Home—The Rev Philip Abraham

The Rev Philip Abraham (second from right) with his family

The Rev Philip S. Abraham is a man with a mission. In Nov 2020, he was appointed President of the Emmanuel Tamil Annual Conference (ETAC), which consists of seven Tamil-speaking and one Teleguspeaking Methodist church in Singapore. He is also the Pastor-in-charge of Jurong Tamil Methodist Church (MC) and Pasir Panjang Tamil MC.

After migrating to Singapore from India, the Rev Philip’s parents began worshipping at Pasir Panjang Tamil MC. As committed Christians who believed that every first fruit belongs to God, they dedicated the Rev Philip, their eldest child, to God’s ministry.

The Rev Philip grew up in church and was involved in many ministries, including the Sunday School and Youth ministries. When Jurong Tamil MC was established as a new church in 1977, he moved to worship and to serve there. He was elected as its first Methodist Youth Fellowship president.

At the age of 23, while the Rev Philip was attending the Jesus Calls Convention at the National Theatre, the Lord convicted him to serve Him full-time. It was a huge leap of faith because his father had passed away and his mother was the sole breadwinner with five children. They trusted in their Lord and Saviour to provide, and He has met all their needs from when the Rev Philip started theological education at Trinity Theological College in 1984 till today, 33 years into his full-time ministry.

In 1988, the Rev Philip married Gnanamany Philip, now a master teacher at the Academy of Singapore Teachers, Ministry of Education. They have two sons, Joshua and Elisha.

Dedicating a church at Triveni in India in 2018

The Rev Philip has relied on God’s promise that “He who calls you is faithful” (1 Th 5:24) over his years of pastoring Toa Payoh, Sembawang, Pasir Panjang, Jurong and Ang Mo Kio (AMK) Tamil MCs. While “the journey has not been easy”, reflected the Rev Philip, God has always provided.

One instance was when he was posted to Sembawang Tamil MC after ordination as an elder in 1992. They were engaged in a joint building project at Yishun Street 11 and finances were tight. They had raised enough funds to cover their share of the project, but had money enough only for chairs instead of pews. When the Rev Philip shared his burden with Bishop Emeritus Dr Wee Boon Hup, then the Pastor-in-charge of Paya Lebar MC, he and the church leadership donated 56 pews!

God has also rallied support from fellow pastors and Methodist churches. The Teck Whye Outreach Point ministry was started with support from the Rev Derrick Lau at the Methodist Church of the Incarnation to reach out to the Indians in the neighbourhood. The Rev Dr Niam Kai Huey provided a place of worship at Sengkang MC for the outreach ministry started together with AMK Tamil MC. Besides ministering together with AMK Tamil MC in local missions, the Rev Philip was able to dedicate three churches in India.

Being installed as President at the closing service of the ETAC 45th session in Nov 2020 The Rev Philip (front row, first from left) with other ETAC members at Sembawang Tamil MC

As the Rev Philip shepherds ETAC over the next quadrennium, he hopes to help grow the eight churches and their leadership, which has been stagnant for some time. ETAC’s vision for 2021–24, “Towards Harvest 2024”, focuses on church growth. “1.1.1. Prayer Waves” was also launched to encourage ETAC members to pray every day at 1 p.m. for one minute for one of their unsaved neighbours, friends or family. In addition, ETAC pastors visit one another’s churches once a month to pray for the pastors, leaders, members and church growth.

One of ETAC’s major goals for this quadrennium is to recruit two new pastors. Currently, some pastors hold two or three portfolios in their local churches, potentially leading to fatigue. The ETAC leadership is working to strengthen the Methodist Young Adult Fellowship and identify leaders to serve, in the hope that that more young people will enter full-time ministry.

The Rev Philip is thankful for the opportunity God has given him to serve as ETAC President. “God has His purpose to place me here. My prayer is to listen to His voice daily, submit to his leading, walk humbly in His love, and serve him with fear, putting my trust in Him alone,” he said. When asked about the biggest challenge in sharing the gospel with the Indian community, the Rev Philip shared: “The Indians’ basic philosophy is that all rivers lead to the ocean. With a number of deities, they often accept Jesus as one of the gods. This makes it difficult to share the gospel that Jesus is the only God and that there is no other name given on Earth.”

Karma is another difficult idea to surmount. He said: “Suffering is explained through karma. Many Indians accept their suffering and bondage as a form of retribution for their collective actions. But Jesus’ salvation is free; He can break every chain and bond, and the truth will set them free from the past.”

“We need to pray,” the Rev Philip says, “that God will encounter these pre-believers personally.”

• God will give wisdom to the pastors, leaders and churches to share His love through good and loving deeds

• our churches will be caring communities with the mind of Christ (Phil 2:1–5)

• our churches will grow in disciple-making