Our HISTORY

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.

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.

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.

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.