Dr. C. Barnabas accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord and Saviour in September 1963 and was involved in Evangelical Union ministry as a student up to 1969 and then as a graduate for the next 23 years.

He worked in Pope’s college, Sawerpuram for 5 years and then joined Bishop Heber College, Trichy   in 1974 and worked as Professor of Chemistry for 18 years. From 1985, he was also involved in the ministry of Evangelism and Leadership by using mass media in the registered society, Light and Life Association. He completed Ph.D. (Chemistry) from Madras University in 1986 and did his Bachelor of Divinity (B.D). from Senate of Serampore, Union Biblical Seminary, Pune in 1988.

In 1991, he formed Light and Life Trust and assisted in the release of the magazine called True Discipleship for discipling believers. He left his teaching job when the Lord called him for Bible teaching and training ministry in 1992 and was involved in Bible teaching ministry for 2 years. Then he joined Indian Institute of Missiology (IIM) as its Executive Director when IIM was founded in 1994. The goal of IIM is to facilitate the training of missionaries by the thousands to reach people in India by the millions, who can in turn plant new churches. He facilitated training of missionaries through IIM till he went to be with the Lord on 7.5.2014