A New Home for St James’ Church
If you were an elderly person attending a service at the old St James’ Church building, you would have to inch your way up a car-park slope and a few flight of stairs to get to the sanctuary on the second floor.
And with a congregation of 800 people divided into six adult services, along with various dynamic youth and children ministries, meeting the typical needs on a Sunday at this small corner plot at 1, Leedon Road near Holland Village can be a challenged.
But all this will change with the rebuilding of the facility. The work began on October 10 with a groundbreaking ceremony and is slated for completion by mid 2011. To be torn down is a 30-year old building sited on a freehold land which was a gift from the late Canon Guok Goh Moh, who had a vision to build a church in the then rural area of Holland Village.
When the new building is up, the elderly will find every facility easily accessible with the help of ramps and lifts. Almost all facilities: offices, worship halls, ancillary rooms, community areas will double or triple in size. Unique to this new building is a landscaped sky terrace area with a traditional chapel with glass walls for prayers and their early Sunday morning traditional Anglican Service at 7.30 am.
The other worship halls (the largest sitting 700 pax) will house the other Services which blend both traditional and contemporary approaches to worship. Facilities for families with young children will also be provided for this parish is known for their integrated approach to having children and youths in their Services. 
This is not to mention that the new facility will solve chronic parking problems with a tripling of car-park lots to 120. The new MRT station will also be helpful.
The St James’ Church Kindergarten (SJCK) at Harding Road, with its current enrollment of over 800 pre-school children. Enrolment may hit 1,000 next year as she opens a third session. The new church building will support further growth in SJCK by hosting a new branch, with facilities designed for kindergarten use.
The $14 million project – with three-quarters of the funds already raised mostly from church members – is an effort to be faithful to the mission of the Church, to keep up with ministry demands and make room for future growth. And as the whole Holland Village area is being revitalized, the church is following suit.
“Today, we expect more from churches as both the work of the Church and society matures,” observed the Vicar, Canon Terry Wong, 46, “In the past, we just walked to church, worshipped, and walked away. Now it’s more like a community hub; helping people in all kinds of ways, may it be the kindergarten, prisons’ work or community service. It is a worship place, but also an education, service and community center at the same time.”
The church has also helped other churches and ministry organizations. It used to house the Alpha Singapore office and served as center for crisis relief work in Bam, Iran. SJC has also housed the Indonesian Bethany Church, a fast-growing Indonesian church, in her earlier days in Singapore. “There is a tradition of generosity and sharing here in this Anglican parish. As land and building facilities are scarce in Singapore, it makes sense that those who are blessed with land extend a hand to help,” Canon Wong said. 
He expects the new church to be more accessible to the residents in the Buona Vista. Community and creative arts events can be housed in this new building with an open design which is attractive to the public. They are blessed by skillful design gifts of their architect, Quek Swee Kiang (from Chartered Associates International), who is a committed Christian himself and shares in the vision of how a church building needs to communicate her mission and interact with her surrounding community.
The church is also building relationship with other religious communities nearby and mindful of their role to help Holland Village to remain as a vibrant and united community.
“Our church is in a very public location,” Canon Wong said. “I believe God has placed us here for the purpose of being a blessing.” He hopes that all will pray along with the church that “St James’ Church will continue to be a blessing in the Anglican Diocese, the wider Christian community, our beloved nation and beyond that, other nations as well.”