OUR HISTORY
The story of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church of Kuala Lumpur begins some years before there actually was a church. Presbyterian worship services were inaugurated in Kuala Lumpur in 1902. For fifteen years, these services were held in several different facilities in the city. Ministers and missionaries from Singapore and Penang led the services.
In 1915, the Presbytery of London North formally recognized Kuala Lumpur as a Preaching Station under the care of the Session of Singapore. The persistent efforts of the congregation to establish a Presbyterian church in Selangor reached a pinnacle on Wednesday, April 17, 1918, when the church building was opened for public worship.
During its first four decades, the church St. Andrew’s was severely tested by times of extreme financial difficulty at the national and international level. During World War II, the organ pipes, books, Bibles, hymnals, and various worship items were stolen or destroyed. Yet God continued to work out His faithfulness during this time, through local English-speaking Methodists who took over the building for regular worship and prevented further destruction. British forces liberated Malaya in Sept. 1945, and by early 1946 a small group of Presbyterians returned to Kuala Lumpur, launching worship services once again at St. Andrew’s.
Since that pivotal time of upheaval, the church has continued to progress and grow: an increase in church attendance has led to the addition of a second worship service, amidst new ministries to meet changing circumstances faced by the nation and the inhabitants of its capital city.
Our church congregation continues to evolve too, shifting steadily from an ex-patriate majority
congregation to a community with more members from Malaysia which still warmly welcoming
believers from numerous nations. As we look back on the 100-year history of St. Andrew’s, it is
good for us to remember that the success of a church is not determined by its longevity, but
rather by its love for God and for one another and by its obedience to our Lord and its service to
others