The year 2025 marks 60 years of nation building for Singaporeans; at the same time, we commemorate the 140 years of Methodism in this place we call home. Singapore was established as a British trading port, but we cannot ignore the fact that the British presence in this region might be regarded as an extended “diversion” of the East India Company’s trading interests with China.
The Methodist mission might be considered the “late arrivals” but the development of the mission and ministry along language lines—English, Tamil, Chinese/dialects and Malay/Peranakan—underscored the priority of vernacular mission in a largely migrant and transient population. Yet this was to become an important mark of the Methodist work in establishing the three conferences: Chinese Annual Conference, Emmanuel Tamil Annual Conference and Trinity Annual Conference of The Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS). Christianity may be regarded as a glue that held together the racial diversities of Singapore’s growing immigrant population, such that “in Christ, there is no east or west, in Him, no south or north.”1
Providing quality education
More than just evangelism and church planting, Methodism in Singapore is perhaps synonymous with the education mission that gave rise to Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) and Methodist Girls’ School, both here in Singapore as well as in Peninsular Malaysia. Bishop William Oldham saw in the provision of education an open door into the lives of the immigrant population of Singapore. The ACS anthem recounts: “In days of yore, from western shores, Oldham dauntless hero came and planted a beacon of truth and light in this island of the main.” It is hence not surprising that it is Methodism that “has given us the founders of our schools, the principals and the teachers who have made and continue to make our schools what they are today.”2
The education mission was clear then and should continue to inspire those who are involved in education: “… we must steadfastly withstand the secularising influence of the conditions under which we labour and bear in mind with studious and jealous vigilance our solemn duty to impart as far as possible, along with secular instruction, a knowledge of saving truth.”3
Uplifting the plight of women and children
While the Methodist contribution in planting churches and starting schools is perhaps most noticeable, the Methodists were also very active right at the outset of the mission in their efforts at uplifting the plight of women and children, especially in a context where women were often discriminated against and disenfranchised. One of the distinctive aspects of the Methodist mission was predicated by “spreading scriptural holiness” in the land, which included the work among the poor, the destitute and the lepers, the establishment of orphanages, medical mission as well as the rescue work among the women who were either abandoned, or sold into slavery or prostitution, where a much darker future awaited those who were sold into the trade.
The Methodist mission was vocal in their objection against the British administration’s tolerant attitude towards the oppression of womenfolk, especially that of indentured servants. They sought to educate through various publications in The Malaysia Message (the pre-cursor of Methodist Message) and were constantly appealing directly to the Government, to the Christian community as well as the economically able business community to join with them in speaking up against the tacit “acceptance” of a social problem.
Speaking out against social vices
The Methodists were also particularly robust in their criticism against the vices of alcoholism, gambling as well as the opium trade and addiction. They spoke out against these social vices, writing in both the The Malaysia Message as well as in the local newspapers, The Straits Times, critiquing the policies and practices. The Methodist mission was active in encouraging laws which promulgated public morality, such as laws against gambling, alcoholism, prostitution as well as regulations that promoted the observance of the Sabbath rest (yes, there were such regulations in the colonial days!).
Of particular significance is the Methodist stand on the trade and use of opium. The Malaysia Message published numerous articles castigating the problem of the opium traffic and was unequivocal in denouncing the harm that it inflicted on the users and their families. In one of the articles, it commented,
The opium traffic is an evil, a great evil, an evil everywhere – a curse to mankind first, last and forever. … To license the opium traffic is to give it the sanction of law, make it respectable and provide for its perpetuation. The Government becomes particeps criminis in all of its attendant evils. To derive a revenue from the opium traffic is to feed upon iniquity. It is out of harmony with the Word of God and the Christian conscience.4
Cognisant that the opium trade was the most lucrative commodity for Singapore’s trade, the Methodists repeatedly appealed the colonial administration, writing:
The question of revenue should have no weight in the matter at all. The souls and bodies of men are more valuable than money. Well has Confucius said “In a State, gain is not to be considered prosperity but its prosperity will be found in righteousness. When he who presides over a State makes revenue his chief business, he must be under the influence of some small mean man.” Let our legislators and governing experts find some other ways of raising revenue, and blessing will come to them and to the people whom they govern.5
The Methodists’ principled stance against the opium trade was perhaps best evidenced in the Governor of the Straits Settlements, John Anderson’s invitation of Bishop Oldham to sit on the Straits Settlements Opium Commission in 1907. The fact that a Methodist Bishop rather than any of the other prominent religious leaders perhaps lends credence to the role that Christianity, not least of all, Methodism, played in weaving the social fabric of Singapore at the turn of the 20th century. The long-drawn commission however did not include the recommendations of the two who held anti-opium views, namely Mr Tan Jiak Kim (a prominent Straits Chinese merchant, philanthropist and political activist) and Bishop Oldham. Not surprisingly, Bishop Oldham was the only person in the Commission to disagree with the summary conclusions, for which he composed and dispatched a memorandum of dissent as well as a personal note that were both included as annexures6 to the Opium Commission report. It must be borne in mind that his was the only dissent and his consistent recommendation was on restriction leading to the ultimate prohibition of the opium trade.
This emphasis on social uplift, in ensuring that “the last, the least and the lost” are provided for, is part of the DNA of the Methodist Church, right up to this day. Through the local churches as well as the Methodist Welfare Services, the social outreach agency of MCS, we continue to voice our concerns with regards to social issues that affect Singaporeans and at the same time, work with the various government agencies in addressing some of these cracks in the social nets affecting the wellbeing of Singaporeans who may be disenfranchised.
The Methodist missionaries in Singapore envisioned as their primary call, “spreading scriptural holiness” across the lands of Singapore and Malaysia and found the means through an emphasis on evangelistic, educational and ethical ministries. They understood that “our mission has to be multidimensional in order to be credible and faithful to its origins and character”7 and yet at the same time, they understood their mission as faithful participant in the mission of God, setting their personal agendas at the foot of the cross. Their dedication was to the Lord and their consuming passion was to the local community of Chinese, Indian, Malay and Straits-Chinese, especially in their welfare, both material and spiritual.
In recounting the evangelistic, education and ethical mission of the Methodist Church, I do this in order that we may be reminded of the motives and the methods with which Methodism took root and bore fruit in Singapore. This is our “Ebenezer”—a reminder that thus far the Lord has led us. In a society that emphasises upward economic mobility— to upsize, update, upgrade and upscale— the Church must not allow materialism to eclipse her mission. In the glitzy and giddying allure of the world of “Crazy Rich Asians”, the Church in Singapore (and Singapore itself) would do well not to forget that the way home is through the “lowly, the unassuming, and the imperceptible”8, the mustard seed faith in Jesus Christ.
Rev Dr Andrew Peh is a lecturer in mission and world religions at Trinity Theological College (TTC). He is an alumnus of TTC as well as Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, USA. He is ordained as a diaconal minister in the Chinese Annual Conference of The Methodist Church in Singapore and is attached to Bukit Panjang Methodist Church. His research interests are in colonial missions history of Southeast Asia (particularly Singapore) and the missions history of East Asia (particularly Japanese Christianity). / Photos courtesy of the Methodist Archives & History Library
1 William Arthur Dunkerley (pseudonym John Oxenham). In Christ, there is no East or West. UMH 548.
2 Ho Seng Ong, Methodist Schools in Malaysia: Their Record and History, (Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: The Board of Education of the Malaya Annual Conference, 1964), 65.
3 H.L.E. Luering, Emma Ferris and W.T Stagg, “Report of the Committee on Education”, Minutes of the Malaysia Mission Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1894, (Singapore: American Mission Press, 1984) 19.
4 The Malaysia Message, Vol I No 4 Jan 1892 (Singapore: The MEC Mission, 1892) 26.
5 Ibid.
6 As both the memorandum of dissent and the personal note from Bishop Oldham was received after the consolidated report has been sent to the printers, Bishop Oldham had to dispatch a dozen printed copies which were attached to the printed report. These were however fully published in the January 1909 issue of The Malaysia Message, Vol XVIII No 4, which are available at the Methodist Archives, Singapore.
7 David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission – Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1991) 512.
8 Tom Sine, Mustard Seed Versus McWorld (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999),173.