Last friday was my church's 1st birthday...!!!

I am totally estatic, becoz this church was painstakingly started with alot of hard work, sweat and tears.

For those who have been here in this space for alittle longer may have an inkling of how we, along with our pastor - left the old church due to irreconcilable differences, and set up our little humble place with merely 20 members.

It was tough being thrown into the big sea with nowhere to go.
We were disappointed, but we cant do anything but to pray and hope for a silver lining after the rain.

Here's a post from the past.
Where it all began.

I try not to talk too much about church, coz its something very personal - and I respect other people with other religions, so I hope u guys dun try to think Im trying to convert anyone here okieeee.

Im not a holy person, and I dun judge people becoz Im not perfect myself - so please dun get me wrong.
This post is just about sharing what goes on in my life, and church happens to be a huge part of it.
:D

For people who dunno me personally, I actually attend a Hokkien church - yesh, u heard right.
It is a full dialect service, and weirdly, even for a tone-deaf person like me - Im in the praise & worship team.

Tell u we on budget alreeeady mah.
:p

But these people are like my family to me, we meet every week (when Im not working) in church, choir practise, pot-lucking, bible-reading, or simply just spending time together.

And becoz this is a dialect church, we have people from all ages - mainly grannies, grandpas who bring their grandchildren here most of the time.
Hawkers, sweepers, teachers, executives, students - this is a family church and ppl come from all walks of life.

Thats why we are called Church Of Marketplace.
:)

Our service last friday.
My pastor, Stanley Tan.

(Pictures courtesy of Jungle Boy - he is our photographer cum videographer -we are on budget ok? Hehe. )



I loveeee this picture!



Praise & Worship team.





This is our self-designed logo... Nice anot! :p
Even the speaker's stand was kindly donated... like, everything on stage too!
And yes.. the stage is done by members of church who knows carpentry..ha!



Now we have a 200 strong congregation.

From 20 to 60, to 80 and then we broke the 100 record, and as at last friday - we have 216 people who came for the service.
Amazing~!



Pastor Stanley introducing our guest speaker of the night..



Mr Chua....! aka ah seng! :p
He's a husband of our church member who plays the piano.



He is really an amazing person, to say the least.

Formerly an heroine addict, he turned his life around in jail when he found God.

Now he & his wife runs a half-way house for former drug addicts who wants a new life.
I admire them for their selflessness, and how they devote their time in changing people for the better.
( I think he was on TV too! Hee!)

This is what happens when u have a photographer boyfriend.
:p



Do u see a grandpa next to me?

He is 83 years old and also in the praise & worship team!!!
We respect him a great deal, and all of us in church call him 'Ah-gong!' (dialect for grandfather)



Listening intently.



Our 200 strong congregation.
Both our parents are somewhere there too!
:)



After the sermon, we had something up our sleeves.. hehe!
We have cakeeeeeee!



Big candle!



Singing a birthday song in both English & Hokkien!



And everyone gets a small present.. courtesy of a church member's daughter!
She was very kind to print our church name, with my pastor's hp number along with it!
Ha!



Passing along the pens.



Our Praise & Worship had a small musical to celebrate the day.
Can u see me? Keke!



Special thanks to JOLIEROBE (Click Here!) for their lovely Grecian white dress!

I had compliments all night long!
:):)

This dress conjures up pretty white weddings, flowly hair and makeup.. and love all round.



We had ah gong dancing along, holding the 10 commandments!



Ah Kim-che is another respected grandma in church - she dances along everytime we sing on stage!



She oftens cooks for us too, comfort food like soup, porridge and braised pork!
We are blessed.
:D

Singing.



Loveeee the sweet dress I wore!
But I tak glam dao~ keke.

JOLIEROBE
JOLIEROBE
JOLIEROBE

All readers cam simply quote 'elaine73' for FREE POSTAGE from now to March!
New collection is up, so do take a look!

Thank you JOLIEROBE (Click Here!) once again for the lovely white dress - I made up my mind to wear it to church the moment I set my eyes on it!
:D



Our signboard!



After church, we usually prepare some food and drinks for everyone.
My two darlings.. Kyne and Kidman!



Saying bye bye to Pastor.



Candid shots.



My good friends in church!
Lead singer, Jovial!
(I am ca-la-fei singer...)







U wun guess what my good friend Kaylene is showing me...



Its a video of Jungle Boy and Kaylene's husband playing pretending to sing "My Endless Love" on stage in church the week before when Im not around!

Hence my expression to him!
:p



Goodbye everyone!

Hope u had a great weekend~
Its back to work work work for me and why is everyone more gan chiong than me about wedding preparations?

Need to find nice bridal studios, so drop me an email or tag if u have came across anything good, ya!
Love, love.

xoxo
elaine73

Here's the video that Jungle Boy did for church that day!
You can see how we grew in numbers from the very first day to our present place.

"With God, all things are possible."




p.s
Will be back soon!
Just gotten a new Iphone.. and Im stuck on it! :p

Its great fun wassap-ing friends and disturbing them all the time!
And I wonder which hole I was stuck in all the time.. keke!
Cya soon!

For interested peeps who would like to bring their non-english speaking parents to church, perhaps u can drop by one day - or you can come along yourself and join us in prayer & worship on Fridays!
We warmly welcome everyone.
:)

Church of Marketplace

Address: Antioch @ MacPherson (Opposite Macpherson MRT station)
18 Arumugam Road #06-01
Singapore 409962

Service: Hokkien
Time: Fridays 7.30pm