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Jurong Tamil MC: Faithfully building our community

Jurong Tamil Methodist Church (JTMC) celebrates our 40th anniversary this year. Established in 1977, the church started with 20 members gathering at the home of the late C. D. Pandian, who was Pastor then, in the Taman Jurong area. We moved to Jurong Christian Church (Lutheran) at the beginning of the 1980s. To this day, we continue to worship there. We do not, as yet, own a church building.

From the get-go, JTMC had a strong Sunday School and youth ministries that birthed other vibrant ministries like the Women’s Society of Christian Service (WSCS) and evangelism teams.

In addition, we have been reaching out to the community through various means like door-to-door sharing, block visits, and invitations to special events like Christmas and Easter. Evangelism has always been the front-line ministry of our church.

The Pastor-in-Charge Rev Philip Abraham and I have cast a vision for the church: ‘Time to Build.’ This references both the physical church building, and building the spiritual body of Christ.

Pastoral mandate

We acknowledge the importance of pastoral care for the church as seen through our regular visits to homes, actively interacting and praying with the families. This has helped set up the church to be an engaged and involved one. Our leaders and pastors pay special attention to the social, physical and emotional needs of our surrounding households, and offer encouragement so they can continue to grow in God.

Apart from a weekly prayer session, JTMC also meets once a month to fast and pray. We do a monthly prayer walk to bless the community as well. In addition, a monthly prayer chain is drawn up with prayer pointers circulated to members so that we can all come together to pray with aligned hearts and purposes.

By God’s grace, we have seen many breakthroughs in the lives of our communities and have welcomed newcomers who have since become regular churchgoers.

Social mandate

JTMC visits the Christalite Methodist Home every month to care for and interact with a group of 20 residents. We prepare food for them, lead songs, and share Bible stories with them. On special occasions like Christmas, we celebrate with them, share the Christmas story, and provide food for all 250 residents.

We also minister to other underprivileged communities through our social concerns arm.

Mission mandate

The church recognises the importance of furthering God’s kingdom in overseas mission fields. Currently, we have missionaries working in Malaysia, Myanmar, and India. JTMC has adopted an annual programme called ‘Gift of Hope’ in Myanmar. Under the programme, children with chronic needs are adopted for a year in order to provide for them educationally and spiritually.

In line with our vision, ‘Time to Build’, JTMC sees the need to build a strong and close-knit community that demonstrates God’s nature. While the church may at times experience dry seasons, we still choose to soldier on, and hold on to the faith that the trying times will help us draw closer to God and become stronger spiritually. Through these trials, JTMC will remain faithful to build up more faithful disciples of Christ.

John Wesley said, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.” May JTMC build a community of such faithful front-liners, upon whom God will build His Kingdom!

Mrs Daisy Pandian, wife of pioneer pastor the late C.D. Pandian, said: “While resources like materials and technology were scarce, one thing that has remained both then and now is faithfulness.” She is glad God has used different vessels in each season to build and grow His Church.

The Rev Isaac V. Raju –

is Pastor-in-Charge of Pasir Panjang Tamil Methodist Church and Pastor at Jurong Tamil Methodist Church. 

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