Meet Sathees Kumar, a pastor and Church Planting Director for the Assembly of God Church in Sri Lanka who has spent more than half his life serving in ministry.
Although Sri Lanka is a predominantly Buddhist country, Kumar’s family had a Hindu background. But his path to serving Jesus all started when Kumar’s mother, who suffered from an illness, attended a Christian crusade held by an American missionary, Douglas Gehrman. While at the crusade, Kumar’s mother was healed. By her miraculous testimony, Kumar became saved at the age of 14.
Kumar wasted no time in telling everyone about Jesus. He began with his friends at school, sharing scripture and the love of Jesus to them, their families, and anyone who would listen. That was the start of his passion for sharing the gospel which he has carried throughout his entire career.
Ministry Training (1992-1996)
He started his ministry training when he was 18. Kumar knew that he wanted to do ministry full-time, so he moved in with his pastor at the Ministry Training Center in Hatton, dove into discipleship and ministry training, and served the church through evangelism, crusade, church planting, new church building and other social work.
When he was 22 years old, he enrolled in Lanka Bible College for Theological studies where he studied for two years (1995-1996) before taking over for Pastoral ministry.
Maskeliya Ministry (1997-2007)
He started pastoral ministry in the same church where he’d gone to Sunday school. For 10 years, Kumar served at the church in Maskeliya while also helping to lead discipleship training for other young men interested in ministry.
While serving the church in Maskeliya, Kumar’s penchant for teaching became evident, and in 2000 he began to teach classes at Lanka Bible College. He was only 26 at the time.
Theological Teaching Ministry
He finished his Theological Studies Bachelor degree in 2005 at Lanka Bible College and his Master degree program finished in 2010 at Center for Graduate Studies (CGS) in Colombo. He began to teach ministry at the college – among various other places – in 2000. For more than 20 years he was the Principle of the Timothian Ministry Training Center in Nuwaraeliya, training 10 to 15 students every year for full-time ministry, from church planting to local church development.
Ratnapura Ministries 2010-2018
On June 23, 2007, he married Roshini, and three years later, God spoke to him: “For 19 years you’ve served in the hill country. Now it’s time to move.”
God guided him and his wife to move south to Ratnapura, also known as ‘The City of Gems’. While searching for a place to live, Kumar and Roshini quickly realized that the words “Christian pastor” meant nobody would rent to them. It was only once they started talking about Roshini’s vocation as a schoolteacher and saying nothing about Kumar’s ministry that they were finally able to find a tiny apartment to rent.
Their first service in Ratnapura was held on December 5th, 2010, and consisted of Kumar, his wife and daughter, and one other person. But as Jesus promised, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I will be also.”
Not long after, they were given a large building in Ratnapura to be used for ministry purposes only, and in April 2011, their first church service was held there. Sixteen people attended. Despite their small beginnings, Kumar’s church began to expand quickly, and after only seven years they’d already started not one but two different branch churches.
Only 6% of the Sri Lankan population identifies as Christian. As a result, the Christian communities are no stranger to different forms of persecution. In July 2014, Kumar’s church experienced harassment and destruction of property from buddhist extremists as part of a protest to stop churches from “stealing” converts. The court case regarding the destruction of property is still going on today. And later, in 2019, a series of attacks led against places of worship left more than 250 dead in the infamous “Easter bombings.”
Nuwara Eliya Ministries
In 2018, Kumar’s senior pastor Yoganathan retired from the Nuwaraeliya church and Kumar took over as the senior pastor.
Despite the obstacles that arise, Kumar’s churches continue to grow and thrive, and are dedicated to serving their community through the love and hope that they themselves have received from Jesus. This included packaging meals and supplies for 250 families during Covid lockdowns, putting on a children’s Christmas program and giving out gift packages for all the children who attended, feeding the homeless, and much more. Kumar and his church are committed to building relationships with those in their community, whether through something as simple as a phone call or through providing necessary food and medicine for those in need.
Right now, though, the church is facing a different kind of crisis: political and economic unrest has shaken the country of Sri Lanka. Violent political protests, skyrocketing inflation, and a lack of basic necessities such as food staples, fuel and electricity are just a few of the issues that Sri Lankans are faced with due to a nearly bankrupt government.
The picture Kumar paints is nothing less than dismal. “[There’s] no public transport, cost of living and everything has gone up–tripled or quadrupled. There’s no medicine; the hospitals are suffering, the doctors are on strike.”
“We plan as a church to help our church families,” Kumar says. With about 174 families in all, he estimates it will take about $3000 USD a month to help support the pastors, their families, and the six branch churches they oversee. “Many of them have lost their jobs,” Kumar says.
“Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Galatians 6:2
With systemic corruption still very much prevalent inside the Sri Lankan government, the only help Kumar and his church can see in the near future must come from outside sources. We ask that you would partner with TRC Ministries to help support Pastor Kumar and our beloved brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka through this extremely difficult time. Any amount that you are able to give will benefit Kumar’s churches in Sri Lanka directly and will be a tremendous blessing to Kumar and the hurting people of Sri Lanka.
Kumar became connected with TRC Ministries in January 2017 when TRC Ministries’ president Tory Bjorklund traveled to Sri Lanka as part of an evangelical team led by Chris Mikkelson. While he was there, he met Pastor Sathees Kumar. Less than a year later, Tory returned with 100 Proclaimer audio bibles to distribute. During his one week visit, Tory helped conduct a Discovery Bible Study training for over a hundred pastors, and participated in several prayer gatherings.
When asked about his thoughts looking at the crisis that his country is facing and the strain put on his church, Kumar cited 2 Chronicles 29:11– “My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense.”
“God has allowed us to go through this because our country has gone against the Gospel,” Kumar explained. “It is time for our church to repent, to join together, and to pray for deliverance for our country.”
Please take some time to pray for Kumar, that God would sustain him and his family through this challenging time, and that he would receive blessing upon blessing for faithfully dedicating the last 30 years of his life to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ to those around him no matter the consequences.
Pray also for the country of Sri Lanka as a whole, that God would raise up competent, just leaders to pull this wonderful country out of bankruptcy and corruption.
And if you are able, please consider giving financially to help support the Christian families who, through all the uncertainty and hardships, are choosing to build their lives on the solid rock of our Savior.
TRC Ministries is partnering with multiple pastors in Sri Lanka in order to bring the bible to these people in their own language through our audio bible ministry. We also see God raising up Christians who are dedicated to bringing the gospel message to their own people. We are working to train them to bring the gospel message and plant churches in their own country.