History

Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church is a Christian denomination in south India, which was established in 1919 and has approximately 200,000 members. Its headquarters is in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. It is one of the prominent mainline Lutheran churches in Tamil Nadu.

On 14 January 1919, the Tamil congregation of different German, Danish, and Swedish Lutheran missions joined together to form the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC). In March 1921, the constitution of the TELC was amended to include the structure of episcopacy.

In 1921, a Swedish missionary, Rev. Dr. Ernst Heuman, was ordained as the first bishop of the TELC. The bishop of TELC holds the title Bishop of Tranquebar. In 1956, Dr. R B Manickam became the first Indian to be ordained as the bishop of TELC.
The Bishops have the title Bishop of Tranquebar. It belongs to the Lutheran World Federation. The Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mission and Church of Sweden Mission were active in the area of Trichy in the 19th century and are still active there today. This Lutheran church comes under United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India.

The Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church is the ancient Protestant Church in India. It has completed 300 years of rich history and heritage. Though the motto of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus, it also shows much interest in the social aspects of the people particularly to uplift the poor and needy who are in the lowest strata of the Society. Through hundreds of Schools, Hospitals, Orphanages and Training Institutions, it serves the humanity irrespective of caste, creed etc.,

The Central Administration of the Church is being carried out in Trichy and all the important and big meetings such as the Synod, the General Body, Pastoral Conference, the Annual Convention and Retreats are usually held in Trichy. However, there is no big Church to convene such meetings comfortably and to accommodate the participants conveniently. This genuine requirement actually motivated us to have a ‘Peralayam’ (Cathedral) in the premises called ‘Tranquebar House’, the Headquarters of TELC- where we have the Central Administrative Offices as well as the residence of the Bishop. So the Bishop TELC and Venerable Church Council has decided to build a ‘Peralayam’ (Cathedral) in order to provide and fulfill the above requirements. The area of the ‘Peralayam’ (Cathedral) is 75×75 feet with ground floor and the first floor. The Meditation Hall is provided in the Ground floor so that people can meditate and pray to the Lord without any disturbance and distractions. Besides, places are allotted to the Church functionaries like Pastorate Committee, Women Fellowship, Youth and Sunday School, Short meetings can also be conducted here. The first floor of the Church is for worship which would accommodate a large gathering more than 700 people who can sing, pray and worship very conveniently. The roof of the Peralayam’ (Cathedral) is 64 feet high from the ground level. The Tower of the ‘Peralayam’ (Cathedral) is planned to be raised to the height of 110 feet.

It is decided to give shape to the ‘Peralayam’ (Cathedral) building with the modern architecture. Parking facilities for vehicles is provided on both the sides of the building. Surely, this ‘Peralayam’ (Cathedral) will remain as a witness to the Lord Almighty as well as an authentic and historical symbol of the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church.