Chinese Work

In 1956, an island-wide curfew imposed during one of the worst riots in the history of Singapore forced students and staff at the former Nanyang University, the only Chinese university in South-East Asia, to remain within the Yunnan campus over the weekend. It was then that Christian students and staff decided to hold their own Sunday worship and fellowship, thus laying the foundation for the Nanyang University Christian Fellowship (NUCF).

With an increase in the intake of Chinese-speaking undergraduates at the then University of Singapore in the mid-sixties, it was found that integration was difficult in a campus dominated by English-speaking students. In 1967, a handful of deeply concerned Chinese-speaking Christian undergraduates decided to reach out in a corporate effort to other students from a similar background. A Chinese sub-committee was then set up within the framework of the VCF. A merger of the two universities in 1980 into the present National University of Singapore (NUS) saw the inevitable demise of the NUCF. With that, the Nanyang Technological Institute was formalized and a Chinese fellowship was also formed there.

The seventies, too, saw the birth of more Chinese Christian Fellowships at the Singapore Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Technical College (now Ngee Ann Polytechnic). As time went on, those involved in the ministry were convinced of the need to coordinate Chinese work at the various tertiary institutions. This led to the formation of the Chinese Work Committee in 1970.

Currrently, we have work amongst Chinese-speaking students at:

• Nanyang Technological University Chinese Christian Fellowship (NTU-CCF)
• Chinese Varsity Christian Fellowship (CVCF) at NUS
• Ngee Ann Polytchnic Chinese Christian Fellowship (NPCCF)
• Chinese Polytechnic Christian Fellowship (CPCF)

To find out more about the FES Chinese Work, go to: http://cw.fessingapore.org/