Talluru Thomas GabrielC. L. Johnson, P. A. Srinivasa Rao, P. S. Sunder Singh (Edited), Canadian Baptist Mission 125 year's Jubilee Celebrations of Baptist Churches in Northern Circars, Baptist Theological Seminary, Kakinada, 1999. . (born December 15, 1837;Mary Stillwell McLaurin, Chetti Bhanumurti in John Craig, J. R. Stillwell, I. C. Archibald, A. E. Baskerville (Edited), Some of the Trophies: Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board Jubilee Volume, Telugu Trophies - The Jubilee story of some of the principal Telugu converts in the Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission in India from 1874 to 1924, American Baptist Publication Society, Toronto. died January 1, 1875) was the founderF. R. Hemingway, Godavari district gazetteer, Asian Educational Services, Chennai, 2000, p.40. Orville E. Daniel, Rising Tides in India, Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board, 1963, p.72. of the Canadian Baptist Mission in India.
Early life and education Thomas Gabriel was born in Machilipatnam and grew up at Narasapur and Rajahmundry where he studied at the Lutheran School. After securing employment with the Telegraphs Department in 1857, he worked at Rajahmundry and at Kakinada. Gabriel was influenced by the Lutheran missionaries of Rajahmundry and became a Christian through the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church.Brenton Hamline Badley, Indian Missionary Directory and Memorial, p.223.
In addition to Thomas Gabriel's employment, he was activeElizabeth Hayward (Edited), The Baptist Encyclopædia: A Dictionary, Louis H. Everts, Philadelphia, Volume 1, p.1181. in his new-found Christian faith. Gabriel was later transferred to Mumbai but his sickness made him to go to Chennai in 1867 and in the Hospital, he came across Pastors of the American Baptist Mission/Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches and got baptized.
Ministry Gabriel gave upThe Missionary Review, Volume 28, Princeton Press, 1905, p.367 his job at the Telegraphs Department in 1869 to take up an ecclesiastical assignment with the Godavari Delta Mission but it was short-lived as he quit it in 1870 and got into business in Kakinada to support himself after having exhausted all his money for the sake of the gospel.
A chance stopover in Ramayapatnam at the Ramayapatnam Baptist Theoogical Seminary made Gabriel to appeal to the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and QuebecThe Gospel in All Lands, Proprietor, 1886, p.563 throughAlbert Henry Newman, A Century of Baptist Achievement, American Baptist publication society, p.142. John McLaurin to take up the Mission in northern coastal regions and thus led to the founding of the Canadian Baptist Mission in 1874 at KakinadaIndica, Volume 37, 2000, p.42 with the arrival of John McLaurinEdwin Munsell Bliss, The Encyclopedia of Missions, 1891, p.131 who came from Ramayapatnam to Kakinada by sea.
Gabriel died on 1 January 1875Teloogoo Mission Scrap Book, Expositor Book and Job Office, 1888, p.87. uttering his last words, Jesus is precious.
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