So it is with the history of Native Missionary Movement. It began in 1964 with the Spirit of Christ working through one man, Thomas Mathews of tropical Kerala, in southern India. Following a near-tragic drowning at the age of nineteen, “Mathews” the name by which he was most commonly known dedicated his life to God in ministering the gospel to the hundreds of millions of lost souls in the Hindu-dominated darkness of North India.

Convinced that traditional methods of evangelism were doomed to failure, Mathews learned Hindi and adapted to the local customs of desert-like Rajasthan. After marrying a woman who complemented his zeal for the lost, he and his wife, Mary, demonstrated the humility, compassion, and love of Christ to all they met. New believers were discipled in the love of Jesus, churches were planted, and all were taught to reach the lost around them.

These fundamental, Christ-centered principles indigenous people reaching out to those in their own region by evangelizing, planting churches, and discipling eventually ignited a fire that spread far beyond what Mathews dreamed was possible. Thomas Mathews joined his Lord Jesus in 2006, and today NMM continues to carry these principles to new frontiers, embracing 250,000 believers, 1,300 churches and 1,500 pastors.

What began as a little stream and a little acorn continues to grow across the face of India, with the good news of Jesus dispelling the darkness.