1881 – 1900

1881-82 In November 1881, the English Presbyterian Mission sent Rev. J.A.B. Cook to Singapore. Rev. Cook first went to Shantou in China to learn the Chinese and Teochew languages before he returned to Singapore in 1882 to lead the churches.

1883 Under the leadership of Rev.Cook, the Church began to expand. In 1883, an attap house was rented at Serangoon Road and another at Prinsep Street for use as church premises.  Together, they formed the “Teck Khah Tng”.

1885 In the early days of the Church, a group of Teochew-speaking Baptist (current Thomson Baptist Church) believers worshipped with us.  In 1885, we moved to Keasberry’s Malay Chapel (current Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church) for worship.

1901 - 1920

1903 Hougang, Teck Khah and Bukit Timah Church co-employed a pastor and renamed the church as “Sia-Teck Tng”.

1915 The Church Moderator proposed to buy land for our own church building in memory of the 100th anniversary of Rev. William Burns’ mission work in China.

1917 The Church purchased the piece of land at our current address.

1921 - 1940

1925 Rev. Cook retired in 1925, and returned to England. Rev. Cook laboured for about 40 years, establishing 16 churches in Singapore and Johor.

1925-1928 The building of the Church commenced. The foundation stone was laid in 1928.

1929 The Church was completed in 1929.  It was known as “Say Mia Tng Teck Khah” then.  The Yok See School and kindergarten was also established then.

1934 The Church commenced data records of membership. 

1939 Rev. Cheng Shen Chu was appointed by the Shantou Presbyterian Mission and became the second Moderator of the Church.

1941 - 1960

1941-45 The Asia-Pacific War began. In 1942, with the fall of Singapore, all western missionaries were imprisoned. Miss Margaret Dryburgh (1890-1945), who had served as a missionary in our Church was also captured and died as a martyr in the prisoner-of-war camp in 1945.

During the Japanese occupation, ministries of Churches were restricted, but the ministry in our Church continued. Although members were dispersed because of the war, it was by the grace of God that our Church’s worship and evangelism efforts did not cease.

1946 Rev. Heng Teck Im was elected into office as the third Moderator of the Church.  Rev. Heng loved the Lord fervently, and served in the Church for 37 years.

1949 In preparation of church planting and building of Yok See School, the land at Newton was acquired. 

1950 The Church started her English Service. 

1955 The Session Court resolved to split the Church into Teck Khah (present Singapore Life Church), Newton (present Newton Life Church) and English Service (present Life Bible-Presbyterian Church), in view of growing membership and ministry. Members were free to decide which one to attend.

1956 We rented a plot of land at Changi Ten-Mile; and constructed an attap house for use as a preaching point.

1959 The Yok See School and its affiliated kindergarten were relocated from the Church to the newly completed campus at Newton.

1960 The English Service relocated from the Church to the new building in Gilstead Road in 1960 and held their 10th Anniversary Thanksgiving Service. It was renamed as Life Bible-Presbyterian Church.

1961 - 1980

1960-64 Life Kindergarten commenced in 1960 and the campus was completed in 1964.

1969 The Session Court decided to demolish the old church building and rebuild a new building to replace the 40 year-old building, as it had roof leakages, termite infestation, cracks in the walls, as well as limited space for ministry purposes.

1973 Pastor Lim Shing Cheong joined the pastoral team and was subsequently ordained as Associate Minister in 1978.

1974-77 The ground-breaking ceremony was held in 1974 and foundation stone laid in 1975. The Church was also renamed as “Singapore Life Church” in 1975.  The new church building was completed in 1977.

1981 – 2000

1983 Rev. Lee Chong Kau was appointed as the interim Moderator.  He served for a period of 13 years. In the same year, we started the English Service to meet the changing needs of members arising from change in social and educational systems.

1992 The Mandarin Service was started so as to better shepherd the younger generations.

1997 Rev. Caleb Soo Lee Chong took over the baton from Rev. Lee Chong Kau in 1997 as the interim Moderator.  Under the leadership of Rev. Soo, the first mission conference began in 1997. To date, we have entered into the 18th, and our mission fields extended to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, China, India and Nepal.

1999 Rev. Soo accepted the appointment and was elected as the Moderator of Singapore Life Church.

2000 We started the Saturday Worship Service.

2001 - 2013

2001-02 In 2001 and 2002, for the purpose of shepherding the younger generation, 1520 (for ages 15-20) and Shao-Er (for ages 11-14) Worship Services were established. 

2004 With the support of church leaders, Rev. Soo started the Fellowship Cell Group Ministry, and published 4 books for Basic Christian Growth and Development.

2007 Near the end of 2007, the Church started the Creative Ministry and began a renewal in our worship service.

2010-12 We underwent our third rebuilding. The new church building was completed in 2012. On the first Sunday of July 2012, we had our first service in our new church building.

2012 We embarked on the Evangelism Explosion (EE) training, with the intention that every cell group would have an EE Team to share the Gospel directly with new friends. In addition, we also commenced equipping our members for one-to-one follow-up, using the Basic Christian Living, for new believers.