Kampong Kapor Methodist Church

Understand more about the Kampong Kapor Methodist Church

In Singapore’s Little India neighborhood lies the Methodist church is known as Kampong Kapor Methodist Church (KKMC). We were one of the first Peranakan churches established in Singapore and the fourth Methodist church overall. We started in 1894. Our current structure on Kampong Kapor Road gets built by the architectural firm Swan and Maclaren. The building gets completed in 1930. After then, the church (sanctuary) was named the Bishop Bickley Memorial in honor of Bishop Bickley, whose family contributed significantly to its building. The Kampong Kapor Methodist Church is a landmark in Little India thanks to its distinctive quasi-Art Deco architecture and historically preserved structure. Currently, our 1,000-person congregation attends services in English, Mandarin, Tamil, and Peranakan.

Contributions:

Over the years, the Kampong Kapor Methodist Church has significantly improved society. One of its co-founders, Blackmore, had persuaded a lot of parents to educate their daughters, which was a behavior that was unheard of at the time. In addition, she established Fairfield Girls’ School and Methodist Girls’ School. The Kampong Kapor Methodist Church works with other ministries and institutions, such as the Kampong Kapor Family Centre, and partners with the Catholic Church to provide migrant workers in Little India with free meals.

Services:

Each Sunday, Kampong Kapor Methodist Church holds six services. The Mandarin, Baba Malay, and Tamil services get held at 2 ., 11 a.m., and 5.30 p.m., respectively. At 9.30, Sunday School and youth Bible study groups at The Unfailing Light get going.

Buildings:

The structure at 155 Middle Road that previously housed the church is still standing today. Objectifs, the Centre for Photography and Films, is now housed there. Swan and Maclaren, Singapore’s first architectural firm, created the current church structure in 1929. The spire of the bell tower and the finials that can see on all of the tower’s original façades are two prominent examples of how the contemporary building integrates elements from earlier Gothic architectural forms. Simple yet elegant adornment, including the finials, tower windows, and outside wall ornament, are all drawn from the cross’s design. Inside, this theme is maintained. The sanctuary’s interior is understated and sophisticated, with dark timber trusses smoothly emerging from cross-shaped brackets on the walls between rounded clerestory windows.

Pipe Organ:

The church is the only Methodist Church in Singapore to feature a pipe organ, making it one of the country’s few operating examples. Walker & Taylor, Lincoln, England, constructed it in 1936, and Walker & Taylor put it in the church in 1937. Original elements included the tracker action, mechanical stop and coupler controls, and the organ. The organ gets entirely disassembled and kept in a warehouse during the 1987 construction of the Education Block and sanctuary renovation. The mechanism was also electric to keep up with the organ’s enlargement. However, the original movable windchests for the organ get preserved. Platforms were constructed on the organ’s two sides in 1995 to make room for the insertion of more pipes.