Ark Café: A free oasis for migrant workers opens in Geylang

They streamed in individually and in small groups. Uncertainty turned into relief when they were warmly welcomed by smiling volunteers.

The opening of Ark Café on a Saturday evening in April was a success. Some 90 people visited from 6pm to 8.30pm, enjoying live music, light snacks and designer coffee.

But this café is unlike most. It is hosted in a church, everything is free, and its target clientele are migrant workers who throng the Geylang district on weekends.

An eye-catching sign inviting passers-by into Ark Café in Geylang Chinese Methodist Church.

Debbie Zhang, the founder of this initiative, said: “The café is envisioned as an oasis for passers-by in Aljunied, just next to the red-light district, a welcoming place where they can find comfort and peace in Jesus.

“At the same time, it will serve as a space for Bible study programmes in different languages for workers who desire to grow in their faith in Him.”

A shared mission    

A collaborative effort of Geylang Ministry (GM) and Geylang Chinese Methodist Church (GCMC), Ark Café is the culmination of a journey that began in 2008.

That was the year Debbie founded GM to bring the Gospel to sex workers in the area. BOrn and bred in China, she had been moved to tears when she heard the familiar northern accent of her home country along the alleyways of Geylang’s red-light district.

“My heart ached for these women,” she told Salt&Light in a 2021 interview.

As the ministry progressed, Debbie, 56, also felt a need to reach out to those who visit the brothels, many of whom are migrant workers.

Volunteers standing outside Ark Cafe at Geylang Chinese Methodist Church to invite people into the cafe.

One day in 2023, GCMC contacted Debbie. The church, which is in the heart of Geylang, had read about her ministry in Salt&Light and wanted to partner her in reaching out to those in the area.

Since then, GCMC has come alongside her ministry in many ways.

Apart from supporting them monthly and volunteering manpower whenever required, the church also opens its place for their monthly Saturday fellowship dinners and Christmas parties, where migrant workers can enjoy free meals and hear the Gospel.

A vessel to sow new life

The name Ark Café was chosen because, like the ark in Genesis that carried the seeds of a new start, GM hopes the café will sow seeds of new life among these migrant brothers.

One of the café’s main purposes is to provide consistent follow-up for outreach, said Debbie.

Ark Café hopes to be a homely hangout for migrant workers.

She explained that after their first Christmas outreach programme, many who prayed to receive Christ were directed to different churches. “But a year later when I did a survey, I found that none of them had stayed,” she said.

So, she started a monthly dinner fellowship. But many came just once and did not return the following month. “I think the gap is too long,” said Debbie.

She hopes Ark Café, which is open every Saturday (except the first Saturday of the month) from 6pm to 8.30pm, can be a regular meeting point for those new to the faith.

The café’s opening comes at a perfect time because just a few months ago at the 2025 Christmas outreach, over 130 gave their lives to Jesus. “We can’t go to their countries. This way, they come to us,” said Debbie.

Moving forward, GM will run Bible study lessons for migrant workers at the café. Already, volunteers are meeting a worker from China and going through a discipleship programme with him.  

Gospel tracts will also be placed on the tablesm, and the migrant workers are free to pick them up to read if they wish. In addition to free food and drinks, there is also live Christian music.

Said Debbie. “Their lives every day is just work, work, work. It is good for them to rest in God’s presence.”

Volunteer Judith Chong, who has played the keyboard and sung at the café, told Salt&Light: “I have a deep conviction that God has called us to go out into the nations to share His Gospel.

“With many migrant workers coming over to Singapore to work, the nations have come to us – and I think it’s a divine opportunity.”

Judith offering live Christian music at Ark Cafe.

The effort put in to pull all this together is not lost on the visitors. “Some of the workers asked why we were showing them such kindness,” said Debbie. 

What God has done through the partnership of GM and GCMC is something at which Debbie marvels: “There is power when the Body of Christ comes together to bring about transformative change in the lives of the people in Geylang.”

To volunteer at the Ark Café, click here.

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