Hi, I’m Erin
I’m Erin Kerber, your LCA International Mission Singapore Program Officer. I’m here to help you and encourage you to join God’s mission in Singapore.
The population of Singapore is diverse, the result of considerable past immigration. Chinese predominate, making up some three-fourths of the total. Malays are the next largest ethnic group, and Indians the third. None of those three major communities is homogeneous. Among the Chinese, more than two-fifths originate from Fujian province and speak the Amoy (Xiamen) dialect, about one-fourth are Teochew from the city of Shantou in Guangdong province, and a smaller number are from other parts of Guangdong. Linguistic differences are less pronounced among the Malays, but the group includes Indonesians speaking Javanese, Boyanese, and other dialects. The Indian group is most diverse, consisting of Tamils (more than half), Malayalis, and Sikhs; it also includes Pakistani and Sinhalese communities. I’m meeting people who are thanking God for the rapid growth of the Christian community in Singapore. I’d love to visit your congregation, school or group to discuss ways you can partner with our Lutheran friends in Singapore.
Some background
Singapore, city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, about 85 miles (137 kilometres) north of the Equator. It consists of the diamond-shaped Singapore Island and some 60 small islets; the main island occupies all but about 18 square miles of this combined area. The main island is separated from Peninsular Malaysia to the north by Johor Strait, a narrow channel crossed by a road and rail causeway that is more than half a mile long. The southern limits of the state run through Singapore Strait, where outliers of the Riau-Lingga Archipelago—which forms a part of Indonesia—extend to within 10 miles of the main island.
Singapore is the largest port in Southeast Asia and one of the busiest in the world. It owes its growth and prosperity to its focal position at the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula, where it dominates the Strait of Malacca, which connects the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea. Once a British colony and now a member of the Commonwealth, Singapore first joined the Federation of Malaysia on its formation in 1963 but seceded to become an independent state on August 9, 1965.
Singapore program
The Lutheran Church in Singapore (LCS) was constituted in 1997 following the separation from the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore (LCMS). The Lutheran Church in Singapore shares its early history with the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore (LCMS). In 1960, the American Lutheran mission in Malaya built a church at Duke’s Road in Bukit Timah together with two other small Lutheran congregations from the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Huria Kristen Batak Protestant in Singapore. Worship services in English, Chinese, Tamil and Batak were held in the church. In 1963, a second congregation was established in Queenstown and the mission was able to obtain one of the six religious sites allocated in Queenstown through the help of a member of the Batak congregation. As one of the three constituent districts of the LCMS, the congregations in Singapore were grouped as the Singapore District. In 1997, the Lutheran Church in Singapore was constituted as a separate national body for Lutheran churches in Singapore with the Rev. John Tan Yok Han elected as the first Bishop of the church (1997-2009). The current Bishop of the LCS from 2009 to the present is Rev. Terry Kee Buck Hwa.
The LCS is a mission focused church with established mission areas in China, Mongolia, Thailand and Cambodia, together with a major mission through the International Seafarers Mission in the ports of Singapore.
The partnership (relationship) of the LCA together with the LCS is considered a graduated partnership, where both churches join together in mission and ministry. In the past the LCA has supported the LCS in various ways with particular support for its ministry through the Thai Good News Centre (based in Singapore), the International Seafarers’ Mission, the mission / teaching in China and scholarships offered to various LCS pastors and special ministry pastor, and short-term visit of LCS pastors to Australian Lutheran College.
The LCA has supported the project of the LCS to illustrate and translate the LCA publication ’Growing as God’s People’ into Chinese.
Ministries and Programs you can support
- Chak Mun – Field Coordinator in Cambodia
You may donate to this specific Singapore ministry, or give a gift to be applied wherever it is most needed, from our online donation page (or visit our donation information page for other options).
Stories to inspire you
View all the Singapore stories on this website.
