the magic of pastor Lawrence Khong
The Sunday Times featured an interesting article on Lawrence Khong, probably a marketing promotional for his coming magic shows. It gave some insights into his colorful personality. I want to write something from a Christian perspective without making any value judgments on him or his ministry. Pastor Lawrence Khong is in my opinion one of the most outstanding indigenous Christian leaders of Singapore in the post-war period, if not in the last century. He is a strong natural leader anointed with gifts of faith and extraordinary leadership. I have never seen anyone with such great ability to cast visions, inspire people to believe and mobilize them to united action. He is now a leader of thousands but could certainly be one of hundreds of thousands. He is a rare gift to the body of Christ in Singapore and beyond.
I think it was the Cell Church revolution that thrust pastor Lawrence Khong into the spotlight and to the larger Body of Christ both in Singapore and the world. And the church loved what it saw and heard and felt. Many pastors and leaders were empowered during the FCBC annual cell conferences and this led to growth and changes of no small scale in many churches. FCBC had been more than generous in sharing its resources to all who needed help. The 1990s was a good season for churches that successfully applied the principle of the cell church.
He founded Touch Community Services, a non-profit welfare services with 18 centres in Singapore, helping over 100,000 needy and underprivileged through its programs since 1992. This would in my mind be one of his premier achievements: to work with the poor and needy is something close to the heart of the Lord and his apostles.
His ministry was of course no pleasure cruise as controversies inevitably follow on the heels of people who are on the cutting edge as he was. He left Grace Baptist Church in painful circumstances. He led the Love Singapore movement and it blossomed under his inspiring and rallying leadership. I could see that this man was a leader of hundreds of thousands even then, but the 2001 year of harvest sputtered, and the movement went through a tough time.
His controversial decision of shedding off the ‘old’ wineskin of FCBC cell church structure, held by many as the gold standard, though it was at a plateau in his church, and adopting the Group of 12 model was one that left many who followed him into the cell church revolution stranded and at a loss. The adoption of magic and movies as a means of introducing the message and values of the kingdom to a world obsessed with entertainment was a strategy that made sense. But the magic thingy stirred up a lot of dust and left many with logs in the eyes. Of course it was obvious the magic were illusions and tricks and not demonic. But all kinds of rumors and criticisms swirled around him.
It was during this difficult and controversial period that several hundred members left the church and moved to ……. other megachurches. Megachurches gain weight by the hundreds, and they shed pounds by the hundreds too, and they do musical chairs among themselves every once in a while. Lately FCBC announced that they have turned the corner, for hundreds have joined them since the losses. The ST article did not mention his able lieutenants, Pastors Melvyn and Eugene, and a score of others but these were the loyal and mighty men without whom things would not have turned out so well for him or FCBC.
The question is what legacy will he leave behind? He still has many years to go, forty perhaps if God is willing. What would he be remembered for? What would be the ultimate contribution of this sovereignly gifted leader to the kingdom? Would he be remembered as a colorful pastor of a megachurch (so what’s new?) or the leader of hundreds of thousands - a Christian statesman who had an enduring impact on the spiritual map of South East Asia, or even the new ascendant Asia.
Though multi-talented, the magic of Lawrence Khong lies singularly in his anointing of faith and leadership.
13 comments July 16th, 2008
