This is a narrative of our senior pastor Rev. Victor D’Monte.

The first Adonai Church service was held 30 years ago on the night of December 31st 1986, in a rented hall. We were joined by 5 families at this service. Subsequent church services were held at the home of the Bhagyanathan family who graciously allowed us the use of their home for all our church activities.

This story began in 1980, with God touching and transforming a life that did not even believe in Him.

The sudden realisation of a magnificent God who loved me and died for me was too powerful to push aside and carry on with life as usual. I found great comfort in God and from then on, the only thing that I ever wanted to do was to serve Him. I had finally found the reason for living. I wanted God to be a reality to all those who did not know Him. I firmly believe that God is not only to be understood but He is to be experienced as well.

In 1982, I held on to this scripture in 1Co 2:9-10 that said, ‘However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”– (10) but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.’

It is the fulfilment of this promise that gave birth to Adonai Ministries in 1986. This was something that surpassed the imagination of many people, including my own. Going down the memory lane, I look back over the last 30 years in amazement to see how wonderful God is and how true His promise has been. Truly, no mind has ever conceived what God has in store for those who love Him.

Though life and ministry took several unexpected twists and turns, God was faithful. Truly, with full assurance in our hearts we say, all things do work for good to those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose.

I remain indebted to both God and the wonderful people in Adonai for journeying with us through all the tough times, times of uncertainty and for continuing to remain faithful to this day.

The 5 families have now grown into a congregation of over 500 people with a ministry of Healing & Deliverance that is touching and transforming lives right across this vast nation. I thank God for the vision He has given Adonai Church – that of ‘touching lives, reaching the community and impacting cities and beyond…’
I am also grateful to God for the life partner He has given me. She has not only stood with me in tough times but has also been a faithful and committed fellow-worker in His kingdom.

From our humble beginnings, of meeting in rented halls, the church’s facilities have grown along with the congregation. In the year 2000, Adonai Ministries bought their first property situated in Cox Town, Heerachand Road. Three years later, by God’s supernatural provision we were able to construct a building measuring 10,000 sq.ft.- a testimony to His goodness. During the early part of 2011, we purchased an entire floor measuring 3,650 sq.ft. in the building adjacent to the left of the church. We called it the Adonai Annex. More recently we have acquired ‘Adonai Abode’, a one-bedroom apartment tucked away to the right of the church building.

‘Radiant School of Learning’, the school for underprivileged children continues to be the gateway to change. The success stories of the students who have graduated never cease to encourage us.

In 2009, a team from UK was scheduled to come and conduct a ‘9 Day School of Healing and Deliverance’. We were excited to host this school in Bangalore. But just before the school could begin, the UK team cancelled their trip to Bangalore. Personally I was disappointed. I could not get them to change their mind and It was too late for us to cancel this program. The venue was booked, the accommodation was arranged for the delegates and the publicity for this school was already done.

I knew how significant this ministry was and I had no intention of cancelling this program. I felt at that moment that God had trained me for a time like this. So very apprehensively I chose to conduct this school under the Adonai Ministries banner for the very first time. I really wondered if anyone will come. But God surprised me when we had 100 people attend this school.

Pastor Stanley Mehta who oversees the churches of GMI (Gateway Ministries International) attended this school. He was so blessed that he sent a letter to all his churches recommending them to attend the ‘9 Day school of Inner Healing and Deliverance’ conducted in Bangalore.

On hearing Stanley Mehta’s testimony, Pastor David Fernandes of ‘Living Word Church’ in Mumbai, called me and said, “How can you conduct this 9 day school without telling me? We would also like to attend this school.” So in April 2010 we conducted a school just for the Living Word Church. That year ended with us conducting two schools.

The following year in April 2011, Pastor Basil D’Souza along with his leaders attended the 9 Day School in Bangalore because he heard David’s testimony of being healed of Psoriasis in the last 9 Day School and the transformation it brought to his congregation.

During the ministry time, Pastor Basil was healed of his heart condition which he suffered for many years. That year we conducted three 9 Day schools in Bangalore.

In the year 2011, we started another 9 Day school of healing & deliverance in Dehradun to reach out to the Hindi speaking people in North India. Since then we have been conducting three 9 day schools of Healing and deliverance in Bangalore and one 9 Day school in Dehradun each year.

Testimonies of people’s lives being transformed has played a vital part in us seeing many people from different states right across our nation attend our schools. With the help of Bishop Santosh Thomas we were able to conduct these schools in Udhampur, Jammu & Kashmir from 2012 to 2014.

In the last two years, delegates from other nations have also attended the 9 Day Schools because of the testimonies they have heard from others.

The need for this ministry of inner healing and deliverance is so huge, that a small team of 40 people is not enough to meet the huge demands of people. The ministry of inner healing and deliverance is not an end in itself but a means for effective discipleship. So we decided to start a training program called ‘Prayer Ministry Training’ in 2010. Since then many pastors and people have been trained in this ministry and have taken this ministry back to their churches. Now they run ‘Encounter with God’ weekends (A very short version of 9 day school) for their congregations.

During the Prayer Ministry Training in September 2015, God spoke to me just after worship from Isaiah 45, concerning His heart for the nations. This was not what I was expecting to hear just before my teaching session. Even before, I could fully comprehend what God was saying to me, the Spirit of God showed me a picture of Adonai being in the center of God’s purposes, to reach the world around us with the message of the cross. What I saw was so clear that I began to draw it on a piece of paper. This led us to changing the Adonai church logo which emphasizes on ‘discipling nations’.

In 2016, we will be starting Adonai Bible School, a one year program designed to train people working in full time ministry and those with secular jobs.

As we step into our 31st year, we are very grateful to God and to all those who have stood with us over the years in seeing this vision materialize. As a church we look forward with renewed zeal for what God has in store for us in the years to come.

All in all, these 30 years have been a long, exciting and fruitful journey. God has brought us a long way from where we started off. He placed a God-sized dream in our hearts – a dream that He alone could realise in and through us. Today, we stand amazed and grateful as He does just that.

Rev. Victor D’Monte
Senior Pastor, Adonai Church