History of our church

A historical perspective

Background
During the 70s, members of St. John the Baptist Church, Aluva, residing in and around the U C College area and beyond were attending the Sunday Worship Services in the Chapels in Veliyathunadu, the Alwaye Settlement School and the U C College. The Vicar of St. John the Baptist Church, Aluva, conducted Communion Services on the first Sundays in the U C College Chapel, the second Sundays in the Aluva Settlement School Chapel and on third Sundays in the Veliyathunadu Chapel. Land for the Veliyathunadu Chapel was donated by the family of Professor K Jacob, a Professor of the U C College. On special occasions, all these members usually assembled in St. John the Baptist Church, Aluva, which was an occasion for the get together of the larger family of the CSI families in Aluva, either working in some organizations, owning business or settled in Aluva.

In November, 1992, Rev. A J John was appointed as Vicar to St. John the Baptist Church. He could not take up Charge in the Church as the then incumbent, Rev. P C Mathew, refused to hand over the Charge. Hence, Rev. A J John conducted Worship Services in the Chapels only. In May, 1993, Rev. P J Jacob was appointed to St. John the Baptist Church. He also could not take up Charge of St. John the Baptist Church. He continued the practice of Worship Services that was in vogue.

Purchase of land near to the U C College
With the initiative taken by Rev. P J Jacob, 33 cents of low lying land near to the U C College, was purchased. The piece of land had no access to the main road. This land was basically intended to meet requirement of a cemetery on account of the local conditions that prevailed in St. John the Baptist Church, Aluva. Funds raised by generous donations from all those who were attending the Worship Services in the Chapels, their relatives and friends and also some funds received from the North Kerala Diocesan Headquarters, Shoranur, was used for the purchase of the land. Subsequently, a decision was taken on 28th September, 1998, in a meeting of the members, chaired by Rev. P J Jacob, and held in the U C College Chapel, to construct a Church in the land. The College Hill CSI Church Building Committee was unanimously elected in the meeting.  

In order to make a private road up to the 33 cents of the Church land, 9 cents of land was purchased from the adjoining property that belonged to the U C College, at a concessional rate, at the instance of Rev. P J Jacob. On account of the good relations that Rev. P J Jacob maintained with the neighbor, Sri. P Gopalakrishna Pillai and his family, 5 cents of land were donated by him, which enabled to make the road that was made from the Aluva – Paravoor Road to continue up to the entrance of the Church property. This donation of the piece of land was done with the tacit understanding that a road access through the land of the Church will be provided for entry into the adjoining property of Sri, Gopalakrishna Pillai. An entry to this effect was made in the document of purchase of the 9 cents from the U C College.

Constuction of the Church
Planning the construction of the Church was done primarily under the leadership of Rev. P J Jacob as Chairman, assisted by a Committee consisting of members from among those attending the worship services in the Chapels and some senior members from the U C College fraternity, Prof. T B Thomas, being the patron of the Church Construction Committee. Rev. Thomas John, Vice Chairman, Prof. D Johnson, designated the Construction-in-Charge, Prof. L I Paul Sundar, Convener, P J Mathew, Treasurer and so on. It was decided to assign the task of preparing the design, estimation and supervision of the Church construction to M/s Mathew & Saira Architects. P I Johns rendered a yeoman effort in getting the services of the architects.

A retaining wall was constructed for the low lying land and for the road leading to the property. Land filling of up to ten feet was done in preparing the land for construction of the Church, and at a cost of Rs.4.95 lakhs. Foundation stone for the Church was laid by Rt. Rev. Dr. P G Kuruvilla, Bishop in the North Kerala Diocese on 28th February, 1999. On account of technical snags, the actual construction could be started only on 17th January, 2000. At this stage, though Rev. P J Jacob was transferred by the Diocese to the Immanuel Church, it was deferred at the instance of the members of the Church Construction Committee, who represented the matter with the Bishop, till the piling work was completed in May, 2000. Rev. P J Jacob had by then, completed seven years in Aluva. During the subsequent phases of construction, Rev. E G Korulla was in-Charge with the co-ordination and supervision work done by the Church Construction Committee. Mr. P J George, Executive Engineer, PWD, provided the technical assistance to the Construction Committee. While all the members and well-wishers made generous financial contributions for the construction of the Church, costing Rs.29.50 lakhs, inclusive of about Rs.9.75 lakhs by way of a lump sum donated by the family of Mr. Sam Kuruvilla and Mrs. Shanti Kuruvilla, in memory of the parents of the former, Mrs. & Mr. Jacob Kuruvilla, and the grand parents of Mrs. & Mr. P M John, on the occasion of a couple who were got married by Rev. P J Jacob in the U C College Chapel. The Sam Kuruvilla family also instituted an Endowment fund for the Sunday school in memory of Mrs. & Mr. Jacob Kuruvilla.

Congregation recognition and the Church Dedication
The congregation was officially recognized by the North Kerala Diocese on 1st January, 2001 and the Holy Trinity Church was dedicated by Rt. Rev. Dr. George Isaac, Bishop in the North Kerala Diocese on 7th April, 2001.

Add-ons
A vault was constructed in the Church campus for burial of our deceased dear ones as there was insufficient space for providing land for individual needs.

The Church, which is on stilts, can accommodate a maximum of 250 people. Plastic chairs were in use from the time of the Church dedication. Hard wood benches were made subsequently to replace the plastic chairs, with the generous contributions from the members and their relatives.

The Church has an assembly area in the stilted location, which is used for the fellowship after the regular worship service, get together on special days and also for parking of vehicles      

Teak wood paneling of the Altar was done with financial help of one of the members, Dr. Isaac George, PhD. Its design and execution was done under the supervision of Rev. Thomas John. Dr. Isaac George was also gracious to come in with further help when he offered the new Key Board with its beautifully made teak wood cabinet. 

The Parsonage
Parsonage was constructed subsequently on the land donated by the Therathanath Family in remembrance of the yeoman services rendered by Dr. T I Poonen and Mrs. Anna Poonen, one of the families to come to Aluva in 1924, when Dr. Poonen, MA PhD, joined the Union Christian College as Professor and the Head of the Department of History. The Parsonage was dedicated on … May, 2008 and the first Vicar to occupy it was Rev. C I Mathews, who stayed on till May, 2013, when he retired from the service.

The funds requirement for the construction of the Parsonage was partly met from the sale proceeds of 5 cents of land that was donated by Prof. K Jacob and Aley Jacob (Bavakkuttykochamma), where the Veliyathunadu Chapel was constructed and was in use. Rest of the financial needs was met from the funds received from the North Kerala Diocese.

Church internal enhancement
Initially the Church had only a truss work roof with asbestos sheets. In order to minimize the excessive heat from the sun during the summer season, erection of false ceiling was undertaken in 2013. The ambience inside the Church has been enhanced multifold with the beautiful design of the ceiling and internals by Sara Jake Punnen, offer of high quality ceiling tiles by Mr. Peter Mukherjee Chief Executive of M/s Vanson India Group, totally free of cost, Lighting design by Mr. Anuj Bharadwaj from Delhi, free of cost, Sound System re-design and installation by Mr. Jacob (Rony) from Bangalore, Electrical system lay-out and total installation of all the work of the ceiling under the supervision Commodore T I Punnen, Retd., ably supported by George M Kurien (Suni) and, most importantly, with the generous funding by the Church Members, initiated by a large contribution by Dr. Isaac George.

What we look forward to
With the growth of the congregation in due course of time, the Church will still be able to accommodate more people by extending the building and shifting the Altar forward, within the existing campus of the Church.

It’s the Lord’s doing and marvelous in our eyes!