Know your Pastor: Rev Dr Sudhama Ananda
Sudhama Ananda was born and brought up in a devoted Christian family in Mangalore, India. He had his high school education from the Basel Evangelical Mission High School in Mangalore. After his high school education, Sudhama joined the Karnataka Theological College in Mangalore to do Bachelor in Theology. Later he did his Bachelor in Divinity from the same seminary affiliated to the Senate of Serampore (University). He secured his Master of Arts in Religion degree from the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa in 1986.
Sudhama comes with rich experience of working in the churches both in India and in the United States and was serving in several ecumenical organizations like the Student Christian Movement of India (affiliated to the World Student Christian Federation, Geneva, Switzerland), Karnataka Christian Council (subsidiary of the then National Christian Council), Sandesha (a Roman Catholic center for Christian arts and media). He served in the Mangalore YMCA as the Secretary (Director) and was responsible in outreach programs, health and education projects in villages. This gave Sudhama wider knowledge of working with youth and people belonging to different faiths. Sudhama was the Director of the Karnataka Christian Communication Center in Mangalore till he came to the United States to do higher studies at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Chicago, IL. He secured Master of Theology and Doctor of Ministry in Mission & Leadership from the LSTC. In 2007 Sudhama was invited by the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference to be the Pastor at Mt. Zion/Barnsboro United Methodist Churches in Sewell, NJ. Later he was moved to Cedar Cliff UMC and from July 2010 he is serving at the Park Ridge United Methodist Church.
Sudhama has widely traveled visiting Hong Kong, Switzerland, Germany, Rome, the Vatican and Canada. He was a graduate student at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches in Bossey, Geneva and a research scholar at the Basel Mission Library/Archives in Basel, Switzerland.
Sudhama loves music and plays guitar and sings whenever there is an opportunity. He is ecumenically minded and works closely with inter-religious groups. Knowing his field of interest Sudhama was entrusted with a responsibility of doing mission with Asian Indians in and around Park Ridge, NJ.
