Stories

January 1976 witnessed the birth of Grace Bible-Presbyterian Church (BPC) as an outreach arm of Life Bible-Presbyterian Church. We will always be grateful to the late Dr. Tow Siew Ai, who gifted her brother, the late Rev. Timothy Tow, what had once been a hotel—so that it could be transformed into the physical premises of Grace BPC for the Lord’s work. 

Located along the East Coast, we became the first Bible-Presbyterian Church to be planted in the eastern part of Singapore. Rev Tow first assigned the late Rev (Dr) Patrick Tan to head this outreach. Two years later, in 1978, Grace BPC’s Mandarin Service was initiated with the late Rev Lin Tah Mon as the first pastor of this work. 

Rev Tan Eng Boo, from Galilee BPC was seconded to Grace BPC in 1977, and after his ordination in 1981, took on the pastoral role from the late Rev Patrick Tan.Grace BPC grew quickly in the 1970s and 80s. The church’s physical premises could not contain the overflowing congregation. After seeking the Lord in prayer, we decided to start a new outreach work farther east. 

In 1981, we won the bid for land in Pasir Ris and Shalom BPC was planted in 1981.  Another church was birthed soon after. In 1988, we started an Evening Service, which later became Gethsemane BPC. The Lord led us to plant daughter churches, out of a heart for outreach to housing estates sprouting up in the East. This was our local or home missions. Members were sent out from Grace BPC to support and serve in our daughter churches. 

After Shalom BPC, we tendered for several church sites but were not successful. The Lord knows best.  We are thankful to have done what the Lord has called us to do, within our capacity. He knows how much we can do. Though our manpower and resources were limited, God has given us what we need to do His task. We cannot ask more.

As we celebrate our Golden Jubilee, we recall Leviticus 25 where God instituted the Jubilee Year (every 50 years) as a time of release, restoration, and renewal. It is a time to reset Israel according to the holiness of God. 

God led the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land. He reset them to be who and what Israel should be. Jubilee reminds us at Grace BPC that the great reset for us is in Christ. Jubilee calls us as a church to look forward with confidence to God’s power to transform us into what we ought to be—a people who bear His image in and to the world.

Please pray with us and for us—that through the year of our Golden Jubilee and in the years ahead, that God will teach Grace BPC to reset our reliance on Him, our relationships in Him, and our responsibilities to Him. 

Pray that we may be more fervent in worship, more genuine in our love for Him and one another, and more passionate in our witness and proclamation of Christ. 

God is our hope for these spiritual aspirations; only let us be faithful!