Introduction
The UK Returnees (Chinese Overseas Christian Mission or COCM) is an interest group of the Graduates’ Christian Fellowship (GCF).
Aims
- To provide fellowship for the new returnees and programmes to help them adjust to life and the work environment in Singapore
- To help the young graduates to assimilate with the rest of the fellowship eventually
- To encourage and support any future full-time Singaporean/Malaysian staff workers in the United Kingdom (UK).
Ministry Focus
To achieve the above aims, the COCM organises a monthly prayer meeting on the second Wednesday of every month. All eligible returnees from the UK especially those who have yet to return will be encouraged to join this GCF interest group.
Brief History
The COCM was founded in 1953 by the late Rev Stephen Wang, who had left China a few years earlier for postgraduate studies in the UK. The original purpose of the mission was to minister to and evangelise Chinese restaurant workers and overseas Chinese students in UK. This work has now been expanded to include Eastern and Western Europe. There are now more than 100 Chinese churches through out the UK and Europe. A few non-Chinese Singaporean and Malaysian students are also attending such churches.
The COCM’s headquarters is in Milton Keynes, UK which also houses the Bible school for Chinese-speaking workers. One of COCM’s long-term goals is to evangelise the Europeans (as Europe and the UK have become a spiritually dark continent). Work has commenced among the British-born Chinese, who do not speak Chinese and who are virtually indistinguishable from the Caucasian British.
About 100 to 200 graduates in Singapore including three past GCF presidents and some current members were either converted through the COCM or have been actively associated with it during their studies in the UK.