In 1953, shortly after China closed its doors to contacts with the international mission movement, missionaries were sent to northern Malaysia by the United Lutheran Church in America, one of the ELCA's predecessor churches, to begin Lutheran mission work among the ethnic Chinese community in Malaysia. At that time present-day Malaysia and Singapore were linked in one political unit. Gradually the pioneer mission efforts moved toward the south, first to metropolitan Kuala Lumpur, and soon after that to Singapore.Redeemer Lutheran Church was built in 1960 and became the leading congregation of the Singapore district of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore. Redeemer became a center for worship, service, and fellowship, with an outreach in the housing projects which the Singapore government was erecting to accommodate the multitude of new immigrants as well as thousands of young people streaming into the cities from rural areas. One outreach effort is family counseling, since families in Singapore often face conflicting value systems -- the expectations of traditional culture represented by older generations, and the fast-paced modern life with its high expectations of material success represented by younger generations.
Mission efforts led to the formation of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore (LCMS) in 1963, with two districts within Malaysia and one district encompassing the island of Singapore. By 1978, all established congregations attained financial self-support, and together assumed support for the administrative budget of the LCMS central office.
The LCMS developed ministries and built facilities which are a model for urban industrial evangelism. Congregations in Queenstown, Jurong and Bedok New Town have flourished as they responded to the needs and lifestyle of people in large industrial housing complexes. Since land space is very limited and extremely expensive, congregations often locate their worship facilities within high-rise apartment buildings.
For many years, by mutual agreement, the congregations and districts of Malaysia worked to organize a separate church for Malaysia alone, and their counterparts in Singapore have also been committed to setting up a separate Lutheran church to serve and witness within Singapore. This reflects the fact that Malaysia and Singapore have been separate countries politically since 1965, and their activities have also been independent of each other. The LCMS divided into the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore (in Malaysia -- current legal name is maintained for the time being) and the Lutheran Church in Singapore (LCS) on January 1, 1998.
The LCS has about 3,250 members in seven congregations. At the seminary students are required to participate fully in the life and work of the school. They have special instruction in systematic theology to prepare them specifically for the Lutheran ministry. Ecumenical relations are with the National Council of Churches in Singapore.
A new development within the church is its growing mission program. In addition to local outreach, the church has sent a Singaporean pastor to serve as a missionary with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Thailand. In turn, a pastor has come from Thailand to serve among the Thai laborers in Singapore. There is also a working agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea in which the LCS receives a missionary to head the maritime ministry in Singapore.
A Companion Synod relationship exists between the Lutheran Church in Singapore the ELCA Southeastern Synod
This page was produced by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Global Mission (DGM). This page is for information only and is not intended to be an official representation of Singapore or the church.
