A handful of people gathered at the Battery Road branch of Shenton Medical Group (SMG) for their weekly Bible study conducted by Dr Paul Choo. Most of them were working in the Central Business District and had come after work. This was back in 1984. The group grew slowly as space was limited but there was a strong desire to learn God's Word which illuminated their hearts. The Lord was gracious and the group not only studied the Bible together, but also began to worship together.
So, a church, a gathering of believers to worship God had come about as early as November 1987. Dr Paul Choo became her part-time pastor. There was also a need to follow the laws of the country which required the church to be registered. The core group then was slightly more than enough to set up a protem committee and they applied to the Registrar of Societies for approval to establish the Gospel Light Christian Church (GLCC) which would be a Bible-believing, non-denominational church. Approval was given and GLCC was officially registered on 9 September 1988. "Gospel Light" signifies the spread of the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Christian Church" emphasizes that it is a church comprising born-again Christians. There were and are establishments which call themselves churches but are not Christian at all.
In its early years, GLCC held its Sunday worship in function rooms at the Hilton Hotel. Orchard Road The church had 17 registered members who invited friends and relatives to the worship service. Constrained by space, the worship service generally had about 50 worshippers. Pastor Paul Choo and his wife Nancy had already been outreaching to Filipinos at the Botanic Gardens. So a ministry to Filipinos became a major activity. Bible studies for the Filipino brethren were also held in the early afternoons at Hilton Hotel. God's provision has always been very timely and often comes in a surprising way.
In 1989, the owner of a penthouse in Tong Building, Orchard Road, permitted GLCC the use of the penthouse on Sundays. The location was ideal for our Filipino outreach, being just next to Lucky Plaza where many Filipinos gathered on Sundays. The space was much larger than Hilton Hotel and was available for use the whole of Sunday. The congregation grew. A separate service for Filipinos was introduced and response was overwhelming - as many as 200 Filipinos and the Singaporean helpers filled the penthouse to the brim.
When the penthouse was no longer available, GLCC temporarily moved its Sunday worship to SMG's International Plaza premises at Tanjong Pagar. This was a low period in the church's history as it actually downsized because of the unsuitable premises. It also highlighted the need for the church to have its own premises.
Later, Sunday worship was quickly relocated to the Regional English Language Centre (RELC) at Orange Grove Road which was used for 7 years from 1990 to 1997. In August 1993, GLCC's original constitution was amended. The new constitution enshrined the GLCC's doctrinal position as a fundamental Bible-believing church. GLCC used two classrooms in RELC - one for the worship service and the other for the children's Sunday School.
The premises were however available only for a morning worship service. Although registered membership was slightly more than 50 by then, attendance at the worship service was as high as 150 at full attendance. As RELC was somewhat off the main Orchard Road belt, the number of our Filipino brethren dwindled as some left Singapore at the end of their work contract while not enough new comers stayed on. Even then, God did preserve a faithful core of Filipinos who, together with Singaporean brethren, continued to reach out to Filipinos at Orchard Road and the Botanic Gardens. The Lord had kept a watchful eye over us, for again He provided for us in a time of need.
In 1990, a brother from a like-minded church offered his house at Jalan Lada Puteh for GLCC's outreach to Filipinos. This house was just behind the Lucky Plaza. Each Sunday, he and his family would leave the house by mid-morning and would stay away (he was in church) till late afternoon. His house became the venue for our Filipino worship service, Bible studies and fellowship over the next 5 years. Our Orchard Road outreach, begun since Hilton Hotel times, reached a new peak with as many as 100 Filipinos filling the small house from its sitting room to its dining room and spilling into the little front garden.
By this time, God had provided us with a piece of land at 360 Dunearn Road, which GLCC bought in 1993. Construction of the church building began only in 1996 after completion of major road, flyover and tunnel construction works at the Adam Road/Dunean Road junction just outside the church land. The intervening period was used to build up the Church Building Fund to which many brethren gave donations and interest-free loans. Partly in anticipation of the church's eventual move to Duneam Road and partly in search of larger premises, our Sunday morning worship service was relocated to the former Novotel Orchid Inn, Dunearn Road in 1997.
Attendance at worship services and registered membership remained relatively unchanged. All this while, the GLCC had been a nomadic church. Church property such as hymnals, Bibles, tracts, an organ and even the sound system were carried and stored in brethren's cars. We could set up and pack up very quickly. Where work needed to be done, everyone did his part without being asked and this ensured clockwork and precision arrangements.
1998 saw the completion of the GLCC building. The church moved into the building in April 1998. Soon after, the Filipino worship and fellowship were also transferred from Jalan Lada Puteh. By then registered membership had grown to almost 100. The initial congregation of fewer than 200 worshippers found the building very luxuriously spacious after all the cramming into limited space in the past years. However, God be praised. Such luxury was not meant to be and was short lived.
Our Almighty God blessed the church with the addition of many new brethren. Sunday morning worship had soon to be increased from one service to two services in May 2001 and then to three in June 2002. We did not have the time to grow soft and lose the dynamism built up as a nomadic church.
By God's grace and the Holy Spirit's leading, GLCC ministries expanded. Having adopted its Five Pillars, GLCC aims to be a continued blessing to many, including those in neighboring countries through the precious Gospel. When GLCC entered its twentieth year in 2007, (counting from November 1987), its registered membership has doubled compared to the year 1998. while the total number of worshippers on Sundays, including Sunday School children, is over a thousand.
May our God continue to bless GLCC!
