Who We Are

Our Vision

A radiant disciple-making church catalysing Kingdom transformation in our communities and the nations.

Our Mission

We exist to make disciples who behold Christ and reveal Him.

Our Values

Rooted

The only way to live is by drawing from Christ. As the roots of our lives sink deeper into Christ, we will be able to navigate life held by His love and sustained by His word.

Family

We are committed to cultivating an environment that helps us discover our identity as spiritual parents. We are passionate about nurturing and equipping everyone to journey with others in following Christ.

Disciple Making

God’s heart is for everyone to belong, and so He plants each of us in His family. We resolve to embrace weaknesses and differences so as to create a safe place for all to be authentic and grow in maturity.

Sent

Called to be His messengers, we go and reach people. We are couriers of His love to the people we meet as we bring healing and hope to all who are hurt and in despair.

Servanthood

In a world of self-promotion, we are devoted to serving with humility and hiddenness. We desire to give of ourselves to others like Jesus, the ultimate Servant.

Our Story

  • The history of RiverLife Church can be traced back to Bartley Christian Church that still meets at No. 4, How Sun Drive today. In the mid-1980s, the church leadership intended to rebuild its sanctuary to accommodate growth, but God had something else in mind.

    In 1988, a man by the name of Dr Keith Hinton, a former Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) missionary and a Singapore Bible College lecturer, was invited to comment on the church development plans. Dr Keith Hinton said, “I felt God prompting me to challenge the leadership of Bartley Christian Church to steward their resources for forwarding the work of God by planting a daughter church in an unchurched part of Singapore.”

    This challenge was very similar to the conviction that one of RiverLife’s founding pastors, Pastor Joseph Tang, had received from the Lord. After prayerful consideration, the leadership of Bartley Christian Church made a radical change to their development plans and took up Dr Keith Hinton’s challenge to plant a new daughter church.

  • In 1991, 123 adults and 75 children from Bartley Christian Church responded to God’s call to plant a church in Pasir Ris. On 18 August of that year, they met for the first time at 6 Loyang Besar Close. A new church known as Bartley Christian Church (Pasir Ris Centre) was born. 

    The Elders Board of Bartley Church assigned Pastors Joseph Tang and Vincent Lun together with three Lay Elders, Dr Andrew Goh, Chen Chee Cheong and Lionel Goh to plant the new church. Over the years, this pioneer group remained passionate about building the local church, which they saw as the “Hope of the world.”

  • In 1999, Dr Keith Hinton again challenged the leadership of Bartley Christian Church to release the church they planted in Pasir Ris to operate independently. He said, “It was a big task to hand over the legal ‘keys’ but Bartley rose to the challenge. It has been a delight to see that the new church plant in Pasir Ris has a strong evangelistic zeal, a healthy focus on maturing believers, along with a very balanced place to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I sensed the Lord was pleased with what He saw.”

    Our church was officially named RiverLife Church in 2000 when the leaders and members of Bartley Church voted for Bartley Church (Pasir Ris Centre) to become an independent body. Bartley leaders agreed to gift the property situated at 6, Jalan Loyang Besar to its daughter church.

    RiverLife Church was officially incorporated with the Authorities as an independent Church in early 2001.

  • In 1997-1998, Bartley Church faced a severe leadership challenge. After this crisis was resolved, the Senior Leadership at RiverLife Church sought the Lord with a contrite heart for corporate healing and restoration. For 18 months, the church prayed earnestly for a fresh start. In 1999, the Lord was gracious in pouring out His Spirit on the Church in an unprecedented measure. It was a pleasant surprise to everyone that the Lord poured out far more of His grace than anyone could ask for or expect.

  • In 2000, it became clear to the leadership that it was time to build again. Freddy Boey, the Chairman of Elders Board then, said, “God gave us a simple word right at the beginning — raise faith, not funds — faith to move from our comfort zone into the unknown. We were aware of many RiverLifers who were suffering from an unprecedented economic downturn. Yet, we never doubted that God would provide, simply because it is not we, but He who wants it built.”

    God affirmed the phase two building project through more miracles — the church collected $1.03 million during its first building fund collection; There was even growing attendance despite construction work in-progress.

    After the new extension was completed in 2005, God added more worshippers to the RiverLife family. The church continued to prosper, as members actively brought their pre-believing relatives and friends for the various evangelistic services. Many of these pre-believers came to faith and stayed on to become active members and leaders of the Church.

    As RiverLife grew in numbers, the church also started to launch into the mission fields. RiverLife was able to bless churches in different nations with practical social projects, evangelistic training and equipping courses. The church’s desire was to strengthen church leaders in various nations so that they can fulfil God’s agenda in their land. 

    Because of the foundation laid by many, RiverLife Church today continues to be a church committed to pursuing after His presence, labouring in the communities and nations and journeying with one another to Christlikeness. We desire to be a radiant disciple-making church catalysing Kingdom transformation in our communities and the nations.