Relics from a 100-year-old time capsule reveal Singapore’s early Christian history and heritage, a report says.
The Chinese Methodist Church’s time capsule provides a glimpse into Christian life before 1924. channel news asia (CNA) reported on February 19th.
Singapore Methodist Church President Gregory Goh told the annual conference that the capsule and artefacts were a reminder of the Methodist Church’s heritage in the city-state.
This is a true depiction of the entire church life at the time, and Mr Goh is reported to have described how the faith community practiced its faith.
[We also now know] songs they sang. So I think this is very interesting and also helps us continue the tradition, Goh added.
This metal box was embedded in the wall of the Methodist Church in Telok Ayer, built in 1925. This church was declared a national monument in his 1989 year.
The metal box contained about 10 artifacts, including a pocket-sized hymn book from 1919 and newspapers from the time, CNA reported.
The hymn book also contains details of the church’s rituals and order of worship, including the Eucharist, weddings and funerals, and is a reminder of the faith of our ancestors, Goh added.
The box was recovered from the church wall on February 7th, stored in a humidity-controlled dry box environment after extraction, and opened on February 14th.
The church building, which served as a shelter for about 300 people during the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945, is closed for restoration work, the report said.
The existence of the time capsule was known to church members, but no attempt was made to retrieve it, CNA reported.
The search for the time capsule began again after the church’s archives committee was investigating content related to the church’s upcoming 100.th I found an old article on my anniversary. Malayan Saturday Post In connection with that.
The article provides details about the church’s cornerstone installation and the location of the time capsule, which led the church to hire a contractor to locate and remove the metal box.
Ultrasound and metal scanning tools were reportedly used to locate the metal box.
Church Archives Committee Chairman Sebastian Lee said the recovered items would become part of the heritage gallery once the church building completes its renovation and reopens for its 100th anniversary in 2025. Ta.
We’re in the process of putting all this together. [items]and trying to collate and reconcile all the information, Lee said.
I hope that the showcase will display videos of people from that generation. [and] They are still with us, and there will also be old photographs that show the social influence of people back then, Lee added.
Church officials said there are also plans to install a new time capsule for posterity. CNA report.
The Chinese Methodist Church in Telok Ayer traces its origins to American physician and Methodist missionary Benjamin West. West practiced medicine and evangelized from a rented store in Nanjing’s Upper Street.
The First Methodist Church was founded in 1885. According to the church’s website, the Methodist Church is currently Singapore’s largest Protestant denomination with about 46 churches and its 42,000 members.
Singapore is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country with a population of approximately 5.7 million people. Most Chinese are Buddhist, while most Malays are Muslim.
According to official data, Christians make up about 15 percent of Singapore’s population.