Christians in Singapore constitute 19% of the country's resident population, as of the most recent census conducted in 2020.[3]Christianity is the second largest religion in the country, after Buddhism and before Islam. In 2020, about 37.1% of the country's Christians identified as Catholic with 62.9% labeled as 'Other Christians', most of which identify as Protestant, with some identifying as Orthodox or other minority Christian denominations.[4]
Christianity was first introduced to Singapore by Anglicans, who were among the first British settlers to arrive shortly after the founding of a British colony by Stamford Raffles. The proportion of Christians among Singaporeans has increased in the last few decades: 9.9% in 1980; 12.7% in 1990; 14.6% in 2000 and 18.9% in 2020.[5][6] Christianity has flourished in present-day Singapore, and a growing number of Singaporeans are converting to the faith or were born into Christian families.[7][8][9]
The majority of Christian churches are under the umbrella of the National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS).[10] Most belong to Protestant traditions which consist of an array of denominations. Another major umbrella group is the Alliance of Pentecostal & Charismatic Churches Singapore (APCCS), a network of local churches, Christian organisations and pastors from largely independent charismatic churches and the Assemblies of God denomination.[11]
The Roman Catholic population in Singapore generally consists of Chinese (including Peranakans) and Indians, along with a few smaller minority groups such as Eurasians (including Kristang), white Europeans and Filipinos. The Chinese, the majority ethnicity in Singapore, also account for the majority of Catholics. There are 29 Roman Catholic parishes and 3 devotional churches in Singapore, each administering to a particular district in Singapore.[13] Plans for a 33rd church at Tengah Gardens are in the works, after a successful bidding for land from the Housing Development Board.[14]
Singapore has a Roman Catholic Archdiocese headed by Archbishop William Cardinal Goh who presides at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. The Holy Mass in Singapore is celebrated in numerous vernacular tongues, including English, Chinese language (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, etc.), Malayalam, Korean, German, Indonesian, Tamil and Tagalog (at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd). The Traditional Latin Mass is also celebrated every Sunday at 2pm at St. Joseph's Church (Victoria Street).
Peranakan Roman Catholics are generally concentrated in the Church of the Holy Family in Katong; whilst St. Joseph's Church along Victoria street is a cultural base for Portuguese Eurasians. Roman Catholic parishes in the 18th to early 19th centuries were initially set up along racial and cultural lines by various Roman Catholic missionary groups from Europe.
Various Roman Catholic parishes in Singapore are actively involved in social services such as welfare homes, the opening of soup kitchens as well as missionary trips to places like Indonesia and the Philippines. There is also the Catholic Medical Guild, and other Catholic lobby groups that are based in the Church of St Peter & Paul parish grounds.
Neighbourhood Christian Communities (NCC) take an active role in organising and gathering Catholics in the community, especially within their neighbourhoods, so that they may support one another spiritually and grow in Christ.[15]
A Syro-Malabar Catholic community in Singapore has been set up to cater to the growing Malayali diaspora. The Qurbana is celebrated at the Church of the Transfiguration in Punggol.
Kampong Kapor Methodist Church was founded in 1894. It initially functioned as a church on 155 Middle Road. In 1930, the church moved to its present location on 1 Kampong Kapor Road.
The Methodist Church in Singapore is the largest mainline Protestant denomination in the country, with some 42,000 members in 46 churches.
Pentecostalism has exerted a larger influence with the start of the charismatic movement in the 1970s. There are other organisations such as, Fei Yue Family Centres, Teen Challenge various community hospitals, and Beulah.[16]
The City Harvest Church Criminal Breach of Trust Case had involved the misappropriation of approximately S$50.6 million in church funds by church founder Kong Hee and five other key leaders in the church. It is the largest case of its kind in the history of Singapore, with Kong Hee and the other leaders ultimately found guilty and served prison sentences.
Oriental Orthodoxy
Singapore Life Church was founded in 1883. It underwent a third rebuilding in 2010. Its façade comprises three sections of perforated panels which are “sewn” together by external staircases which culminate in a large Cross.
Oriental Orthodox churches in Singapore include the old Armenian Church which has a church building and newly appointed resident clergy. By the Pontifical Order of Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, Zaven Yazichyan, a member of the Brotherhood of Holy Etchmiadzin; has been appointed to serve as the spiritual pastor of Singapore, the Coptic Orthodox Church which meets in the Armenian Church, and the Syriac Orthodox Church; the latter two churches generally minister to the Coptic and Indian communities respectively.
There is also a large Malankara Orthodox presence in Singapore administering to the Keralite Diaspora, with services as St. Thomas Orthodox Syrian Cathedral.
Singapore is a society of diverse religious traditions. The Declaration of Religious Harmony, which was published in 2003, is a seminal document, which the National Council of Churches of Singapore supported and helped create. On 3 September 2008, the sociologist and Pentecostal pastor, Mathew Mathews, who was named a visiting fellow of the Sociology department at the National University of Singapore, interviewed 183 Singaporean clergy. From these interviews he formed the opinion that the Christian clergy in many parts of Singapore were wary of inter-faith dialogue. He claimed that nearly 50% of clergy believe that inter-faith dialogue compromises their own religious convictions. He presented his paper to the Institute of Public Studies (Singapore) in a forum they organised on 2 September 2008.[26]
↑ Singapore Census of Population 2015: Statistical Release 1: Demographic Characteristics, Education, Language and Religion. Singapore: Department of Statistics, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore. January 2011. Table 59 ("Resident Population Aged 15 Years and Over by Religion, Ethnic Group and Sex"). ISBN978-981-08-7808-5.
↑ Sng, Bobby E.K. (2003). In His Good Time: The Story of the Church in Singapore 1819–2002 (3rded.). Singapore: Bible Society of Singapore. p.337. ISBN981-220-286-2.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is the one of the three major doctrinal and jurisdictional groups of Christianity, with approximately 230 million baptised members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via local synods. The church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the pope of the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognised by them as primus inter pares, a title formerly given to the patriarch of Rome. As one of the oldest surviving religious institutions in the world, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played an especially prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Currently, the Eastern Orthodox Church is in the midst of a major ongoing schism between Constantinople and Moscow, with the two not in full communion with each other.
The charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity, with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of spiritual gifts (charismata). It has affected most denominations in the United States, and has spread widely across the world.
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox jurisdiction based in Bulgaria. It is the first medieval recognised patriarchate outside the Pentarchy and the oldest Slavic Orthodox church, with some 6 million members in Bulgaria and between 1.5 and 2 million members in a number of other European countries, Asia, the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand. It was recognized as autocephalous in 1945 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The Catholic Church in Singapore is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. In 2016, the Catholic Foundation of Singapore reported the Catholic population in Singapore to be over 373,000.
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 and head of the Church is Bishop Philip Lim, who was elected at the 13th Session of the General Conference on 6 December 2024
Church of the Holy Trinity is a Roman Catholic church in Singapore. Its current address is 20 Tampines Street 11, Tampines New Town, Singapore 529455. It currently has an approximate population of 13,720, the largest parish in Singapore.
Catholic Christianity is the predominant religion in Malta. The Constitution of Malta establishes Catholicism as the state religion, and it is also reflected in various elements of Maltese culture.
Religion in England is characterised by a variety of beliefs and practices that has historically been dominated by Christianity. Christianity remains the largest religion, though it makes up less than half of the population. As of the 2021 census, there is an increasing variety of beliefs, with irreligious people outnumbering each of the other religions. The Church of England is the nation's established state church, whose supreme governor is the monarch. Other Christian traditions in England include Roman Catholicism, Methodism, Presbyterianism, Mormonism, and the Baptists. After Christianity, the religions with the most adherents are Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism, Buddhism, modern paganism, and the Bahá'í Faith. There are also organisations promoting irreligion, including humanism and atheism. According to the 2021 census, Shamanism is the fastest growing religion in England.
It was believed by some scholars that Christianity was first introduced to Thailand by European missionaries. By 2021, there were nearly 1 million Christians in Thailand and represented 1.4% of the predominantly Buddhist national population. Christians are numerically and organizationally concentrated in northern Thailand, where they make up an estimated 16% of the population in some lowland districts and up to very high percentages in tribal districts.
Christianity in Russia is the most widely professed religion in the country. The largest tradition is the Russian Orthodox Church. According to official sources, there are 170 eparchies of the Russian Orthodox Church, 145 of which are grouped in metropolitanates. There are from 500,000 to one million Old Believers, who represent an older form of Russian Orthodox Christianity, and who separated from the Orthodox Church in the 17th century as a protest against Patriarch Nikon's church reforms.
Christians have made many contributions in a broad and diverse range of fields, including the sciences, arts, politics, literatures, sports and business.
Christianity has been in Hong Kong since 1841 when British Empire started to rule Hong Kong.
The Metropolis of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia is a metropolis or archeparchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is equivalent to an archdiocese in the Catholic Church. It is centred on the city of Hong Kong and has jurisdiction over Eastern Orthodox Christians in Hong Kong, Macao, China, Taiwan, Mongolia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. Furthermore, it was established in November 1996 by the Holy Great Synod of Constantinople. The incumbent metropolitan is Nektarios Tsilis.
The Canossians are a family of two Catholic religious institutes and three affiliated lay associations that trace their origin to Magdalen of Canossa, a religious sister canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
Christianity is the religion with the largest following in Ghana. Christian Life Of Christ, Catholics, Methodists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Seventh-Day Adventists, Pentecostals, Baptists, Evangelical Charismatics, Latter-day Saints, etc.
The Saint Thomas Christian denominations are Christian denominations from Kerala, India, which traditionally trace their ultimate origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. They are also known as "Nasranis" as well. The Syriac term "Nasrani" is still used by St. Thomas Christians in Kerala. It is part of the Eastern Christianity institution.
The Catholic Church in Singapore has been extensively involved in the provision of education in Singapore. From the 19th century, the Catholic education system has grown to be the second biggest sector after government schools in Singapore, with more than 65 000 students. The Catholic Church has established kindergarten, primary, secondary and junior colleges educational institutions in Singapore.
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as interpreted in the Bible. It is the largest religion in the world, with 2.4 billion people, known as Christians, that adhere to the religion.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
