John Chew Hiang Chea (; born 4 October 1947) was the third

Metropolitan Archbishop Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

and Primate of the Province of Anglican Church in South East Asia as well as

Bishop of Singapore A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. He retired as the 8th Bishop of Singapore on 4 October 2012. He was succeeded by

Rennis Ponniah Rennis Ponniah (); is a Singaporean Anglican retired Bishop. He was the 9th Bishop of Singapore. He succeeded Bishop John Chew on his retirement on 4 October 2012. He was also the president of the National Council of Churches of Singapore from 201 ...

Early life and education

Chew was the fifth child out of six children in his family. His mother worked at the

Singapore Anti-Tuberculosis Association Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borderin ...

and his father worked in the family business. Chew studied at

Catholic High School Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

and Anglican High School. He then majored in government and public administration at

Nanyang University Nanyang University (, also known as Nantah (), was a university in Singapore between 1956 and 1980. During its existence, it was Singapore's only private university in the Chinese language. In 1980, Nanyang University was merged with the Univer ...

and received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(BA) in 1969, honours in 1970 and Masters in 1976. He obtained his

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology ...

(BD) with honours from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1976. In 1982, Chew obtained his

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

(PhD) in

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

Studies from the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

Career

After graduation from Nanyang University, Chew worked as an assistant director in the Defence Ministry in 1971. He then worked for three years as an administrative assistant at the Ministry of Science and Technology. After his studies at the University of Sheffield, Chew returned to Singapore and worked at the Trinity Theological College as a lecturer in 1981 and became its principal in 1991. He remained as principal until 1999 where he resigned to become the Bishop of Singapore. In 2006, he served as the chairman on the Board of Governors.

Priesthood

On 6 November 1976, Chew was ordained as

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

at St Andrew's Cathedral and on 8 October 1978, he was ordained as

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

. On 4 May 1986, he was collated as

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

. Chew was consecrated and enthroned as the 8th Bishop of Singapore by the Most Reverend Datuk Yong Ping Chung, the Archbishop of the Province of the Anglican Church in South East Asia and

Bishop of Sabah The Bishop of Sabah is an Anglican prelate who oversees the Diocese of Sabah in the Church of the Province of South East Asia. Following the death of Albert Vun Cheong Fui on 14 July 2014, Melter Tais was installed as the sixth bishop on 14 May 20 ...

, on 25 April 2000 at St Andrew's Cathedral. His consecration service was attended by

Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore The deputy prime minister of Singapore is the deputy head of government of the Republic of Singapore. The incumbent deputy prime ministers are Heng Swee Keat and Lawrence Wong, who took office on 1 May 2019 and 13 June 2022 respectively. Hist ...

Tony Tan Tony Tan Keng Yam (; born 7 February 1940) is a Singaporean former politician who served as the seventh president of Singapore between 2011 and 2017. He did not seek for a second term as president in 2017 due to a constitutional amendment. ...

, dignitaries, bishops from the various dioceses and religious leaders from both fellow Christian denominations and non-Christian religions as well. On 5 February 2006, Chew was installed as the 3rd Archbishop of the Province of the Anglican Church in South East Asia as Datuk Yong Ping Chung, the Bishop of the Anglican

Diocese of Sabah The Diocese of Sabah is an Anglican diocese which covers Sabah and Labuan in Malaysia. Founded in 1962, the see was originally part of the much larger Diocese of Labuan and its Dependencies which was established in 1855. Following the carving ou ...

has reached retirement age. Representatives of

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bish ...

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

(including

Jonathan Gledhill Jonathan Michael Gledhill (14 February 1949 – 1 November 2021) was an English Anglican clergyman. He was the Bishop of Southampton from 1996 to 2003, and the 98th Bishop of Lichfield from 2003 to 2015. Early life Gledhill was born on 14 Febr ...

Bishop of Lichfield The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers 4,516 km2 (1,744 sq. mi.) of the counties of Powys, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Mi ...

);

Nicholas Chia Nicholas Gerald Chia Yeck Joo () (born 8 April 1938) DD, STL was the third Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore and the first Singapore-born clergyman to hold the office. He officially retired as Archbishop of Singapore on 18 May 2013, and ...

, Roman Catholic

Archbishop of Singapore The Archdiocese of Singapore (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Singaporensis'') is an exempt archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church. Its territory includes all that is under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Singapore. Its current ...

; Robert M. Solomon, Bishop of the

Methodist Church in Singapore The Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS) is the church that Methodists in Singapore belong to. The Church has 46 churches island-wide with around 42,000 members, and is the largest mainline Protestant denomination in Singapore. Its current bishop a ...

; and

Ong Chit Chung Ong Chit Chung (; 28 January 1949 – 14 July 2008) was a Singaporean politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency (GRC) from May 1997 to October 2001 and Jurong GRC from March 2002 ti ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Jurong GRC The Jurong Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency located in the western area of Singapore. The GRC consists of a large section of Jurong, sections of Bukit Batok and areas near Upper Bukit Timah Roa ...

were present at the occasion. As Bishop of Singapore, Chew was against the setting up of casinos in

Integrated resorts An integrated resort (IR) is a major resort property that includes a hotel with a casino, together with convention facilities, entertainment shows, theme parks, luxury retail and fine dining. The term is largely Singaporean. Earlier IR lice ...

in Singapore. In 2012, Chew stepped down as Bishop of Singapore and Archbishop of Southeast Asia as he reached retirement age. On 12 February 2012, Chew handed over his office as the Archbishop of the Province of Anglican Church in Southeast Asia to the Bishop of the Diocese of Kuching, Datuk

Bolly Lapok Bolly anak Lapok PGBK, DPMS (born 10 August 1952) was the fourth Metropolitan Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church of the Province of South East Asia as well as the Bishop of Kuching. An ethnic Iban, Bolly was the first Primate of ...

. Lapok succeeded Chew as the fourth Provincial Archbishop at an Installation Service held in St Thomas’ Cathedral, Kuching. Chew continued to serve in the Diocese of Singapore as her Diocesan Bishop after that. On 9 September, Chew launched the special bilingual edition of the English Standard Version- Revised Chinese Union Version Pew Bible to be used during Worship Services in St Andrew's Cathedral to mark her 150th Consecration Anniversary of the Nave. On 28 September, a Thanksgiving Service was held in St Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore in honour of his faithful service to the Diocese of Singapore for the past 12 years. Bishops from the region, Church leaders in Singapore and many Anglican Church members attended the Service. Chew retired as the 8th Bishop of Singapore on 4 October 2012.

Presently serving as

*(Since 2000) President, Fellowship of Evangelical Students, Singapore *(Since 2000) President, National Council of Churches of Singapore *(Since 2005) Honorary President, Bible Society of Singapore *(Since 2003) Honorary Secretary/ Chairman, Anglican Global South Primates' Network *(2007 - 2011) Chairman, Council of Church of East Asia *(2007 - 2009) Member, Anglican Covenant Design Group *(2000 - 2012) Chairman, Board of Governors, Trinity Theological College, Singapore

Personal life

Chew married Swee Kin, a teacher in 1972, and they have a son.

References