Posts by kenny

City Harvest Church: spider with $310 million web?

By kenny, 9 March, 2010, 2 Comments

The personal provision shop

My generation grew up with the provision shop- that disorganized and overpacked grocery that sells the common things a family needed but with less choices. Service was personalized and there’s even first name familiarity. You can even get credit and items purchased delivered to your home. But there are limitations: it does not sell everything a family member may need. You can’t get a haircut, or buy fresh food, or a pair of shoes or clothing. They don’t do banking and you can’t get a meal or be entertained with a movie. Sometimes what you want is there but you can’t find it in the mess. However, this is what we grew up with and are comfortable with, even tolerant of.

Shopping mall generation

There is however another generation, now in their thirties and below, who have grown up in a different world. It is the world of the shopping mall. And in this world, in this one place they can obtain nearly everything they needed. The mall is stocked with all kinds of products from all over the world, whether fresh or packaged. It offers services of all kinds for all the needs and desires of all age groups. Air-conditioned and alluring, it is the consumer’s paradise. It offers choices. It offers lifestyle. It even confers identity. If I regularly go to a particular shopping mall, I am young and trendy; if another, I am an aunty; if still another, I am a sophisticate’ or yuppie or sporty person or bargain-hunter. This particular generation is comfortable in a shopping mall; but it feels disoriented, disjointed, and lost in the good old small provision shop and find it a hassle, so what if the manager calls them by name and knows their parents!

Megachurch growth is sociological and psychological too

That’s why I believe the megachurch is here to stay and is likely to grow stronger. It’s more than just a spiritual thing; it is also sociological and psychological. The younger generation has been culturally conditioned to feel welcome and comfortable in a megachurch structure because it is so much like the shopping mall they have pleasant experiences of. There they get all their needs met under one roof. More resources means more choices, “products”, even branded ones from USA or Australia; and it means varied and better servicing of the attendees’ needs.

Giants in the land

This is one reason for the rise of the contemporary megachurch in our city. Churches like City Harvest Church and New Creation Church are the two notable examples of giants in the land. Are they like spiders organizationally? Without the spider the web will become cobwebs. I say this with deep respect for the pastors of both churches. This is just an organizational metaphor I recently learned. I use them without any sense of contempt or put down so do not inundate this comment box with “Sour grapes” etc etc.

From spider to starfish

There used to be a megachurch that dominated the scene: Calvary Charismatic Center. It used to be a spider. It became a starfish a decade or more ago. A wise move. A starfish when cut up regenerates itself and multiplies. That’s what happened to that megachurch now with a new name, Victory Family Church. You find them in all the suburbs: Choa Chu Kang, Sembawang, Yishun, Jurong West, Tampines and where else? Wonderful. The spider can go away for a year and spin another web in East Timor and things are still well with their churches’ souls.

Happy for City Harvest Church and New Creation Church

Having said that I am glad that City Harvest managed to cut a deal and avail itself to a place huge enough for its growing congregation in the city-Suntec Singapore. $310 million is an amount that seems chewable by 30,000 attendees. Its just about $1000 per year per attendee for ten years. The members must be as happy as when New Creation members heard about their coup at One North, though some may be contemplating a quiet exit . I used to be provocative to stir other Christians to think about issues like stewardship, laws, the lease, alternatives, etc etc. Now I only think up provocative titles, and have come to the view that each church decides what they regard as best in the Lord, and for the church, from the leadership’s discernment. The rest we just leave to posterity to assess. The members who do not like it can zip up their wallet or vote with their feet to the megachurch next door. Or why not walk to the small church next door.

Small church challenges

The small church: well, to be candid, young people are there not always by deliberate choice but because their parents are there; or close friends are there, or they find meaning and purpose in some role or responsibility. But they do feel the pull when their friends talk excitedly about their “shopping mall experiences”. Anyway when was the last time you stepped into a small provision shop? Is this a death knell for small churches of under a hundred? No not really. Haven’t you heard of 7 Eleven? But that is another story: the story of the small church.

Does size matter?

Does size matter in the light of this? Can a megachurch more effectively reach unchurched people who are more used to and comfortable with the shopping mall than with the HDB mom’s and pop’s store? Probably so. However, megachurches do have their weaknesses too. Consumerism, the cultural trait of generation next is one of several things that the megachurch appeals to, and this is the very Achillees’ heel that gives rise to megachurch weaknesses. More on that another time, God willing.

(I am getting lazy. Picked up an old post -28 dec 2007- from my files and just revised it to make it current.)

International Women’s Day: freed from “ugly”

By kenny, 7 March, 2010, 2 Comments

Tomorrow, International Women’s Day is celebrated. I just preached a sermon today titled, “When God says, You are beautiful, don’t say No lah.” It was based on Psalm 45 and how the Royal Bridegroom was enthralled by the beauty of the Bride, which is the church. I talked about the effects of “ugly” on women and adolescents. I read them a poem which I found meaningful. The title is, “The World Never Dared” by Kimberly Anne, a nineteen year old. My hope for women is that they be freed from the social stigma and emotional handcuffs of “ugly”.

The World Never Dared

She thought they called her ugly,

Behind her back,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She was afraid she would never be loved,

That no one could love an ugly girl,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She never saw the strength,

Nor the beauty that she had,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She cried into the night,

Worrying she wasn’t beautiful enough,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She started losing herself,

To the deep throes of what was truly ugly,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She started keeping her distance,

Until she truly believed that maybe the whole world was ugly,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She wandered off into the distance,

A sad look upon her face,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She lifted herself up,

Then let herself crash down,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She lingered in the shadows,

One moment too long,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She fell down the mountain,

Into a crumpled mess of ugly emotions,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She grew believing ugliness reigned,

And that she couldn’t overcome it,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She flew solo,

And never asked for directions,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She broke all the mirrors,

But still called herself ugly,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She hit and kicked,

Out at her soul,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She tried to make it work,

But she let the ugliness rumors overcome,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She followed all the wrong signs,

Into the deep and dark abyss where ugly ruled,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She stopped laughing,

Yet thought life was a joke,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She fell fast and furious,

To ugly’s power,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She stopped listening,

And she never heard the compliments,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

She kept pushing herself,

But still thought they called her ugly,

And the world never dared,

To set her right,

Then one day,

That not ugly, truly beautiful girl snapped,

And the world never had a chance,

To dare to set her right,

She finally stopped fighting,

And let ugliness take her all the way,

And the world never did dare,

To set her right.

Haiti: unreported spiritual happening!

By kenny, 3 March, 2010, 1 Comment

On February 12, 2010, President Préval of Haiti called his nation to 3 days of fasting and prayer in place of the regular Mardi Gras celebration. Over 1 million Haitians attended this epic event. It will be interesting to see what God will do in answer to the cry of a million voices.

Haiti – “A Call To Fasting & Prayer” from anthony gehin on Vimeo.

Learning something new

By kenny, 1 March, 2010, 6 Comments

Took a break from blogging and tried oil painting. Never had proper art classes and was in the science stream but why should I let that deter me from learning. Don’t ridicule my first effort, a painting based on a photograph taken while climbing Mt Kinabalu. I had good help from Peter Tan, an old friend, who also took up painting just a few years ago. It was relaxing, and I hope it will be something I enjoy more and more.

“Dear, don’t bother to come home”

By kenny, 26 February, 2010, 8 Comments

I have followed English football since I was in secondary school. I was even in Bolton, England. The closest I got to a football match was shopping at Tesco under the Reebok Stadium. My daughter Elaine does not follow football. She asks the odd question and get answers from me (Arsenal fan), Joshua (Chelsea fan), and Matthew(Liverpool fan). Yet she has entered the Old Trafford of the Manchester United Football Club and watched a football match where the host played West Ham Utd. You can call this grace! The person who worked got nothing; the one who was not even looking experienced the Old Trafford atmosphere. I sent her a terse message on her wall in her Facebook, “Dear, if you decide to become a Man Utd fan, don’t bother to come home. Love, Dad”

A quiet place for prayer

By kenny, 24 February, 2010, No Comment

In crowded Singapore, there are places of prayer, where solitude, silence and stillness can still be found. These are places where the soul can delight in God and his creation in half days of quiet.

Pastor Rony Tan: what if he were Richard Dawkins?

By kenny, 21 February, 2010, 35 Comments

What if Richard Dawkins, in a public lecture in Singapore, had said exactly what Pastor Rony Tan had said about reincarnation, karma, and Buddhism? What if it made its rounds in cyberspace and YouTube? Would the Internal Security Department have given him a phone call? Would he have transgressed the The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (1992)?

Restraining orders against officials or members of religious group or institution

8. —(1) The Minister may make a restraining order against any priest, monk, pastor, imam, elder, office-bearer or any other person who is in a position of authority in any religious group or institution or any member thereof for the purposes specified in subsection (2) where the Minister is satisfied that that person has committed or is attempting to commit any of the following acts:

(a) causing feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility between different religious groups;

(b) carrying out activities to promote a political cause, or a cause of any political party while, or under the guise of, propagating or practising any religious belief;

(c) carrying out subversive activities under the guise of propagating or practising any religious belief; or

(d) exciting disaffection against the President or the Government while, or under the guise of, propagating or practising any religious belief.

The answer would be in the negative because he is not “in a position of authority in any religious group or institution or any member thereof” unless Atheism has become a new religion of the masses. Would he be liable by law to any other charge from the Singapore law code?

And what if he had said something incendiary about Christianity like what he wrote in his book:

“”The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

Will he draw angry knee jerk reactions from red-faced Christians? I am sure there are those who will give him an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The majority will just shrug it aside. Some would invite him to a debate. Which was what happened and you can watch it in Richard Dawkins-John Lennox Debate. It is wonderful when intelligent civil discussions can take place in a meaningful way over controversial, volatile issues.

Hopefully one day the issues raised by the Pastor Rony Tan’s webcast on Buddhism and homosexuality can be intellectually dissected and discussed and everybody, Christians and Buddhists and gays, can get enlightened in the process, or at least have their say.

Small church pluses

By kenny, 18 February, 2010, 15 Comments

I love the small church because Christ loved it and gave himself for it. He loves the small church as much as the megachurch. He must love it for there are thousands of them. In fact, the small church is the norm, and the megachurch (over 2,000 members) is the rarity. In all the countries of the world where the church has a presence, the small church of 150 and below, forms the majority. Typically more than 80 or 90% of all churches in each country would be of that size.

More relational, more like family

I love the small church because by nature it is more relational, and less structured and bureaucratic. As a church grows bigger it has to be better organized; hierachical levels increase; policies and standard operating procedures clog the arteries; and institutionalism sets in. Decisions are less concerned with persons than with precedence. Leaders hardly shake your hands and probably doesn’t know you’ve been a church member for five years.

Nurturing and caring

As a member of a small church you get legendary care. When you are hospitalized the church knows it, and prays for you, and the pastor visits you. The pastor knows you by name (and even your family members, dog, and goldfish) and you do not have to press 1, press 3, press 5 before you reach the secretary of the secretary of the pastor, and finally get stuck there. The pastor can give better attention to spiritual growth and discipleship. When your kid’s exams are around the corner, there is prayer and even tutoring. When you lose your job, others are concerned and they pray, and help out, and look out for a job for you. When you get married, many are there to rejoice with you. When you die, many are there to pay their last respects and to comfort the bereaved family, and though you won’t be around to benefit from that, your family will.

Every member involvement and growth

You cannot just attend the worship services. There are more things that needs to be done than there are people to do them. So all hands on board and everybody helps out somewhere, and many have to help out in more than one area. Some Christians don’t like this because studying and working is tiring enough for their packed life. Yet it is in serving one another, contributing to the common good of all, that we also find the meaning of communtiy, and taste a little of the intra Trinitarian love. The small church compels you to serve and thereby discover your spiritual gifts and make significant contributions. It motivates you to invest in what is eternal: serving Christ.

Shaped and sandpapered

While serving and relating, you get shaped or sandpapered: with help from people around you, you get to be all that God wants you to be. Small churches can be “ojama shimasu”(translated: Sorry, but I am going to disturb you). You won’t be left alone in anonymity and untouchability. You will get to know people whose rough edges will scrape on your smooth, soft sensitive skin, and I must say vice versa. In the big churches, everybody smiles because few folks get close enough and stay together long enough to get in your face and step on your toes. In a small church it is so squeezy you have to say, “Excuse me,” or “Sorry”. You step on people’s toes or get elbowed in the narrow confines of true Christian community. It is just one of the major ways that God uses, besides trials and marriage (are these both synonymous?), to change us into His likeness. God loves you unconditionally as you are, but he loves you so much he won’t leave you as you are, in your character. Its the same with our kids, we love them with all their faults and bad habits, but we do not leave them as they are; we encourage change for the better. The small church is very good environment for such change to take place.

Absolutely irreplaceable

Nothing beats being in Christian community. Of course such authenticity can be found in megachurches’ small groups too. However there are special joys in being part of an extended church family network such as is found in many small churches. Staying put over the long haul, building deep abiding friendships through serving, woshiping, praying, dreaming, weeping and laughing together, and having shared experiences over decades is absolutely irreplaceable. I hope and pray that the younger generation will be able experience this kind of rootedness, stability and communal strength too.

Chee Kwee Kin: the Chee patriarch and a Fuzhou odyssey

By kenny, 15 February, 2010, 4 Comments

As I trudged the path of duty, visiting and paying respect to my elders during the first day of Chinese New Year, I uncovered an unlikely treasure. It was at the main Chee gathering at Kasai Road, at the home of Chee Siew Kee, the sole surviving uncle at age 98. My cousin David Chee, who was a missions official in the USA, mentioned that he had done some research on the Chee family roots. He had put down the fruit of his research in English in a blog called the Fuzhou Odyssey. He was effectively bilingual and had access to the Chinese source materials, like clan records. Back home from visits, and with an interest I never had when I was younger, I read the detailed blog posts which set the story of my paternal grandfather in its historical context. If there had been footnotes I would have thought this was some kind of research paper.

I will summarize the story of my paternal grandfather, Chee Kwee Kin, in a letter addressed to my sons and daughter:

DEAR JOSHUA, MATTHEW & ELAINE,

You have an interesting family line: one you can thank God for, one you can be proud of, one that can help you understand yourself. Of course your spiritual lineage that goes back to father Abraham is far more important. However, you were brought into this world through this human lineage and there is a design in that too.

Your paternal great-grandfather was Chee Kwee Kin, a Chinese scholar and a Qing government official. He was politically a reformist with personal acquaintance with well-known China reformist of his time, Kang Yu-wei. For a time he taught at Chang-chien Shan’s Ho-lin Anglo Chinese School at Foochow. In 1893, he emigrated to Singapore with his family to fill a position as editor of Le Pao, a daily newspaper. He later filled similar positions in two other newpapers: the Thien Nan Chin Pao, Penang Ri Bao, and in his writings he strenuously resisted the intrusion of foreign imperialism. He was a China nationalist in his editorial slant. While serving as editor he survived an assassination attempt on his life.

Your great-grandfather ran a business by the Singapore river and founded the Singapore Foochow Business Association. He also founded the Foochow Labourer’s Association, for labourers to gather, obtain help in their work, and in buying property.

He was involved in charitable work. He practiced medicine (TCM), “healing lots of people and upholding the ethics of the profession” (according to a locally published book). In 1909, he sent money to China to help build a school. He also organized fund-raising to alleviate suffering from flood and fires in China(1931) and in Sibu(1931), Sarawak.

Like most Chinese he was a great believer in education. He foresaw that the future of his country of exile was tied with an education in English and ensured his children had a western education, and even sent some of his sons overseas, three of whom studied Western medicine. He made sure his daughters were educated too. However, as in the practice of a Chinese scholar, he hired tutors to school all his children in the Chinese classics.

As to his personality, he was generally a serious person, but on occasion had been seen teasing grandmother with the singing of Chinese opera verse. He loved Peking Chinese opera.

His loyalty was unquestionably to China, and he did not fail to dedicate himself to his people living in Nanyang. When he died, his body was shipped back to Foochow to be buried.

I still find it hard to believe my grandfather was so Chinese Chinese. Two generations later and his descendants ( maybe I should just speak for myself here) have become unrecognizably and irreversibly “banana”(yellow on the outside but white on the inside: look Chinese but dominated by Western values). My grandfather was a Chinese scholar, but I know only a smattering of Mandarin, and much less about Chinese literature and history. He was a proud Confucianist and a China loyalist. I am neither, though being Chinese in Singapore means being lightly marinated in Confucianist values like respect of elders, teachers and emperor (LKY). I am a cultural apostate and my grandfather will rise from the grave if he knew how far I have strayed from the Chinese spring. Maybe he should have sent his sons to Chinese High School instead of the ACS.

Among your relatives are many teachers, doctors, civil servants, businessmen and those who love to write (like me) and those in vocational Christian service and politics. It seems that Chee Kwee Kin has cast his shadow of influence over his later generations, even seeming to have a bearing on his descendant’s choice of occupations. This is something interesting for you to think about: nature and nurture, as it applies in family lineage.

I still puzzle over Chee Kwee Kin’s personal faith. Was he a Christian or just open to Christianity? Why was he teaching in ACS in Foochow? I had thought my grandfather was from Sibu, the “Sarawak Foochow”, an assumption I derived from where the clan records are kept and from hearsay. Where does that fit in? There are puzzles yet to be resolved and as in all family history, discerning verifiable facts from misty memory and recollection is an arduous ongoing task. That task will become yours when you are older. It will be easier for you though, when it comes to telling your children about me because this blog gives you access not just to my outward activities but also some of my opinions, personality, beliefs and feelings.

WITH LOVE, DAD

Chinese New Year: riding the Tiger

By kenny, 13 February, 2010, 2 Comments

Never liked it

I never liked Chinese New Year after they banned firecrackers. Visiting relatives aroused anxieties, like riding a tiger. Even as a child and teenager, I found it such a drag. I would rehearse the proper Hokkien designations so I can properly greet the elders and relatives. I would sit, snack, look often at the time and fidget while the older ones talked.

Consolation is red in colour

The only redeeming factor was the red packets of gift money. They were the consolation prize for all the awkwardness. I waited anxiously for the day to end so I could tally the return on investment.

Respect ritual

Now as an adult I find it perfunctory, a ritual to satisfy family and custom. I do it out of duty. My mum used to say the relatives were very old and may go off anytime soon. Have to pay respects. Now she has gone and the relatives are still around. So it means the show must go on. If given a choice, I would rather not go anywhere at all and just hide out at home or in another country or climb Kinabalu or the Hill in the company of singing cicadas. I am an introvert after all.

The important red packets and even more important wife

Every year I see my wife hunched over new crisp dollar notes of different denominations (yea, Presbyterian, Methodists, Anglicans, even Pentecostals, haha), and lots of different red packets of different banks ( OCBC, DBS, POSB, NTUC, Keppel Corp, haha) spread all over the queen sized bed. With the seriousness, alertness and focus of a bank teller she puts in the appropriate amounts into the different envelopes. She does it every year without fail, while I watch TV or surf or read. She also distributes the red stuff with precision and knowledge and swiftness. I would be at a complete loss without her! All I need to know is the total that goes out, in fact not even that. I do not have to feel bad if too much is given or too little. That burden is hers exclusively. That is her “karma”….a word used quite often the last few days.

Spring cleaning

Spring cleaning fervour has waned with the years. It’s tiring nowadays just to think about what I used to do. Doing the minimum critical tasks, like re-arranging furniture, dusting, cleaning glass tops, etc., to lubricate family harmony and to present a neat, clean home will have to suffice.

The great escape that never happened

Every year I harbour alluring mirages of going off to some place emerald green or blue to escape all the red and hassle. The mirage evaporates each and every time the full moon smirks. It’s all about obligations, respect, expectations, unique circumstances like CNY being also the study week before exams, or conscience playing tricks.

Spare the singles lah

Singles who are over 30 really have it blue and black during CNY. They don’t need the ang pows and patronizing, teasing comments. I used to have fun with that but I have repented. Some words can rub the wrong way and break the bones, and the clinics are closed. Some of the fractures inflicted on them are by well intentioned uncles and aunties, frustrated mums and dads, and kindly grandparents. We should be gracious to singles and bless them with God’s shalom.

BLOGPASTOR WISHES EVERYONE GONG XI FA CAI

B L O G P A S T O R