The Armenian Christians & CatholicsI was traveling along Victoria St a few days back. I saw a banner which says that the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Catholic) (founded 1832), will be celebrating its 160th Anniversary (1846-2006) on Corpus Christi this year (18 June 2006). Wah …, that’s a long history, considering that Raffles only came to Singapore in 1819. Singapore is only 187 years old (1819-2006). But, the Catholics were not the first to start a church here. About 2 years after Raffles arrival, the first church in Singapore was founded. It is the Armenian Street of St. Gregory the Illuminator, located along Hill Street, which is just a few hundred meters away from the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Catholic). The Armenian Church is Singapore's first and oldest church. In 1821, the Armenian community was already having regular religious services in rented rooms in Commercial Square (present day Raffles Place). The building we see today was completed in 1835. It was built by colonial architect George Drumgoole Coleman. It is named Armenian Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator because the church was dedicated to St. Gregory the Illuminator, the first monk of the Armenian Church. The total cost of the building is recorded as 5,058.30 Spanish Dollars.
The Anglican Church
Straight cross Victoria Street, next to City Hall MRT, we have the first Anglican Church in Singapore, St Andrew’s Cathedral. The emergence of the Church of England has a rich and colourful history relating to King Henry VIII. For local Anglicans, they (St Andrew Cathedral) celebrated its 150th Anniversary Service of St Andrew’s church mission on June 4, 2006. St Andrew’s Cathedral was birthed on Pentecost Sunday in 1856. On 25 June 1856, the St Andrew’s Church Mission was organized. St Andrew’s Church (now a cathedral) was consecrated in 1838. In 1872, Rev. Gomes arrived in 1872 and was appointed superintendent of the St Andrew’s Church Mission. He was able to preach in Tamil, Malay ad Hokkien! Between 1872 and 1890, the mission had a total of 356 baptisms (Sng, p. 75). Rev. Gomes died in 2 March 1902 at the full age of 75 years. According to Bobby Sng, “In spite of failing health in his later years, he carried on his ministry right to the end”(p. 75). Today, the Anglican Church has some 40 congregations in 26 parishes, with an estimated membership of about 25 000. The parishes include All Saints Church, Chapel of Christ the King, Chapel of the Resurrection, Christ Church, Church of Our Saviour, Church of the Ascension, Church of the Epiphany, Church of the Good Shepherd, Church of the True Light, Holy Trinity Church, Light of Christ City Church, Marine Parade Christian Centre, St George’s Church, St Jame’s Church, St John’s-St Margaret’s Church, and St Matthew’s Church. Since the formation of the Province of the Anglican Church in South East Asia (a grouping of the diocese of Kuching, Sabah, Singapore & West Malaysia), its current bishop Rt Rev John Chewis also the 3rd Anglican Archbishop of the Province.
The Presbyterian Church
Interestingly, another church nearby (about 3 bus stops away), the Orchard Road Presbyterian Church (ORPC) was also founded in 1856. Thus, 1856 saw the inauguration of both the Presbyterian and the Anglican Mission. Today, ORPC has four different language congregations (English, Mandarin, German, and Indonesian). ORPC is also celebrating its 150th Anniversary this year.
150 years may be long, but ORPC is not the oldest church in Singapore. At Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church (PSPC), we see God’s 163 Years of Faithfulness (1843-2006)! With 163 years of history, PSPC is the oldest existing Protestant church in Singapore. PSPC was originally a Malay chapel for local Malay-speaking Chinese. It was started by former LMS missionary Benjamin Keasberry in 1843. [Keasberry was born of British parents in India in 1811. He was conversant with the Malay language. When the LMS left Singapore, Keasberry resigned from the LMS as they wanted to remain so as to continue with their work among the Malays. He believed his main minstry was to the Malays. … but we know that he did church planting work among two ethnic groups - the Chinese and the Malays. Keasberry translated the New Testament into Romanised Malay and published it in 1853. This was followed 3 years later by an Arabic text. According to Bobby Sng in his In His Good Time, “Keasberry also compiled a Malay hymnal which remained as the standard hymnal for Malay speaking Christians for many decades” (p. 53). Keasberry also wrote numerous tracts. All these are in addition to his weakly Sunday preaching schedule, managing a printing-press and conducting a boarding school. …. This is sure hard work!! …. And for 38 year, he did all these! … … and we mustn’t forget that Keasberry “had a weak heart and was warned often to reduce his load of work” (Sng, p. 54). Isn’t this very much similar to Rev. Gomes (of the St Andrew’s Church Mission) who carried on his ministry right to the end of his life? Their pioneering ministry provided the springboard for the subsequent development of both the Anglican and Presbyterian Church in Singapore. According to the Department of Statistics 2001, 99.6% of Malays follow Islam. Of the remaining 0.4%, some are definitely Christians, and I believe the efforts of Keasberry remain today! 0.4% may seem small, but we must keep in mind that the “the very nature of lslamic dctrines and the close affinity of the Malays to their religion, posed formidable obstacles to their conversion to any other religion” (Sng, p. 55).] At its opening service, over 60 Malays and others attended. In a way, we can say that the Malay chapel is the forerunner of Presbyterian Churches. According to In His Good Time (Third Edition), Bobby Sng tells us that “[i]n its 20 years of existence, there were only 82 baptisms” and “a number backslided later from the faith” (p. 100). So, in Oct 1879, help was sought from the ORPC to supervise it. For PSPC, according to the website, it has “a rich heritage with members whose families go back many generations”. PSPC has also planted Adam Road Presbyterian Church (ARPC).
Diagonally across PSPC, we have another century-old Presbyterian church, the Singapore Life Church (SLC). SLC is a member of the Presbyterian Church in Singapore. It is located along Prinsep Street and has a congregation of more than 700 people worshipping in 3 different services- Teochew/Mandarin, English and Mandarin respectively. The English service has a congregation of 125 and the remaining 651 to the Teochew/Mandarin and Mandarin services.
As early Singapore is also made up of a majority of Chinese dialect-speaking migrants, besides the English speaking churches, there are also numerous Chinese dialect-speaking churches, and the Glory Presbyterian Church (GPC) at Bt Timah is the oldest Chinese-speaking church in Singapore. GPC (which Rev. Keasberry helped to found) was initially a preaching station and Bt Timah was still a village then. The success of the Chinese Presbytery of the present-day Presbyterian Church can be traced back to the work of Rev. J. A. B. Cook of the English Presbyterian Mission, whose “intent was to work among the Chinese abroad” and “heart was in foreign mission work among those who had never heard the gospel” (p.100). Rev. Cook first went to Swatow in China to learn the Teochew dialect. In 1882, “Cook’s first responsibility was to take charge of the congregation at Bt Timah, by which then had fallen to just 39 members” (Sng, p. 101). He undertook corrective measures to tackle problems, one of which is the unwillingness to set aside Sunday as a day of worship. From this congregation at Bt Timah, the present Bethel Church (at Jalan Lateh), Singapore Life Church (SLC) and the Jubilee Church was born.
In 1883, SLC was founded. It was started by group of members who rented a room at Prinsep Street. In 1885, this group moved to Keasberry’s Malay Chapel [our present-day PSPC]. At the Prinsep Street Presbyterian Chapel, Sunday services were combined with a Baptist church as there were not many members then. For a few decades, it shared the same premises with the PSPC. To me, this is an amazing display of cooperation and unity in Christ. Seldom seen today….! On 15 June 1901, the 1st Singapore Presbyterian Church (SPC) Conference was held at Life Church then known as "Teck Khak". In 4 Jan 1917, the land at 142-144 Prinsep Street (the site we are at today) was purchased and rented out. In 3 Oct 1928, Teck Khak began the construction of it's new building. Rev John Williams was invited to hold the ceremony and SPC sent relatives, Tan Lin Tian and Liauw Tian Yak to attend. In Spring 1929, Tek Khak invited Rev Kwok Jing Hoon and SPC representatives to participate in the ceremony celebrating the completion of the new church building and Pastors' building. The church was renamed "Say Mia Tng Teck Khak". The church's goal was to promote bible knowledge and Christianity. … … so what happened to the Teochew-speaking Baptists who had worshipped at this Tekka Church (our present Singapore Life Church)? They (30 of them) left Tekka Church to form the Oversea-Chinese (Swatow) Baptist Church of Singapore.
During World War II, Singapore was conquered and all Western preachers were captured. Under the Japanese occupancy, work of churches were mostly regulated. God was gracious to Life Church (SLC) as daily business, e.g., Sunday Worship and Outreach Ministry were allowed to run as per normal. Hey, this is what I call amazing grace.
After WWII, in Oct 1950, SLC’s English Worship was set up. The worship service met from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm on Sunday. The official number of members attending was more than a 100. It was then held at the Main Sanctuary of the church. On 18 Aug 1955, The members of Life Church separated into 3 congregations, namely, "Teck Khak", "Newton" and "English Service". Members voted to decide which church they belonged and the results were 332, 107 and 129 respectively. In June 1956, the church rented a piece of land at Changi 10 Mile Stone to build an outreach center called Changi Outreach Station. In Jan 1959, English Life Church purchased land in Newton to build a church which was completed on Oct 1960. They shifted into the new premises from Life Church on the 3rd Sunday of October 1960 and celebrated her 10th Thanksgiving Anniversary. She was then named "Singapore Christian Bible Presbyterian Life Church". In 19 Jan 1969, SLC decided to rebuild the church. The old building was over 40 years old and the roof was leaking and was infected with termites. Moreover, the existing space was not sufficient to meet the rising demand of the various departments. So, in 10 March 1974, the old church building was demolished. In 21 April 1974, a ceremony was held on Easter Sunday to commemorate the beginning of the church building project. In 26 Dec 1975, t he Registrar of Society approved the Chinese and English church name. The initial Roman pronunciation of "Say Mia Tng Teck Khak" (you would not be able to pronounce this if you do not know the Chinese dialect Teochew) given in 1929 was told to change to English by the order of Registrar of Society in 1975. Session decided to rename it to "Singapore Life Church".
On 29 May 1977, a Thanksgiving Service was conducted by Rev Paul Hsiu (The Presbyterian Synod's Moderator) to commemorate the completion of the new building. In 1983, SLC (then called Life Church) celebrated her 100th year anniversary. In Sept 1983, (04 Sept-09 Sept), a spiritual renewal cum gospel rally was held in Life Church. The first 3 nights were for spiritual revival meetings and the last for gospel rally. Rev Dr Maak Hay Chun was invited as speaker for this event. (Source: http://www.antioch.com.sg/sg/slc/history.htm)
However, as early Singapore is also made up of a majority of Chinese dialect-speaking migrants, besides the English speaking churches, there are also numerous Chinese dialect-speaking churches. For example, Jubilee Church (1883- ), was at first an endeavor of the Rev. J. A. B. Cook of the English Presbyterian Mission. According to the Church’s website:
He came to Singapore in 1881 after learning the Teochew dialect in China (in the region called “Swatow”). He immediately took charge of the congregation at Bukit Timah (later known as the Glory Presbyterian Church) which was set up by Benjamin P. Keasberry of the London Missionary Society and Tan See Boo in 1857. As the church grew, the congregation decided to plant new churches since some church members lived too far from the church. One of the extending groups, the Hokkien-speaking group started meeting at Hong Lim market. The year was 1883 and Singapore was an immigrant society under British rule. The church later gathered in the Eastern School in Ansiang Hill, and by 1898, it had installed its first Chinese moderator, the Rev. Tay Sek Tin.
The first church building was built in Tanjong Pagar in 1904 and was completed in 1905; it was named the Tanjong Pagar Church. As the congregation grew, the church again erected a new building in Outram Road in 1939. It then adopted the name Outram Road Tanjong Pagar Church. Meanwhile, some Tanjong Pagar residents still worshipped in the old building. In January 1946 the name “Jubilee Church” was officially introduced in conjunction with the forthcoming fiftieth anniversary (1954) and to celebrate the end of the Japanese occupation.
As a denomination, the Presbyterian Church in Singapore celebrated its 125th Anniversary this year. Its theme for its anniversary celebration is “Growing in Christ, Embracing the Future”. Organized as a Synod with 2 Presbytery (English and Chinese), the Presbyterian Church in Singapore currently has 40 churches with about 16000 members. The Presbyterian Church sees the need to “take stock of its Reformed Traditions and beliefs”.
Reformed Christians have a bad reputation for not being concerned about evangelism. However, as I look at the history of the Presbyterian Church in Singapore, who says the Presbyterian, with its understanding of Reformed Theology, is not concerned with mission or evangelism? In the book In His Good Time: The Story of the Church in Singapore 1819-2002 (Third Edition) [Singapore: Bible Society of Singapore/ Graduates’ Christian Fellowship, 1980,1993, 2003] Bobby Sng tells us that one of the reasons for the steady growth of the Presbyterian churches in Singapore between the 1880s and early 1900 was that the “Presbyterian churches had always placed great emphasis on evangelism” (p. 102).
A correct understanding of the Calvinistic/ Reformed Theology would not allow so-called ‘limited atonement’ to hinder evangelism and missionary efforts.
The Methodist Church
Of course, one shouldn't forget the Methodist (of which I am one [Calvinistic Methodist]) either. While the Methodists [America Methodist Episcopal Church] went to Foochow in 1847, and the Presbyterians [English Presbyterian Mission] only entered China [Amoy] in 1848, the Methodists arrived in Singapore later the Presbyterians. The Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS) celebrated its 120th Anniversary in 2005 (1885-2005). Its first church is Wesley Methodist Church (120 years). The second oldest Methodist Church in Singapore, is Tamil Methodist Church at Short Street. It celebrated its 118th Anniversary on Sept 25, 2005.As I was searching the web and found this, this came as a surprise to me. I never knew there was such an old Tamil church in Singapore. The third oldest Methodist Church in Singapore is a Chinese Methodist Church, the Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church at Telok Ayer Street. It celebrated its 116th Anniversary in 2005. The church building we see today at Telok Ayer Street is 80 years old. Foochow Methodist Church came into existence in mid-December 1897. As such, Foochow Methodist Church is the second oldest church in the Chinese Annual Conference (CAC). CAC’s Geylang Methodist Church is 100 years old (1905-2005), while TRAC’s Paya Lebar Methodist Church is 74 years ago.
The Methodist Church was founded by Anglo-American Methodist missionaries from India, William Oldham and James Thoburn. According to the MCS's website,
The MCS derives its beginnings from a missionary initiative of the South India Conference led by Dr James Thoburn (Missionary Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Southern Asia) in 1885. Its early foundations were laid by the Rev Wiliam F Oldham, who established the Mission and its first English language boys' school in 1886.Together with two girls' schools begun in 1887 and 1888, the Mission developed linguistic ministries in nearly all the local vernaculars,a medical clinic, and school hostels for foreign boys and homeless girls.
Thereafter, the Mission rapidly spread to the main towns of the Malayan Peninsula and Sarawak, where churches and schools that were twinned with them provided a base for missionary outreach in English and the vernacular languages. Like most other missions, the Methodist Mission in Singapore and Malaya expanded and matured - first becoming a Conference, then Conferences spanning South-east Asia, and the establishment of the South-east Asian Central Conference in 1950.
The Malaysian and Singapore components became autonomous in 1968, and thus became an Asian church with a bishop that was elected from amongst its ministers. In 1976, the process was repeated when it was restructured into The Methodist Church in Singapore,and Malaysia, respectively.
The Methodist Church in Singapore is currently made up of a General Conference (meet once every four years) and 3 Annual Conferences: Chinese Annual Conference (CAC), Emmanuel Tamil Annual Conference (ETAC) and Trinity Annual Conference (TRAC). TRAC, CAC, ETAC has a total of 42 churches, with a membership of more than 32,000. The MCS represent one of the largest Protestant denominations and cater to all the languages used in the Republic: the vernaculars like Hokkien, Foochow, Hakka, Hinghwa,Teochew and Cantonese, as well as Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English, which is the language of choice. With Chinese (including its dialect) speaking, English Speaking and Tamil speaking congregations, the MCS reflects Singapore's multiple ethnic groups.
The MCS is Episcopal in its church polity. It is headed by Bishop Dr Robert Solomon (previously principal of Trinity Theological College, Singapore), who is elected at its General Conference. Each of the Annual Conferences is headed by a President.
The 16th World Methodist Conference was convened at the Westin Stamford (Singapore) from July 24 to 31, 1991.
(Further Reading: Robbie B H Goh, Sparks of Grace: The Story of Methodism in Asia. Singapore: The Methodist Church in Singapore, Dec 2003. 209 pages. $13. Associate Professor Robbie B H Goh is Deputy Head of the Department of English Language and Literature, National University of Signapore. He is also a member of Cairnhill Methodist Church. This book chronicles the work of the Methodist Church in Asia. It tell the “Methodist Story” in a country by country format of the Asian countries Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, The Philippines, Indonesian, Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan. We see how missionaries planted churches, how people spread their faith despite the social and political challenge.)
Mission schools
The Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, and Presbyterians set up mission schools. They are also concerned with imparting moral values to the young and instilling in them the love for God.
The Roman Catholics built schools, such as Assumption English School (1953), Assumption Vocational Institute , Canossa Convent Primary School (1947) , the CHIJ schools (Canossa Convent Primary School (1947), Bukit Timah (Primary) (1955), Katong (Primary) (1959), Kellock Primary (1964), St Joseph's Convent (1938), Our Lady of the Nativity (1957)), St Joseph's Institution (1852), & St Patrick's School (1933).
The Anglicans have the St Andrew schools (Junior, Secondary & JC), St Hilda’s & St Margret School. The Methodists have the ACS schools (Junior, Secondary [Barker], Independent [Dover] & JC), Fairfield Methodist School (Primary & Secondary) and MGS, etc.. The Methodist schools represent the major educational trust of the MCS. There are 13 primary and secondary schools and a junior college. For more than a century, they have helped to play an important role in the human resource development of Singapore. The Presbyterians have ………..
As Bobby Sng in his In His Good Time remind us, the question to ask is this: “What is the church’s primary objective in promoting education? Is it an end itself, or does it serves as a means to fulfill the church’s evangelistic mandate?”(p.150). For me, I think it serve both purposes (though I see the latter as more important than the former) and they do not contradict each other. But, does the bible mention anything about mission schools? Is setting up of mission schools biblical? What about the problem of proselytization?
In an article entitled “Evangelism—Our Supreme Need”, I think Rev. Goh Hoon Keng’s comment when he examined the educational policy of the Methodist mission is also useful to our understanding on the role of mission schools in evangelism: “Our business is not merely to educate, we have a far greater and bigger task to perform. Our supreme task is, by God’s help, to get the thousands of young people in our schools and boarding schools into a vital relationship and contact with God through Jesus Christ, so that they may be men and women of solid, sterling character, who will go out and fill their places in the world, and be a blessing to mankind and a glory to God. In so far as we succeed in achieving this end, is the educational policy of the mission justified” (Wong Hoon Hee (ed.), Memoirs of the Late Rev. Goh Hoon Keng (Singapore), p.99. cited in Sng, p. 152.).
Though mission schools may be a means to fulfill the church’s evangelistic mandate, we should neither forget nor neglect the need for direct evangelism. I think the bible’s teaching is still on the power of the gospel unto salvation for those who hears it. The Catholics in Singapore have more schools than the Protestants, but I don’t think their percentage increase in numbers is not more than the Protestants.
20th Century Church Growth
Western missionary impulse and initiative led to the founding of several more denominational churches. The Seventh-day Adventists (I do not consider it a Christian church!) came in 1908. The Assemblies of God (1933), Salvation Army (1935), Southern Baptists (1950), United Lutheran Church of America (1952), and Church of Christ (1956).
The Assemblies of God
The Assembly of God Churches include Berean Assembly of God, Bethany Christian Centre, Bethel Assembly of God Church, Calvary Assembly of God Church, Emmanuel Assembly of God, Elim Church Assembly of God, Eternal Life Assembly, Evangel Assembly of God, Faith Assembly of God Church, Grace Assembly of God Church, Harvester Assembly of God Church, Herald Assembly of God Church, Living Spring Fellowship, New Life Church, Smyrna Assembly, The Harvester Force, Trinity Christian Centre, and Victory Family Centre.
Baptist Churches- Southern Baptists (1950)
In the outlining of the history of the Presbyterian Church in Sinagpore, I noted that for a period of time, Teochew-speaking Baptists worshipped together with the Teochew-speaking Presbyterians at the Tekka Church (our present Singapore Life Church). The Sunday services were combined as both parties do not have many members then. For the Teochew-speaking Baptists, their lack of effective leadership prevented them with organizing themselves into a church. To me, I think God sometimes use our lack of resources to unite us together. When we have too much resources, we think of spliting!! One should also not forget that TTC was also “birthed” in the prisons of Changi, during times of great desperation and anguish.
In 1937, these Teochew-speaking Baptists (30 of them) left Tekka Church to form the Oversea-Chinese (Swatow) Baptist Church of Singapore. In 1955, the church moved and came to be known as the Thomson Rd Baptist Church. In 1949, the Kay Poh Baptist Church, then known as the Oversea-Chinese (Cantonese) Baptist Church of Singapore, was formed.
The Baptist Churches in Singapore include Abundant Life Baptist Church, Acts Baptist Church, Agape Baptist Church, Community of Praise Baptist Church, Covenant Community Baptist Church, Calvary Baptist Church, Life Baptist Church, Faith Community Baptist Church, Gospel Baptist Church, Grace Baptist Church, Kay Poh Baptist Church, International Baptist Church, Leng Kwang Baptist Church, Maranatha Baptist Church, New Life Baptist Church, Queenstown Baptist Church, Redeemer Baptist Church.
The Lutheran Church in Singapore
Of the 4 denominations, the Lutherans only came in the late 1950s. In the late 1950s, Lutheran missionaries from America started work that led to the formation of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore. However, since the early 1900s, there have been Lutheran Christians in Singapore and Malaya. They were members of the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC). In August 1996, the Lutheran Church in Singapore (LCS) was gazetted as an independent national church. Its doctrinal statement is(http://www.lutheran.org.sg/background.htm):
We confess Jesus Christ as Lord of the Church and acknowledge the Holy Scriptures as the norm for faith and life. We believe in the scriptural principle of the priesthood of all believers. As such, we encourage all our members to participate in the various works of the Church, through local congregations and central committees. The main objectives of the Lutheran Church in Singapore are:
· To proclaim the Gospel to all people in Singapore
· To participate in world wide mission
· To gather into fellowship & nurture those believers who respond in faith to the Gospel
The Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer (LCOR) ) (at Duke’s Rd) is the first Lutheran Church in Singapore. It has a unique history in establishing a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-ethnic Church in Singapore. It was formed when the Tamils, Bataks, Chinese and Europeans came together to form the first Lutheran Church in Singapore. These groups brought with them rich cultural backgrounds, which enable one to learn and respect the other in the family of God.
The Lutheran Conference transpired from the efforts of Dr Anspach, an American Lutheran missionary working in Malaya. This comprised of representatives from the various Lutheran groups in Malaya (TELC, HKBP and United Lutheran Church Mission). The LCOR was a project from the Lutheran Conference. All the groups expressed a desire for inter-Lutheran co-operation and Singapore was chosen as the natural place for this type of co-operation to begin.
The conference saw a bright future for the growth of a Lutheran Church with the presence of Tamil Lutherans and HKBP members in Singapore. The three groups could share the land and building. On 6 March 1960, pastor John R. Nelson, then President of the Lutheran Conference, dedicated the Church. The name chosen for the Church, The Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer signifies the common faith in Christ who redeems our differences so as to make people free to serve the Lord and fulfil His mission on earth. (source: http://www.lcor.org.sg/oldsite/aboutus.html)
The Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Singapore is Rev John Tan. The Lutherans currently worshipped at several locations in Singapore, namely the Bedok Lutheran Church, Jurong Christian Church, Lutheran Church Of Our Redeemer, Mas Kuning Lutheran Church, Queenstown Lutheran Church, Yishun Christian Church (Lutheran), and the Thai Good News Center (http://www.lutheran.org.sg/worship.htm).
The Brethen Church
In the list of local churches with a history of more than 100 years, there is also the Brethen Church. The origin of the Brethren churches in Singapore is the Plymouth Brethren (also called the Open Brethren. They are also those who brought us dispensationalism), not the German Brethren (the Anabaptists). These two groups are not related to each other. The German Brethren movement was founded by Alexander Mack (1679-1735) and seven other German believers in Schwarzenau, Germany, in 1708], which celebrated its 140th years of “Bethesda legacy” a few years back (I think it is 2004). The first Christian Brethren congregation was formed by the English merchant Philip Robinson in 1864. From the history of the Brethen Church in Singapore, we can see that God do not only work through missionary agencies. The bible tell us that people can bring the gospel with them wherever they went and found churches (see the example of the Antioch church in Acts 11:19). In 1857, Philip Robinson (born in England but migrated to Australia when he was 19) came to Sinagpore and found employment as an assistant in a commercial firm. One of Singaporean’s favourite shopping outlet Robinson, was founded by Philip Robinson. Philip Robinson’s brethren upbringing led him to start the Brethen movement in Sinagpore in 1864. On 3 July 1864, the first Brethen Service was started in a rented room at 108 Bencoolen Street! On Sept 1866, a new meeting place with a seating capacity of 60 (which later increased to 150 through the addition of an extension) was built at 77 Bras Basah Rd. It was known as the Bethsda Chapel [which later become known as the Bethsda Gospel Hall]. The Chinese Gospel Hall was formed when See Boo and Rev. A. Grant left the Presbyterian mission to join the Brethren. Both of them were fluent in Hokkien. (both belonged to the Presbyterian mission! Rev. W. Jeffrey also resigned to join the Brethen!)
The Brethren believed that baptism must only be for believers and to be carried out by immersion. They believed that as an infant is unable to make a choice to receive Christ into his life, there is therefore no place for infant baptism. Only those who have conscientiously repented of their sins and have placed their trust in Jesus Christ are to be baptized by immersion. This mode is preferred for its parallel imagery to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is in contrast to the Presbyterians and Methodists who practice infant baptism and allow baptism either by sprinkling and immersion. As the Brethren see all Christians equal before God, they do not have ordained priests and pastors. This is in contrast to the Presbyterians Methodists who have pastors, and the Anglicans and Methodists who are Episcopal in church polity. The Brethren are committed to missionary work and hold that the Holy Bible is the first authority in matters of faith. AS they believe the revealed and inspired Word of God is a sufficient rule not only for faith but practice, they have framed no written creed. Each assembly (or congregation) is independent of the others in both doctrinal matters and church administration (have their own body of elders and deacons), and yet, in practice, there is a high degree of communication and cooperation between them.
The Brethen Churches, or called the Bethsda Church (Gospel Hall), can be found at Bedok-Tampines, Frankel Estate, Bukit Arang, Ang Mo Kio, Katong, Serangoon, and Bukit Panjang.
After World War Two
Besides Western missionary effort, Asian Christians set up Syrian Christian and Chinese Baptist Churches in the 1930s. After WWII, several largely indigenous denominations were founded: the Bible-Presbyterian Church (1950), the Bible Church (1958), and Christian Nationals’ Evangelism Commission (1960).
The Bible-Presbyterian Church (1950)
The Bible-Presbyterian churches in Singapore includes Bethlehem Bible-Presbyterian Church, Calvary Bible-Presbyterian Church, Cana Bible-Presbyterian Church, Eden Bible-Presbyterian Church, Faith Bible-Presbyterian Church, Galilee Bible-Presbyterian Church, Gethsemane Bible-Presbyterian Church, Grace Bible-Presbyterian Church, Hebron Bible-Presbyterian Church, Life Bible-Presbyterian Church, Maranatha Bible-Presbyterian Church, Mount Carmel Bible-Presbyterian Church, Mount Hermon Bible-Presbyterian Church, Nazareth Bible-Presbyterian Church, New Life Bible-Presbyterian Church and Sembawang Bible-Presbyterian Church, Shalom Bible-Presbyterian Church, Sharon Bible-Presbyterian Church, and Zion Bible-Presbyterian Church.
The Bible-Presbyterian church has seven roots. Here I describe six of the more important ones.
1) French: John Calvin (the 16th Century Reformation) who wrote Institutes of the Christian Religion.
[..... ... .... to be updated!!]
Christian Nationals’ Evangelism Commission (CNEC) (1960)
The CNEC was formed during WWII through the joint efforts of three American businessmen and Dr. N.A. Kepson. These people knew that “the days of Western missionary efforts were probably drawing to a close and that Chinese nationals themselves must be involved with in reaching their own people” (p.212).
The Evangelical Reformed Churches in Singapore (ERCS)
The Evangelical Reformed Churches in Singapore (ERCS) was first established in 1982, though its early years in Singapore can be traced back as early as 1962 by a teacher in a government school (the Monks' Hill Secondary School) by the name of Goh Seng Fong. (Rev. Goh later went on to establish a Baptist church, known as the Emmanuel Baptist Church instead!)The ERCS is in the Dutch Reformed Tradition and uphold the Reformed Standard of the Three Forms of Unity, which comprise the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dort. (See http://www.prca.org/singapore.html for a write-up by Pastor Lau Chin Kwee of the history of the ERCS’s history)
As in the history of the various denominations, other denominations’ is inevitably found. For the ERCS, in its early years, we see also early Baptistic influence. We see the Bible-Presbyterian (B-P) Church’s presence. Their pastors were trained at the Far Eastern Bible College (FEBC). The Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC) in the US rendered help to Gospel Literature and Tract Society (GLTD, ERCS) when it sought help from PRC.
For the ERCS, the Lord's Providence of Church Premises was seen. The Lord was also gracious in providing their two churches with their own church premises. This is indeed a marvel as the two ERCS’s churches has only a combined membership of some 300, and this is within 12 years since the institution of the first Reformed church.
The Pentecostals and Charismatics
1) Faith Community Baptist Church (FCBC)
FCBC was established by Rev Lawrence Khong in 1986. In 1988, it became a cell group church. According to the church’s website (http://www.fcbc.org.sg/fcbc_milestones.asp), the Holy Spirit visited the church powerfully one Sunday in March 1990. The church became sensitive and moved in the things of the Spirit from then. In 1991, TOUCH Equipping Stations System (TESS), the comprehensive training programme was started to provide training for believers as well as pastoral staff. FCBC launched the 1st International Conference on Cell Group Churches (ICCGC). In 1992, FCBC's social welfare arm, TOUCH Community Services, was established to provide community-based services to strengthen the family and develop the individual. In 1993, TOUCHCENTRE, FCBC's first celebration centre with a seating capacity of 1,600 was opened. A year later, in 1994, FCBC had a greater challenge to take the cities for God through strategic-level spiritual warfare. In 1995, Vision 2001 was revealed to FCBC and churches in the Love Singapore movement to see the nation of Singapore know the love and lordship of Jesus. Having been a cell group church for 8 years, in 1996, FCBC mobilised 1,200 of its members into the mission fields for two weeks to model the cell life church in over ten countries. That year, it also celebrated its 10th year of existence and Senior Pastor Lawrence Khong led the first 40-day fast to build stronger relationships and have greater effectiveness in the ministry. In 1997, TOUCH Community Theatre was inaugurated as a second place of celebration, with a direct video link to TOUCHCENTRE. That year, we launched the Love Singapore Fund as the umbrella for churches in Singapore to help those affected by the Asian Economic Crisis. 1999 was a special year for FCBC. In that year, FCBC multiplied tremendously with a 79% increase in cells and some 3,000 conversions. FCBC also participated in the Carlos Annacondia Rally (I do not really agree with the teaching of Carlos Annacondia’s ministry), which witnessed an attendance of 100,000 and some 5,000 salvations and healings.
In the year 2000, FCBC’s Senior Pastor Lawrence Khong was commissioned as an Apostle by Dr Peter Wagner of the International Coalition of Apostles. (In the bible, I find that the office of Apostle is no longer available, but the role of Apostles is still functioning. As such, I do not believe that a pastor should be called an apostle. Though Dr Peter Wagner used to be a professor of theology at Fuller, I believe the bible is our final authority, and not man.) FCBC ventured into the media ministry to reclaim this industry for Jesus Christ. In 2001, FCBC was part of the LoveSingapore churches 7-Wave Harvest. Thousands came to know the Lord. Senior Pastor Lawrence Khong launched an evangelistic magic-musical, Magic of Love, which was attended by 40,000 people. In 2002, FCBC transitions into a Government of 12 (G12) cell church. The G12 movement, founded by Pastor Cesar Castellanos, is a strategy for winning the world through evangelism and discipleship. Senior Pastor Lawrence Khong was commissioned to be a member of Ps Cesar's International G12. In 2003, FCBC successfully transitioned itself into a full-fledged G12 cell church by meeting our target of 1,728 leaders each for our Men and Women networks. We witnessed 943 baptisms in our church services - the largest number in the history of FCBC in any one year. In 2005, FCBC baptized over 900 converts.
2) New Creation Church (NCC)
According to NCC’s website (http://www.newcreation.org.sg/aboutus/history/history.htm), the church had a humble beginning.New Creation Church was founded in 1984 when a small group of young believers in Singapore decided to gather together. Their vision was to start an independent, non-denominational church that is based solely on the unchanging Word of God. From an initial attendance of 25, the church gradually grew to about 150 members by 1990.In June 1990, Joseph Prince, a founding member and pioneer leader of the church, was appointed as the senior pastor. This marked a new beginning for New Creation Church. As Pastor Prince focused on Jesus Christ and His grace, God began to multiply the church. By 1998, the congregation numbered about 3,000.
NCC said that 1998 was the year the Gospel Revolution begins. In 1998, Pastor Prince received a commission from God to preach grace even more radically, without any dilution or compromises. Since then, Pastor Prince has been continually leading the church to rediscover the beauty of the gospel of grace. This gospel revolution led to even more phenomenal numerical growth. God multiplied the church to more than 12,000 members. The people began to experience breakthroughs in the area of finances. Miraculous healings of cancers, tumours, kidney conditions, Aids and much more took place. Testimonies of restored marriages and relationships, and transformed lives also began to pour in.
Even more precious are the countless testimonies of Christians who, set free by God’s grace, have rediscovered a fresh and vibrant love relationship with Jesus Christ our Lord.
Today, New Creation Church holds its services at the Rock Auditorium in Suntec City Mall. Every weekend, long queues would form outside the auditorium before each service. But the ministry of the church extends beyond the walls of the Rock Auditorium. Through the weekly broadcasts of the church services in Uganda, and the sermon CDs and DVDs distributed worldwide, many lives have been touched.
According to the church’s website, “as New Creation Church continues to increase and grow, it seeks to always remain true to its vision — to see Jesus in all the loveliness of His Person and the perfection of His work, and to make Him known through the preaching of the gospel in Singapore and worldwide”.
Evangelical Parachurch organisations
Alongside the churches, several new evangelical parachurch organizations started ministries among students in schools, colleges, and universities, notably the Inter-Varsity Fellowship (IVCF, 1952), Youth for Christ (YFC, 1957), Scripture Union’s Inter-School Christian Fellowship (1958), and Fellowship of Evangelical students (1959). The Graduates’ Christian Fellowship started its witness to professionals in 1955.
Scripture Union Singapore is an inter-denominational organization. It is registered as a society in 1961 and a charity in 1990. It is an autonomous national movement of Scripture Union International which began in Wales, England in 1867. (http://www.su.org.sg/Home/History.cfm )
Theological education
As for the theological education in Singapore, the two main theological college is Trinity theological college (TTC) and Singapore Bible College (SBC). Both are inter-denominational.
(a) The Trinity theological college (TTC)
The Trinity theological college (TTC) was founded at Mount Sophia with the initial support of the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Anglican Churches on 4 Oct 1948. TTC was started so that local men and women could be trained to serve the local church.
(b) Singapore Bible College (SBC)
With the China mainland closed to evangelistic efforts & missionary activities after 1949 (due to Mao Tse Tung’s Communism), the Chinese churches here which had previously depended upon China for their supply of pastors and other workers had their source cut off. According to Bobby Sng in his In His Good Time, a local Chinese Bible school was badly needed. Though the TTC was then already in existence, “the liberal theological position of the Western scholarship failed to inspire much confidence among the more conservative leaders of the Chinese churches” (p.213). In other words, many of the leaders of the Chinese churches then did not trust TTC due to its Western-dominance, more liberal Western leadership, and more liberal theology. There are two main reason for this: (1) Many of the Chinese pastors and Christians came from Fujian Province (& other southern provinces), where Reformed theology had been dominant, so the Chinese churches then were more conservative. (2) The influence of John Sung. His unhappy experience at Union Theological Seminary, where his Christian faith had almost been destroyed, caused him to detest liberal theology. Between 31 August and 15 September 1935, there was 40 meetings at Telok Ayer Methodist Church and all the meetings were packed.
With the cooperation of Rev. Guoh Kok Moh, Rev. Yap Kok Hu, Mr Lim Yao Chang and others (mainly from the Singapore Chinese Inter-Church Union), SBC (then known as the Singapore Theological Seminary) was established in 1952 with 8 students. In the initial stage, the Chinese Nationals’ Evangelism Commission (CNEC) supplied three lecturers and sufficient funds needed for the college. The Overseas Missionary Fellowship cooperated by loaning two couples as teachers. In 1958, the English department was opened. Later, it was renamed Singapore Bible College. “By 1975, 187 students had graduated and the majority was serving God in different parts of Southeast Asia, thus fulfilling the basic aim of CNEC to train nationals to reach their own people.” (Sng, p.213)
For SBC, there seem to be a stronger Presbyterian presence though. This may be due to the larger number of Chinese-speaking congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Singapore. It should be noted that last two moderators (Rev. Tan C.H. & Rev. Phua C.S.) of the local Presbyterian Church are from the Chinese Presbytery. SBC has its 53rd graduation ceremony on May 2006, so I think it should be about 55 years old. Besides these two “major” seminaries, there are also about 15 others seminaries, such as the East Asia School of Theology (EAST), Far Eastern Bible College (FEBC), BGST, etc. Thus, besides the more ‘mainline’ TTC, we also have several more conservative Bible colleges and seminaries.
Increasing Membership
Over the past hundred years, the both the RC and Protestant churches in Singapore experienced growth in membership. Several Charismatic and Pentecostal churches had significant numerical growth. But, Church membership does not equate to weekly worship attendance. Numerical growth does not equate to real converts! Church growth may not necessarily mean healthy church growth. Church growth is also not more important than church health.
For the established denominational church, may we not fall into dead formalism and unhealthy sectarianism. For the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches, may we not be deceived into believing that numerical growth means a healthy church. Increasingly, we heard of churches who say they want to be like the New Testament church of the bible. They want apostles, prophets, miracles and tongue speaking. However, they seem to have forgotten that the bible have many examples of New Testament churches. Not all are healthy and not all are Christ-like in all areas! May we not just strive for an external similarity, but also an internal Christ-likeness.
The Cost of Building a Church
When the first Armenian Church was built in Singapore in the 1830s, total cost of the building is recorded as 5,058.30 Spanish Dollars. This sounds cheap! …but this is more than 170 years ago! With inflation, a simple church building today in Singapore can easily cost more than 5 million dollars (and this is excluding land cost). Singapore’s most expensive church, the City Harvest Church, was built for $47.6 million (include land purchase and building construction)!
God's faithfulness
In the 19th Century, after the founding of Singapore by Raffles, Protestant and Catholic missions began work among the European residents and then the Asians. The earliest Protestant groups to arrive were the London Missionary Society (LMS), the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and the Church Missionary Society.
As I look at God's faithfulness in the past 160+ years, we have both seen and experienced God's amazing grace. As the hymn reminds us….
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me!I once was lost, but now am found;Was blind, but now I see. .... Through many dangers, toils and snares,I have already come;....
