Paul Ramankutty (1881–1945)

Country of Origin

  • India

Countries/Regions of Ministry

  • India
  • Sri Lanka

Traditions

  • Pentecostal

Ministries

  • Pastor
  • Evangelist
  • Church planter
  • Theological educator

Paul Ramankutty was the co-founder, with Alvin R. DeAlvis, of the Ceylon Pentecostal Mission (CPM)—now known as The Pentecostal Mission (TPM), a worldwide denomination with about 20 million members and congregations in 75 countries.[1]

He was a most unlikely candidate. Born as “Ramankutty” into a low-caste Ezhava[2] Hindu family, he journeyed in his early teens to earn a livelihood in neighboring Sri Lanka. He became a domestic servant to a wealthy Hindu-Chetty family who took him to the Anglican church and taught him Christian doctrine. 

In 1899, his eighteenth year, Ramankutty had a vision of the Lord Jesus who said, “If you are ashamed of me, I too will be ashamed of you, when I appear as King.” Ramankutty responded and, in 1902, was baptized in the Anglican church where the vicar gave him the Christian name, “Paul". His father heard about his conversion and hid a knife under his pillow, planning to kill Ramankutty. Ramankutty fled and took refuge in the house of a Christian Missionary Society (CMS) catechist who helped him to return to Sri Lanka. There, his host family helped him enroll in a CMS seminary so that, after two years of training, he was appointed to the Malayalam mission in Colombo. He married Mary, and they had five children: Freddy, Sam, Harry, Helen and Dora.

In his role as a catechist, Ramankutty faced much discouragement. He confided in Rev. P. I Jacob, a fellow seminarian and Baptist mission pastor. Rev. Jacob told him, “Paul, the Word of God speaks of an experience of flowing with milk and honey.” It was 1921, and Jacob was referring to an Acts 1:4 experience, filling of the Holy Spirit, which he had encountered in Madras in meetings conducted by Australian missionaries Todd and Ebenezer. Rev. Jacob invited these missionaries to Colombo, though unlike the 120 who gathered in the “Upper Room,” this was a gathering of only 16. Filled with ecstasy, Ramankutty danced with exceeding joy. Later, he testified:

“Prior to this, I used to chew betel nuts and leaves, smoke and even drink. All these evil habits left me that day. There came an end to my love for money. Never after did the revelry of this world allure me. The evil desire for fame and name also departed from me. Pleasing God became my only desire. Christ became pre-eminent in my mind.” 

Afterwards, Ramankutty began a prayer group joined by Alvin R. DeAlvis, an aristocratic Methodist and English teacher at Richmond College, Galle, who was inspired by the ministry of Sadhu Sundar Singh and Smith Wigglesworth. The prayer group met consistently until Ramankutty and DeAlvis decided to incorporate the Ceylon Pentecostal Mission (CPM), in 1924. The CPM had indigenous dress, worship, and aspects of religious life. Church services initially had pews but did away with them so everyone sat on the floor. Domestic musical instruments, singing of indigenous tunes, the priesthood of all believers, and other local practices were common features, all of which gave the CPM an identity distinctly different from the liturgical Syrian tradition and Anglican “order of worship.”

Emulating the first-century apostles, CPM workers "lived by faith" and their dwelling became known as the “Faith Home.” Like the disciples in Acts 2, the workers shared a common purse. The ministers took vows of celibacy and austerity. They met their needs solely through answered prayer and did not reveal their needs to anyone. “Being led by the Spirit” was the cardinal principle with meeting schedules, sermon topics, and speakers decided according to the “flow of the Spirit.”

Under Ramankutty and DeAlvis, the CPM spread through Sri Lanka. The first mission in India began in Tuticorin in 1928, and revival spread through Kerala in the towns of Trivandrum, Aruvikkara, Anthiyoorkonam, Erutthavoor, Punnamoodu, Venkadampu, and Aanaavoor. As a result, a large number of people from other Christian denominations and from other faiths came into the Pentecostal experience.

This Pentecostal outpouring was caste-agnostic and the first church movement led by a low caste Ezhavan. The traditional Syrian Christian community was known to create segregated spaces within congregations for lower caste attendees, but Ramankutty led revival that crossed the caste barrier because it was accompanied by healing and deliverance.[3] Robert Cook, a Pentecostal missionary from the Church of God, US, invited Ramakutty on speaking tours, and his testimony inspired  Brother K. E. Abraham and Pastor Oomachen to refuse a monthly salary and start “living by faith.” Abraham went on to found the South India Pentecostal Church of God (later, the India Pentecostal Church, IPC), and Ramankutty ironically ordained him, a Syrian, on March 6, 1930.[4]

During Ramankutty’s lifetime, the movement spread to Malaysia, Singapore, the UK, France, and the USA. On July 4, 1945, he died in Sri Lanka. The leadership of the church passed to DeAlvis, who pastored it until 1962. Ramankutty’s five children were full-time ministers and remained single, according to custom, with Ramankutty’s sons leading the CPM from 1962 to 1990.

Philip Malayil
South Asian Coordinator, DCBAsia.org

Reprinted/Adapted from "Pastor Ramankutty, Paul" in Dictionary of Christian Biography in Asia, DCBAsia.org; Used by permission of the publisher. 

NOTES

[1.] “TPM (CPM) Pentecostal Mission,” WordWillSave,  https://wordwillsave.com/cpm/.
[2.] "Ezhavar": Historically considered outside the Brahmanical varna system and as “higher polluting”– above the Dalits, today they comprise 25% of Kerala’s Hindu population and have transformed socio-economically to a demographic powerhouse.
[3.] Andrew Ronnevik, “Dalit Theology and Indian Christian History in Dialogue: Constructive and Practical Possibilities,” Religions 12, no. 3 (2021): 180, https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12030180.
[4.] Allan Heaton Anderson, “Pentecostalism and Charismatic Movements in Asia,” in The Oxford Handbook of Christianity in Asia, ed. Felix Wilfred (Oxford University Press, 2014), 160.

For Further Reading:

  • Hedlund, Roger E. "Ceylon Pentecostal Mission." In The Oxford Encyclopaedia of South Asian Christianity, 144, ed. Roger E. Hedlund et al. University of Oxford Press, 2012.
  • Ronnevik, Andrew. "Dalit Theology and Indian Christian History in Dialogue: Constructive and Practical Possibilities." Religions 12 (2021):180. https://doi.org/10.3390/ rel12030180.
  • Somaratna, G. P. V. “Paul, Ramankutty.” In The Oxford Encyclopaedia of South Asian Christianity, 538, ed. Roger E. Hedlund et al. University of Oxford Press, 2012.
  • TPM, The Biography of Pastor Paul, https://www.scribd.com/document/49448529/Pastor-Paul.
  • WordWillSave. “TPM (CPM) Pentecostal Mission.” https://wordwillsave.com/cpm/.
  • Wilfred, Felix, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Christianity in Asia. Oxford University Press, 2014.


© 9/24/2026