Work among English-speaking students began in the early 1950s when Christian students of the then University of Malaya began to meet regularly for Bible study and fellowship at Jubilee Church and also at the homes of fellow students. These meetings arose from “a common realisation of the need for a truly evangelical witness by evangelicals within the University.”
In 1951, the possibility of forming an evangelical group was discussed a few times. It was only on 9 August 1952 that an inaugural meeting for a Christian Students’ Union was held. Three students were appointed to draw up the constitution and in October 1952, the Varsity Christian Fellowship (VCF) officially started with a membership of around 20 and a committee of five.
VCF became affiliated to FES in 1959 when FES was formed. This was followed by the Polytechnic Christian Fellowship (1959), Ngee Ann Technical College Christian Fellowship, now Ngee Ann Polytechnic Christian Fellowship (1972), Nanyang Technological Institute Christian Fellowship, now Nanyang Technological University Christian Fellowship (1986) and Singapore Institute of Management Students’ Christian Fellowship (1993). Initial contact was made with students from Temasek Polytechnic and Nanyang Polytechnic in 1990 and 1992 respectively. More recently, God opened the doors for us to pioneer work in some private institutes as well. James Cook University Singapore Christian Fellowship became affiliated to FES in 2012.
Find out more about us from our blog and the FES newsletter, Perspective.
