One of the amazing faith journeys I have experienced was how God provided my home church with a church facility. The congregation comprised mostly ordinary working people and students. Like the boy who offered to Jesus his five loaves and two fish to feed the hungry crowd of five thousand, the congregation gave sacrificially whatever they could offer. In Jesus’ hands, the five loaves and two fish were enough to satisfy the multitude. God did the same with what we gave Him: He blessed and multiplied it so we could finally purchase our current church space. This is the story.
83 Devonshire Road
Our risky and exciting journey began in 1985. The Building Fund committee proposed to the Management Committee that the church purchase a building for church use. The congregation decided to buy a corner terrace house at 83 Devonshire Road for S$455,000. This was across the road where the PUB building at 111 Somerset Road once stood.
It was a faith challenge to raise the money because we were a rather small church with the majority early in their careers and with young families. Besides sacrificial giving and faith pledges, we had to sell Christmas cards and old newspapers to raise the needed funds.
After the purchase, the house was used as a church office, for the Friday prayer meeting, and the Deaf Faith Fellowship for several years. However, it could not be converted into a church building. Then in 1989, we sold it for S$850,000.
The reason we sold it was to facilitate our search for a property that could be used as a church. The Board of Elders held a general meeting with the registered members of the society, and everybody agreed to sell the property and search for a building that can be used as a religious site.
11 Dunearn Close
We began eyeing a property next to the busy and noisy Adam Road hawker centre. It was a pre-war bungalow owned and used by the United Workers of Petroleum Industry. Our church architect friend, Cyril Seah, advised us that the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) may grant a change of use to the piece of land, as it was in front of a major road and next to a noisy hawker centre. In 1990, we bought the property at 11 Dunearn Close for S$1.63 million.
It was a stretch of our faith and finances. We had many pastors and missionaries to support. In addition, we were renting a hotel ballroom for our worship services. Our operating expenses were tight.
We challenged our congregations to give for the new church building project. Church members gave sacrificially, but it fell short. Then the members offered interest-free loans to the church. This helped.
Widespread participation and ownership of the church building project were important. Therefore, we did not mind raising funds through activities like walkathons, collecting old newspapers to sell, and selling Chinese New Year goodies.
While all these fundraising activities continued, we applied to the URA for permission to convert the land use of the premises we bought into a religious zone. We prayed and waited.
During the wait, we used the property as a church office and for other smaller meetings. Sunday worship continued at a hotel, and later on, at the Metropolitan YMCA at Stevens Road. Every Sunday after the service, I drove the Hiace church van to 11 Dunearn Close, and transported the musical instruments used in the worship services to the church office.
Finally, after a long wait, the answer came. URA disapproved and rejected the application. The reason was that the percentage of good class bungalow plots had shrunken, and URA wanted to preserve whatever was left. It was highly unlikely URA would change its mind. We did not appeal.
During that period of waiting, the value of properties shot up exponentially. The real estate market was hot. We had not anticipated this. This was God’s providence to help us, a little flock. The Board was advised by a former URA executive to search for religious or association sites in Geylang.
Therefore, we decided to sell our property at 11 Dunearn Close by open tender. We expected strong interest as the property market was still hot at that time. However, by the time the tender deadline was about to end, only one buyer, a butcher, sent in his bid. It was S$5.71 million. We knew it was the Lord’s hand that brought about this miracle. There was great joy and celebration throughout the church as the good news of great joy spread like wildfire.
Guilin Building in Geylang
We then searched for a place of worship in Geylang. We wanted it to be located away from the heart of the red-light district, the even-numbered lanes from Lorong 8 to Lorong 18. By God’s design, we found a place that suited us at the multi-storied Guilin Building at Lorong 27A Geylang. It was freehold and it was usable for religious societies. Furthermore, it was a five-minute walk from the Aljunied MRT station.
In 1994, we bought nine units in the Guilin Building for $3.35 million. Later, we bought three units from Living Spring Church after they decided to move elsewhere. After several more years, we purchased two more units next to that property. Total: 14 units.
It never ceases to amaze me that our great and mighty God moved on behalf of ordinary people, with ordinary incomes, and gifted us with a space to worship, proclaim the gospel, and support missions. He did this so that we cannot claim any credit but give all glory to our faithful and wondrous God. God loves to display his power and grace through small and weak people so that it is obvious to everyone that God is real.
As it is written in scripture: “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)