Methodist Church in Singapore

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Methodist Church in Singapore (abb. MCS) is the church of the Methodists in Singapore. The Church has 42 churches islandwide with more than 32,000 members, making it one of the largest Protestant denominations in Singapore. Its current bishop and head of the Church is Bishop Dr Robert Solomon.

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[edit] History

The Methodist Church in Singapore started out as a missionary initiative by Rev James Thoburn of the South India Conference in India in 1885. Rev William Fitzjames Oldham travelled to Singapore to plant the foundations of the mission. Notably, Oldham started the church's first English language boys' school in 1886 (the Anglo-Chinese School, which is generally regarded today as one of the premier schools in Singapore). Two girls' schools (Methodist Girls' School and Fairfield Methodist Girls' School) were subsequently established in 1887 and 1888 respectively. The mission also developed a clinic and hostels for homeless children.

From this Singapore base, the mission then spread to the Malay Peninsula and Sarawak in the 1890s. The Methodist Mission in Singapore and Malaya expanded over time, eventually growing to the administrative status of a conference in the Methodist Church. Eventually, the church spread throughout Southeast Asia, leading to the establishment of the Southeast Asian Central Conference in 1950.

The Malaysian and Singapore components of the mission officially became autonomous of their Western parent bodies in 1968, thus becoming an Asian church with a bishop elected from the local ministers. In 1976, the church was restructured into the Methodist Church in Singapore and the Methodist Church in Malaysia to reflect the secession of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia.

[edit] Annual conferences

The Methodist Church in Singapore is organized into three branches called 'annual conferences' as each of them meets once a year. These are the Chinese Annual Conference comprising churches with largely Chinese-speaking congregations, the Emmanuel Tamil Annual Conference for churches with largely Tamil-speaking congregations, and the Trinity Annual Conference for churches with largely English-speaking congregations. However, many churches now conduct services in languages other than the language appropriate to the annual conference that they belong to.

The three annual conferences are headed by the Bishop, who is elected by a combined body known as the General Conference. Each of the three annual conferences is headed by a President.

[edit] List of Methodist churches in Singapore

[edit] Schools

There are 14 schools managed by the Methodist Church, which is represented by the Methodist Schools Foundation. Six of the schools are part of the Anglo-Chinese School family which includes a junior college.

Schools under the ACS family:

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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