The Lutheran Church in Singapore (LCS) is a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

denomination in

Singapore 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, borde ...

. Constituted in 1997, it currently has approximately 2,834 members in 7 congregations nationwide. The current

bishop 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 ...

of the LCS is the Rt. Rev. Lu Guan Hoe.

History

Early history

The Lutheran Church in Singapore shares its early history with the

Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore The Lutheran Church in Malaysia or LCM ( ms, Gereja Lutheran di Malaysia) is one of four Lutheran bodies in Malaysia. It currently has 52 congregations nationwide with a total of 6,736 baptised members and is the largest entirely Lutheran body ...

(LCMS). In 1960, the American Lutheran mission in Malaya built a church at Duke's Road in

Bukit Timah Bukit Timah, often abbreviated as Bt Timah, is a planning area and residential estate located in the westernmost part of the Central Region of Singapore. Bukit Timah lies roughly from the Central Business District, bordering the Central Wa ...

together with two other small Lutheran congregations from the

Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church The Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church is a Christian denomination in south India, which was established in 1919 and has approximately 200,000 members. Its headquarters is in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. It is one of the prominent mainline Lutheran chu ...

and the

Huria Kristen Batak Protestant The Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (''HKBP''), which translates in English as ''Batak Christian Protestant Church'', is a Lutheran church that is oriented towards Protestant among the Batak people, generally the Toba Batak in Indonesia. With a ...

in Singapore. Worship services in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

and

Batak Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, ...

were held in the church. With the onset of the

Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation or Borneo confrontation (also known by its Indonesian / Malay name, ''Konfrontasi'') was an armed conflict from 1963 to 1966 that stemmed from Indonesia's opposition to the creation of the Federation of ...

, many of the Batak members returned to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

in 1963 and the remaining Batak parishioners decided to worship at the Methodist Church in Short Street.Warren, Lau: "A Heavenly Vision - The Story of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore, 1952 - 1991". 1993, 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. The congregations in Singapore were grouped as the Singapore District, one of the three constituent districts of the LCMS.

Towards autonomy

By 1973, the then President of the LCMS, Dr. Carl Fisher raised the question of whether the Lutheran churches in Singapore would operate as a national church separate from the LCMS. The matter was not pursued further until 1984, when the matter was brought up again during a meeting with the Singapore District Council of the LCMS. Even then, this matter was again not pursued further. In February 1990, the issue of an independent Lutheran Church in Singapore was again brought into discussion by the Executive Council of the LCMS. This time the issue was given more serious thought, particularly since it was noted that the clergy representing the Singapore District in the LCMS' Executive Council were both not Singaporean citizens. One of the results of this discussion was the establishment of a Restructuring Committee to study the restructuring of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore. Each district of the LCMS was also to form its own ''ad hoc'' committee to study the matter. A meeting was convened on the 1st and 2 April 1991 as the LCMS Restructuring Consultation in

Port Dickson Port Dickson (Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Podeksen'', Jawi: ) is a beach resort in Port Dickson District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. It is the second largest urban area in Negeri Sembilan after Seremban, its state capital. The town's adminis ...

, Malaysia to present the combined studies and recommendations. It was agreed in principle that the Singapore District would function as a fully autonomous Singaporean Lutheran Church, working side by side with her Malaysian counterpart. A ten-year time frame was adopted in which the Lutheran Church in Singapore and the Lutheran Church in Malaysia would initially be re-organised as two

synods A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word mea ...

within one Church organisation and move towards independence as two national churches by 2001.

Establishment of a national church

Despite the ten year time frame, the process was accelerated and in 1997, the Lutheran Church in Singapore was constituted as a separate national body for Lutheran churches in Singapore with the Rt. Rev. John Tan Yok Han elected as the first Bishop of the church.

Structure and organisation

The Lutheran Church in Singapore' structure evolved from being the Southern District of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore to a national body. The highest decision-making body is the Annual Meeting consisting of elected lay and ordained voting members from each congregation that meets annually and headed by a

. When the Annual Meeting is in recess, authority is delegated to the executive council. The Ministerium, consisting of the ordained pastors of the church, attends to matters of doctrine, nurture and spiritual care. On the local congregation level, local church councils run the various LCS congregations. All properties of the local congregations are owned by the LCS.

Bishops of the LCS

*1997-2009 :Rev. John Tan Yok Han *2009–2021 :Rev.

Terry Kee Buck Hwa Terry Kee Buck Hwa is a former Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Singapore and a Vice-President of the National Council of Churches of Singapore. He also served as president of the National Council of Churches of Singapore from 2012 to 2014. Educat ...

*2021-2022 :Rev. Lu Guan Hoe

Congregations

At present, there are 6 congregations in Singapore: * Bedok Lutheran Church,

Bedok Bedok () is a planning area and matured residential town located in the geographical region of Tanah Merah along the south-eastern coast of the East Region of Singapore. Bedok is bounded by five other planning areas: Paya Lebar to the north, ...

* Jurong Christian Church,

Jurong Jurong () is a major geographical region located at the south-westernmost point of the West Region of Singapore. Although mostly vaguely defined, the region's extent roughly covers the planning areas of Jurong East, Jurong West, Boon Lay, and ...

* Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer,

* Queenstown Lutheran Church, Queenstown * Yishun Christian Church,

Yishun Yishun, formerly known as Nee Soon, is a residential town located in the northeastern corner of the North Region of Singapore, bordering Simpang and Sembawang to the north, Mandai to the west, the Central Water Catchment to its southwest, An ...

* Thai Good News Centre, Beach Road

Affiliations

The LCS participates actively in

ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

relationships through: *

National Council of Churches of Singapore The National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS) is an ecumenical fellowship of Churches and Christian organisations in Singapore. This duty was initially carried out by the Malayan Christian Council which was then succeeded by the Council of ...

Christian Conference of Asia The Christian Conference of Asia is a regional ecumenical organisation representing 15 National Councils and over 100 denominations (churches) in New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, East Timor, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos ...

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

* Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Malaysia & Singapore **

Basel Christian Church of Malaysia The Basel Christian Church of Malaysia or BCCM ( ms, Gereja Kristian Basel Malaysia), formerly known as Borneo Basel Self Established Church, is one of the four Lutheran bodies in Malaysia. It currently has 112 congregations nationwide and 63,0 ...

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia or ELCM is one of the four Lutheran bodies in Malaysia. It currently has 21 congregations nationwide with a total of 3,650 members.Lutheran Church in Malaysia ** Protestant Church in Sabah *

Lutheran World Federation The Lutheran World Federation (LWF; german: Lutherischer Weltbund) is a global communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish ...

** Asia Lutheran Communion The LCS also works in partnership with:Lutheran Church in Singapore
Partner Churches
/ref> *

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxim ...

, Southeastern Synod *

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (german: Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern) is a Lutheran member church of the Evangelical Church in Germany in the German state of Bavaria. The seat of the church is in Munich. The ''Landesbischof' ...

Lutheran Church of Australia The Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) is the major Lutheran denomination in Australia and New Zealand. It counts 540 congregations and 30,026 members according to official statistics. It was created from a merger of the Evangelical Lutheran Chu ...

Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (''FELM'', formerly ''The Finnish Missionary Society''; fi, Suomen Lähetysseura ry; sv, Finska Missionssällskapet rf) is a Lutheran missionary society formed on January 19, 1859, in Helsinki, Finland. ...

References

External links

Lutheran Church in Singapore
{{Lutheran World Federation Churches Protestantism in Singapore Christian organizations established in 1997