Our Beliefs and History

In abbreviated form, the chief tenets of the doctrine of the Church, apart from the Apostles’ Creed, are as follows:

• We believe in the divine, verbal and plenary inspiration of the Scriptures in the original languages, their consequent inerrancy and infallibility, and, as the Word of God, the supreme and final authority in faith and life.
• We believe in one God existing in three co-equal and co-eternal Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• We believe that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and is true God and true man.
• We believe that man was created in the image of God, but sinned through the fall of Adam, thereby incurring not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature and become sinners in thought, word and deed.
• We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died a propitiation and expiatory death as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who repent of their sins and believe in Him are justified before God on the grounds of His shed blood.
• We believe in the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His ascension into Heaven, and in His exaltation at the right hand of God, where He intercedes for us as our High Priest and Advocate.
• We believe in the personal, visible and premillennial return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to judge the world and bring peace to the nations.
• We believe that salvation is by grace through faith, not by works, and that all who repent and receive the Lord Jesus as their personal Saviour are born again by the Holy Spirit and thereby become the children of God.
• We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and to convict and regenerate the sinner; indwell, guide, instruct and empower the believer for godly living and service.
• We believe that Christ instituted the Sacrament of Baptism for believers and their children, and the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, which sacraments shall be observed by His Church till He comes.
• We believe in the eternal security, bodily resurrection and eternal blessedness of the saved and in the bodily resurrection and eternal conscious punishment of the lost.
• We believe in the real, spiritual unity in Christ of all redeemed by His precious blood and the necessity of faithfully maintaining the purity of the Church in doctrine and life according to the Word of God and the principle and practice of biblical separation from the apostasy of the day being spearheaded by the Ecumenical Movement (2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Revelation 18:4).

The objects for which the Church is established are:

• the salvation of souls;
• the edification of Christians through the teaching of God’s Word;
• the promotion of godly worship;
• the defence of the “faith which was once delivered unto the saints”;
• the establishment and extension of Christian missions and institutions for the furtherance of God’s Kingdom on earth;
• the promotion of Christian relief for the poor and needy;
• the strengthening of mutual fellowship, encouragement and unity among other fundamental and Bible-believing churches of similar stand “for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Revelation 1:9).

Through the better part 1990, Grace Session agonized over the slow progress of the work. The Session was undecided on the future of the church. Should Gethsemane press on or should the group break up and be assimilated into the main stream? Much discussion, tears and prayer ensued and again with graciousness, the Lord intervened. He moved Grace Session to implement the recommendations made in a paper to re-vitalize the work. The paper prepared on August 25, 1990 ended with a threefold vision—a vision that Gethsemane would:

• evolve into a distinct group with her own identity, culture, outlook, emphasis and programme;
• step out in faith into a new location;
• become an autonomous Bible-Presbyterian church.

As always, the Lord was gracious, granting fruition of this vision exactly five years later. Very shortly thereafter, the Lord again showed His graciousness when He moved Rev. Timothy Tow to offer Bro. Prabhudas Koshy, at that time a final year BTh student with FEBC to serve in Gethsemane. Bro. Das came over to serve in December 1990. He went on to complete his BTh, followed by his MDiv. He was ordained a minister and pastor of Gethsemane in September 1994. While serving in Gethsemane, the Lord blessed him with a wife, Sis. Carolyn, and 2 sons, Cornelius and Andronicus, and a daughter, Dorcas.

The work consolidated through 1991. In the last quarter of the year, Gethsemaneans felt it was time to move out to a new community to serve the Lord more effectively. The brethren prayed in earnest over the matter. One particular afternoon, we came across an advertisement notifying the availability of a bungalow in Harvey Avenue, near Simei HDB estate. After our weekly prayer meeting that Wednesday evening, several brethren went to the site and peered across the fence of an old single-storey bungalow within a large garden. The building looked dilapidated with long grass and unkempt bushes in the garden. The previous occupant had not taken care of the building and garden very well. However, everyone who was there saw beyond the physical condition of the building. They could see the potential of the bungalow; envisioning a place where children could play in the large garden, and adults could meet in the large hall. They saw the many terrace and semi-detached houses, and the tall HDB apartments of Simei, a stone's throw away, as their ready harvest field.

Grace Session members came later to view the place and gave its mandate to make contact with the owner to express our interest. Praise God the discussions progressed smoothly and we were able to secure the place on reasonable terms. Rev. Tow came over on a Saturday morning to dedicate the new place for the Lord's use. We will recall with joy the labour of love and commitment as brethren pulled the tall grass with bare hands, cleared the rubbish and repainted the walls to transform the dilapidated building to a place fit for worship. The ministry began in the new location on the first Sunday of December 1991. A Daily Vacation Bible School (DVBS) held almost immediately drew some children, from which a children's ministry meeting on Saturday afternoons was started. From the evangelism effort among the HDB homes in Simei we made contact with some families, who decided to pay us a visit and chose to be with us to this day.

Our stay in Harvey Avenue holds fond memories for many of us. We would have liked to continue with the work there much longer. However the Lord had other plans. After exactly one year, the owner gave notice that he wanted to tear down the old building. We had to move by end-January 1993. We had no choice but to look around again. As the days got nearer to the deadline to move, anxiety set in for some of us. Once again, the Lord was merciful. In the eleventh hour, we came across the availability of a bungalow in Opera Estate. The cost associated with running the ministry was expected to be very much higher than that in Harvey Avenue. The brethren, however, felt that they could trust the Lord to provide for their needs. With much faith and the full support of Grace Session, the brethren moved forward. The ministry entered another chapter of her history with the move to Opera Estate in February 1993.

1993 was a year that saw Gethsemane growing in small numbers but larger in faith. Towards the end of the year, she indicated to the Session of mother church that she was likely to be financially independent in the following year. Grace Session gave her blessings. Gethsemaneans were thus committed to the Lord as a financially autonomous ministry during Grace Church's ACM in February 1994.

The brethren felt that they needed to exercise greater faith—that of seeking registration with the Registry of Societies as an independent church. The brethren thus overtured the pastor and session of Shalom B-P Church to allow Gethsemane to worship as an evening service in her premises in Loyang Besar Close, to facilitate the application for registration. Praise God for the spontaneous support from Shalom. On August 28, 1994, Gethsemane started yet another new phase in her ministry when she held her first worship service in the evening in Shalom Church. The congregation sang with unbridled gusto to the Lord in the beautiful sanctuary of a church once again.

Work on redrafting the Church Constitution, based on Olivet B-P Church's Constitution took several months. It was thus with some relief and joy that we handed in the neatly typed document, a product of many hours of thoughts, discussion and prayer, together with the relevant application forms on December 6, 1994 to the Registry of Societies. Within 2 weeks, the ROS with characteristics efficiency, sent us a four-page letter listing 30-odd difficult questions and suggested changes to our proposed Constitution. With God's grace, we answered each question truthfully yet firm on our Biblical stand. No further questions followed. In the meantime, we reorganised the Constitution, while retaining the essential parts almost in its entirety.