Church History - WMCSBN

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Wesley Seremban was founded in 1915 through the combined works of the local Chinese community and the English missionary workers and lay people.

In the late 19th century, migrants from China came to Negeri Sembilan to prospect for tin and settled down in the Seremban and Lukut areas. These migrants who were of the Christian faith gathered to worship in a small building near the then Convent School field along Jalan Birch (now renamed as Jalan Dato' Bandar Tunggal). A preacher from China had come to work among these migrants.

While the works among the Chinese was being carried out by a Chinese-speaking worker, an English layman, Mr. Bailey who was then the Chief Police Inspector in Seremban, became active in the church and helped start an English-speaking congregation. The District Superintendent of the area then, Rev. W.G. Shellabear, reported in the Conference Journal of 1916 that "English speaking congregation grew and an evening service was held. The messages at both the morning and evening services were translated into Chinese." This was the beginning of the English Congregation and that year was 1915, considered the birth year of the Wesley Methodist Church in Seremban.

The history of the church was closely intertwined with that of the school, the Anglo-Chinese School, Seremban, which shared the same compound as the church. The early missionaries realized that there was a rising need to set up a school that could teach both Chinese and English, a request made by the Chinese in the town.

The church building was very poorly made and in a wretched condition. When the first missionary to the church, Rev. T.R. Jones, arrived with his wife, they were without a home and had to put up wherever they could find board and lodging. Such was the discouraging circumstances of the early church but the zeal and commitments of the missionaries gave faith and brought forth the church that we have today. Leading merchants in the area raised funds to build the church, the parsonage and the school. Local support for these projects was reported as 'tremendous'.

It took some 5 years before the new church building was ready and the Mission House (which doubled as the church manse) was completed in the same year. It was first occupied by the 2nd missionary to the church, Rev. T.W. Bowmar and his wife. The following year, 1921, Rev. T.R. Jones returned to continue the work in Seremban for 2 years before Rev. Bowmar took over again until 1927. Their work extended beyond Seremban to include Sepang, Pasir Panjang, Johol, Jelebu, Tampin and Kuala Pilah. It was reported that Mrs. Bowmar even learned how to speak Hokkien in order to reach out to more people, and Rev. Bowmar served as both pastor of the church as well as the school principal.

Several developments frustrated the growth of the early church. Between 1926 and 1928, church work slowed down with the departure of the District Superintendent, Rev. Dodsworth, whose position was not filled. Also the reducing number of workers and declining business caused the church members to move out of the district. Anti-Christian propaganda from mainland China was also responsible for the departure of many Christians. Pastors everywhere worked without being paid for awhile. It was their love of the ministry that saw them through this difficult times.

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