Church Life ¢ Kampong Kapor Methodist Church Text and photos courtesy of Kampong Kapor Methodist Church
KKMC :
God’s faithfulness through the generations
I
n the middle of Little India, an elegant white building stands at a clearing where narrow roads meet. Kampong Kapor Methodist Church (KKMC) has been in
this location since 1930. Designed by the architectural firm Swan and Maclaren, this building with its quasi-Art Deco design houses worshippers across generations and language groups.
Where it began KKMC traces its origins to 1894, when Sophia Blackmore moved an expanding Malay-language worship gathering from
her
home
at
Sophia
Road
to
Middle
Road,
establishing the first Peranakan church in Singapore. There, the congregation of the Malay Church, as it was called, continued to grow under the leadership of its first pastor, William Shellabear. Further growth to the congregation led to its relocation in 1930 to a larger building at its current site, 1 Kampong Kapor Road, where it was called the Straits Chinese Methodist Church, reflecting the make-up of its congregation. The church was renamed Kampong Kapor Methodist Church in the 1950s as its congregation by then comprised the Straits (top) The Youth Ministry band leading worship at KKMC’s 128th Anniversary thanksgiving worship service on 23 January 2022 (bottom) Congregants doing the “Kampong Wave” during KKMC’s 128th Anniversary thanksgiving worship service on 23 January 2022
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METHODIST MESSAGE May 2022
Chinese, as well as other ethnic groups. This year, KKMC celebrates its 128th anniversary and its congregation is spread across its English, Mandarin, Tamil and Peranakan services. With such a long history, it comes as no surprise that KKMC’s congregation is a multigenerational one, where children worship together with their parents and grandparents, and in some cases, their great-grandparents!
