The Ayanavaram Perambur Prayer Group was born during the year 1971 probably when the war between India and Pakistan was going on, i.e., 52 years back by a group of Railway men scattered in the colonies of ICF, Ayanavaram Railway quarters and in and around Perambur.  There were also quite a few ladies who had come from Kerala and were working as nurses in the Railway hospital at Perambur.  This team was not only efficient to help make and run the trains but were also particular to ensure smooth functioning of the Prayer Group without any derailment. 

The majority of the prayer group members then were working with the Railways, however over the years, this gradually changed, and now we have only a few of our members employed with the Railways.

Most of our founders had come from Kerala with their trunk boxes packed looking for employment in Chennai.  They, together with other like-minded people, were able to strengthen the Church at Chetpet and also organize a Prayer Group at Ayanavaram.

The Ayanavaram Perambur Prayer Group is now wide spread and has representations from  places like  Sharma Nagar, Vyasarpadi, Thiru vi ka Nagar, Jawahar Nagar, Kolathur, Periyar Nagar, Madhavaram, Ponniammanmedu, Villivakkam, ICF Colony, parts of Anna Nagar, Ambathur, Avadi…….

In the initial days, we had our P G Anniversary conducted at No 1, Pilkington Road, at the residence of late Mr. Baby Cherian.

We had two Sunday schools running parallel for our children at the same time.  One at ICF at the residence of late Mr. K.C. Kuruvila and the other at the residence of late Mr. Baby Cherian, later at residences of Williams Sister, Mr.  C. Babu kutty and Mr. Jacob John. We were helped by Sunday school teachers from Hindustan Bible Institute, and the Sunday School headmasters were from our Prayer Group. The first headmaster was Late Mr. P. M. Mathai the next was our   Mr. V. C. Varghese   followed by Ms. Elizabeth George, Mr. Reji George and Mr. Santhosh Mathew. Thereafter, we had to wind up as there were not many children and hence merged with Chetpet church Sunday School.  We recollect that one of our teachers was Mr. Shaji Thomas, the chief guest of our Central Convention. Those days, there were no chairs to hire. The children and elders used to squat on the floor, many of them coming by walk / cycles . They ensured that there were prayer meetings every Sunday without any break.

Since we had only one Achen, we rarely got their spiritual guidance for our prayer meetings. We were blessed with our own leaders who could share the word of God. Our Mr K. G.  George shared the Gospel messages during Prayer Meetings, and he continued this great & noble God-given assignment for almost forty years. Apart from him, we had our evangelist Mr. Thomas from FMB, who used to share the word of God whenever required.

We recollect with pride the services of our founder members late Mr. & Mrs Baby Cherian, Mr. & Mrs P. C. Koshy, Mr. & Mrs Mathew Abraham, Mr. & Mrs  K. M. Abraham, Mr. & Mrs K. G. George, Mr. & Mrs  N. G. George,  Mr. & Mrs  M. George, Mr. & Mrs V. V. Zechariah, Mr. & Mrs  P. C. Abraham , Mr & Mrs  Georgekutty , Mrs Thangamma Abraham , Mr & Mrs GeeVarghese , Mr & Mrs A. Mammen and many  others . Our Mr Baboo Joseph, Mr V C Varghese, Mr. Sisumoney were the leaders who followed suit. Our Seniors had the vision of sustenance so that after them, their children would support to successfully continue to run the Prayer Group activities.  We are proud that we could dedicate one Achen to the Mar Thoma Church, Rev Sam Mathew is the only achen from our church.

We have the history of having conducted a three-day Convention at CSI Trinity Church Ayanavaram.  We continue with the spiritual insight of organizing weekly prayer meetings at the residences of our members every Sunday, thus strengthening our mutual fellowship and personal relationship with our God Almighty.,

As a cohesive group, we undertake Prayer Group Picnics every year to far destinations and also conduct Christmas  Carol rounds  every year as a two day event wherein we visit each and every member houses celebrating the birth of Christ our saviour. We are blessed to have a music master, Mr. P. T. John, who has composed, tuned and trained us to sing several songs during our Christmas Carol's.

Our Prayer group anniversaries are always attended by more than 100 members.

We celebrated our 50th Prayer Group Anniversary in the year 2022 in a Grand Manner, we distributed mementos to all member families, and we had cultural activities preceding our anniversary celebrations.

Every year, we honour our children who excel in academics. As a PG we make visits to Asha bhavan, participate, and contribute to Diocesan and other Church activities to the best of our ability and might. Our internal communication channels are our Two WhatsApp groups, i.e., one for Official & the other for General internal communications.

We have a good representation and participation as office bearers of the church committee and other organizations. We have a reputation of whole heartedly participating in all church lead activities and events.