Reach Out—Paya Lebar Chinese Methodist Mission Tuition Ministry

According to a 2017/18 survey by the Department of Statistics, Singaporeans spend $1.4 billion a year on tuition for their children. However, private tuition is an expense item that many households struggle to afford. Two churches—Paya Lebar Chinese Methodist Mission and Living Hope Methodist Church—found that they were placed in neighbourhoods where many households needed affordable educational support for children and youth. They decided to start a tuition ministry and an English coaching programme for children. Read on to see how far they’ve come.

PAYA LEBAR CHINESE METHODIST MISSION (PLCMM)

A tuition ministry of more than 20 years continues to bear fruit

Kate Lim worships at Aldersgate Methodist Church and serves in the Bethany Nursing Home Befrienders Ministry. / Photos courtesy of Jessica Lee

Jessica Lee now serves as a Sunday school teacher in MPK

Jessica Lee is a Sunday School teacher at Mighty Power Kids (MPK), Paya Lebar Chinese Methodist Mission (PLCMM). She first joined PLCMM when she was six years old, after church volunteers came knocking on her door, inviting her mother to send her for tuition at PLCMM, and thereafter to attend Sunday School. Jessica’s mother had a good impression of PLCMM and felt that it was a safe place for her to go to.

“Right after tuition, we had Sunday School and there would be a lot of fun and activities for us. That was how I learned about God, from the tutors who patiently shared God’s love with me and guided me,” Jessica told Methodist Message.

Loving our neighbours

The PLCMM tuition ministry for children and youths was started by its members in 1999. They had a mission to reach out to and serve the residents of the nearby Lorong Ah Soo neighbourhood, which comprised mostly young, lower-income families.

This ministry provides nearly-free tuition to the children and youth in the neighbourhood—only a nominal fee is charged. As part of the programme, the students attend the children’s church and youth fellowship after tuition. According to Philip Chong, the person-in-charge for the PLCMM tuition ministry, there were up to 55 tuition students and 15 teachers in 2012 at its peak. Presently, there are six students (aged between 8-11 years) receiving tuition in English and Math, and five volunteer teachers serving in the ministry.

Meeting the children’s needs beyond academics

Many of the children receiving tuition from PLCMM come from families where the parents are busy at work and unable to attend to their children.

Philip shares that serving in this ministry goes beyond helping the children in their studies. “It involves meeting their real needs and sharing the love that (we) have received from God.”

Each child has his or her unique abilities and needs, and Philip describes how the volunteer tutors go beyond

helping the children with school work because of their concern with the overall well-being of their students. This might mean addressing behavioural issues such as disrespect towards the teachers, mood swings and lack of interest in studying.

He says, “God has provided different ‘uncles’ and ‘aunties’ in the lives of these children—to discipline, guide and motivate them at different stages of their growth.”

Jessica Lee (far right) as a preschooler when she first attended the PLCMM tuition sessions

More blessed to give than to receive

Kelvin Aw, a lawyer by profession, has been a volunteer teacher for 18 years. He has learned to exercise sensitivity and flexibility when helping the children, often to accommodate their individual family situations.

During the Covid-19 peak in 2020, all tuition sessions were conducted virtually. However, Kelvin opted to have in-person tuition with a student from a single-parent family, at her home, as it would be more effective to support her during her PSLE that year. This was greatly appreciated by her mother.

He shares, “It was immensely rewarding as she did reasonably well in her English PSLE paper and also began to enjoy that subject.”

On what motivates him to continue serving in this ministry after so many years, Kelvin shares from Ezekiel 22:30, “And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.”

“During church services, I often sang songs that spoke of standing in the gap for Christ. I thought it would be more meaningful if I actually stood in the gap for someone in need, instead of just singing about it,” Kelvin said.

A full circle

The 1.5-hour tuition sessions may seem inadequate when it comes to providing comprehensive help in the children’s lives. But Philip says, “The impact of this contact time goes beyond what you would expect.”

This is seen through the lives of some of the children who have come to know God through the tuition ministry and children’s church, and have continued attending PLCMM. Some now serve actively in the church.

Jessica Lee is one such example. The former student of the tuition ministry is now in her mid-20s and working in the early childhood sector. Since she was 17, she started serving in the Sunday School ministry, and has also tutored children in Chinese in the tuition ministry, which she sees as giving back to the ministry that first brought her to Christ.

“I want to teach the Sunday School children God’s Word so they can know him and learn more about his Word just like I did,” said Jessica.

Planting seeds of faith and love

Jeffrey Liew attended tuition lessons when he was 13 years old, after his cousin introduced him to PLCMM’s tuition ministry.

Jeffrey remembers he attended only a few lessons but eventually dropped out as he was simply not interested in his studies. Thereafter, he only attended activities conducted by the youth ministry.

Some years later, he returned for Math tuition out of desperation. “When I was 16, I wanted to turn my life around and study hard but I kept failing my Math.”

A volunteer, Uncle Su Mian, who was a head of department for Math at a secondary school at that time, tutored him. Jeffrey credits Uncle Su Mian—who has since passed away—for helping him at a time when he needed it the most. “He guided me in my school work and instilled discipline in me. My results improved tremendously.”

Jeffrey looks back with gratitude for the help he received from the volunteers with the tuition ministry. He recalls, “My family was paying quite a sum for tuition elsewhere. In contrast, the church tuition ministry only