Crossing the Century: Celebrating the 100th year of the Diocese of Singapore
1909 marked the beginning of the Anglican Diocese of Singapore, with the formation of the Diocese of Singapore with Charles James Ferguson-Davie as her first Bishop. But the story really began way back, during the period of the British East India Company, when Sir Stamford Raffles came to Singapore in 1819 to find a more suitable trading base for the growing British Empire in the Far East. The mission of the British chaplains then was clear: one which centered on the worship and the preaching of the Word. The earliest Anglican work was built around that. The first church building was erected in 1837. St Andrew’s Cathedral was consecrated in 1870.
Clear as the vision may be, initially it was limited to the needs of Western expatriates. That was to slowly change to meet the spiritual needs of the locals and other foreign non-English speaking workers. A sermon delivered on Whitsunday 1856, by the Resident Chaplain, Rev William Humphrey reflected the thoughts of this change:
“We cannot withhold our attention from those who so pleasingly require it; so that the congregation of St. Andrew’s must, in spite of itself, become a missionary congregation – a centre of diffusing to others the light and comfort and peace of the knowledge of Christ and Him crucified.”
“In spite of itself” – that is a soul-searching expression. We read in Philippians 2, how Christ, “in spite of Himself”, emptied Himself and entered our world. The Church can do no less. This is her Mission – to bring the message of the Gospel to all.
It did not take long for the Anglican Church to respond to local needs. Churches like St Peter’s at Stamford Road and St John’s were established by the 1870s, where Services were conducted with the translated Prayer Book in Malay, Hokkien and Foo Chow.
From these early seeds, and in spite of the political turbulence which Singapore went through in her formative years, the Anglican Church grew. Today, 100 years after the formation of our diocese, we have 20,000 regular worshippers in 26 parishes with multiple congregations, where services were conducted in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Tamil, Tagalog, Bahasa and so on. Our clergy meet weekly on Tuesday mornings for communion, fellowship, prayer and discussions. The sense of serving as one Church, with mutual accountability, submission, teamwork etc is embedded into our “DNA.” We also serve with a deep sense that we are a piece in the whole canvas of space and time. We do not start and end with ourselves. What is done in one part affects the whole and we serve with this sense of awareness.
Coupled with our local responsibilities, we have open doors in the public square, community and beyond our shores, in regional countries.
We are also mindful of our place within the wider body of Christ. With our strengths we serve alongside them to further the witness of the Gospel. May our weaknesses be overcome by love and God’s grace. Given our history, we are also open to many who seek for a more ‘connected’ Church which is not just local but universal and outside of the Roman Catholic expression.
Some take years to appreciate more fully some of our Anglican ethos of worship but there is an immediate sense of belonging when we gather around the Gospel, Trinitarian faith and broken body of Christ.
This is what church should be, but still conscious of our shortcomings and a divided Body, we await the full revelation of Christ. As we cross into the next century, may we continue to work towards His Glory, Name and Honour.