K Daniel Williams

As a young man K. Daniel Williams got inspiration from the call of Jesus Christ, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” and went ahead to serve the Lord with all his might. He had a secular job, but he proved that a person could do the ministry for the Lord much more than a full time evangelist, along with a secular job. The zeal to proclaim the kingdom of God, made him to travel through out the length and breadth of Kerala, especially in the Northern part of Kerala and also to almost all the States in India.His major contribution to the Brethren Movement in Kerala was the inspiration he gave to the young men to serve the Lord either through the local church or through Young Men’s Evangelical Fellowship (YMEF), an organization with a vision of evangelization. He widened their perspective to understand the need of evangelization of the villages of Northern India. He taught the doctrine from the word of God without any ambiguity and exhorted the Brethren to stand faithfully in the separation (Verpad). He never compromised in these things.

Family Background

Bro. Williams was born in 18-3-1927 in Nellikkunnu in Trichur to Bro. K.K.Daniel and Sis. Martha. Both of his parents were believers. Later on they settled in Kodakara when Williams was only two years old. He was obedient and God fearing. His parents taught him from the Bible and even told him about the need of salvation. But he never understood of its importance in his childhood. As he grew as a teenager, many sins began to influence him. While he started his college studies he even turned to be an atheist.

New Birth

While he was nineteen years old, one day he went to a convention, where Bro. Gordon Junk, a foreign missionary and editor of the magazine Indian Christian, was preaching the gospel. The message was very powerful and it touched him. The preacher explained the need and urgency of salvation, mainly based on the verse Jeremiah 8:20: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved”. He understood that if the Lord came at that moment his saved parents would go to the presence of Jesus and he would be left behind. When he would die he would go to hell because he was a sinner. He knew that the only way of salvation was to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and to confess it with his mouth. When the preacher gave the alter call he got up and went forward, near the stage, confessed that he was a sinner and accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.

He went home with full joy of salvation and his life was completely changed. Immediately he began to share his experience and gospel to his friends. He began to read the Bible meaningfully and to attend the church with real interest. He was baptized soon and he began to go out to preach the gospel, in open-air meetings, along with the brethren in Thessery.

Complete surrender

The real dedication of his life to Lord came when he read the verse Mathew 6:33 “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all this things shall be added unto you.” Initially he did not understand what Jesus was telling. He went on meditating on this verse. Then he understood that Jesus was giving this call to him. He surrendered his life fully to Jesus and gave priority to Lords kingdom in his life. He was willing to pay the price for this decision.

In 1952 April 21 he married Annamma daughter of brother K.K.Mathew (Kuttappan Upadeshi) of Puthuppally. Bro. K.K. Mathew was one of the founders of Puthuppally Assembly, who came from Orthodox Church and suffered a lot of persecution from his own family and church members.

A major setback in his life was the sudden death of his father in 1956. At that time he had just joined M/S Voltas Ltd. In Cochin. His father was a businessman, a cloth merchant. He was a very good believer and did not know how to do business. He took advances from his friends and fellow believers to purchase goods and sold cloths to his customers mainly on credit. He was very lenient in collecting dues from his creditors. He used to purchase goods from Cochin. While he was on such a mission to Cochin he did not feel well and went to General Hospital in Fort Cochin for check-up. He was having severe stomachache and had to under go an urgent surgery. Something went wrong and he died next day. His sudden death made the business into complete doldrums.

Ruined Financially

Before regaining from the shock of his father’s death, Bro. Williams came to know that he was in deep debts. Those who lent money to his father came immediately and demanded the money back. But the customers who owed money to his father never turned up. Business was totally ruined by that time and Court orders came for attaching the property. Bro. Williams was forced to sell his entire properties, which consisted of a large house, more than six acres of land and a vast paddy field. As it was a distress sale the sale proceeds were not enough to clear all the debts. He and his wife Annamma, a schoolteacher, had to toil for many years to settle all the debts.

Settled in Cochin

Thus when he moved to Cochin in 1957 with his widowed mother, wife and children, he was a pauper. Even though he had no material possessions he had everything in the Lord. It was Lord’s will to bring him to Cochin to strengthen him in the Lords ministry and to revive the Fort Cochin Assembly. He took part keen interest in the activities of the Assembly. Along with the brethren in the Assembly, young and old, he went out to preach the gospel throughout the neighboring places of Cochin, conducting open-air meetings during Sundays and in the evenings during weekdays, after coming back from his official duties.

Sacrifices for the Lord

One of the major decisions he took in his life was to surrender his entire leave for the Lord’s ministry. Since he was in financial difficulties he could have earned money by surrendering his leave to the company. But he utilized his entire leave to attend gospel campaigns within and outside Kerala. His superiors in the office called him and warned him that he is taking lot of leave and even though his work is good he may loose his promotion. He told them boldly that he is taking leave not for his personnel needs, but for the matters concerning Lord Jesus Christ, to whom he has surrendered all his leave.

The explanation was not acceptable to his superiors and hence he lost his promotion and career growth in the company. Like Apostle Paul, whatever things were gain to him, he considered it lose for the sake of Jesus Christ. This vision enabled him to spend as much time in the Lords field as he spent in his office. After office hours, often till midnight, he used to travel to many places and did gospel work. Holidays and leave days were entirely spent for Lords purpose. Thus he proved that a God’s servant need not be a full time gospel worker to do the gospel work effectively. Like Apostle Paul he considered his job in Voltas as ‘tent making’ for his daily needs and for the furtherance of gospel.

Formation of YMEF in North Kerala

The activity of YMEF was limited only to Southern Kerala at that time. Bro. Williams along with Bro. P.P.Devasy during 1949 went to an YMEF summer camp in Kumbanad. He was very young at that time and had to take the permission and required finance from his father (His father was alive at that time). Thus they proceeded to Kumbanad. At the camp, secretary Bro. T.K.Samuel was very happy to receive these youngsters who came all the way from the North. The camp was well attended. In fact a spiritual revival was happening in the camp. These youngsters approached the secretary and requested to conduct such camps in North Kerala. He explained to them about the practical difficulty in conducting a camp by them in North because even in South they were unable to conduct sufficient camps. He urged them to form YMEF in North. In this regard Bro. Williams wrote a letter to M.E.Cherian. He promptly gave a detailed reply giving all required instructions and encouragement in forming YMEF in North.

As the first step Williams, along with Bro. P.P.Devasy and later on with Bro. E.V. John, visited the Assemblies in North Kerala. They convinced the Assemblies about the need of having an organization like YMEF for the spiritual growth of young men and for evangelization. Next step was to organize a conference of representatives from the Assemblies. This required finance and it seemed impossible for him to do it. One day his father asked him why he was so gloomy. When he conveyed this matter to his father, he asked him to pray to God and not to be anxious about it. The encouragement he got from his father and the strength of the prayer enabled him to organize a conference in the village of Thessery on 21st January 1950. More than 40 representatives from Assemblies attended the meeting. Bro. M.E.Cherian was present in the conference and first YMEF committee was formed on that day.

The above meeting gave Williams a confidence as a successful organizer. In a small Assembly in the remote village of Thessery he could organize such a conference, meeting all the financial expenses. He understood that by trusting in Lord he could do greater things. His ability as an organizer strengthened day by day and YMEF grew into a vibrant organization. He was very particular that YMEF should have very close relationship with the local churches. Because of this the churches and YMEF were mutually benefited. The youngsters from many Assemblies were spiritually revived and were well equipped in evangelization. These youngsters have contributed much to the spiritual growth of the assemblies in Kerala as well as outside Kerala.

Mission on Two-wheeler

Believers in the Assemblies in and around Ernakulam District of Kerala, two decades past, would be remembering about two persons traveling in a motor bike and doing Gospel work untiring. They used to conduct Bible classes and evening gospel meetings. They used to visit their Assemblies during Sundays and teach them the doctrines and encourage them. For weddings, funerals and baptisms they would be present as part of them. They were like Paul and Silas to them. We are talking about Bro. Williams and his quiet companion Bro. P.X.Jacob of Cochin. Both of them were having responsible secular jobs in good companies. Bro. Williams in M/s. Voltas Ltd and Bro. Jacob in M/s. Volkardt Brothers. Still they toiled hard in the gospel field much more than full time gospel workers. After office hours, often till midnight, he used to travel in the motorcycle to many places in Kerala and did gospel work. During holidays and leave days, he was on the two-wheeler for Lords purpose. He met with three major accidents, but the Lord protected him under His mighty wings.

Evangelization of North India

While one of the YMEF camp was going on, India and Pakistan were at war. Many Indian jawans were killed in that war, including those from Kerala. It came into the mind of Bro. Williams and his co-workers that they are doing nothing as Christian soldiers when compared with the sacrifices made by those Jawans. If God asks them to go to Jammu and Kashmir, would they go there? The burden came into their minds and they began to conduct prayer and fasting in Cochin. Ultimately they took the decision to undertake the adventurous journey by themselves. After months of prayers Bro. Williams, Bro. E.J. Paily, Bro. P.X. George and Bro. V.T. John (Ludhiana) started their journey from Ernakulam on 25th May 1966 to the unfamiliar and farthest place in the nation to proclaim the gospel. Bro. Stephen Mull and Bro. K. John joined them from Punjab. The campaign in Jammu and Kashmir continued for more than one month and it was a great blessing. There was no much opposition for gospel at that time. This gospel tour gave greater burden in the heart of Bro. Williams about evangelization of the villages of North India.

There are many villages in North India where gospel has not been reached. Millions of people are perishing without knowing about the salvation prepared by God on the cross of calvary. The primary objective of YMEF is evangelization and what they could do in this regard. This matter was discussed in the YMEF general committee for many times. The responses were not quite positive and even certain members started mocking Bro. Williams, since he was repeatedly mentioning about evangelization of North India in almost all meetings. Finally he understood that a combined effort of all divisions of YMEF was impossible and something could be done only through the Northern division of YMEF.

Evangelization of Northern India became one of the major prayer agenda for the Northern division of YMEF. By God’s grace a team of YMEF members went to Madhya Pradesh in train during 1976. While doing the gospel work they understood about the need for having an own vehicle. In every camp and meetings this became an important matter for prayer. God started to hear the prayer. A widow was the first person to contribute a major sum for this purpose. She told them that she was accumulating this amount for this purpose. This was a great encouragement to the YMEF leaders. During a one-day conference in Kalamassery officially a fund was started for purchasing a vehicle. In that meeting itself substantial offers were received.

In 1980 spending around Rs.1Lakh, YMEF purchased their first Van. The first campaign of North India started from Thrissur on 30th September 1980. The campaign was planned for about one year in U.P. and Bihar. There was no money to spend for the day-to-day expenses of the team and the leaders were very anxious. A large gathering had come to Thrissur on that day to see off the team. They had also brought their contributions for the ministry. It was Bro. Williams who was accepting their contributions and writing the official receipts. His eyes were filled with tears of joy to see how the Lord was answering their prayers. The assemblies in North Kerala gave full support to this ministry and henceforth funds were not a problem. After this campaign, many yearlong campaigns were conducted in Rajasthan, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal and North Eastern States. Bro. Williams was the major driving force behind this campaigns and he traveled with the teams to most of the States for about two decades. Even at the age of 74 he went to Nagaland along with the team. For him it was a dream fulfilled.

Pressing Toward the Goal

“Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31). This biblical verse was true in Bro. William’s life. While touring North India and other places, he was having many ailments in his body. The dusty roads of the villages, where the team traveled for doing gospel work, often made him to suffer at nights by asthmatic problems. His team members used to be surprised by seeing him hale and active in the morning, ready to go into the streets, after a bout of asthma in the night. The ailments in his body never hindered his works for the Lord. It was the mighty God who strengthened him. At the later stages God was even pleased to cure his ailments and renewed his strength, like an eagle, in his old age. He is now now in his eighties, unable to travel out of his house in Cochin (Kerala, India)