Tan Gim Ann was born on December 24, 1903 to a Straits-born (Peranakan) Buddhist family in Malacca. Although he did not share their beliefs, he would sometimes kneel at the altar to ask for success in his exams. To his family’s anger, he laughed at the money and time wasted in ancestral worship rituals.

Gim Ann excelled in school and, with his headmistress’ help, obtained a teaching scholarship to a university in Hong Kong where he graduated with an Arts degree. He became a Christian there in 1928 and braced himself for persecution when he returned home in 1930. He told his parents of his conversion but assured them of his love and respect.

When he started teaching, his parents forbade him to mix with Christians. Later, Gim Ann confided in his colleague and fellow Brethren, Mr K.T. Joseph, his desire to marry a Christian. Joseph thought of Voon Nyook Yoon who attended the same church as his brother in Ipoh. The opportunity for them to meet came in 1930 when Gim Ann and Nyook Yoon both attended the inter-assembly Easter conference at Venning Road Gospel Hall, Kuala Lumpur. 

Nyook Yoon was born on July 4, 1907 in Kudat, British North Borneo (now Sabah). She was brought up by her godly Hakka parents (Mr and Mrs Voon Keat), and grandmother who had emigrated from China to Sabah. When she was five, the family moved to Peninsular Malaya and lived in a small rubber estate in Tapah, Perak.

She was the eldest of nine children and her broad-minded parents sent her at the age of 10 to a Christian boarding school in Ipoh, the Elim Gospel Hall Orphanage set up by overseas Brethren missionaries. Nyook Yoon learnt fast at the orphanage and tutored the younger children under her care. She also interpreted for the missionaries in Hakka and Cantonese when they shared the gospel.

On December 22, 1933, three years after they met at the Brethren inter-assembly conference in Kuala Lumpur, they were married at the Elim Gospel Hall, Ipoh. The couple later became pioneers of the Brethren church in Malacca.

Gim Ann and his wife suffered family persecution for their faith. As the eldest son, he was expected to lead in the funeral rituals when his father died. When he explained to his mother that he could not do so as a Christian, she cursed him and Nyook Yoon. The family eventually accepted them as they were respectful, filial and helpful. Gim Ann paid for the rental of the family home which housed his extended family and by going the extra mile for her mother-in-law, Nyook Yoon was finally declared a good daughter-in-law. Her mother-in-law later even attended a few of the ladies’ meetings conducted in Baba Malay. 

The couple lived in their own house which they named “Bethany”. Gim Ann had bought a spacious piece of land which came with a large structure comprising a roof and pillars, but no walls. In the middle was a pool which was later used for baptisms. He built walls to partition off a bedroom, bathroom, lounge and kitchen. A large basement was later created for young people to study and play ping pong. Bethany underwent further renovation and extension to meet the needs that arose over the years.

Their first child, Betty Meng Chin, was born on May 4, 1937 while the second daughter, Clare Meng Eng, was born on October 27, 1941. They named their two daughters after missionaries at Elim Home – Mrs Elizabeth Wilson (Betty for short) and Miss Clare Shirtliffe.

Bethany was occupied by the Tan family of four, Nyook Voon’s mother and her disabled daughter, and their helper Mrs Ngeow and the latter’s young son who became a church elder. Gim Ann’s nephew Tan Beng Tee who also lived with them later became a Christian and church elder too.

The Tans were very hospitable and Bethany was a hive of activity with frequent visitors. Their daughters often had to give up their beds for visitors and slept on the floor. Bethany even housed student boarders from small towns such as Jasin, Seremban and Sitiawan.

As there was no Brethren church in Malacca, the couple started the Lord’s Supper in their home with Mr and Mrs Joseph, Mr Rajaratnam, and later Mr and Mrs Mervin Koch from Ipoh. They held Sunday school for their own children and those from the neighbourhood.

The couple served as camp parents in the Scripture Union youth camps and hosted the Singapore Youth for Christ which held evangelistic meetings in Malacca. Gim Ann also preached at Wesley Church’s Malay services.

Several of Gim Ann’s students joined the church and later became church leaders. His former student, a medical doctor in Singapore, recalled that Gim Ann was a strict disciplinarian with a strong Christian witness.

Nyook Yoon, who worked alongside him, cared for the spiritual and physical needs of those she visited. She walked through paddy fields and farms to reach the children and women with whom she shared the gospel. She read from her Chinese Bible, explained the passages she read, prayed for them and invited them to attend church service.

She also shared the gospel with the parents of the Sunday school children and young people. During these visits, she would carry the Chinese, English or Malay Bible according to the languages they spoke. She brought along an interpreter, Madam Nancy Tay, when she ministered to the Malay-speaking Straits-born women. 

Nyook Yoon never learned how to drive and she would travel by bus, on a motorcycle as a pillion rider, or she would get someone to drive her around. 

During the Japanese occupation (1941-45), many families fled their homes and found temporary shelter in Bethany. Nyook Yoon’s faith was tested with extra mouths to feed but the money always came in time to pay for the groceries.

Church services and Sunday school were then held in Mrs Chow’s home which was located in town. When the Japanese forbade home meetings, they met at the printing press owned by Joshua Proctor. After the war, they built a simple building along Tranquerah Road to conduct services in English and Chinese and named it the Malacca Gospel Hall.

As a young church, Malacca Gospel Hall benefitted from in-depth Bible teaching from overseas missionaries: Mr and Mrs Wyllie; Mr and Mrs Marks; Mr and Mrs Regler; Mr and Mrs Vines; Mr Gordon Blair; Mr and Mrs Geoffrey Bull; Mr Charlie Tan; Mr and Mrs Bentley; Miss Daphne King; Miss Doris Dove (Overseas Missionary Fellowship); and Miss Grieg who worked among the Straits-born Malay-speaking women. 

The Chinese Bible teachers were Choo Min Soon from Taiping and Charles Lee from Taiwan. The church also supported the Chinese-speaking church in Jasin, and two sisters – Mavis and Mabel Lee – made visits there during the pre-war years.

The church’s first Bible camp was held in Malacca in 1951 and it was attended by young people sent by assemblies in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Klang and other small towns. Aside from Malacca, later church camps were also held in Port Dickson. Those who were bilingual were involved in both the English and Chinese Bible camps. 

Open-air meetings by the Malacca River were held every Saturday evening until it was disallowed by the government. Short gospel messages were preached in English or Chinese, interspersed with singing which was accompanied by the writer playing the accordion. 

The Chinese church leaders included Loh Wee Ken and Goh Keng How while those in the English-speaking congregation comprised Dr and Mrs Lim Seang Chye, and Dr and Mrs Michael Oh.

Later, a foreign missionary objected to the Tans’ and several church members’ involvement with other denominations and Christian organisations, and they were stopped from participating in church ministries and the Lord’s Supper. 

Unable to serve the Lord in the church, the Tans then left to start another congregation, the Malacca Gospel Chapel, which met at Bethany. The annual Residential Bible School (RBS) was pivotal in giving the Malacca Gospel Chapel a vision and biblical grounding. 

The 1970s were fruitful years as students from secondary schools were attracted by the activities at the Malacca Gospel Chapel. These young people, now in their fifties and sixties, now serve as church planters, tentmakers or in full-time ministry.

Betty returned to help in the ministry with her husband, whose job took him to Malacca for 2½ years. 

Gim Ann succumbed to cancer on October 12, 1965 aged 62. The Malacca Gospel Chapel bought Bethany, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016.

In the late 1980s, Nyook Yoon left Malacca to live with Clare in Ipoh where she passed away on February 18, 1996 at the age of 88. She was survived by Betty and Clare and their husbands, and four grandchildren. Betty’s husband Tan Eng Heng passed away in 2004 and Clare’s husband Wong Yew Choong passed away in 2017.