Timothy Tow
| Timothy Tow Siang Hui 杜祥辉 |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
Tow Siang Hui December 28, 1920 Swatow, Guangdong, China |
| Died | April 20, 2009 (aged 88) |
| Nationality | Singaporean |
| Education | BD, STM, Faith Theological Seminary DD, Shelton College |
| Occupation | Pastor |
| Years active | 1950-2009 |
| Spouse(s) | Nancy Loh (1940-1965) Ivy Tan (1966-2009) |
| Religion | Christianity - Bible-Presbyterian |
| Ordained | August 1950 |
Timothy Tow Siang Hui (28 December 1920 – 20 April 2009) was a Singaporean pastor who founded the Bible-Presbyterian Church. He was also founding principal of the Far Eastern Bible College.
Tow was educated at the Anglo-Chinese School. He was influenced first by John Sung, and later by Carl McIntire. He studied at Faith Theological Seminary and was ordained in Geneva in 1950 at a special meeting of the Philadelphia Presbytery of the Bible Presbyterian Church. Tow returned to Singapore and became pastor of the Life Church English Service at Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church. In 1955 he led a group out of the Chinese Presbyterian Synod to form the Bible-Presbyterian Church. Tow's congregation became known as Life Bible-Presbyterian Church. He later returned to Faith Theological Seminary and completed a Master of Sacred Theology degree.
In 2003, Tow resigned from Life Bible-Presbyterian Church and founded True Life Bible-Presbyterian Church. He had been criticized for holding to the doctrine of Verbal Plenary Preservation (VPP) and, together with the other directors of the Far Eastern Bible College, was sued in 2008 by Life Bible-Presbyterian Church for teaching this allegedly deviant doctrine in the Church's attempt to evict the College from the Gilstead Road premises which had been shared by the two institutions from the outset. However the Church failed as the Court of Appeal of Singapore, the apex court in the Singapore legal system, ruled on 26 April 2011 that (i) “the College, in adopting the VPP doctrine, has not deviated from the fundamental principles which guide and inform the work of the College right from its inception, and as expressed in the Westminster Confession”; (ii) “[i]t is not inconsistent for a Christian who believes fully in the principles contained within the Westminster Confession (and the VPI [Verbal Plenary Inspiration] doctrine) to also subscribe to the VPP doctrine”; and (iii) “[i]n the absence of anything in the Westminster Confession that deals with the status of the apographs, we [the Court] hesitate to find that the verbal plenary preservation doctrine is a deviation from the principles contained within the Westminster Confession."
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