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The history of RiverLife Church can be traced back to Bartley Christian Church. In the late eighties, the leadership of Bartley Christian Church made an initial decision to rebuild its sanctuary to accommodate growth. It was probably a cheaper and easier option. However, God had something else in mind.
In 1981, Dr Keith Hinton – a former missionary with Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) and a lecturer with Singapore Bible College – conducted a church growth research on Bartley Christian Church. He was later invited to comment on the church development plans in 1988. Dr Hinton said: “I felt God prompting me to challenge them [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.”
After prayerful consideration, the leadership of Bartley Christian Church made a radical change to their development plans and took up Dr Hinton’s challenge to plant a new church.
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 From the start, God affirmed that radical decision through a series of miracles that still continues today. William Lee, senior pastor of Bartley Christian Church recalls the first miracle he experienced in 1981, as chairman of the land search committee: “When I first met the owner of this piece of land [the land which RiverLife Church is presently occupying], he told me that a property developer had already placed an option to buy his entire land for $23 psf, to build a retirement village. [But] God was the one who moved the man’s heart and caused him to sell the best portion of his land to us at $23 psf – to build a church building instead of a retirement village. We had to raise about one million in three months to pay for the land. God caused His people to give generously and the purchase was completed without a loan.”
Significant to our history are also two special people whose hearts God stirred to own the vision of planting this new church in Pasir Ris. Senior Pastor Vincent Lun and Pastor Joseph Tang were the early contributors to our historical landscape. According to Senior Pastor Vincent Lun: “Soon after the land in Pasir Ris was purchased in 1988, I was told that both Pastor Joseph Tang and I would be assigned to plant the new church. After praying over the matter and feeling excited about the new challenge, I decided to stay on in my full-time capacity. Thank God. I cannot imagine missing out on all that God has done in and through this church. Over the years, I remain passionate about building the local church. This is an exciting and purposeful enterprise.” Pastor Joseph Tang recalls: “While praying about my new role then, the Lord gave me a vision called 2000:2000 – that by the end of year 2000, we would have 2000 worshippers. The Lord also impressed upon my heart that Vincent Lun was to provide leadership over the new church because he had the right gift-mix of a senior pastor.”
With Vision 2000:2000, this church moved boldly into the future under the leadership of Senior Pastor Vincent Lun. One of the early transitions was that of moving from a traditional church model to that of a cell church model. As a result, new relationships were built and new members were added. Thereafter, this church continued to reach out to the people in the east.
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 Dr Hinton resurfaced in the historical picture and 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’ to all the assets, but Bartley rose to the challenge. RiverLife has inherited great genes. In subsequent meetings with the leaders of the new church, it has been a delight to see that the church has a manifested vision, 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.”
This church was officially named RiverLife Church in 2000 when the senior leadership and church membership voted for Bartley Christian Church and this planted church in Pasir Ris to become two autonomous churches. Elder Andrew Goh recollects this momentous part in RiverLife’s history. “For years, being an elder meant caring for both congregations, at How Sun Drive and Loyang Besar. But practically, you can only be at one place. It became obvious to us that each respective place needed a different and separate board and team to guide the pace of growth and emphasis. We are so grateful for the magnanimity of our brethren at Bartley Christian Church for each to be attuned to what they believe the Lord wanted for each location – same DNA, but eventually purpose-driven in our own ways,” he said.
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 As the church grew, it became clear to the leadership that it was time to extend our present premises. Phase Two Building Project became a reality in the year 2000. Elder Freddy Boey 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 acutely aware of many RiverLifers who were suffering from an unprecedented and sustained economic downturn. Yet, we never doubted that God will provide, simply because it is not we but He who wants it built.”
God affirmed Phase Two Building Project through more miracles – the miracle of our first building fund collection of $1.03 million, despite the 9/11 tragedy the day before; the miracle of the $300,000 stamp duty waiver; the miracle of the our neighbour‘s generosity in opening up his land for us to park our cars; the miracle of our growing attendance despite construction work in-progress.
 Parallel to the building of new facilities, God also started to build the people and ministry infrastructure of this church. In 2004, RiverLifers committed themselves to a spiritual growth campaign that started to turn the church outward-looking. Sarah Leung, campaign director for the 40 Days of Purpose said: “The 40 Days of Purpose campaign was a significant milestone in my life and in our church, as we were reminded that life is not about us but about Him. We all grew many inches taller spiritually as we spent 40 days re-discovering God’s purpose for our lives. But, it was not the end. The campaign was only the beginning of our journey as a church to become a people of purpose – a people whose lives are consecrated to fulfill the Great Commandment and Great Commission. I continue to be energized by this mission as I serve full-time in RiverLife.”
In 2004, together with the senior leadership of the church, Senior Pastor Vincent Lun wrote a three-fold vision statement. “The truth is, I discovered God’s vision for RiverLife by looking back at the way God has led us,” he said. Deputy Senior Pastor Joseph Ong said: “This three-fold vision now becomes the passion of RiverLifers. What a journey it has been – we have grown to an average weekend attendance of above 2000. But as God’s primary agent to save the world, we must not get comfortable. We must become an outreaching community. Our ministry borders must broaden – to impact society and bless the nations. Our faith must rise. I believe that the Lord is with us and I look forward to participate in what God is going to do in the next season of our ministry.”
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