Pastor Abraham Swamidass one of two pastors at Madison Community Seventh-day Adventist Church, whose native language is Tamil, was born in southern India in the city of Madurai in 1958. Madurai, known as the temple city and cultural capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, is a center of
Hindu pilgrimage.
When Swamidass was born, the population in Madurai was 92% Hindu, 3% Christian, and 5% other. Pastor Swamidass’ parents became Lutherans, and as he grew, he discovered a love of volunteering for church work, even at a very early age. In order to earn money for his college education, Swamidass worked for two years selling cashews in a railway station. He then attended Spicer Memorial College near Bombay, the only Seventh-day Adventist college in India, where he graduated with a degree in theology in 1980. Since Spicer did not have a Masters program, Swamidass traveled to the Philippines to earn that degree.
Still needing a source of income to pay for additional studies at the Seminary, Pastor Swamidass moved to Toronto, Canada during the summer of 1982 to sell health books produced by Loma Linda University, California. His summertime efforts earned him a full scholarship to Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich. He met his future wife, Joan, while at Andrews. Joan is also of East Indian descent, but she grew up as a third-generation immigrant, in St. Vincent in the Caribbean Islands. Swamidass and Joan married after their graduation in 1985.
Swamidass continued to travel around the globe, as his church assignments took him to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, then Washington, DC as associate pastor for seven years, followed by Windsor, Canada, as senior pastor, prior to coming to Madison three years ago. In his 10 years in Canada, his church membership doubled in size to 350.
Having acquired special training in premarital and marriage counseling, Swamidass now conducts Marriage and Family Life seminars in cities across North America and is working on his doctoral dissertation in Family Ministries. He spent three weeks doing missionary work in Bulgaria just last year.
“That was a tremendous experience in beautiful Valingrad to speak to anoverflowing crowd, especially of young people, who sought knowledge of the Gospel after being under Communist rule for about 45 years,” he said.
Swamidass, Joan, and their three sons, who range in age from 8 to 20, like Madison very much. “I particularly like the community spirit here on the Northside where people are friendly and committed to progress and meeting people’s needs. My background fits with the multiethnicity represented in the neighborhood. In fact, I thank God every day for sending me to this neighborhood and congregation,” he shared.
