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History Of The Elim Gospel Hall, Ipoh (1913 - 2003) - Part 12b - Elim Gospel Hall 1968 - 1987 Continued
Since the first Elim Gospel Hall was built in 1920, it had been shared by both the Chinese and English speaking assemblies. The English worship meeting would start at 8:30 am., followed by the Chinese meeting at 11:00 am. In 1974 the increase in the number of believers made it necessary for new plans to build a bigger hall or separate halls for the two assemblies.
Immediately the English-speaking assembly launched a building fund for a new hall estimated to cost around RM80,000. However active collection only began in 1976 when the English assembly moved out from the original Elim Gospel Hall to hold their worship service in the Girls Home building, after fifty years of sharing the same premises with the Chinese assembly.
In 1979 under the leadership of Mr. Victor Doss, building plans for the new Elim Gospel Hall were submitted for approval with the Ipoh Town Board. However the project was delayed because of problems which were solved only by April 1981 and construction began. The new Elim Gospel Hall was completed in mid December 1981. By then the total cost of the project including furniture and fitting had risen to RM200,000. Everyone was thrilled to hold the first meeting in the new hall - worship service on Sunday 26th December 1981. The Thanksgiving and Official Opening Ceremony for the new Elim Gospel Hall was held on Saturday 18th June 1982. Mr. W. McVey was invited to give the message.
Meanwhile the Chinese brethren built their own beautiful triple-storey structure on the site of the previous wooden Boys’ Home built in 1925. It was officially opened on 1st May 1987. The first hall built in 1920 has been pulled down in 2002 and now a new concrete building stands in its place (Chinese Assembly Library, Office and Conference Halls) opened on 27th July 2002. Only the Mission House (first building to be built in 1914) and the Girls Home (built in December 1917) are still standing; slowly being worn out by the ravages of time and termites.
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