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Throughout the years, the Lord
has brought many changes and growth
to our church at Paya Lebar. With a
rich heritage behind us, we want to
remember God's Mighty Hand every step
of the way.
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Our Brief History
Paya
Lebar Methodist Church was established
on 10th July 1932, with the transfer
of a few members from Wesley Methodist
Church, and the Straits Chinese
Churches. At our inception in
1932, we had only 18 full members
on the roll.
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Rev
Abel Eklund conducted the inauguration
service in a shophouse chapel
at 166D Upper Serangoon Road.
Through our missions work and
the day-school (Methodist Preparatory
English School), funds were raised
and a four-room Church was built
at 7 Boundary Road.
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1935
The Malay Prayer Service was started.
The Malay Sunday School had about 70
students. The Peranakan Service was
later introduced in 1961 and a Peranakan
Fellowship meeting on Saturday afternoons
was also added.
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1937
The choir ministry began under the leadership
of American missionaries, Mr and Mrs
Paul E Thomas. In the same year, the
church's newsletter, The Christian
Circle (now known as The Beacon),
was published.
1949
A unique institution, an Old People's
Class Meeting, was started in 1949.
An experiment in practical Christianity,
it was a combination of old-fashioned
Wesley Class Meeting and a modern Oxford
Group Meeting.
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1955
Attendance at Sunday Services was so
overwhelming that an additional service
was held. This grew to three services
from 1961, four services from 1989,
five services from 1992 and our present
six services from 2000.
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1970
An interesting feature of the Church
Anniversary Service was that members
of the congregation decorated the church
with gifts which were later distributed
to the Home for the Aged Sick, the Retarded
Children's Home and the Chen Su Lan
Methodist Children's Home.
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1982-84
The re-building of the Sanctuary was
completed and dedicated to the Lord.
Our Wayside Pulpit was launched in 1984
with a "Thot for the Week"
and banners were hung on the roadside
railing to minister to the public. In
the same year, the Filipino Fellowship
was started.
1986
The Methodist Senior Fellowship was
formed and the Adult Fellowship was
re-launched. A new church-wide teaching
series on Fridays, entitled "Discovery
Night", was well-received.
1987-88
The Covenant Centre was completed, officially
opened and dedicated to the Lord. This
facilitated the launch of the Kindergarten,
the Retreat Centre, the Emmaus Centre
and the Family Service Centre. In 1988,
the Ministry to the Visually Impaired
was started. The launch of the Care
Group Ministry saw the formation of
about 30 care groups.
1989
The Contemporary Service was started
on 9 July. Initially held at 5pm and
called the Evening Service, it was brought
forward to 2.30 pm and renamed the Contemporary
Service with effect from April 1996.
Its focus from 1997 was to be a Seeker's
Service, the service and sermons aimed
to reach out to those searching for
God. In August 2001, in an effort to
reach the Punggol Community, the service
was moved to Punggol Marina and changed
its name to Hope Mission.
1990-95
The pastors each led a class when the
Disciple's programme was adopted by
the Church in 1990. The Covenant Prayer
and Praise Service began in 1991 and
changed its name to "Lifespring"
Service in 1995. This later became part
of the present 11.15 am Celebration
Service, which was officially launched
in January 2003.
In 1992, together with a series of other
events and programmes, we celebrated
our 60th Anniversary with a combined
service held at the Mandarin Hotel,
which was attended by about 1000 worshippers.
1996-98
In 1996, the total re-building of the
church began. Worship services were
re-located to Paya Lebar Methodist Girls'
Secondary School, whilst the office
and kindergarten operated from the former
Elling Primary School at 521 Upper Paya
Lebar Road. Work on the new church building
lasted 18 months and the first three
Thanksgiving Stones were laid at the
Jordan Hall on PLMC's 66th Anniversary
on 12 July 1998. The first combined
worship service held on 25 October 1998
in the new church building saw the Sanctuary
packed to the brim as we rejoiced in
God's faithfulness in seeing us through
the church building project.
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1999-2000
In 1999, we see the Church moving towards
being a cell church. Many new cell groups
were started, while the old ones persevered
on. It was an exciting phase of the
Church's life as the entire dynamics
of the Church moved towards the lay
people. There were also a few milestones
in the same year: the Church sponsored
the Singapore Boys' Brigade 6th and
75th Companies; the dance and drama
ministries were started; and we had
our first original musical "Going
Home". In the next year, the "Living
Stones" Mandarin Fellowship was
started.
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2001
- 2003
Over the past years, we has seen God's
faithfulness and experienced His blessings
in many ways. And we believe that we
are blessed for a reason, and that is
to be a blessing to others. In 2002,
we took the former vision of being "A
Renewing, Learning, Extending Community"
a step further. A new logo was designed
for the church and the vision re-defined.
The new vision now reads, "As the
body of Christ, in receiving the anointing
of the Holy Spirit, we respond in worship,
walking in His word, and reaching our
community and the nations with the love
of God."
In 2002, as we celebrated our 70th Anniversary,
we also started the "Bless The
Nations" project, raising funds
for missions work as well as exposing
our members to missions through short
trips and educational video screenings.
With the Blessed To Bless (B2B) and
Cell Group departments in place, we
also began our community outreach activities
and the move towards being a Cell Church.
On 23 March 2003, after months of training,
the CG leaders were commissioned during
the Sunday Services. It was also in
2003 that the Mandarin Fellowship expanded
and became the Mandarin Service.
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2004
We launched our 24/7 prayer wave, where
church members come to the 24/7 prayer
room around the clock to intercede for
the church.
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2005
As a cell church. 1,300 of our adult English
members/worshippers anre in cell groups
where they edify one another, exercise
the gifts of the Holy Spirit and evangelise
with the love of Christ. We commmited
$3.5 million to the concert hall of Paya
Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Secondary),
to extend our outreach and pastoral care
to the school and community at Lor Ah
Soo. |
2006
Our weekly Worship & Intercession
Night was launched. We held our 1st Cell
Church Conference. |
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2007
We began our 75th Anniversary celebrations
with a 75-hour Worship & Prayer
session from 29 December to 1 January
2007. Over 800 worshippers attended
our Family Camp in June 2007. We celebrated
our 75th Anniversary Service on 8 July
2007 with one combined intergenerational
service.
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