Presbyterian Church in Malaysia | |
---|---|
Classification | Protestant |
Orientation | Calvinist |
Polity | Presbyterian |
Moderator | Rev. Chua Hua Peng |
Associations | WARC, CWM, CCM, CFM, CCA, WCC |
Region | Malaysia |
Origin | 1974 |
Branched from | Presbyterian Church in Singapore and Malaysia |
Congregations | 100 |
Members | 7,000 |
Primary schools | 2 |
The Presbyterian Church in Malaysia or GPM (Malay : Gereja Presbyterian Malaysia) is a Christian church in Malaysia. Established as an independent synod in 1974, it currently has approximately 7,000 members in 100 congregations nationwide. [1]
The current Moderator of the GPM is the Rev. Chua Hua Peng.
The Presbyterian Church in Malaysia today is the result of the convergence of two parallel historical developments that shares common roots but diverged early in work and emphasis - the English-speaking Synod of the English Presbytery and the Chinese-speaking Singapore Presbyterian Synod. [2]
The earliest contact with the Presbyterianism was through the Dutch control of the Portuguese Malacca in 1641. The staunchly Reformed Protestant Dutch banned the practice of Roman Catholicism in Malacca and converted all existing churches in Malacca for Dutch Reformed use. The main church used was the old St. Paul's Church (renamed as the Bovenkerk by the Dutch) built by the Portuguese in 1521 as the Nosa Senhora (Portuguese : Our Lady of the Hill) chapel on the summit of St. Paul's Hill.
Construction of a new church started in 1741 to replace the ageing Bovenkerk and was completed in 1753. This church reflects distinctive Dutch Presbyterian traditions within its interior architecture [3] and continues to be used for Christian worship today.
When control of Malacca passed on to the British as a result of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, the church was re-consecrated according to the rites of the Church of England by the Anglican Bishop of Calcutta in 1838 and renamed Christ Church. [4]
Many early missionaries from the London Missionary Society (LMS) such as William Milne who arrived in Malacca in 1815 were from Presbyterian or Reformed backgrounds and many LMS missionaries assisted in the providing spiritual nurture to the Scots community in Penang and Singapore along with chaplains of the East India Company who conducted worship for Church of England members.
One of the early missionaries was Benjamin Keasberry of the LMS who arrived in Singapore in 1839 while en route to China. Seeing the potential of Malay language work, he opted to stay in Singapore engaging the noted teacher, Munshi Abdullah, to assist him in improving his Malay linguistic skills. [5] He started Malay language services in the LMS Chapel at Bras Basah and in 1843 acquired a piece of land in Kampong Bencoolen to build the Malay Mission Chapel. The chapel became popularly known as Gereja Keasberry or "Keasberry's Church" [6] This eventually became the Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church when the English Presbyterian Mission bought over the property from the LMS. [7]
With the departure of LMS missionaries to China after the Treaty of Nanking in 1847 with the notable exception of Keasberry, the local Scottish communities took steps to call their own ministers. This led to the arrival of Charles Moir in Penang in 1851 followed by Thomas McKenzie Fraser in Singapore in 1856. The Orchard Road Presbyterian Church in Singapore was established in 1856 to minister to the expatriates.
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Both Moir and Fraser attempted to extend work beyond the expatriate communities. Moir resigned in 1857 without much success although the congregation in Penang remains functioning, at times, for extended periods without a minister. Fraser successfully recruited an ethnic Chinese catechist from south Fujian, Tan See Boo, who was later ordained an elder in 1864. Unfortunately, Tan left on 1866 to join the Brethren. [8]
In 1881, the Orchard Road congregation finally succeeded in obtaining a full-time missionary to the Chinese. The Rev. J.A.B. Cook, who was fluent in the Swatow and Southern Fujian dialects arrived in Singapore in November 1881. [9] The English Presbyterian Mission under the supervision of the Cook organised the first Chinese congregation in Bukit Timah. It was the arrival of Cook that was eventually chosen to mark the founding of the present Presbyterian Churches of Malaysia and Singapore. [8]
In 1886, Cook expanded the mission to the southern tip of Malaya in Johor Bahru [9] to minister to the Teochew Chinese community. This work was supported by a prominent Johor businessman and the son-in-law of Keasberry, James Meldrum, who helped obtain a land grant for the church building from Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor who was a former student of Keasberry. [10] Work was expanded to Muar in 1892 with the Rev. Liau Thian Ek as the first pastor. [9]
Work in Penang continued abreast especially after the arrival of William Murray in 1892 who helped put Penang's congregation on a more solid footing. Pastoral responsibility of Penang's St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church eventually extended beyond Penang to Province Wellesley, Kedah, northern Perak, southern Thailand and North Sumatera. [8]
In 1884, Cook wrote that a presbytery had been formed with him as the moderator and three Chinese elders. In January 1901, Cook convened a meeting of ministers and elders of the Chinese mission and the Singapore Presbyterian Synod was formed. [11] [12]
In 1948, the denomination became part of the Chinese Christian Church, later renamed the Chinese Christian Church Singapore and Malaysia Synod; [9] in 1964, it was renamed the Church of Christ in China Malaysia Synod.
Christianity is a minority religion in Malaysia. In the 2020 census, 9.1% of the Malaysian population identified themselves as Christians. About two-thirds of Malaysia's Christian population lives in East Malaysia, in the states of Sabah and Sarawak. Adherents of Christianity represent a majority (50.1%) of the population in Sarawak, which is Malaysia's largest state by land area. Christianity is one of four major religions, including Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, that have a freedom protected by the law in Malaysia based on diversity law especially in East Malaysia.
The Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church is located on Prinsep Street within Singapore's central business district. It is approximately 350 metres from Rochor MRT station.
The Catholic Church in Malaysia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome. The apostolic nuncio to Malaysia is currently Archbishop Wojciech Załuski, who was appointed on 22 September 2020; The current resident ambassador of Malaysia to the Holy See is Hendy anak Assan.
Samuel Dyer was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China in the Congregationalist tradition who worked among the Chinese in Malaysia. He arrived in Penang in 1827. Dyer, his wife Maria, and their family lived in Malacca and then in Singapore. He was known as a typographer for creating a steel typeface of Chinese characters for printing to replace traditional wood blocks. Dyer's type was accurate, aesthetically pleasing, durable, and practical.
The Lutheran Church in Malaysia or LCM 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 in the country. Until 2012, the body was known as the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore.
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Christ Church, Malacca, is an 18th-century Dutch-built Anglican church in the city of Malacca City, Malaysia. It is the oldest functioning Protestant church in Malaysia and is within the jurisdiction of the Lower Central Archdeaconry of the Anglican Diocese of West 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.
The Presbyterian Church in Singapore is a Presbyterian Reformed church. The current moderator is the Rt Rev Dr Christopher Chia.
Gereja Jemaat Protestan di Indonesia is a Reformed church in the Province of Papua in Indonesia. It was created on 25 June 1984 by the Reformed Congregations in the Netherlands. It began pioneer mission work in the Yali territory. Historically this was known as Irian Jaya and was part of the Dutch East Indies. In Papua there are 250 different languages.
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The Sabah Methodist Church is a body within the Methodist tradition in Malaysia. With approximately 200,000 members in more than 1034 congregations, it is the largest Protestant denomination in the country. The current bishop of the Methodist Church in Malaysia is the Rev Dr Ong Hwai Teik.
Johann Georg Bausum, also known as John George Bausum, was a Christian Protestant missionary.
Bible translations into Malay include translations of the whole or parts of the Bible into any of the levels and varieties of the Malay language. Publication of early or partial translations began as early as the seventeenth century although there is evidence that the Jesuit missionary, Francis Xavier, translated religious texts that included Bible verses into Malay as early as the sixteenth century.
The Bible Society of Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei was a nondenominational Christian organisation committed to translating and distributing the Bible in Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei. It was the successor organisation to the Bible Society of Malaya, a branch of the National Bible Society of Scotland (NBSS). The Bible Society of Malaya prior to 1948 was a branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS).
Benjamin Peach Keasberry was a Protestant missionary, translator, publisher and educator. He established the Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church and a free Malay boarding school, and translated many works into Malay, including the New Testament, publishing them through his own printing press.
Tan See Boo was a Chinese missionary who moved to Singapore in 1856 to assist the Presbyterian Church's local chapter. He subsequently joined the Plymouth Brethren and actively sought to convince other Christians to leave the Presbyterian Church too. Tan was twice married.