At Tabernacle Christ Fellowship, a vibrant mix of migrant workers, IT professionals, students and nurses from India find a home away from home.

Every week, they gather in a space where they can speak in their native language, connect with others who share their culture, and experience the love and warmth they have missed since leaving their families behind to come to Singapore.

Founded in 2009 by Pastor Danny Modi and his wife, Pastor Lalitha, both originally from India, this Telugu fellowship serves Indian nationals in Singapore, and is supported by local churches that believe missions is right at their doorstep.

Friendships over shared curry

When Pastor Danny first arrived in Singapore in 2009, he had expected to be here for a three-month course at Tung Ling Bible School – a short break from a hectic ministry schedule in India, where he had been in full-time ministry since 1992.

However, an encounter with God at Mustafa Centre would turn his visit into a stay of 15 years – and counting. 

While attending the course, God prompted him to visit the shopping mall in Little India, a popular shopping destination for visitors from India and one Ps Danny had frequented since his arrival.

That Sunday, he saw a big crowd of Indian migrant workers. It was not an unusual sight, but this time his heart was moved by it.

Then God said to him: “My heartbeat is for these people.”

As he prayed over what God had told him, Ps Danny heard some of the migrant workers speaking in Telugu, his language, and decided to approach them.

Upon learning that they were fellow countrymen, the men invited him to eat with them – a fellowship Ps Danny missed, having been away from home.

Ps Danny (standing, right) ministering to the Indian migrant workers that he grew a burden for after the Lord showed him His heart for them. Photo courtesy of Pastor Danny Modi.

Over a humble meal of shared curry, the men struck up a friendship. As time went by, one meal became two, then three. With each meeting, Ps Danny started to carry more and more of God’s burden for them.

Soon, he began helping out regularly at Karunya Community Clinic – which serves migrant workers – as a Telugu interpreter, and also started visiting the workers up to three times a week in their dormitories.

When his wife came to visit him, he brought her to see his friends in the dormitories too. “We both started praying and both she and I felt the burden to be a father and mother to these brothers who were missing their families,” he recounted.

Suddenly, a word that God had given to them a few years ago began to make sense.

Back in India, the couple had been praying for a fresh direction in ministry when God gave them through Isaiah 49:6 a promise to expand their reach.

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

It was a word that they had not fully understood – until now.

The day before his flight back to India, Ps Danny received a call from Asia Evangelistic Fellowship (AEF International), who ran the medical clinic Pastor Danny had volunteered at, asking if he would like to apply for a role under them as a Telugu pastor.

Without hesitation, he rescheduled his flight and applied for the job. “I wanted to leave everything and come,” he said. “My heart was for these brothers now.” 

Throwing open their doors

Initially, Pastor Danny had hoped to reach out to the migrant brothers in their dormitories and direct them to existing Telugu fellowships in Singapore.

Over time, however, he realised that many new believers were not assimilating well into the churches and struggled with discipleship. So, he decided to shepherd them himself by starting Tabernacle Christ Fellowship (TCF).

With nowhere else to meet, they would gather at roadsides, open fields and even cemeteries near the men’s dormitories to worship God, listen to His Word and pray for one another.

When Ps Danny first started reaching out to migrant workers, they would meet along roadsides and at open fields. Photo courtesy of Pastor Danny Modi.

Having a time of Bible study and fellowship with Ps Danny (third from right, in black) by the roadside near the workers’ dormitories. Photo courtesy of Pastor Danny Modi.

Tabernacle Christ Fellowship met like this for months – until two churches opened their premises to the brothers. Photo courtesy of Pastor Danny Modi.

They met like this for several months, until two local churches – Bartley Christian Church (BCC) and Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church (PPHBC) – offered them a place to call home.

“When one of our Pastors found out that Ps Danny was worshipping with all the Christian brothers in open spaces by the cemetery, that broke our hearts,” said Pastor Joseph Lee, Senior Pastor of BCC.

“We thought, ‘If we share the same faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and we have a building space, why go to a cemetery?’ And so we said, ‘You come to us.'”

Members from Tabernacle Christ Fellowship and Bartley Christian Church exchanging stories over a meal. Photo courtesy of Bartley Christian Church.

Similarly, when Pastor Yeoh Seng Eng, Missions Pastor at PPHBC, met Ps Danny at a (now-closed) medical clinic his church ran for migrant workers at the Jurong Penjuru Dormitory, he was moved to help – a sentiment shared by his church which had already been serving the diasporas in Singapore.

A health screening held outside Jurong Penjuru Dormitory in 2009 by Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church. The clinic the church opened has since closed. Photo courtesy of Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church.

For the last decade and a half, TCF has been meeting weekly at these two churches – Saturday nights at BCC and Sunday nights at PPHBC – rent-free.

Explaining the leadership’s decision not to charge rent, Ps Joseph of BCC said simply: “Because we feel the building belongs to the Lord. And we see them as family members … Which family member doesn’t help another family member? Cannot lah.”

Ps Seng Eng of PPHBC, who is also the executive director of non-profit organisation Care Channels International, added that not charging the fellowship rent allows them to use their collected tithes and offerings to care for the needs of their ministry and members.

A member of Tabernacle Christ Fellowship being baptised at Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church. Photo courtesy of Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church.

The churches’ hospitality has not gone unappreciated by those at TCF. 

“We really appreciate their heart. They took us in like we were their own brothers and gave us the freedom to use the place. We never felt like we are foreigners and we have to be very conscious and careful,” said Ps Danny.

“It’s like a father’s house.”

Offering more than just a space

These local churches’ support for Ps Danny’s fellowship, which totals about 50 in BCC and 100 in PPHBC, has extended beyond just offering them a physical space to meet.

Both churches help to support Ps Danny and his family through AEF International, which employs Ps Danny, and sponsors the food and transport needs of TCF members when they gather each weekend.

Members of Tabernacle Christ Fellowship worshipping at Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church. Photo courtesy of Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church.

During the COVID pandemic when the migrant workers were stuck in their dormitories and could not send money back to their families, the churches also supported the migrant brothers and their families financially for several months.

“The brothers’ families were in so much shock because the church was sending money to India. That was a great act of kindness towards us,” said Ps Danny.

There are also efforts to embrace TCF in the wider church community. At PPHBC, the young adults ministry takes them out to Sentosa every National Day for a day of fun and games.

Brothers from Tabernacle Christ Fellowship and young adults from Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church playing games at Sentosa last August. Photo courtesy of Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church.

Fun and games at Sentosa last year.

And at least once a year during Missions Month, both churches include the Telugu fellowship in their Sunday service.

On Telugu Sunday at PPHBC, both the English and Telugu congregations sing Telugu worship songs, accompanied by a dance by the Indian sisters. Worshippers will also pray specifically for the Telugu congregation and ministry, before feasting on Indian food together.

At BCC, which has congregations of seven different languages, the last Sunday of Missions Month sees all these congregations dressed in various ethnic costumes and worshipping together in a multi-cultural, multi-language service.

“That’s something very beautiful, something that I treasure very much,” said Ps Joseph. “We realise that God speaks more than just English, and that’s a joy because we realise how big God is.”

Leaders representing the seven different congregations at the multi-ethnic Sunday service during Missions Month at Bartley Christian Church. Photo courtesy of Bartley Christian Church.

Praying for the Telugu ministry during service. Photo courtesy of Bartley Christian Church.

He recounted that during one of these services, an Indian migrant brother stood up and said to the congregation: “When we came to Singapore, we noticed that the dogs live better lives than we do. We work all day in the hot sun, we smell, we are sweaty.

“But when we come to church, you don’t see what job we do. You see us as your brothers. Thank you very much.”

Ps Joseph said: “That service, I’ll never forget. There was not a single dry eye in the congregation.”

For the past nine years, New Creation Church (NCC) has also come alongside the fellowship in tangible ways, said Ps Danny.

Apart from chipping in to provide food and transport to the TCF services on weekends, the church also partners Ps Danny in organising several large-scale events like Christmas celebrations, a Banquet of Honour for migrant workers on May Day, and a cricket competition around Deepavali, all of which many migrant workers beyond the TCF brothers attend.

Migrant workers enjoying a performance at the Banquet of Honour, a yearly large-scale event held in partnership with New Creation Church to appreciate the work on the workers. Photo courtesy of Ps Danny Modi.

Ps Danny Modi (centre, in white) with NCC’s Pastor Lawrence Lim (on his right, in turquoise) at the annual ‘Freedom Cup’ cricket competition, held in partnership with NCC for migrant workers. Photo courtesy of Ps Danny Modi.

“The church sponsors everything and also gives the brothers food every week. We really appreciate the collaboration for the outreach of the Gospel, and for their heart toward our brothers,” said Ps Danny.

He shared a particularly poignant moment when the NCC pastors and volunteers told the migrant brothers during the Banquet of Honour: “You’re building our nation and you’ve been a blessing to us, so we want to be a blessing to you.”

Said Ps Danny: “I love that statement. Our brothers felt so honoured when they heard that.”

The nuts and bolts of sharing

Inevitably, sharing a space comes with operational and logistics challenges, as well as differences – some cultural – in the way things are done.

For example: Who uses the space at this time? Where do the pots and pans go after mealtimes? How do we reset the sound system properly? How clean should the space be left?

“These are the nuts and bolts. Nothing theologically earth-shaking, it’s just life,” said Ps Seng Eng from PPHBC.

Pastor Seng Eng (right) with Pastor Danny (left) and Pastor Tang Kok Fai from Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church. Photo courtesy of Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church.

The congregations have learnt to work out these challenges with patience and love, the Pastors told Salt&Light.

“But not everything has a perfect answer. We can’t expect every Sunday to be super clean. Some days someone is going to miss something. But it also can’t be that every Sunday something is missed lah,” said Ps Seng Eng.

Ps Joseph agreed: “We’re always meeting halfway. Thank God we’ve not had any major disagreements or misunderstandings, nothing that cannot be dealt with, with love and honest conversations.”

The Telugu team leading worship during the multi-ethnic Missions Month service at Bartley Christian Church. Photo courtesy of Bartley Christian Church.

One thing is certain: Neither church is tight-fisted toward the congregations they host. “No one feels that it’s their right, so that makes us even more willing to want to give,” said Ps Joseph.

For instance, the English congregation at BCC once cancelled its second service so that its Nepalese congregation could use the sanctuary for a special evangelistic service.

Yet, Ps Joseph hesitated to call this – and everything else the church has done as a host – a sacrifice.

“Sacrifice seems to denote a sense of loss of something. I’d like to see it as the church has received so much from the Lord that we are beholden to be generous. It’s a gift.”

Ripples of impact 

Over the years, these churches’ love and support toward Ps Danny’s ministry has borne fruit for the Gospel in ways far beyond what they could have imagined.

TCF now has not one, but two places to call home. Photo courtesy of Pastor Danny Modi.

The Telugu fellowship. Photo courtesy of Pastor Danny Modi.

“It’s like a father’s house,” said Ps Danny of the hospitality Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren Church and Bartley Christian Church have shown his congregation. Photo courtesy of Pastor Danny Modi.

Ps Danny noted that there is a unique opportunity to reach out to Indian migrants with the Gospel in Singapore.

“In the remote villages where they come from, they dare not go to church, dare not pray because of the caste system (where believers are persecuted). But here, they’re exploring. Here, they’re very open,” he said.

After receiving Christ in Singapore, at least two TCF members – one former construction worker and one former IT professional –  returned to India as pastors and missionaries. (Salt&Light covered their stories in the same series.)

Tabernacle Christ Fellowship with the leadership team at Bartley Christian Church. Photo courtesy of Bartley Christian Church.

Welcoming the Telugu congregation at the combined service at Bartley Christian Church. Photo courtesy of Bartley Christian Church.

Ps Seng Eng from PPHBC also recounted how a migrant brother had turned his life around after coming to know Christ through TCF, transforming the lives of his entire family.

Once a drunkard and a wife-beater, he had sobered up and begun taking financial responsibility for his wife and mother – much to their surprise.

When Ps Seng Eng visited the man in Hyderabad, in the house he had saved up to build, the man’s mother knelt before him, touching her forehead to his feet in an act of deep gratitude. 

He later found out that, moved by the man’s transformation, both the man’s mother and wife had become baptised Christians too.

Ps Joseph told Salt&Light that while not all churches are called to do missions in the same way, all have a part to play in the Great Commission and can trust the Lord to lead according to the resources and opportunities He has given.

“May we grow to see that the Gospel has no boundary. Going to a foreign country to be a missionary is wonderful, but sometimes God brings the mission field to us, and we must not be found doing nothing.”

This article is part of a four-part series titled Missions At Our Doorstep, which explores the power of reaching out to foreigners in our midst. Stay tuned for the rest of the series, which we will link below: 

“Singapore introduced Jesus Christ as my Saviour”: Migrant worker-turned-pastor who returned to India to share the Gospel

“Why would they love me so much?”: Domestic worker-turned-missionary on her employer’s love that transformed her

“God’s plan was greater than my plans”: She came to Singapore as an IT professional and returned to India as a pastor