Sunday worship service
We entered an empty spacious basement car park of the Crown Towers, an office building. SIB Grace leased the 9th Floor auditorium and halls. There was space for 500 but a third of it was used as a fellowship area, while the rest were filled with seats. The attendance ranged from 150 to [...]
Author Archive
SIB Grace: abounding in grace
Nostalgic in Kuching
The 1960s feel
It was like going back to the 1960s when Singapore was less crowded with buildings, cars and people. Most houses and buildings in Kuching were not more than 4 storeys and were well spread out. The streets were conspicuously clean and they still have roundabouts. Modern tall hotels and commercial buildings with gleaming [...]
Twitter communion
Eating meals in front of the computer screen is not uncommon. What do you think of having holy communion in front of the monitor with prayers received via Twitter and registering your Amen on your keyboard? This was reported in the Daily Telegraph on 24th July 10. Why worry about URA guidelines on religious use [...]
The righteousness of God imputed
This doctrine that we hear as part of the “grace message” of Joseph Prince has roots that go back to the Reformation. The early Reformation creeds give evidence of this. Creeds are succinct summaries of the teachings and faith of groups of Christians. The ones quoted below are from the Calvinist reformers of the Protestant [...]
Kuching, Sarawak and the St Thomas Cathedral
Roots in Kuching
It was an old photo hanging on the wall of my uncle’s house that caught my attention. Interested as I was with my earthly roots, I took a few shots with my mobile. It was my maternal grandparents’ wedding photograph. They looked forward, stiff and formal – the common pose in those days. [...]
Megachurches: authorities curbing the giants’ growth?
Grey area
Religious usage of facilities approved for commercial use was a grey area. The previous guidelines were not clear. Can a church use a cinema hall? Or a hall in an office complex, hotel, industrial building or conference centre? No one knew. If no one complained, the authorities would let things be. The public concerns [...]
Small and mega churches: living in a land with giants
Gritty days ahead
The Saturday’s Straits Times special report by Lee Siew Hua and Susan Long was an excellent analysis of the church scene in Singapore, albeit with a slant towards the currently newsworthy megachurches. Reading the well researched and eye-opening articles can give the majority of small churches a feeling of creeping muscular dystrophy. There [...]
What pastors can learn from Ms Sumiko Tan
Who is Sumiko?
Can a pastor learn anything from Singapore’s “most famous single woman”? Ms Sumiko Tan, 46, is a Straits Times editor. Her Sunday Times column, which began in July 1994, is famous and with it she has grown a mega fan base. Like a confession booth to which the public has access instead of [...]
Visit to ancient Ephesus
The trip to the ancient city of Ephesus in 2009 was wonderful. The day was sunny and warm but dry. We walked for as much as two hours, stopped for photos and for historical information on display. The apostle Paul preached the gospel for over two years in Ephesus and the message spread around the [...]
Paul’s theology
Michael F. Bird’s “A Bird’s -Eye View of Paul” was written for the common man to understand Paul’s theology. With just the minimum jargon, Bird gives an overview of who Paul was and what he proclaimed. Without going into technical details, he gives perspective by concisely mentioning the different views on various issues. Here [...]
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