Parkwood Community Church is the English Congregation of the Perth Chinese Christian Church in Parkwood. She adopted the name Parkwood Community Church in 2026 to reflect her uniqueness of being an English-speaking congregation in a Chinese church.

While we continue to set our vision to be a biblically-grounded, Spirited-led, outreaching church, this change reflects that our church welcomes everyone, regardless of their ethnicity, colour, or background.

"Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all." (Colossians 3:11)

 

The History of the Perth Chinese Christian Church

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1970's - The Inception of the first Chinese Church in Western Australia

In the seventies, there were very few Chinese migrants living in Western Australia. In 1978, a few Chinese Christian families from different denominational backgrounds began a weekly Bible study and prayer meeting in one of their homes. By November of the same year, the prayer group was able to make use of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Perth on a bi-weekly basis for worship service. Rev. Poh Ham Lim was invited to conduct the bilingual (English and Cantonese) worship on a voluntary basis. The first general meeting was called on 11th March 1979 and an election of office bearers took place a week later. With an increasing number of worshippers, the church moved to two other venues conducting weekly services before settling in at the St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Leederville in 1980.

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1980's - The Period of Growth

Rev. Poh Ham Lim became a full-time pastor of the church. In 1981, the first Constitution was passed at the Extraordinary General Meeting held in June. The first Chinese Christian church in Perth was now established as a non-denominational, evangelical independent church – the Perth Chinese Christian Church (PCCC). The congregation continued to grow and members were mainly English, Mandarin and Cantonese speaking. In September 1984, the church started an English Service. The Chinese Service was conducted in Cantonese and Mandarin. By 1987, the church purchased the current Doubleview venue from Scarborough Church of Christ. A dedication service was held and lead by Rev. (Dr.) Choong Chee Pang, the then Principal of Trinity Theological College, Singapore. With a stable venue and permanent building, the congregation continued to grow.

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1990's - The Period to Establish a Branch, and to Build a Worship Center in Doubleview

In November 1991, the church accepted an invitation from the Lutheran and the Emmanuel Church in Parkwood to start the south branch ministry. A Sunday school building fully funded by the church was built on Lutheran land in 1994. Around the same time, the Chinese congregation in the Doubleview church grew into 2 congregations, one in Cantonese and Mandarin. With a growing number of worshippers in the different services, the approval to build a new worship centre and Sunday school facilities was passed at the Annual General Meeting in 1995. The new Worship Centre and Sunday School building in Doubleview was completed and commissioned in February 1997.

In 1998, with the blessing of the church, a large home group (Genesis) in the English congregation moved out to start a worship service in the University of Western Australia. Children’s ministry in the Doubleview church flourished under the efforts of a dedicated team of teachers. At the AGM of 1998, the church approved the purchase of land from St Luke’s church for the building of a new venue. In the same year, the south branch congregation grew into two congregations - Chinese speaking and English speaking.

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2000's - The Period of Consolidation, and to Build a Worship Center in Parkwood

In the early 2000’s, an attempt was made to establish a church in Morley. However, the project was discontinued after 2 years.

In August 2003, approval was sought at an Extraordinary General Meeting to build a worship centre for the south branch. The project experienced significant delay due to many unforeseeable factors. The building was finally completed in 2008 after a considerable increase in the original budgeted building cost. However, once again we witnessed that His grace is abundant and He meets our needs both spiritually and financially.

In September 2005, the English congregation at Doubleview adopted the name Firstlight. In early 2008, the pastor and a great majority of the congregation moved to another location to worship, and became independent in mid 2008. The remaining English worshippers rebuilt the English Service in Doubleview under the leadership of the Board of Elders.

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Present - One Church, Two Locations, Five Congregations

At present, the church has 5 congregations (3 in Doubleview and 2 in Parkwood) with a total of around 350 members.