Mrs Gnanamany Philip worships at Pasir Panjang Tamil Methodist Church (PPTMC) and is married to Rev Philip Abraham. / Photos courtesy of PPTMC
News
Pasir Panjang TMC celebrates her
95th Anniversary
I
t is wonderful to be 95 years old and still be
To this day, he strongly maintains that
full of life! On 12 June 2022, Pasir Panjang
mentoring and discipling the young is the
Tamil Methodist Church celebrated her 95 years
key for the future of the Church. The Church,
with Bishop Dr Gordon Wong, who reminded
he says, must find ways to encourage and
us through his inspiring sermon, “Love God
strengthen the spiritual life of our youth,
By Loving Our Neighbour Today & Together”,
building their stamina to love God by serving
that the purpose of our living is to fulfil the two
their neighbours.
greatest commandments of all.
Mrs Mary Daniel keeps a precious memory of
We also celebrated by tapping the fond
her father, Mr A. Samuel, from the early fifties
reminiscences of the wise elderly among us
when they would be the first ones to arrive
who remember our church at a very different
at church, which was then a small wooden
time in history.
building along Pasir Panjang Road. There they
Mr T. Jeevanantham, 85, started his ministry with the church when he arrived in Singapore at the age of 16. He remembers how he found his calling to serve God when he was asked by the Rev J. Daniel to speak at a mid-week church gathering. Full of zeal after that, he attended
would kneel and pray while waiting for the rest of the congregation. The Christmas service used to start at 4.30 a.m. and she still remembers the feeling of walking up the candle-lit pathway leading to the church in the quiet of that predawn hour. “It felt awesome,” she said.
many leadership training conferences and
She supported her husband, Rev J. Daniel, in
camps organised by Wesley Methodist Church
his ministry and also held roles in the Sunday
and the Singapore Malaysia Youth Annual
School, Women's Society of Christian Service
Conference to better equip himself to serve.
and the Choir Ministry of the church. Her
The church’s Sunday School, Youth Ministry, Men’s Fellowship, Choir Ministry—Mr T.
knowledge in music was particularly useful in the latter.
Jeevanantham found joy in his service within
When asked how we can love our neighbours,
all of them. His involvement in these areas not
she replied thoughtfully, “Psalm 136:23 says that
only enriched his own spiritual life, but it can be
God remembered us in our lowly state, so we
said to have been instrumental to the growth
too must remember—by helping and serving—
of our church in her early years. Under his
our neighbours who are in need. Also, we
leadership, the church choir even performed
should never forget Ephesians 1:4, that God has
regularly over Radio Singapore (Tamil Section)
chosen us in him before the foundation of the
at festivals like Christmas and Easter.
world to be holy and blameless in his presence.”
In addition, he and other church leaders banded
Long may our church continue to endeavour to
together to start tuition classes, particularly for
“love God by loving our neighbours today and
the children of lower-income families in the
together”, in gratitude to him whose goodness,
neighbourhood of Pasir Panjang who struggled
grace and mercy have carried us through the
with subjects such as Math and English.
past 95 years! July 2022 Methodist Message 9
