ALDERSGATE Methodist Church, which is celebrating its 30th Anniversary with a host of activities, saw very encouraging response to two of its major programmes last month.
More than 700 church members and guests turned up for the Anniversary Thanksgiving Service at Fairfield Methodist School (Primary), adjacent to the church, on May 3. After the service, 650 of them were transported by chartered buses to a restaurant in Jurong East for the Anniversary lunch. Owing to the restaurant’s limited seating capacity, some of the church members could not attend the lunch.
The Rev Dr Wee Boon Hup, President of Trinity Annual Conference (TRAC), was the guest speaker at the service. His sermon was entitled “Blessed To Be A Blessing”.
Special guests included the Rev T. C. Nga, who was the President of TRAC when Aldersgate Methodist Church – then known as Clementi Methodist Church – was constituted as a Local Conference on May 6, 1979; family members of the late Bishop Kao Jih Chung, who was the Bishop then; former pastors of Aldersgate Methodist Church; and pioneer members of the church.
The other highlight was an exhibition of artefacts, photographs and documents, which was held on the ground-floor social hall of the church from Sunday, April 19 to May 3. The photographs and documents were mounted on boards.
The other exhibits, including a wooden cross, a silver-plated offering tray, a wooden baptismal font with a copper bowl, a lectern cloth and an altar bookcase, were displayed in a nearby corner.
Guests showed interest in the exhibition and asked questions before leaving for the lunch. Church members who recognised themselves or their friends from the photo exhibits teased one another.
The exhibition was put up by an Archives Committee whose members had spent months preparing for it. The committee had also published and distributed weekly flyers over 13 weeks depicting the history of Aldersgate Methodist Church. These 13 issues of The Aldersgate Experience were given out to church members every Sunday from Feb 1 to April 26, the last Sunday before May 3, the day of the Anniversary Service.
The programmes and activities were geared towards reminding church members of their “Journey of Faith”, a journey full of anxieties, trials and tribulations which took 17 years before Aldersgate Methodist Church finally found its home on Dover Road.
Other programmes for the year include a Family Day, an Alpha course, visits to nursing homes and orphanages, getting sponsors for child tuition in Cambodia and conducting computer lessons.
THE Rev Dr Niam Kai Huey, Associate Pastor of Hinghwa Methodist Church and who is in charge of Yishun Methodist Mission, assumed duties as Director of the Disciple Agency from April 1.
She was one of the pioneers of the Manda-rin translation team of DISCIPLE 1 (Becoming Disciples through Bible Study) in 1993. She was one of the first to be trained as a trainer in Nashville, the United States, for the DISCIPLE programme.
The former Director, the Rev Dr Greg-ory Goh Nai Lat who is the Pastor-in-Charge of Holy Covenant Methodist Church, was elected as the Chairman of the Disciple Agency at the last General Conference last December.
The Vice-Chairman is the Rev Stanley Chua, Pastor-in-Charge of Ang Mo Kio Methodist Church.