Our
Story
In
1964, LCMS acquired a church building and its
surrounding plot of land in Setapak to lay the
foundation of this new ministry. Evangelism began
in 1965 with the arrival of Pastor Justus Koo,
who became well known for reaching out to the
Chinese community on his bicycle. The Chinese
youth fellowship was formed in 1966, which turned
out to be a major growth factor for the church
in the next few years. Sunday school was started
in 1967.
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By
1968, Christ Lutheran Church grew into an organized
congregation and was ready for the next stage
of growth for the church. A ground breaking service
was held for the new parish hall and construction
began in April 1968, when completed in December
of that year, the new facilities consisted of
a worship hall, a library, a meeting hall and
a few classrooms. With the new facilities, a child
care ministry was launched and followed by a kindergarten
known as "Wee Wisdom Child Care and Kindergarten".
Some of the present members traced their beginnings
in Christ Lutheran Church to this ministry. When
the first English youth fellowship started in
1973, charismatic renewal occurred and youth grew
from six persons to over one hundred members within
a year. However, the church experienced a roller
coaster as attendance went thru cycles of ups
and downs. Church attendance continues to decline
steadily to reach a low of fourteen members in
1984 when the leaders took a closed stand towards
charismatic renewal. Many youth left the church
but still kept their faith and worship God in
other churches.
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But
God has His hand on the church when Rev. Philip
Tan took over the leadership of Christ Lutheran
Church. Charismatic renewal was embraced and
the church experienced steady growth in membership
thru the late 80's, Sunday service gradually
changed from liturgical worship of hymns to
short choruses to contemporary worship in the
90's. Church attendance reached a record high
of three hundred for the first time in 1993.
The children Sunday school was revitalized as
a group of committed teachers took up the leadership
role in the beginning of the 90's. The leadership
passed on to another team of new leaders later,
Children Sunday School was restructured and
renamed Glorious Children Church (GCC) in 1996.
The result was a new vision and enthusiasm for
the ministry with growth of six hundred children
in GCC in the year 2001. In 2002, GCC was renamed
PowerFun.
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Christ
Lutheran Church also began ministry with overseas
missions to China in 1994, followed by Vietnam
in 1996 and Myanmar in 1997. One of the most powerful
transitions for the church was its major shift
from a traditional model church ministry to a
cell-structured church ministry in 1996. This
was in accordance to the mandate that every member
is a minister. The cell-structured model follows
the Jethro principles which effectively equips
and empowers leader for the ministry. By taking
this stand, CLC has created a biblically functioning
community, where love, care support and security
ought to be the hallmarks of God's church.
As
Christ Lutheran Church extends celebrates and
reaches out, God builds the church in strength
and numbers, moving it forward to accomplish the
divine purpose He has designed it for.
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