Kampong Kapor Methodist Church

Kampong Kapor Methodist Church is a Methodist church in Singapore. Formed in 1894, it was one of the first Peranakan churches and the fourth Methodist church in Singapore. In its early years, the church catered only to Peranakan or Straits Chinese, with services conducted in Peranakan or Baba Malay in a Gothic-style building located at Middle Road. In 1930, the church moved to its current building at Kampong Kapor, where it now offers services to all ethnic groups. The church features a pipe organ, one of only ten in Singapore. The church building at Kampong Kapor was given conservation status in 1989 and the earlier building at Middle Road was awarded historic site status in 2000.

History
Founded as a church in 1894, it began in November 1890, in the downstairs study room of the Deaconess Home in Sophia Room. Upon request, Miss Sophia Blackmore, missionary to Singapore (and also the founder of the Methodist Girls' School ), started a Sunday Malay language worship service. The little group included 25 “native” girls from the mission hostel, boys from Epworth Home and Malay-speaking Christian workers from the nearby Mission Press and the 2 missionaries.

On Thursday 25 January 1894, this little group moved to “The Christian Institute” at 155 Middle Road to function as a church. At 7.30pm that evening, 6 full and 16 preparatory members were organised as the first Malay Quarterly Conference chaired by the presiding elder, Rev R W Munson. The “Malay Church” was formed with (Cpt) Rev William Shellabear undertaking pastoral charge. 3 days later, the Sunday school was officially organised with about 40 students. “Sunday” school was carried out on weekdays as well.

Rev Shellabear and about a dozen young men held street and kampong meetings in Malay. Meanwhile, Miss Blackmore and her team of women as well as women missionaries made a deep impression on Nyonya women and children as they distributed tracts, sang hymns, visited several hundred “native” Straits-born Chinese women in their homes and held Sunday School for “native” children in their homes and along five-foot ways.

The church soon outgrew the Middle Road building. As a result, a new building was constructed in Kampong Kapor Road. It was completed in 1930 and the church became known as The Straits Chinese Methodist Church (Bickley Memorial). This reflected the largely Chinese membership and the large donation which the family and friends of Bishop George Harvey Bickley made for the building.

In 1957, the Board of Stewards decided that as the church caters not only to Straits Chinese but also to other ethnic groups, the church should be known as Kampong Kapor Methodist Church (Bishop Bickley Memorial), a name that it retains today.

Ministry
The Church has several Sunday services to cater to the diverse community, with Sunday services in English, Mandarin, Tamil, as well Baba Malay, true to its Peranakan heritage. It also operated a kindergarten since 1955 which continues to serve the community today.

The church also sponsors the 2nd and 60th companies of the Boys' Brigade, the former of which was started at the church in 1931, with Rev Goh Hood Keng as its first chaplain. The 2nd Company of the Boys' Brigade currently meets at the Victoria School. The 60th company was formed in 1991 at the Raffles Institution. The church undertook a new company as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations of the 2nd company.

In 1998, KKMC started the 45th company of the Girls' Brigade at the Raffles Girls' School.

Services
There are six services each Sunday, two traditional services in English at 8am and 9:30am, and a 'contemporary' service at 11:30am. There are also services in Mandarin, Tamil and Baba Malay at 2pm, 5:30pm and 11am respectively. There is also a Sunday school, as well as youth Bible study groups at 9:30 at The Unfailing Light.

Buildings
The building once occupied by the church at 155 Middle Road still exists today. It now houses Objectifs - Centre for Photography and Films. The present church building dates from 1929, and was designed by the firm of Swan and Maclaren, the oldest architectural firm in Singapore, To date, the church has undergone major renovation works in 1967 and rebuilding in 1988 to cater to the growing congregation without affecting the main features of the church. . It was most recently renovated in 2000, when emergency structural work was necessary, as the construction of the nearby North East MRT Line caused the foundations of the building to shift, causing large cracks to appear in the walls of the sanctuary. The foundations of the sanctuary were underpinned, and the Church also took the opportunity to renovate the education block, reconfiguring parts of it to create a new chapel and classrooms on the third floor. While the Church premises were closed, worship services were held at the Anglo-Chinese School (Primary), Ah Hood Road (which was at the time also at a temporary location, as the school's Barker Road campus was being rebuilt).

The present building is in a stripped-back art-deco, incorporating elements from earlier styles of architecture such as the gothic style, which is most clearly seen in the spire of the bell tower, as well as the finials that occur on all the original facades and tower. The ornamentation is simple but delicate, and is derived from the shape of the cross, with the finials, tower windows and exterior walls' ornament all derived from it. This motif is also continued in the interior. The interior of the sanctuary is simple and elegant, with dark wooden trusses springing gracefully from cross-shaped brackets on the walls between round clerestory windows. At the apex of the roof, a further clerestory admits more daylight. Originally a single nave with side aisles, the sanctuary is now L-shaped, incorporating a hall which was originally screened off by doors. The design of the pews is based on the original rattan-backed pews which they replaced. The altar and pulpit were originally in an apse at the end of the church, surrounded by wood paneling on the walls, with a cross-shaped window above it and flanked by two arched windows, but this is now occupied by the pipe organ which was introduced in 1936. Earlier designs for the church included a gallery and an enclosed organ chamber, but these were not included in the final design. The interior has undergone several renovations, including (a rather unsuccessful) one 0s6in the 1960s, when the entire apse was screened off by a plasterboard wall. The changes from that renovation have all been since undone. The altar, ambo and font are now on a dais just in front of it, surrounded by a communion rail. The tower is 88 ft tall, and contains four bells cast in the Royal Eijsbouts bell foundry, which are hung dead for stationary chiming.

The street-facing facade of the sanctuary building originally had three portals: one at each aisle, and a central portal with a large porte-cochere, but none of these survive. It is unclear why the original porte-cochere was demolished, but it is thought to be because the government intended to widen the road. In its place, the window over the central entrance has been enlarged and now contains stained glass, and the sanctuary is now entered through the main entrance of the education block. The road widening clearly did not require the demolition of the porte cochere, as the strip of land in front of the church was subsequently returned, unused, in the 2000s, but there are no plans to re-instate the original entrances. This strip is now enclosed by a fence, which the Church built in order to enclose the newly returned strip of land.

KKMC also owns a 3-storey-high shophouse next to the church called The Unfailing Light. It is used for the church's Youth and Seniors Ministries as well as the church's Homework Centre staffed by volunteers Monday to Thursday. Occasionally, it is used for special sermons and courses

Pipe Organ
The church is also home to one of the few working pipe organs in Singapore, and is the only Methodist Church in Singapore to have one. The organ was the gift of the Ladies Aid Society. It was built by Walker & Taylor, Lincoln, England, in 1936 and installed 1937. The façade bears strong resemblance to the organ in the chapel at Orchard Road Presbyterian Church. The organ originally had tracker action and mechanical stop and coupler controls. In 1987, when the Education Block was constructed and sanctuary renovated, the organ was completely dismantled and stored in a warehouse. At the end of the renovation, it was rebuilt and raised to its present height. A new console replaced the original, and the swell box removed to accommodate more ranks. The action was also electrified to accommodate the enlargements to the organ. However the organ's original slider windchests were retained. In 1995, platforms were added on both sides of the organ to allow for more pipes to be added.

New ranks of pipes have been added over the years include the Great Mixture, mutations in the Swell, the reed stops (Trumpet 8' and Clarion 4') and the Subbass 16' in the Pedal. The organ continues to be integral with the music of the church, and is played at the Sunday morning services. Mr Robert Navaratnam, Singapore 's only organ builder, has been responsible for the renovations and regular maintenance and tuning of the organ.

Organ Specification
 * Great
 * 1) Principal 8'
 * 2) Dulciana 8'
 * 3) Clarabel 8'
 * 4) Flute 8'
 * 5) Principal 4'
 * 6) Piccolo 2'
 * 7) Flute 4'
 * 8) Mixture 1 1/3'
 * 9) Trumpet 8'
 * 10) Glockenspiel (drawn by Pedal Flute 4 stop)

Diapason 8' Gedackt Flute 8' Harmonic Flute 4' Octave 4' Nazard 2 2/3' Terz 1 3/5' Fifteenth 2' Trumpet 8' Harmonic Clairon 4'
 * Swell

Bourdon 16' Subbass 16' Gedackt 8' Trumpet 8' Trumpet 4' Flute 4' (prepared)
 * Pedal