Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church

Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church is among the oldest Methodist Chinese speaking churches.

In the early 1889 the church was a mere shop house which was being used by Dr Benjamin West to practice medicine. Later on, he then started preaching in the shop houses to small groups consisting 30 people. The church later collapse in 1905 and it the church was conducted on a temporary tentage in 1913 which was then replaced by zinc hut near Neil Road whose architect was Swan and Maclaren. The reconstruction of the church was fully completed in 1925. In 1930s onwards, the church was used as a place to organize meets ups amongst the Chinese evangelist from China.

The architecture of the church is such that it has an open pavilion on the roof which was carved in a traditional Chinese manner. It is a two storey building where the second storey has a sanctuary. The church was design in such a way because it was more practical to have the sanctuary built on the second level according to the Western context. This is similar to that of a European City churches and Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church is the first church in Singapore to adopt such design.

For many decades, many believers worship the church. The forefathers from China visit the church to receive the baton of gospel, evangelizing to their own friends and relatives. It is also known that during World War 2, the church was used to house over 300 refugees mainly Chinese since Chinese was the ethnic group that was being harshly dealt by the Japanese.

Since Telok Ayer Methodist Church has a unique building structure and has a history to be remembered, it was chosen to be preserved as Singapore's official national monument on 23 March 1989.

Getting there:

Address: 235 Telok Ayer Street Singapore 068656
Location:Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church, Singapore
Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar (EW15)
By bus: Bukit Merah bus interchange, bus 167