City Trail: I walked through 100 years of Church history in Singapore’s city centre

We gathered at the entrance to the sanctuary of St Andrew’s Cathedral, nearly two dozen of us. It had rained the night before and the weather, still cloudy and cool, was perfect for the walking trail on which we were about to embark.

Rev Malcolm Tan (second, left) at the entrance to the sanctuary of St Andrew’s Cathedral from where the City Trail began.

I had signed up for the City Trail, a tour that covers the first hundred years of Church history in Singapore from 1819 to 1919. Developed and led by retired church history enthusiast Rev Malcolm Tan, who had been a Pastor with The Methodist Church in Singapore for 40 years, the trail features 11 stops, each a significant milestone in the journey of Christian faith in Singapore.

The nearly three-hour stroll had us meandering through the city centre. At every stop, we paused to pray a thanksgiving, a blessing, a request, connecting past and present with hope in our hearts for the future.

Until that overcast Saturday morning, I had not realised that our tiny island nation had such a rich Christian heritage. Here are the gems I discovered that have given me a deeper appreciation for the spiritual pioneers upon whose shoulders we now stand.

1. Local landmarks have strong Christian history

Raffles Hotel and the first worship service

Our first stop was at a place I must have passed a dozen times, dined at on occasion and even stayed in once. Raffles Hotel had always been pegged as an ultra-luxurious hotel known for its colonial charms. What I did not know was that long before it hosted high society, it was where the first sermons in Singapore were preached.   

Participants saying a prayer at the Raffles Hotel courtyard.

In 1822, shortly after Singapore was founded, the London Missionary Society (LMS) set up the first Protestant mission at the corner of Bras Basah Road and North Bridge Road where Raffles Hotel now stands. At that attap hut, sermons were preached to reach the Bugis community in the area. Because of that, the stretch of Bras Basah Road between Beach Road and North Bridge Road was known as Church Street in the early 1820s.

Now a lush respite for guests, this courtyard was once where the first believers worshipped.

The attap hut is long gone. But to stand in the now lush courtyard, knowing that here was the humble beginning of the first local church, was a deeply moving experience.

Robinsons and the Brethren movement

Round the corner at Carlton Hotel, Rev Tan had another nugget of surprise for us. 

“In the 1860s, there was a Christian businessman by the name of Philip Robinson. He was the one who set up the Robinsons departmental store here in Singapore. He was a Brethren and he started an assembly room at Bencoolen Street.”

The gathering of eight believers who met at where Carlton Hotel now is would later move to Bras Basah Road and establish Bethesda Bras Basah. So the man responsible for giving Singapore its first air-conditioned department store also helped found the Brethren movement in Singapore.

2. Faith flourished at the centre

As the walk progressed, it was clear that long before towering offices, modern malls and magnificent museums filled the arts and heritage district that formed the bulk of our tour, churches were the most iconic buildings in the area. Early in modern Singapore’s history, God was already at work, bringing missionaries from all over Europe to set up churches on the island.

Rev Tan brought us to the oldest Catholic church started by the French, Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, from where the Covent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ) complex could be seen.

“There’s something interesting about the CHIJ tradition. Whenever people had unwanted babies – it may not be through unwanted pregnancy, it could also be because you’re very poor and cannot look after the child especially if it’s a female baby – they would put it in a basket and put it outside the door of the nunnery. That’s why they have the side door.

“That, in itself, is a powerful testimony. That’s why it’s called the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, to remind everybody who throws away the infant that the Lord Jesus Christ was once an infant as well, the Son of God became flesh and came to us as a little child.”

Across the street is Church of Saints Peter and Paul which the French planted as well. It was where locals who wanted sermons in Chinese could worship. Its neighbour is Kum Yan Methodist Church which started in 1918 to offer Cantonese services. Although it only moved into its current site nearly 80 years later, it adds to the cluster of churches in the area.

The Church of Saints Peter and Paul is among several churches in the arts and heritage district.

A five-minute walk away is St Joseph’s Church. Started by the Portuguese, the church was erected there in 1853, about 16 years before Church of Saints Peter and Paul came into existence.

3. Education not complete without the Gospel

Just around the corner is a little yellow church on Middle Road. Its halls no longer ring with choruses of praise. But it was once the first Malay Chapel and in, 1894, the first Straits Chinese Methodist Church in Singapore. In 1930, that church moved to Kampong Kapor Road and became Kampong Kapor Methodist Church.

The yellow church would later house the Methodist Girls’ School (MGS) as well. Ties between the school and the Malay Chapel were strong. Its first Pastor, Rev William Shellabear, and Sophia Blakcmore, founder of MGS, would go together to kampungs nearby to preach because they were both fluent in Malay. 

Middle Road Church, now a visual arts centre, was the site of the first Malay Chapel under the Methodists before it became a Straits Chinese Methodist Church. For a period, it housed the Methodist Girls’ School (MGS) as well.

Kampong Kapor Methodist Church started with Malay services, Today, they continue to have Peranakan services.

“The Methodists believe that we should always have a school and a church. We believe that education is never complete if you don’t teach people the Word of God, and if you don’t teach people to fear God, you’re not yet an educated person. That’s our deep conviction.”

That was the general belief then. When Raffles Institution began in 1823, Sir Stamford Raffles had wanted it to be a mission school. It did not turn out that way, but God was not done with the students.

“When Bethesda Bras Basah was set up in 1866. It was perfect. Why just there? Raffles Institution was there. They could reach out to the students. The students could come to church,” said Rev Tan.

4. Love and unity abounded

In the early days of the Christian faith in Singapore, pioneering Christians helped one another.

Said Rev Tan: “The early Youth for Christ, the early Scripture Union were sheltered by the Brethren church. All the parachurch organisations, including Navigators and Campus Crusade for Christ as well.

“The Brethren church was a place that welcomed all of them. Then once they were comfortable, they moved to the other churches.”

The Methodist helped, too. They were the ones who gave the Assemblies of God assistance when the latter first set foot in Singapore. In 1928, AOG missionary Rev Cecil Jackson and his wife left China on board a ship they thought was bound for Hong Kong. Instead, they found themselves in Singapore.

Said Rev Tan: “When he landed in Singapore, he said to the captain, ‘Today is Easter Sunday. Can I conduct Easter service in the ship?’

“And he shared about his predicament, how he was stranded in Singapore. On board the ship that day was a Methodist Pastor by the name of Rev McNab. He was the Methodist Pastor looking after ACS (Anglo-Chinese School).

“He went to Rev Cecil Jackson and said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ve got a place for you. You can stay with us, and I have got a job for you. I’ll employ you to teach Bible knowledge and English together.’

“So you can see the Assemblies of God and the Methodists were friends from the beginning. For six months, the crucial six months, Rev Cecil Jackson was sheltered by the Methodists.”

5. Earliest sermons were in Malay

Though I majored in English Language and function almost entirely in English, my first language was Peranakan Malay. Growing up with my sarong-clad maternal grandmother who spoke a lilting mix of Malay and Hokkien, it made me smile to find out that the first sermons preached in Singapore were in Malay.

At the LMS chapel that was the first church in Singapore, sermons were conducted in Malay to reach the Bugis community who had come from Sulawesi and were congregated around the Kampong Glam area nearby.

Said Rev Tan: “In that chapel at North Bridge Road, Rev Benjamin Peach Keasberry preached on Sunday afternoon. Services were packed as the Gospel was preached in Malay, and it’s not just him.

“He found another missionary, an American missionary, who could speak Malay well – Rev Youngblood. Between Youngblood and Keasberry, they both preached the Gospel in Bahasa Melayu, and Sunday afternoon the sanctuary was packed.”

The first Protestant chapel, where Raffles Hotel now stands, moved here and was renamed Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church. The church is also the founding location of the Singapore Boys’ Brigade, established on January 12, 1930.

When the chapel moved to Prinsep Street and later became the Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church, it continued to serve Malay-speaking worshippers including the Peranakan Chinese community.

The City Trail is open for private bookings at chtrails@ventures.me.

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