Reverend Simon Chandran walked slowly towards us, a gentle smile forming as he stretched out his hand. “Welcome, come please sit,” he said, gesturing to a bench in Emmanuel Garden.
Uncle Ravi, the church caretaker, flipped a switch and the ceiling fan above us came to life as Rev. Simon settled in, a mix of curiosity, excitement, and apprehension in his eyes. He took a deep breath and began his story.
“My father was a cook in Taiping Prison who fell sick soon after I was conceived. As Hindus, my parents believed I was a bad omen. My father thought I would take his life, so he cursed me,” Rev. Simon said.
When Rev. Simon was born on 5 December 1949, his father sold him to another family for RM50. However, his maternal grandparents found out and reclaimed the infant by force, raising him in their home until he was eight.
“My mother believed in education and placed me in the St. Louis Orphanage in Taiping, where I stayed for nine years. All I owned was two sets of school uniforms and two sets of casual wear. Those were difficult years,” he remembered.
With little guidance and no desire to succeed, the teenager failed his Form 3 examination and left the orphanage. For the next few years, he worked with his mother in a rubber estate before moving to stay with his older brother in Ipoh in 1968.
After his brother took his own life, Rev. Simon moved into a rented room. His landlords were Christian, and their son, Gabriel Jebanathan, invited him to youth fellowship.
He was struck by the joy of the church youths compared to the stale aimlessness of his friends who smoked, drank, and gambled. One day soon after, he cycled past the Chinese Methodist Church in Ipoh and saw John 3:16 on a billboard.
Moved to tears, he went home and was led to Christ by Gabriel and his brothers. “That was the beginning of knowing God as my Father,” he said.
After completing his theological studies in India, he served in the Methodist Church for eight years. In 1979, he married Santha. She was an English teacher and the love of his life.
In October 1987, he started Emmanuel Christian Assembly, an independent charismatic church in Taiping. It was unheard of in those days for a Methodist minister to forge such a path. But he felt it was his calling.
He faithfully served as senior pastor and blazed a trail in many ways -- purchasing their own building, opening a campsite, senior home, and orphanage. "I knew in my heart that God wanted us to go beyond church walls and meet real needs on the ground,” he ruminated.
In 2020, his son Pastor Samuel John Chandran took over as senior pastor and Rev. Simon began his season of rest.
Just three years later, however, Santha passed away. He misses her dearly.
“She was the backbone of us all,” he said lovingly, as he showed us where she would sit in church every week, supporting and loving him from the front row.
Now 77, his face lights up with precious memories of his youth, the wonderful years with Santha, his beloved children: Shobana, Sangeetha, and Samuel John, and his grandchildren.
He believes God has more for him out there. But for now, he is content to rest and wait for his next assignment.
