In the early 1990s, several Mar Thoma families lived in the Austin area and most of them were members of the Mar Thoma Church of Dallas or Trinity Mar Thoma Church of Houston. The first Mar Thoma Bishop to visit Austin and conduct a prayer meeting was the Rt. Rev. Dr. Geevarghese Mar Theodosius in 1995. On May 1st, 1999, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Zacharias Mar Theophilus was the first bishop to conduct a Holy Communion Service at St. George’s Episcopal Church, Austin. In June 2002, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Euyakim Mar Coorilos accompanied by Rev. T. V. George conducted a Holy Communion Service at St. George’s Episcopal Church, Austin. During this period, vicars of Dallas Mar Thoma Church and Trinity Mar Thoma Church and youth chaplains from Houston conducted Prayer Meetings, Holy Communion Services and other functions in Austin.
In 2004, the members in Mar Thoma and CSI churches residing in Austin and San Antonio felt the need to have a prayer meeting or worship services on a regular basis. Rev. George Thomas, the vicar of Trinity Mar Thoma Church, Houston, celebrated Holy Communion on August 29, 2004 in Austin and he motivated the attendees of the service to have regular meetings at least once in a month. Thus, prayer meetings were held at residences of a few members. The progress and interest among the members were communicated to Rev. George Thomas. From January 2005, the Rev. George Thomas conducted a Holy Communion service once a month at St. George’s Episcopal Church, Austin with the approval of our Diocesan Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Euyakim Mar Coorilos Episcopa.
Our then Diocesan Bishop, Coorilos Thirumeni, visited Austin and celebrated Holy Communion on Saturday December 3, 2005 and encouraged us to become a Mar Thoma Congregation. An application to form an official congregation, with the signatures of all the potential members was sent to the Diocesan Bishop on December 5, 2005 along with a letter from the Rev. George Thomas. In response to our request, Austin Mar Thoma Congregation was officially approved through the Kalpana dated Dec 21, 2005 (No. DC/653/2005 dated 12/21/2005) and was effective from January 1, 2006. The Rev. Mathew Joseph was appointed as the first vicar.
The newly formed Austin Mar Thoma Congregation met regularly for worship at St. George’s Episcopal Church, Austin in the afternoons. There were two Holy Communion Services in a month, one in Malayalam and one in English. In 2006 the Congregation had 21 families with a total of 66 members. A website for the Austin Mar Thoma Congregation was set up in May 2006