Madras Pentecostal Assembly was the first Pentecostal church in Chennai. M.P.A Ministries began as a small Sunday School in 1918. It soon grew into a church in the year 1920 and thus was formed the Madras Pentecostal Assembly which was registered on August 17th 1934. The M.P.A ministries has been involved in multi-faceted ministries comprising of churches , orphan homes , schools , bible school , magazines , seminars , village evangelism , gospel crusades , film ministry , music tapes , bible correspondence courses etc. MPA also published one of the first Pentecostal magazines in India in 1938 called the 'Balm of Gilead' and started one of the first Pentecostal bible schools in India in 1950 called the 'Madras Bible Institute'.