyred in the 1st century.

By 1829, a Wesleyan Chapel was constructed on land donated by Mrs. Isacke. In 1860, Rev. Josiah Evers was appointed as the first residential Tamil Preacher, marking the beginning of a sustained Tamil-language ministry at the Mount.

The current church building was completed in 1935 under the leadership of Rev. P.J.S. Appadurai. Its Greek Orthodox dome remains a distinctive feature of the St. Thomas Mount skyline.

In 1947, when the Church of South India was formed by the union of Reformed, Anglican, and Methodist churches, the congregation became part of the CSI Diocese of Madras — where it remains today.

In 2025, the building was renovated under Rev. G. Wellington Jesudoss with the support of a Tamil Nadu Heritage Grant, preserving the 1935 structure for the next generation.