In 1928, employees from India at the Seletar Naval Base (later Sembawang Naval Base) began meeting in homes for worship services. This marked the start of Sembawang Tamil Methodist Church (Sembawang TMC) , under the supervision of the Rev J. A. Supramaniam.
Six years later, the church was formally instituted with the Rev V. A. Chelliah at the helm. Since then, we have worshipped in various venues: a school building, a 30-foot (9 m) container, and even the Boys’ Brigade campsite!
In Feb 1992, we were offered joint allocation of a site at Yishun Street 11, with Smyrna Assembly (another church with a sizeable Tamil congregation). Our portion of the premises was officially dedicated on August 29, 2004.
We are blessed to be placed in Yishun, a residential area where we can connect with the community through social outreach. We offer bursaries, counsel dysfunctional families or single parents, and visit needy families. We also partner Daybreak Family Service Centre in giving free tuition to children in need.
Through these endeavours, families have been restored, the gospel has been shared, and many baptised.
Our vision is to be a connecting place for Christ in the community, and to strengthen connections within the community itself. Our people have responded to God’s call to start this church, and our hope now is for the church to develop a vision of how best we can bless the neighbouring community to the glory of God.
Prayer Ministry has been one of the most important arms of the church. We have various sessions of prayer: weekly praise and prayer, monthly ladies’ fast and prayer, quarterly prayer through the night and chain prayer.
Prayer is an important element to the spiritual vitality of our church. Many breakthroughs have been experienced by the church and we hear many testimonies of souls being saved, healing and miraculous childbirth. Thus prayer has enhanced our hunger and thirst for God’s word.
Our continued mission? To soar higher in God’s love through the knowledge of His word, prayer, and bringing others to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior within the fellowship of the Church.
We continue our series of profiling local churches from our three Annual Conferences of The Methodist Church in Singapore. As we come to have a better understanding of each other’s history and ministry, there may be opportunity to forge cross-church partnerships and collaborations.
JOIN Sembawang Tamil Methodist Church u in their efforts to bless the Yishun community u for one of their prayer sessions, to seek God together as a family in Christ.
Pictures by Sembawang Tamil Methodist Church
The Rev Isaac Raju is Pastor at Sembawang Tamil Methodist Church.