Introduction

Summary

1. This survey is an attempt to tell a story of a complex community. It is a story of a community with very different members, many of whom come from different socio-economic backgrounds, sharing the same faith. As it is in many cases, the diversity within faith communities is often obscured, sometimes out of ignorance, sometimes out of political convenience, by the sheer visibility of religion and religiosity.

2. Christianity is one of the fastest growing religions in Singapore. According to Singapore census data, Singaporeans aged 15 years and over who professed to be Christians have grown from 14.6 per cent in 000 to 18.3 per cent in 2010. In addition, it is a well educated community with over 40 per cent of a total of 350,000 Protestant Christians holding a university degree. Quite clearly, it is a story that needs to be told. This is not to say that the Christian community in Singapore has not been adequately studied. Indeed there have been several noteworthy local studies which have guided our thoughts and which we have duly cited in this report. However, the rapid growth of Christianity in Singapore has not been accompanied by systematic quantitative studies, unlike elsewhere (Putnam and Campbell 010). As a result, many interesting qualitative arguments have not benefited from the broad overview that quantitative evidence provides.

3. The central plot to this story is the phenomenal growth of the so-called “megachurch” in Singapore. Images of charismatic pastors, rock concert-like worship services and trendy congregations are certainly popular (see Ong 1 July 008; Lee and Long 17 July 010). But who are these megachurch members? What are their backgrounds? How do they view the world? How are they different from their Anglican or Methodist counterparts? On which issues do they converge? And while it is generally recognized that Protestant Christians in Singapore are mainly middle class (Clammer 1978, p. 2; Sng and You 1982, p. 59), are there variations within this middle class? And if so, do they correspond to denominations? These were the overarching questions that motivated this survey.