Church

Methodists welcome first Telugu church in Singapore

The Methodist Church in Singapore formed its first Telugu Church in late July this year, according to a write-up posted on the denomination's website by Pastor Anil Samuel.

The Telugus are an Indian ethnic group of ancient origin, who came to Singapore in the mid 80s in large numbers mainly for work in various sectors including IT, banking and finance, health and medicine, education, and engineering, construction, and theological institutions, according to the new church’s website.

The Telugu Fellowship which existed prior to the Telugu church came about when a few Telugus were invited to worship at Tamil Methodist Church but found that many of their natives could not understand Tamil, and so began the fellowship at the church as a response.

Over a period of eight years, from its humble beginnings of 15 worshippers, the group grew substantially and the Emmanuel Tamil Annual Conference—the denomination’s body of Tamil-speaking churches—decided to constitute the fellowship as a church on July 28.

The new church was formed with 135 members, with about 60 scheduled to attend membership classes before their full enrollment, and with Revd Nagulan as the Pastor-in-Charge, and Samuel, a Ministry Staff of Emmanuel Tamil Annual Conference (ETAC), the local body of Indian Methodist churches, assisting him.

The formation of the church is made all the more timely with the considerable growth of the Telugu population in Singapore, according to the church’s website.

More than 250 believers were present at the inaugural service of the Singapore Telugu Methodist Church, the 44th Methodist and eighth ETAC congregation.

The event was held at the Tamil Methodist Church in Short Street, and was graced by the Methodist Bishop, Dr Robert M Solomon, who launched the new church’s website and delivered the sermon exhorting the newly formed congregation to be focused on its purpose of glorifying God in its ministry.

He added that because the church belongs to God, it is for His glory that we live and serve.

For the Telugu believers, the formation of the new church is a testimony of God’s faithfulness toward His people, and has also opened avenues for more meaningful participation, pushed members to a greater commitment in ministry, instilled in them a deeper sense of belonging to one another, and given them a stronger drive to reach out to more Telugus in and around the city-state.

According to the report, the strength of the Telugu ministry lies in its focus on evangelism and the effectiveness of its work in outreach through weekly cell groups which have borne much fruit.

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