A History
Historical Background of Tunapuna Abundant Life Ministries
The story of Tunapuna Abundant Life Ministries, has over thirty years of history with the establishment of its chief branch, Abundant Life Ministries, San Juan, which was formally instituted in 1984. The main advocate behind the organization of Abundant Life Ministries was Bishop Goopie Samlal, now deceased. Bishop Samlal first inaugurated Abundant Life Ministries at his home with just 17 persons. He had been an instrumental figure in propelling the Ministries to various areas over Trinidad. Notably, he gave his life, time and possessions to aid the progression and development of his ministry. Bishop Samlal, who came from modest beginnings and was brought up in an orthodox Hindu home, first accepted Jesus Christ as Lord at age 17 after a missionary group had ministered to him. Though he had fallen back in his service to Christ and the Church for a period, Bishop Samlal soon recognized his calling and re- gave his life to Christ by his early twenties. With forceful determination and fervor for his faith in Christianity, Bishop Samlal along with Pastor Harry Mahabir, Evangelist Subia and Pastor Suresh, all of whom he had met along his Christian journey, formed a church board and give themselves the name, Abundant Life Ministries.
By 1986, these men had instituted the first Abundant Life Ministries Church in San Juan. The ambitions and goals of Bishop Samlal and his team were further recognized with the establishment of a second branch of Abundant life Ministries, in Chaguanas, in 1987. As the ministry flourished the board and members of Abundant Life Ministries worked arduously to continue their work at delivering the gospel of Jesus Christ to the population of Trinidad. Subsequently, their determination resulted in the founding of two more branches of Abundant Life Ministries, located at San Fernando and Abundant Life Ministries of Tunapuna, which represented their last constituted branch.
The Early Beginnings of Tunapuna Abundant Life Ministries
Initially, the ministry at Abundant Life in Tunapuna first began in November of 1995 at a residence’s home, Anthony Balmacoon. At the launch of its operations, Abundant Life Ministries Tunapuna, also commonly called A.L.M, began with a reserved and humble commencement having a membership of only five persons and one Sunday afternoon service per week. By the end of 1995 there was a short interruption with the execution of the ministries’ duties, however, praiseworthy and progressive years followed, with few disruptions until the present time.
The Progression and Development of Abundant Life Ministries 1996-2002
The progression and development of A.L.M. signified a process that was essentially moderate in its evolution and gradual in improvement. Fundamentally, January 28th A.L.M was reopened and later a new church board of seven members was commissioned for the management of the church while positions within the church’s body were fulfilled.
A great turning in A.L.M’s history took place in March of 1996 when the board was offered to purchase a nearby property for their ministry from the Open Bible Church which they accepted for sixty thousand dollars. Evidently, much progression was being made and this was also representative by a growing membership of over one hundred and twenty persons and the stability of the church’s pastorship with Pastor Syder. However, by the year 2000 the progress which A.L.M had made was reversed when Pastor Syder decided to depart with an objective of following a calling from the Lord to carry out evangelical work. Within the next two years the foundation of A.L.M became immensely volatile as several pastors were installed and removed over this period. The instability of the church was apparent when the membership dropped to a meager and disturbing figure of just six persons. Nevertheless, the commencement of the year 2002 marked a new era of function and development which dawn the ministry of Abundant Life in Tunapuna with the appointment of Reverend Pastor Carl Ramlal, who continues to lead the ministry in the twenty first century.
The Years Of Growth and Expansion of Tunapuna Abundant Life Ministries, 2002-2014
In 2002, Reverend Ramlal was selected to function as the interim pastor of A.L.M. and on September 19th Certainly, his great resilience and unquestionable empathy for Christianity led A.L.M church to greater maturity. Within twelve years of Reverend Ramlal’s leadership at A.L.M tremendous improvements were made, both spiritually and physically to the church and its operations. 2002 he was chosen by Bishop Samlal to be the official leader of the ministry.
The growth and expansion which A.L.M has experienced throughout the years of its establishment to the present has been a considerable milestone for the church, its leaders and membership. In fact, in 1996 when the property was brought from Open Bible Church, it was a weakened wooden structure with an uncompleted foundation. Over the initial years of its operations not much was done to improve the much needed physical upgrade of A.L.M’s structure. Nevertheless, Reverend Ramlal’s fortitude for evolution and development was quite clear when he and the members of the ministry began projects in 2002 to remove the wooden structure along with equipping the church with the necessary amenities. Throughout the earliest years of the 21st erected with a solid encompassing structure. By the year 2013 A.L.M had successfully completed its building with a two level facility, equipped fully with a sanctuary for worship and offices for its leaders and board room. Much improvement was also carried out to the interior of the church such as the installation of new music systems and furniture for the comfort of its members. Such progressive elements of A.L.M within a span of twelve years was certainly due to the blessing of the Lord, the sound leadership of Reverend Ramlal and the unyielding dedication and faithfulness of the membership of A.LM. which had grown from its meager figure of just six persons to a proud number of over 120 members by the end of 2013. Undoubtedly, the increase in membership was an indication of the spiritual growth that A.L.M had reached.
Historically, A.L.M. had just one service of fellowship, as noted above, which occurred on a Sunday night. However, Reverend Ramlal had completely revolutionized the operations of A.L.M with moving Sunday worship services to Sunday mornings. Besides this, other drastic leaps were made in the program over the years and now included nights of pray meetings, bible Century, A.L.M went under a full transformation as a sound foundation was study, Christian education hours, deliverance services and open air meetings. To cope with these new programs Reverend Ramlal was committed to having regular cottage meetings and board meetings to meet the demands of the ministry. Notably, the church has recently initiated the opening of a new board and re-organization of its previous board to assist in its operations which can be cited in table two. Other transformations were made to the functions of A.L.M with the continued organization of various departments within the church such as, Youth, Women’s, Men’s, Sunday-School, Kids, Missions and Evangelical Divisions in the Ministry.
Actually, in the year 2014 Reverend Ramlal partnered with Pastor Vinod Kumar, from Chandigarh, India where T.A.L.M is now committed to missionary works in the Asian continent with an unrelenting aim to present funds for the building of homes, distribution of Bibles and monetary funding to Pastor Kumar and his team in India. T.A.L.M international frontier is not limited to India, but also grew to extend its connections with City of Pray in Atlanta Georgia and Kingdom Life Ministries, New York. Certainly, the resolve and ambitions for growth and expansion does not stop here but the leadership and membership of T.A.L.M are confident of one day relocating their growing ministry, establishment of a pre-school and building an institution for the elderly.
In essence, the history of T.A.LM is an inspiring account of the righteousness and favor of Jesus Christ upon the ministry and life of their church body. With much determination from its leaders and membership it is clear that T.A.L.M has made remarkable success in their mission to fulfill the gospel of Jesus Christ. As much as their past objectives were realized, so to they remain encouraged for their future goals in carrying out the work of building the kingdom of Jesus Christ.