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Our Story

ACTS Baptist Church first began as the ACTS Baptist Gospel Centre when on 20 May 1984, American missionaries Charles and Sharon Carroll, along with twelve other young men and women known as the New Life Team, were commissioned by Queenstown Baptist Church to begin a new congregation. At that time, all the team members were single young adults except for the Carroll's, and they collectively made a commitment to stay for two years to help establish the group. Today, members of the original team continue to serve the church faithfully, a testament to their dedication, tenacity and God's empowering.

The name 'ACTS' was proposed and adopted because of the importance of prayer to this new team, the word 'ACTS' being an acronym for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication, key elements in prayer. This name also reminded the team of the Acts of the Apostles of the New Testament, an encouragement and inspiration of the powerful and continuing work of the Holy Spirit in all believers' lives.

A venue for gatherings was first sought in Bukit Batok New Town, but when a suitable venue could not be located, the team held their first worship service and Bible study in a home in Jurong West on 27 May. By the end of 1984, it was decided that ACTS would remain in Jurong West rather than continue searching for a place in Bukit Batok. Trained in the Evangelism Explosion witnessing and MasterLife Discipleship training courses, the team spent a significant amount of time visiting and serving the community, with many new members joining them as a result of the strong personal relationships that were forged.

ACTS' first baptism was held on New Year's Day, 1 January 1985, with three new Christians baptized; worship attendance then averaged 19 people with 23 attending Bible study regularly. Two years later, on 25 January 1987, Pastor Shoo How Beng was installed as the pastor and, on the same day, ACTS Baptist Church was officially constituted with 33 members.

Pastor Shoo How Beng was a Mechanical Engineer and a member of Jurong Baptist Church (later to become Shalom Baptist Chapel). Mentored by Lillie O' Rogers, the first American Southern Baptist Convention missionary officially appointed to serve in Malaysia and Singapore, Pastor Shoo and his wife, Molly, answered God's call to shepherd the congregation, themselves being involved in leading and serving Agape Baptist Church with several others earlier. Originally a bi-vocational pastoral staff, Pastor Shoo entered full-time ministry with ACTS Baptist Church in obedience to God's call, and continues to serve with his family in the church today.

In June 1987, as ACTS Baptist Church grew, the congregation moved to the theatrette of Jurong Town Corporation's headquarters. There were to be several more moves for the church as it grew over the following two decades – first to a bomb shelter in Choa Chu Kang, then a HDB hall in Bukit Panjang, a ballroom in IMM at Jurong East, even amid industry at Henderson.

Along this physical journey, ACTS Baptist Church has continued to serve and positively impact the surrounding local communities and those overseas as well, having missions partnerships with churches and organisations in Indonesia, India, the Philippines and other nations in Asia.

Today, ACTS Baptist Church continues to remain committed to nurturing a real, personal and intimate relationship with God in every believer, proclaiming and teaching the truth of God's Word, the Bible, and desiring genuine, transformed lives in the everyday reality of the world. Find out more about us as you browse through this website and do come visit us in person and experience God at work in your life!

Our Faith

Read our statement of faith here.

Our Covenant

Church Members' Covenant

Having been brought by God’s grace to repent from sin,
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptised into Christ,
and desiring to live our new life in Christ in light of the Gospel,
we joyfully and solemnly enter into this covenant
with one another as one body in Christ.

We will not neglect to gather regularly for corporate worship,
and to pray for ourselves and others.
(Heb 10:25; Col 4:2)

We will pursue holiness in our lives and
grow in Christ-likeness with the help of the Holy Spirit
by resisting conformity to this world
and submitting to the authority of Scripture.
(Tit 2:12; 1 Pet 1:14)

We will be devoted to one another in brotherly love;
to watch over, pray for, patiently bear with,
forgive, encourage, and admonish one another
with love, humility and gentleness.
(Rom 12:10; Luke 17:3; Col 3:13; 1 Thes 5:11; 1 Pet 1:22)

We will rejoice with those who rejoice
and weep with those who weep,
bearing each other’s burdens
with tenderness and compassion.
(Rom 12:15)

We will serve others with the spiritual gifts
that God has blessed us with,
for the edification of the body of Christ.
(Eph 4:15-16; Rom 12:3-8)

We will endeavour to raise the children and youth
under our care in the training and instruction of the Lord.
(Pro 22:6; Eph 6:4)

We will seek the salvation of our family and friends
by sharing Christ with them, and seek the welfare of our city
by living lives that are consistent with the Gospel.
(Acts 13:47; 1 Pet 2:12; Col 3:17)

We will contribute cheerfully, generously and regularly
to the church to support the ministry of the Word,
the relief of the poor in our midst,
and the spread of the Gospel to all nations.
(Matt 28:19; Luke 12:33; 2 Cor 9:7)

We will work together in unity
to achieve our mission of making disciples
through a biblically faithful ministry in this church,
as we sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines.
(Eph 4:3; 2 Tim 4:2; 1 Tim 3:1-13; 1 Tim 3:15; Acts 2:38; 1 Cor 11:26; Matt 18:17; 1 Cor 5:13)

We will, when we move from this place,
join another Gospel-preaching church
where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant
and the principles of God’s Word.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us all. Amen.
(2 Cor 13:14)