This church began in a small wooden house in Nee Soon Village along Upper Thomson road at its junction with Mandai Road. In 1955, a Baptist Christian, Mr Tan Huan Hin, offered the use of his late brother’s house to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), a Christian denomination based in the United States. A centre for teaching of the Christian faith was thus started by the convention and named Baptist Gospel Centre. Activities were pioneered by a missionary, Mdm Tan Kiat Jin, who came from Swatow, China.
Services were conducted in Mandarin, Cantonese and Teochew as most believers then were Chinese-speaking. Many of them were villagers living in Nee Soon and Sembawang. Gradually, the centre became too small for the congregation. In 1957, with the aid of SBC, a corner shophouse along Casuarina Road was purchased, and the church was officially founded in 1958. Being located in Sembawang Hills Estate, it was named Sembawang Baptist Church (森峇旺浸信教会) in remembrance of its origins in Sembawang.
Over the years, the church underwent a few rounds of renovation and extension works. As the congregation grew too large for its premises, the church moved its Sunday service in 2000 to Yishun 10, a cinema in Yishun Town Centre. Services continued in the cinema till 2004, whereupon the church moved the worship service back to its original premises.
Besides serving the spiritual needs of Christians, Sembawang Baptist Church also organises visits to charitable homes and participates in community activities.