Neighbourhood Church was founded in 1973 by Christian Nationals Evangelism Commission (CNEC) in a shophouse along Jalan Kuras. It was then known as Grace church. The shophouse, kindly made available by Mrs. Myrtle Tan, was used as a kindergarten in the week and many of these children who lived nearby also joined the Sunday School of the church.

 

This ministry among the children grew through the loving labour of Rev. Paul Chang, who came to Singapore in 1974 to oversee the work of CNEC Southeast Asia as Field Director. CNEC was then supporting the church financially and Rev. Chang heartily gave of himself in serving and nurturing the young people who joined the church.

 

The growth of this young congregation also owes much to the loving labour of Pastor John Willis, a retired postmaster from Toronto who came to Singapore at the age of 64 to be the pastor of Bartley Christian Churchanother church planted by CNEC.

 

Pastor Willis helped the small congregation at Jalan Kuras reached out to the people in the neighbourhood. One main activity he did was to bring along the young people every Saturday afternoon to walk around Sembawang Hills Estate to distribute tracts and to share the gospel. Sunday morning classes were conducted in an open space under the trees near the church and this led to more young people joining the church.

 

In 1978 the church relocated to a semi-detached house in Thomson Walk. It was renamed Neighbourhood Chapel, and later to Neighbourhood Church, with reference to the teaching of Christ on being a good neighbour.

 

In 1980 the church relocated to its current location in the CNEC HQ at Braddell Road. The year 1980 also saw the first wedding in the church—Sing Kong and Wai Chin were married in the music studio at CNEC. We also had the Chinese Living Stone Church merge with us to become a Chinese Department of the church.

 

Neighbourhood Church became independent as a registered church in 1982. The decade that followed saw the church grow. In 1990, after the CNEC premises underwent renovation, the English congregation moved back to a new sanctuary built upstairs and the Chinese congregation to a new sanctuary downstairs. The Chinese congregation grew and became an independent church—Oikos Church—in 1997.