History:

Our church traces its roots to the efforts of David Hudson and Charlotte Singh, who saw the need for an international church. A small house church was formed in 1988 with just a few people called the Foreign Christian Fellowship. For the first 14 years we met with no formal pastoral leadership. Guest preachers were invited to lead Sunday Services. Sunday School began in 1993 and was held for about 40 minutes during the worship service. Five years ago, we decided to form a legal Indian society and began the process of calling our first pastor.

We were meeting in the Hyatt Hotel Indian Restaurant. Sunday school met in the bar. With the decision to build an expanding international church, the congregation began to out-grow those facilities. In 2002 we moved to the auditorium of the British school in the diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri. Legal Indian Society status was granted three years ago. We asked a North American teacher, Richard Teves, to preach most Sundays. This was a great beginning as we formalized the constitution and church life. He stayed for a year and returned to the States. We asked another American, Jim Roane, an international development specialist to lead our worship services. He left New Delhi after one year as well. As more and more international people from all over the world filled the church, it became clear that an experienced international pastor was needed. During Jim’s time a pastoral call committee was formed, information about the church was sent out, and pastoral candidates were sought.

Karl Smith began a conversation with us in January 2005. He and Shirley came to India to meet us in April 2005. We extended an unanimous call two weeks later. After finishing his ministry at the Union Church of Guatemala, Karl and Shirley arrived as our first pastor on October 18, 2005.

Now with our own pastor and an expanding program we are experiencing significant growth. It has been great to see the community respond to these new worship and learning opportunities. God is being kind to us as we reach out to the international community of New Delhi.

With Karl & Shirley's retirement we are glad to announce Pastor Elect Phil Oswald and his wife Lee Ann will join us in July 2012.