Posts Tagged ‘Church’

Oral Roberts: an Asian pastor reinstates his hero

Oral Roberts went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday, 15th December 2009, age 91. When my wife told me, I was not surprised, because I knew he was quite old. He was one of my Pentecostal heroes in the early years of my Christian life.
He first came to my notice through his magazine, [...]

New face of the Church

In a recent conversation with Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, CA commented, “The last 50 years has seen the greatest redistribution of a religion ever in the history of the world. For instance, in 1900, 71% of all ‘Christians’ lived in Europe; by [...]

Will internet church come to our shores?

It is hard to believe but it is already happening. Where else but in the land of eternal innovation – USA?  Read this report and let me know what you think of a church using this as an outreach to this internet-savvy generation; as a supplement(not substitute) to actual community.
The Internet has become the hottest [...]

Epigram Pte Ltd: creativity and generosity

It was a chance meeting at my mum’s funeral. It was something like Ruth in Boaz’s fields: “As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz..” (Ruth 2:3). Edmund Wee, founder and owner of design company Epigram Pte Ltd was there to offer condolences. His family and my wife’s were [...]

Singapore churches are preaching the half gospel

I find Michael Horton’s books invigorating. I have read his “Putting the Amazing Back into Grace” and “Power Religion” of which I would warmly commend the former. But I have not read his more recent books titled Christless Christianity and the Gospel-Driven Life but they should be thought provoking stuff.Michael is currently the  professor of [...]

Involvement in house churches

Barna Research asked survey respondents about house churches by defining them as, “part of a group of believers that meets regularly in a home or place other than a church building. These groups are not part of a typical church; they meet independently, are self-governed and consider themselves to be a complete church on their [...]

Pastor compensation feeling the pinch

A recent Christianity Today International survey shows the compensation package paid to the average pastor (including salary, housing allowance/parsonage, life/health/disability insurance, education and retirement) in the USA has declined in 2009 by 2.4% for lead pastors to an average of $70,806. The average for senior pastors who lead multiple pastoral staff declined 0.5% to $80,745. [...]

Chuck Swindoll wary of ‘corporatization’ of church

I have been pastoring since 1980 and there is a trend that I have observed: an increasing “corporatization” of the churches in Singapore. This is partly down to the fact that many lay leaders come from the corporate background and are successful in the MNCs or big local companies. When they are appointed leaders in [...]