Evangel Family Church

Evangel Family Church is a Pentecostal church under the Assemblies of God located in Yishun, Singapore. It was founded by Robert Lim and is currently headed by Marion Lim.

Evangel Family Church has a firm commitment to the salvation of souls and missions, having already pioneered close to 300 churches in the Philippines. The Church also maintains a strong relationship with the community, establishing a Free Tuition programme catering to students of Primary and Secondary levels, especially for families in the Yishun Community who are financially challenged and who cannot afford private tuition for their children since 15th March 2003.

About Robert Lim

Robert Lim Bak Mong received his theological training at the Bible Institute of Malaya and graduated with a diploma of Theology in 1966. He is presently the Founding Pastor of Evangel Family Church, the only pastorate he holds since his graduation from Bible school. Through his love for the church and leadership, he has led Evangel Family Church to become one of the leading missions-giving churches in the world. Since 1981, he has been serving as a member of the Board of Directors of Church Growth International (CGI). In October 1989, he was conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from the Bethesda School of Theology (California, USA) by David Yonggi Cho.

Pastor Robert became an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God (AG) of Singapore in 1969. He then served in the AG Executive Committee from 1977-1994 and held the post of Assistant General Superintendent for 10 years which he relinquished in May 1994 to plant 100 churches in the Philippines by the year 2000. Today, he is the Founding Chairman of Jireh Evangel Church Planting Philippines Inc.(JECPP) which have thus far planted 184 churches. JECPP has also established Evangel Centre for Missions and Evangelism(ECME), a missions school which specializes in training Filipino pastors in the area of church planting. Having witnessed and recognized the progress of JECPP, the Philippines Evangelical Council of Churches have accorded JECPP the standing of a denomination. After an absence of six years which were dedicated to fulfilling the above vision, he was once again overwhelmingly elected in the nomination ballot as the Assistant General Superintendent of AG Singapore which he served from April 2000 to 2001.

Pastor Robert is an international missions speaker who has ministered in nations like Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda and the United States. His ministry has impacted churches and organizations to raise millions of dollars for missions. He has led Evangel Family Church to support pastors, missionaries and Christian workers from Singapore and all over the world. For almost 36 years, Evangel Family Church had no permanent place of worship. On Christmas Day, 25 December 2002, Evangel had their very first service in their new six–story building.

Pastor Lim and Marion are married and have three children, Dale (married to Chui Chui), Kirk (married to Jasmine), and Dayna (married to Jeremy), and two grandchildren, Joseph and Jada.

About Marion Lim

Marion Lim Oon Lay is the Senior Pastor of Evangel Family Church (EFC), a thriving church that has become one of the highest missions-giving churches in the world. Her leadership began in 1994 when her husband Robert Lim relinquished his appointment as the Senior Pastor to commit to plant 100 churches in the Philippines before the year 2000.

Pastor Marion became an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God of Singapore in 1991. In May 1997, she was conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from Bethesda Theological Seminary (California, USA) by David Yonggi Cho. She is able to communicate in the English, Mandarin and Hokkien languages. In August 2000, Pastor Marion was one of the guest speakers invited to preach and challenge 30,000 pastors and leaders at the RCA Dome at the Third Triennial World Assemblies of God Congress and 2000 Celebration in Indianopolis, USA.

Pastor Marion is also an established gospel singer. While her family became musicians with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and professional secular singers, she dedicated her voice to singing Gospel songs instead. At Cho Yonggi’s crusades, she sang to 40,000 and 35,000 people at the National Stadium (Singapore) in 1982 and Stadium Negara (Malaysia) in 1984 respectively. She also sang for Dr Billy Graham’s Mission World Asia in 1990 which was telecast from Hong Kong throughout Asia with 100 million viewers. In many occasions, she had ministered in songs at Yoido Full Gospel, the world’s largest church in South Korea. As a recording artiste and composer, she has been featured in three gospel albums, her latest being ‘A Closer Walk’ (released in 2002), a contemporary Hokkien album for the heartlanders of Singapore.

Pastor Marion’s preaching and singing ministries has impacted congregations in Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Japan, South Korea and the United States. She had a strong conviction to see a House of God build for the next generation of Evangel and to see her congregation impact their community. She purchased a Government approved land to build a place that the people of Evangel could call their own.

Community services

Community Chest contributions

In September 1995, Marion Lim initiated Evangel Family Church (EFC) to consistently contribute to The Community Chest of Singapore because it oversees and helps many less privileged in the community. In 1999, EFC was awarded its first Corporate Bronze Award for its contribution to the Community Chest. From 2000 to 2003, EFC was awarded the Corporate Silver Award. In 2004 and 2005, EFC was awarded the Corporate Gold Award.

Blood donation drives

"Our blood may not be able to save souls but it can certainly save lives." This was the motivation behind the launching of Evangel’s 1st Blood Donation Drive on 30 July 1995 at Singapore Chinese Girls’ School which resulted in 58 successful donors. Since then, the Blood Donation Drive coordinated with the National Blood Centre has become an annual event in Evangel’s calendar. In 2005, a record-breaking number of 207 successful blood donors at the 11th Blood Donation Drive held at Evangel's premises in Yishun was witnessed, with Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee as the Guest-of-Honour.

Free tuition programme

Evangel's Free Tuition programme caters to students of Primary and Secondary levels, especially for families in the Yishun Community who are financially challenged and who cannot afford private tuition for their children. Free tuition was first provided from 15 March 2003 to 70 children. In 2004, the student population tripled to almost 300. In 2006, tuition classes were expanded by having extra Secondary classes on Friday in addition to regular Saturday classes. Currently, there are 454 students in the Free Tuition program. It is a strict rule that the tutors do not propagate any religious teachings during the lessons. The program is open to all, regardless of religious backgrounds and without any prerequisite of church attendance for parents or their children.

Community outreach

On 16 August 2003, the people of Evangel saturated every household in the Yishun with a brochure to create awareness in the community that there is a new church and that they are welcome to join them. This saturation exercise that covered Yishun in it entirety is executed at least once a year. Weekly outreach programmes by various ministries include home visits, house-to-house evangelism, community sports and activities like mini-barbecues. Every year, Evangel also organizes at least 2 big events inviting its community to join them.

Website

* [http://www.evangel.org.sg/ Evangel Family Church website]