When Chief Apostle Schneider visited Raipur in November 2017, the circle of the Apostles in India changed with four retirements and three ordinations. The following month, all active Apostles met in Bengaluru for a redistribution of working areas which they started visiting from January 2018 onwards.
Chief Apostle Schneider and his delegates with the four retired Apostles and their wives (with District Apostle Mark Woll and his Helpers)
Chief Apostle before the ordination of Apostles Devadas Basappa, Fred Marihal and Prabhakar Beergi.
Following are brief introductions and portraits of our eight active Apostles in India – beginning with the District Apostle Helper – and then in alphabetical order. All figures are taken from our official records (as of December 2017).
David Devaraj
Being the District Apostle Helper, Apostle David does not have a dedicated working area – the whole of India and Sri Lanka are under his spiritual care. In India, there are around 940 ministers in 560 active congregations. These are organized into 46 District Rector Areas and distributed among seven Apostles.
Christranjan Nanda
Apostle Nanda’s main working area is in Odisha and parts of Chattisgarh (Jagdalpur and Darbha). There are 66 congregations with 130 ministers which are organized in six District Rector Areas (DRA). He also has a shared responsibility with Apostle Pravin in the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Devadas Basappa
Apostle Devadas is working in Andhra Pradesh which is currently organized in six District Rector Areas. There are 86 ministers who care for 64 congregations.
Fred Marihal
Apostle Fred’s working area stretches across many states in South India: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. 153 ministers serve in 92 congregations that are organized in eight District Rector Areas.
Lazrus Patel
Apostle Patel continues to take care of Rajasthan where he has been working since his ordination in 2013. There are four District Rector Areas with 50 congregations and 57 ministers. In view of his retirement by end of this year, he is sharing his responsibility with Apostle Pravin.
Prabhakar Beergi
Apostle Prabhakar takes care of eight District Rector Areas in Telegana State where 165 ministers serve in 110 congregations.
Pravin Gajbhiv
Apostle Pravin Gajbhiv is working in the states of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in North India. He also looks after Jharkhand and West Bengal which is gradually being handed over from Apostle Nanda’s care. There are 122 ministers who care for 73 congregations in six District Rector Areas. He also shares the responsibility of Rajasthan with Apostle Patel.
Sanjay Shastri
Apostle Shastri continues to be in charge of Gujarat and Maharashtra, with his working area extending to parts of Chhattisgarh (Raipur). There are eight District Rector Areas in which 226 ministers serve in 102 congregations.
This information is also available in a slightly different format, in the Ministry section in the “Get to know” menu of our website.