People / Rev. Datuk Dr. Prince Guneratnam

A Pastor with An Unquenchable Desire to Build God's Kingdom

Rev. Datuk Dr. Prince Guneratnam is a servant of God filled with the Holy Spirit. Whenever he preaches the Good News, people repent and commit their lives to Jesus Christ.

"I have preached the Gospel at Calvary Church for the last 30 years," said Dr. Guneratnam. "Whenever I preach the Word of God, the Holy Spirit always leads me. Because He is with me, I have seen Him perform many miracles and a great crowd of people have believed in Jesus and returned to God."

Dr. Guneratnam's passion for preaching the Gospel has reached beyond Malaysia. He is building God's kingdom worldwide. The Holy Spirit has opened doors and provided opportunities for him to preach in major cities and in every continent of the world. Whether a small congregation or large masses of people, Dr. Guneratnam preaches the Gospel with a great desire to see people saved and lives changed through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thousands have had the opportunity to hear the Gospel through the Calvary Christmas and Easter projects envisioned by Dr. Guneratnam which have been an annual evangelistic ministry of Calvary Church to reach the heart of Kuala Lumpur. Hundreds of people have accepted Jesus through these evangelistic projects. During the past 30 years, Calvary has planted 6 churches in Kuala Lumpur, 18 other churches within Malaysia, and 4 international churches: 1 in Canada, 2 in Indonesia, and 1 in Kenya.

Calvary Church in Kuala Lumpur is the largest church in Malaysia and has about 7,000 members. The congregation consisted of 120 members in 1972 when Dr. Guneratnam became their senior pastor. His spiritual leadership and guidance have been a major factor in the growth of Calvary Church. The Holy Spirit has helped him use suitable strategies geared to the times and the contemporary needs of the people. His fresh sermons and approaches to ministry have brought revival. He has allowed himself to change, develop, and mature in his work for the Lord. During the years he and his wife have pastored at Calvary, he has always been concerned about people's spiritual needs as well as their hurts and the needs of society. Through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, he has touched the hearts of people with life-changing messages and ministries.

Another secret for the growth of Calvary Church is that Dr. Guneratnam has continually planted visions and dreams in the hearts of his church members. His first goal was to have 500 members. After achieving that goal, he set a new goal of 1,000 and then 2,000 people. Calvary has a new vision now¡ªto have a new church building with a seating capacity of 5,000 people. Dr. Guneratnam emphasized, "It is very important that a pastor keep pastoring the same church. If a senior pastor is changed too often, it can interfere with the growth of the church."

Dr. Guneratnam established the Asian Institute of Ministries (AIM) in 1985. AIM is a short-term Bible school sponsored by Calvary Church to train ordinary people for extraordinary service for the Lord. While most of the students were from Calvary, AIM has also trained students from other churches in Malaysia as well as from overseas: Congo, Fiji, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand. AIM has trained over 450 men and women. Over 50 of them are in full-time ministry while many others are in positions of lay leadership.

Calvary Church is also concerned about the social needs in their community. Calvary Life Ministries (CLM) provides professional Christian counseling. Caring Ministry was formed to reach out to the aged and the disabled. Calvary Sunshine Home provides quality care for the elderly. Calvaryland was born in 2001, a social concern integrated center in Sungai Pelek. It provides a home-like environment of healing and nurture for the hurting and the socially marginalized.

In 1999, Dr. Guneratnam was bestowed the "Panglima Jasa Negara (PJN)" by His Majesty the King of Malaysia. The PJN is a high federal award in recognition of outstanding service to the country and its people. The award carries the title "Datuk" (for a man) and "Datin" (for a woman). Therefore, Dr. Guneratnam became Rev. Datuk Dr. Prince Guneratnam and his wife became Datin Dr. Petrina Guneratnam.

Calvary International Ministries (CIM) was established at the commemorative celebration in recognition of Rev. Datuk Dr. Prince Guneratnam's 30 years of faithful ministry at Calvary Church. It is a non-profit international and interdenominational evangelistic ministry. The mission and objectives of CIM are:

Preach the Gospel to ALL nations
Research and publish materials on church leadership and missiology
Encourage and train pastors, leaders and missionaries
Assist churches in developing their missions program Conduct evangelistic rallies, missions and church growth conferences
Help coordinate relief projects for humanitarian needs globally
With the world's population over 6 billion, the urgency to proclaim the Gospel is very evident.

Dr. Guneratnam says, "I see this as a challenge and believe it is timely for the evangelistic ministry that God has graciously given to me to be strategically coordinated to maximize its effectiveness both at home and abroad. The establishing of Calvary International Ministries will be the culmination of many years of evangelistic fervor and ministry to which the Lord has called and led me."

Dr. Guneratnam who is now 56 years old was called by GOd to be His servant at the age of 12. He also serves in key leadership positions both locally and worldwide - being vice-chairman of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship and chairman of both the Christian Federation of Malaysia and the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) of Malaysia.