St. Patrick's Anglican Church History


Tawau was founded as a small immigration village in 1898. The Anglican Church in Tawau began with the opening of a mission school
in 1917. Before that, from 1913, the church only had quarterly pastoral visits from an Anglican Chaplain, Rev. T.C. Alexander, from Sandakan.
The first residential priest, Rev. Vun Nen Vun, came in 1927. A school with a separate sanctuary was built in 1929 and dedicated to St. Patrick.

Rev.Walter Newmarch was the first C.M.S. missionary sent from Australia to Tawau in 1954, who served until 1968.
He emphasized teaching and lay participation in church ministries. The English and Chinese work grew as many
priests came and went in succession over the years. The work on the present St. Patrick's building was started in 1961 and extended over the years, while the Rectory and Parish Hall were built under the pastorate of Rev. Alan McMahon from 1980-1985. It was he who taught the people to tithe faithfully and the church saw increase in God’s blessings and supplies.

When Archdeacon Yong Ping Chung arrived in Tawau in 1985, the vision of planting a second church called Good Tidings Church was realized on Kuhara Road. The church continued to play an important role in the mission schools: St. Patrick's Secondary and Primary Schools and the Kindergarten.

By the time Rev. Albert Vun was sent to Tawau in Nov. 1990 to replace Archdeacon Yong
who was later installed as Bishop of Sabah, the church had grown to about 700 strong.

By the end of 1992, church leaders corporately sensed the Lord's leading to becoming a Cell Church. A period of transition followed, where many of the program-based ministries were reorganized and integrated into cell groups. By the grace of God the difficult years of transition were over. During his tenure from 1990-2005, Rev. Albert Vun challenged the church to be a mission-sending church by equipping members in areas of prayer and intercession, evangelism, healing, counseling and deliverance, as well as leadership training.

In 1995, with 5 separate services on Sundays at St. Patrick's Church, the growing congregations necessitated the building of a new worship premise to accommodate growth and expand equipping facilities of the church. By October 1997, the House of
Prayer for All Nations with a seating capacity of 2500 was completed. What better way to praise and glorify God than to utilize it to conduct the first Sabah Worship Conference in November 1997.

When Rev. Albert Vun was installed as the Bishop of Sabah, his baton of leadership was passed on to Rev. Canon Chak Sen Fen in May 2006. Under Rev. Canon Chak’s leadership, church attendance continue to show a slow and steady growth, for the current emphasis is more on discipleship training, consolidation and mission work.

Ministries are centered around cell groups, categorized under different Zones according to language (Chinese, English, Bahasa Malaysia), and age groups (Adult, Youth, Children, Senior Citizen). Sunday worship services have become celebration gatherings where God’s Word is preached and expounded for practical application in today’s 373 cell groups.

In retrospect, for the past 16 years as a Cell Church, God has blessed us with four churches planted by St. Patrick’s, which have become autonomous, namely Good
Tidings Church (Kuhara), St. Augustine’s Church (Merotai), Faith Christian Centre (near Kuala Lumpur), and Christ the Cornerstone Church (Tarakan, Indonesia). Several outreach centres, two Daycare Centres, a Learning Academy and a Vision School at Bandar Sri Indah have been set up. More than 20 pastors and priests have been produced and trained to serve in various parishes within the Diocese. Several more are in the making. All this is made possible because of the Cell Group Structure, which enables the church to grow from a 700-strong congregation to today’s average Sunday attendance of 3200 over a period of 16 years. Evangelism through Alpha Courses and Evangelism Explosion III will be our next focus.

1995 – The Year of Fruitfulness (Be Fruitful and Multiply)
1996 – The Year of Equipping
1997 – The Year of Prayer
1998 – Power, Love and Discipline
1999 – The Year of Breakthrough
2000 – The Year of Celebration
2001 – The Year of the Great Commission
2002 – The Year of Disciple Making
2003 – The Year of Firm Foundation
2004 – The Year of the New Beginnings
2005 – The Year of Good Works
2006 – The Year of Abundant life
2007 – The Year of Transformation
2008 – The Year of Transformation

2009 – A Year of Connecting

2010 – Year of Impact

The Rev. Vun Nen Vun

1927-1931, 1951-1954

The Rev. Canon
Chi Phu Yin

1931-1933

The Rev. Sung Khi Fong

1933-1941

The Rev. Canon
W. Newmarch

1954-1968

The Rev. K.J. Perry B.A

1957-1958

The Rev. Michael
Corbett-Jones

1968-1970

The Rev. Simon Chin

1971-1974

The Rev. Canon
Arnold Putang

1974-1980

The Rev. Alan Mcmahon

1980-1985

The Ven. Canon
Yong Ping Chung

1985-1990

The Ven. Canon Albert Vun

1990-2006

Canon Chak Sen Fen

2006-2010

Ven. Canon John Yeo

2010-Present