P L Patoley: First brethren Missionary from Maharashtra

Any account of the dispersion of the gospel in the city of Mumbai and to the people of the land of Maharashtra would be incomplete without mentioning the contribution of Brother P L Patoley. He was the first Maharashtrian commended missionary from the Brethren assemblies.

His early life and education
Purushottam Lazarus Patoley was born on 24th October 1915 in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. His parents were teachers in a school run by the American Mission. Brother Patoley spent most of his childhood in Ratnagiri but completed his High School education from the Irwin Christian High School in Kolhapur. The family moved to Kolhapur as they began facing a great deal of social persecution after Brother Patoley's father turned Christian.

His Salvation and call for Ministry
After the demise of his father, Brother P L Patoley and his family moved to Bombay, as he needed to find a job to financially support them all. An article in the Seva magazine reveals that though Brother Patoley heard the gospel as preached by missionaries of the CSSM at a very young age, he was only truly saved in 1936 by Brother Wilfred S. Durham, founder of the GLS press (Bombay). At that time, Brother Patoley was employed in a cloth mill, which, during those days, was a thriving industry in Bombay.

He got married in 1940 and had five children—two sons and three daughters.

Brother Patoley commenced his fellowship with the Christian Believer's Assembly in the Fort area after coming into contact with Brother W S Durham, Brother Justus Samuel and others. Those were the days Brother Handley Bird held daily Bible classes and it is quite possible that this influenced Brother Patoley to obey the Lord in the waters of Baptism.

Brother Patoley would regularly join the Fort Assembly Open Air Team on Saturday afternoons. He had a very special God-given gift of communicating the Gospel in Marathi to people on the streets. His joining with the Open-Air Team was a great encouragement to the young brethren who would go out to preach the gospel.

In 1942, Brother Patoley got a job in the labour office of General Motors with the help of Brother P E Peri. After a few years he was promoted to the prestigious post of Labour Officer. During this period (1940-1948) Brother Patoley laboured for the Lord after his working hours. He resigned from his job and was commended for full-time ministry by the Fort Assembly in 1948.Elders of the Fort Assembly at that time, included Brother W S Durham, Brother Justus Samuel, Brother B P Thomas, and Brother W E Thompson.


Formation of Parel Marathi Assembly
With support and spiritual help from the Fort Assembly elders and thanks to the hard work put in by Brother Patoley, a Marathi Brethren assembly was formed in Parel, Bombay.

The church group assembled in a hall for many years which, according to Brother Patoley, had originally belonged to a missionary sister. When she left India, she transferred the ownership of the apartment in Dinshaw Terrace (now Saraswat Sadan) to Brother Patoley, so it could be used for the assembly. Brother Patoley had an apartment also in his name in the ground floor next to the hall, where all his family members resided. Brother Patoley ensured her wishes were honoured by using the hall bestowed on his name for church purposes and by not using it as a residence.

The assembly paid the rent and outgoings for the hall and the church continued gathering there. According to the first-hand account of his association with Brother Patoley, Brother Thomas Mathews explains how Brother Patoley, being prevailed upon by poor health, wanted the hall to be transferred to the name of the assembly while he was still alive. This would help prevent any future ownership-related complications between the assembly and his family.

After much prayerful consideration with the Fort Assembly elders and having taken some legal opinion about the same, a trust was registered by the name of “Parel Brethren Assembly Trust”. Brother Thomas Mathews, of Fort Assembly, Brother Patoley and two other elders of the Parel assembly were the trustees.

This move, however, hit a roadblock when, in February 1981, the landlords refused to transfer the ownership of the apartment from Brother Patoley's name to the newly created trust without being paid a large sum of money. Though the hall remained in Brother Patoley's name, he was very clear with all concerned that the hall was to be used for church purposes only and accordingly he instructed his family members. The rest is history.


Ministry expanded
After having spent many years with the Parel Assembly, the Lord encouraged Brother Patoley to work for the Ambernath and Ahmednagar assemblies, which he did in 1954 and 1960 respectively. He ministered there for some time, with Brother Gordon Richie & Brother B A Tadke. It was in 1956 an assembly testimony was established at Ambernath.

From 1969 onwards, the Lord sent him to Pune, where several assemblies were formed, and the gospel was preached among the locals in a way that touched their hearts and led them to the Lord. Bhakt Singh was an invaluable companion to Brother Patoley during these days, and they spent many days labouring till sundown to further the Word in these areas.


Multigifted Personality
Brother Patoley's command over languages like English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Konkani, Sanskrit, and Hebrew made him an indispensable translator to several visiting evangelists like Brother Bhakt Singh, Gordon Ritchie, and others. For many years he was a regular translator from English to Marathi during the conventions held at Kanjur Marge IND Colony. Brother Patoley was a good singer, musician, and composer as well. He used his many God-given talents to promote the gospel in a manner that the locals could relate to and used to glorify God in their own way.

Led by God, Brother Patoley was instrumental in the furtherance of the gospel in Bombay, Belgaum, Sangli, Nagpur, Aurangabad, and many other places in Maharashtra. He also spoke in southern states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. Once he had visited Kerala to attend the Kumbanad convention. Having learned a Malayalam song "En sangadangal sacalavum thernuthpoi" written by Late M E Cherian, he sang it during the convention. It was one of the highlights of that year's convention. His preaching style, humour, ability to compose songs with ease and sing them in public accompanied by musical instruments earned him the title "M E Cherian of Maharashtra".

In 1981, Brother Patoley was invited by believers in Dubai, which culminated in the formation of a Marathi Christian assembly there as well. During his lifetime and through his life and faith, Brother Patoley fulfilled the most important commission given to us all by our Lord God —that of being witnesses of and for Him. Actions often speak louder than words and through his actions, behaviour and faith, Brother Patoley proved to be a worthy witness of the God whom he served. Through the simple act of adhering to God's holy standards and obeying the Word diligently, Brother Patoley managed to give non-believers in his community and locality a glimpse of the goodness and beauty of the wonderful God he served. All of this worked towards the glorification of our God.


Home call
Brother Patoley was called to his heavenly home on August 22, 1981, at 1:00 PM after a long battle with diabetes. Brother Charlie John visited him that day and prayed with him. Just minutes later, it pleased the Lord to call his dear servant home. Elders from various assemblies, Lord's servants and many brethren from different places attended the funeral service. A huge gathering paid their tributes to a man who put his faith and the needs of his heavenly family above those of his earthly one. It's an example worth emulating, especially in these days when people are judged by their last names and not the strength of their faith in the Lord or by their passion and devotion to the only living God,

* sources of information:- Br. S.S Kale, B A Tadke, Thomas Mathew, Koshy Mathew and Shaila Patoley.
This article first appeared in the Harvest Times magazine in the February 2015 edition.