by Timothy Tow an autobiography 2 Son of a Mother’s Vow Son of a Mother’s Vow © 2001 Rev. (Dr.) Timothy Tow 9A Gilstead Road, Singapore 309063. ISBN 981-04-2907-X Published by FEBC Bookroom 9A Gilstead Road, Singapore 309063. http://www.lifefebc.com Printed in the Republic of Singapore. Cover design by Charles Seet. Contents 3 Contents Acknowledgement ......................................................................... 6 Prologue ......................................................................................... 7 1. Discovering Our Roots 1815-1868 ................................................................................. 9 2. Childhood Memories of China 1920-1926 ............................................................................... 29 3. Exodus To Nanyang (The South Seas) 1926-1935 ............................................................................... 45 4. The Singapore Pentecost 1935 ........................................................................................ 63 5. No Failure, No Success 1936-1948 ............................................................................... 85 6. Faith Of Our Fathers 1948-1950 ............................................................................. 125 7. Mother’s Vow Fulfilled 1950 ...................................................................................... 131 8. Beginnings Of A Young Pastor 1950-1951 ............................................................................. 138 9. By Sword and Trowel 1951-1956 ............................................................................. 156 10. “Lengthen and Strengthen” 1957-1962 ............................................................................. 167 11. Testing Before Blessing 1959 ...................................................................................... 183 12. A Church with Five Doors 1960-1963 ............................................................................. 188 4 Son of a Mother’s Vow 13. Life’s Red Letter Day February 16, 1963 ................................................................. 207 14. Sowing Beside All Waters 1963-1965 ............................................................................. 214 15. “With Christ on the Mount” April 19, 1965 ....................................................................... 222 16. Behind Every Man . .......................................................... 230 17. A Dissentious Spirit 1968-1969 ............................................................................. 237 18. Songs from the Holy Land 1969-1970 ............................................................................. 241 19. From Batu Pahat to the Muar River 1964-1972 ............................................................................. 252 20. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria 1970-1977 ............................................................................. 260 21. To Alma Mater Again 1978-1979 ............................................................................. 274 22. From Life Book Centre to FEBC Bookroom 1976-1996 ............................................................................. 285 23. Woodlands 1979-1983 ............................................................................. 289 24. First Pilgrimage to the Holy Land and on to America 1983 ...................................................................................... 309 25. Beyond Bukit Batu .............................................................. 320 26. Evangelising ASEAN Through FEBC Students to This Day 2 Timothy 2:2 1982-2000 ............................................................................. 337 27. Into All the World 1984-2000 ............................................................................. 360 28. Dissolution of Synod 1988 ...................................................................................... 368 29. Beulah House 1990 ...................................................................................... 374 30. The Story of Kemaman and Kuantan 1992-2000 ............................................................................. 387 Contents 5 31. Mersing, Ahoy! 1996-2000 ............................................................................. 395 32. Death in the Pot ................................................................... 404 33. Lively Sayings ..................................................................... 412 34. Occupy Till I Come 2000- ..................................................................................... 421 Epilogue ..................................................................................... 442 Books by the Same Author ........................................................ 446 6 Son of a Mother’s Vow Acknowledgement I am deeply grateful to Rev. Philip Heng for the invaluable records of the early years of the English Presbyterian Mission including the founding of Iam-tsau Church by Dr. Rudolph Lechler of the Basel Missionary Society. These he brought back from Grace Theological Seminary, U.S.A. where he received further training. I am also indebted to Loi Huey Ching for her painstaking labours in the typesetting and arrangement of this book, and to Ivy my wife for providing the supporting photographs. T. Tow December 2000 Prologue 7 Prologue “What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows?” (Prov. 31:2) It was one of those happy hours in our early childhood that Sister Siew Ai and I would sit at Mother’s feet and talk, while younger brothers Siang Yew and Siang Hwa would be playing hide-and-seek around the house. We had just come home from school in Singapore to Senai, Malaya, for the vacation, so the pleasure of sitting at Mother’s feet was sweeter than ever. The things we talked about were serious subjects for children of our age. Sister was eleven and I was eight, Siang Yew was five and Siang Hwa three. Siang Yeow was the baby, kicking in the cradle. The things we asked concerned our Christian faith, education and future career. “Mother,” Sister and I asked almost in unison, “What shall I be when I grow up?” Beginning with Sister, Mother said, “Sister will be a doctor.” Then she jumped to Siang Yew, “He will be an engineer.” Of sprightly Siang Hwa, her ambition was he should become a lawyer. When I felt a little left out and implored, Mother solemnly replied, “You are to be a pastor!” Then she added, “Before you were born, I had given you to the Lord. The day that you were born, Grandpa offered you up to Him in prayer.” Why of all her children did Mother offer me to the Lord? Three years after Mother was married she gave birth to Sister. This did not fulfil the hopes of the Tow Clan, as everyone in the old Chinese tradition expected a boy, and that usually within the first year. When it took another three years before my arrival, Mother had become 8 Son of a Mother’s Vow anxious. Like Hannah in bitterness vowing to the Lord, Mother vowed the same vow, that should He grant His handmaid a man- child, “then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life” (1 Sam. 1:10,11). During the Great Depression of 1929-30, I remember another occasion when we returned home from Singapore for the school vacation. I was alone with Mother. When I told her how small Grandpa’s stipend was (he was pastor of the English Presbyterian Mission Church in Upper Serangoon), being thirty dollars a month, she was dumbfounded by that remark. (A school-leaver starting out as a junior clerk was paid forty-five dollars a month.) Looking very serene, she must be praying in her heart for the son of her vow. “So, I will be a pastor when I grow up,” responded I within, to her wishes. I loved Mother very much. I was the son of my Mother’s vow. When Mother spoke again, she comforted me with these words, “When you grow up, I will send you to America!” (Now, America, which is Meikuo in Chinese, means the Beautiful Country, a heaven- on-earth to me even at that young age). Discovering Our Roots 9 1 Discovering Our Roots 1815-1868 “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also” (2 Tim. 1:5). From our earliest childhood, we were immersed in the light and love of a godly family. Not only beneath godly parents, but also under the tutelage of Grandpa, a godly minister of the Gospel. Indeed, the roots of our Christian faith run even deeper. They go down to maternal great-grandfather Tan Khai-lin, also known as Tan Soo Chuan. He was the first convert of the English Presbyterian Mission to Swatow (1859). The English Presbyterian Mission, established in 1847, was one of the late in coming among the many missionary societies that had sprouted since the founding of the first by William Carey, “father of modern missions” (1792). But “the last shall be first” (Matt. 20:16), considering the influence that the English Presbyterians have spread through Kwangtung and Fukien, two southern Chinese provinces; to Taiwan, Malaya and last, but not least, to Singapore. And now, as the torch is handed down to Bible-Presbyterian Missions in true succession, that Gospel Light is diffused to all the ten ASEAN countries, viz., Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia; and way beyond to Saipan in the Pacific, to Australia, to India, to Africa, to Canada, and to London; and even back to the Holy Land. If we include the 400 graduates of Far Eastern