50 Years Building His Kingdom - Far Eastern Bible College

Life
Bible-Presbyterian
Church
Collaborating with other
choirs from within the B-P
circle. The Combined
Choirs of Life, Calvary
Jurong and Sharon BPCs,
together with guest
speaker, Rev. Dr Timothy
Tow, in “SELAH” held on
30 September 1995 in Life
Church.
Page 106
1958. He was succeeded by his younger
brother Henry Heng, who was joined later
by Elder O. J. Tassicker in the early 1960s.
Music continued to play an important
role in Life Church and in the B-P circle.
Several major events were organised,
among them sacred music recitals, and
combined choir events in conjunction with
Gospel crusades, Christmas and the silver
jubilee of the B-P Church.
The Transition Years
Brother Henry Heng left in 1973 to
serve in Calvary Jurong B-P Church, and
the Choir ministry became inactive for a
number of years. However, during special
occasions, the YF choir continued to
present items such as several contemporary
musical cantatas under brothers Peter
Quek and Peter Tan.
After Rev. Dr Patrick Tan became the
Associate Pastor in the mid 1970s, the
Church Choir was revived when Mrs Anne
Tan offered the second parsonage as a
venue for Choir practices. Choir members
then consisted mainly of young adults, with
brother Edwin Seow as the pianist.
Thereafter, the Choir was led first by
sister Penny Gan and then by brother
Edwin Seow. The Choir expanded and sang
during occasions such as Easter, our
Church anniversary and Christmas. The
Choir also provided musical support to
Pastor for recordings of the Sunday
Evening Service broadcast on Radio Singapore.
Becoming A Service Choir
In 1984, after much prayer and preparation,
the Choir decided to extend its ministry
to become a Service Choir, in attendance
weekly during the 10.00 a.m. worship
service. The aim was to enhance the
spirit of worship through the singing of the
introit and the benediction, in addition to
presenting anthems every month. It was
then that the Choir designed and wore its
first blue choir robes as it took on this new
area of service.
In December 1985,
brother Edwin Seow left for
Tokyo on overseas posting,
leaving sister Elaine Ding
to take over the reins. She
was assisted by sister Lim
Seen Seen.
As the Choir grew, an
executive committee
(ExCo) was set up to lead
and manage the Choir. The
first chairman was Ivan
Kam. Subsequent committees
were headed by brothers
Rick Cheung, Lee Hock
Chin, Raymond Yeo, Edward Wong and
Tan Beng Lee. Today, the ExCo is elected
annually with conductors co-opted into the
committee. Since April 1991, Dn Yiew
Pong Sen has served as adviser.
Musical Development
There are only two pre-requisites for
joining the Choir: the singer must be a
born-again Christian, and have a desire to
serve God in the music ministry. Thus,
many members do not have any formal
music training. This is why a significant
amount of time is invested in providing
voice training, music theory and sight-singing
skills during practices. Vocal classes
with guest trainers, workshops and keyboard
classes have been organised over the
years to better equip members. Moving
practices to Beulah House Music Room in
July 1990 was a great help.
When sister Elaine Ding moved to
Jakarta in May 1990, sisters Lim Seen Seen