Bishop Tan Sri John Gurubatham Savarimuthu was born on November 29, 1925 in Kulasekharapatnam, Tirunelveli, South India. As his forefathers came from a Roman Catholic background, he was named 'Savari' (Xavier). He completed his Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1952 at the Tamil Nadu Theological College in Tirumariyur, South India. He married Catherine Yesadian and they had two sons (John and Nathaniel) and a daughter (Mary).
On June 8, 1952 he was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Singapore and Malaya by Bishop HW Baines at St. Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore. He was persuaded to begin his ministry at this diocese by his father-in-law, Canon T. Yesadian, who served the diocese from 1924 to 1951.
Savarimuthu began his ministry as an Assistant Curate, mainly for the Tamil Congregation at St. Mark's Church, Seremban (1952-1955). Canon Terence Oliver, who founded St.Aidan's Church in Bahau, was his vicar and trained him to be the vicar from 1955-1962. While in Seremban, he served as honorary secretary of the Tamil Board and in the Council of Churches of Malaya (then known as the Malayan Christian Council).
It is said that Canon Terence Oliver and Savarimuthu raised many English ordinands (priests) from the army and civil personnel including John Kanagarenatham, Webber Timothy, Mark Chung, Samuel Jacob, L.S. Devaraj and Lakshman Kumaraj.
In 1963, Bishop Kenneth Sansbury sent Savarimuthu to St. Augustine's Anglican College at Canterbury for theological studies. He represented the diocese at the Anglican Congress in Toronto in 1963.
He served in Johor from 1964-1970 and was appointed Examining Chaplain to the Bishops of Singapore and Malaysia from 1965-1970. He was also a visiting lecturer at St. Peter's Hall, Trinity College, Singapore for a term in 1996. He was appointed the Archdeacon of the Southern Archdeaconry in 1970 while serving as the Vicar of South Johor.
In October 1972, following the passing of Bishop Roland Koh, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsay, appointed Savarimuthu as Vicar General and the second bishop of the Diocese of West Malaysia. Archbishop Ramsay consecrated Savarimuthu on Ash Wednesday in March 1973 at St. Mary's Church, Kuala Lumpur, thus beginning a new chapter for Bishop Savarimuthu.
Savarimuthu’s primary concern as bishop was theological education and he was instrumental in bringing theological training to the diocese. With encouragement from Bishop S. Neil and other leaders, he began the Kolej Theoloji Malaysia (KTM) in 1974 which was a merger of the diocese’s St. Mark’s Training Centre and the ELCM’s (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malaysia) Christian Training Centre. It started with two students and two lecturers at St. Mark's, Sungai Buloh but later moved to Sentul and Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. Students who enrolled in the early days included Andrew Pang (now Ven), Samuel D. John (now Rev), Charles K. Samuel (now Ven), Albert S. Walters (now Rev Dr), and Fred David (now Rev).
In 1979, the college became the Seminari Theoloji Malaysia (STM) in partnership with the Methodist Church and the ELCM. Savarimuthu was elected the first president of the STM Council and Rev Dr Dennis Dutton, then the President of the Trinity Conference of the Methodist Church in Malaysia, became its first principal.
The Bishop encouraged and assisted clergy to pursue theological studies and encouraged them to publish theological writings. His aim, in his own words, was "to provide many Koyama" following the footsteps of the Japanese theologian, Kosuke Koyama, whose understanding of God's mission helped Savarimuthu to identify the nature of diocesan ministry. Savarimuthu felt that mission needed to be in various forms in Malaysia and run by Malaysians, and to this end he emphasised the Malaysianisation of the Anglican Church in response to the Government's policy of restricting expatriate clergy. He felt the need for a full three-pronged programme:
a) Training of ordinands for full-time ministry.
b) Training of young ladies as parish assistants.
c) Training of laity as supplementary or non-stipendiary ministers (NSM).
By December 1986, the theological institutions had produced 19 priests and a deacon. Bishop Lim Cheng Ean said, "In 1973 when Savarimuthu took over, there were 3 Chinese clergy and one parish worker, while in 1995, there were 25 Chinese clergy and 10 Chinese deaconesses in the Diocese'. In 1995, we had a total of 63 Malaysian clergy (41 full-time and 22 NSM, and this included 7 full-time deaconesses, 6 honorary deaconesses and 13 evangelists), 47 church buildings and 90 congregations.”
Savarimuthu also introduced the 4M programme to mobilise every Member for Mission in Malaysia. This paved the way for the creation of Missionary Districts (MD), parishes and archdeaconries. To some extent, this both challenged and assisted certain congregations.
He was also an ecumenical leader. Right from his ministry in Seremban in the 1950s, he was actively involved at many different levels in the ecumenical movement. He served as the national president of the Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) from 1979-1983 and played a key role in the formation of the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) in 1986. He served in the East Asia Christian Conference which later became the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), World Council of Churches (WCC), Church Union Negotiating Committee (Malaysia and Singapore), the Anglican- Lutheran International Commission, the Anglican International Network on Refugee and Migrant Ministry, Council of Churches of East Asia, and was chairman of the Theological Commission. His extensive involvement took him to many parts of the world.
Savarimuthu was a national leader and this leadership which emerged from the worship of God, witnessing in the diocese and involvement in the ecumenical movement extended to the government. He led a delegation to appeal to the Prime Minister to lift the ban on the Alkitab (Malay Bible) and obtained a favourable response from the government. He also led a delegation to the government to offer the churches' views on the Kuala Lumpur Draft Plan for AD 2000.
Although he was born in India and came to Malaysia only in 1952, he was a patriotic bishop and would remind the Anglican Church and the ecumenical body to be loyal and patriotic to Malaysia and emphasised solidarity with the government. He was able to build good relationships with government authorities and officials.
The Bishop made every effort to attend to national duties, be it the funeral of a prime minister, meeting with the King in the palace during Open House, or responding to the National Relief Fund. The Bishop and other leaders initiated useful dialogues on the need for allocation of land for non-Muslim places of worship and burial and also for the free use of certain Islamic terms, and importing of Malay Bibles. Due to his involvement in the life of the nation, he emerged as a well-known figure both in the government and Christian circles. In recognition of his services to the church and nation, the King conferred the "Tan Sri" title on him on June 4, 1980. “This recognition not only speaks loudly of his leadership but also further energised him and other Christians for God's service, both in the Church and the nation.”
He was a man of vision and dreams. One of his great concerns was the formation of the Anglican Province of South East Asia although he initially felt the need for a Province of West Malaysia. In order to carry out the vision, among other concerns, the Northern Archdeaconry was divided into two areas: Perak was constituted as an Archdeaconry, and Penang, Kedah and Perlis constituted another. He also created the Eastern Archdeaconry, covering Terengganu, Kelantan and Pahang.
Due to lack of finance and support in the diocese, the Archbishop of Canterbury deferred the request for the formation of the Province of West Malaysia. Later, in 1996, the Church of the Province of South East Asia consisting of the Dioceses of West Malaysia, Singapore, Sabah and Kuching was created by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, two years after Savarimuthu’s death.
Savarimuthu was called home to the Lord in 1994 after 42 years of service.
Bishop Moses Tay said of Savarimuthu: "His episcopacy is marked by two qualities, i.e. his faithfulness to this office and secondly his devotion and pastoral concern for his clergy.”
A young clergyman, Rev Paul Pandi Narayanasamy, said, “He was a father and a friend to many of us young clergy. We could approach him much easier than some senior clercy. He was our haven when we did wrong or failed in our pastoral duties. His office was always open for us, without an appointment. He gave us a lot of support and always fed us physically at every available opportunity. He listened to the young people's views and most of all wanted to give the best to all his clergy. He was a loving and caring Bishop. "