The St Peter’s Hall biannual retreat, held from 3-5 January 2020, is an event that many Anglican students look forward to. Although there was excitement when news broke that it would be held in Malacca, participants did not expect that “homework” would actually be assigned.

Malacca was the staging area of St Francis Xavier and the Jesuits in their evangelistic mission to Asia. Facilitated by the Acting Warden of St Peter’s Hall, the Rt Revd Kuan Kim Seng, the “homework” assigned had to do with discovering the way God used Malacca vis-a-vis missionaries like Robert Morrison and William Milne from the London Missionary Society (LMS), to bring the Gospel to China and Singapore. This is especially significant in light of Singapore’s recent bicentennial celebration where the significant contributions of Sir Stamford Raffles towards the mission of LMS and the Anglican Church in Singapore were remembered.

Besides touring the famous Jonker Street, participants also visited Christ Church Malacca, the oldest Protestant Church in Southeast Asia.

Not only was the retreat significant in teaching participants aspects of the history of missions, it also conveyed a sense of the sovereignty of God in guiding the course of history into the future for the propagation of the Gospel.

Barnabas Sim, BD2