‘Go, go, go!’ In Southeast Asia, new generations of Christians are on the move

SINGAPORE — From this small island, sandwiched between Malaysia and Indonesia, you can go almost anywhere in Southeast Asia.

• Indonesia: Bringing Christ to a Muslim world

• Indonesia’s most-blessed man: A former prisoner trains new generations of preachers

• Thailand: Survivors of the Taliban find new life — and new fears — in Bangkok

• Jailed Pakistani family in Thailand shows true beauty

• Singapore: Asia’s ‘giving church’ says farewell

• His face preaches: The faith of ‘Tattoo Tan’

Christians in Singapore are doing just that — with Bibles in their hands and on their phones.

Though still the minority in countries dominated by Buddhist and Muslim faiths, Christianity has grown tenfold in the Asia-Pacific region in the past century, the Pew Research Center for Religion and Public Life reports.

Members of Churches of Christ — planted among colonial brick buildings a half-century ago by missionaries from the U.S. — are boarding planes to serve as missionaries themselves, healing the sick, feeding the hungry and reaching lost souls in Cambodia, Vietnam — even China.

Mit Vikraman grew up in a Church of Christ in Malaysia and now worships with the Moulmein Church of Christ in Singapore. 

Instead of dwelling on the disputes — doctrinal and financial — that plagued congregations here in decades past, “the atmosphere among churches is, it’s time to go, go go!” he said. “It’s a really good time to be here.”