Singapore churches – Page 13

Category: Singapore churches

Church of True Light: many nations in one church

27 February 2013 blogpastor 8 Comments

God Positioning Something (GPS)

Tucked into a corner on the edge of Little India, stands a church gazetted for conservation, an Anglican church called Church of True Light. In this easily ignored tight space, God seems to be doing a divine positioning of sorts. Spiritually skilled “craftsmen” with experience seem to be brought together by divine orchestration to set up the stage for some supernatural workings of God that will glorify the Lord and add people to the church.

Light to the nations, testimony to Singapore

Not that nothing had happened before that. God has already been at work in this church with its ups and downs. And the remarkable changes it had gone through are nothing short of surprising from my viewpoint. For one, this originally Chinese church with an English service offshoot is dominantly Chinese but had opened its doors for the outreach to Indians. To date they have an ordained Indian priest, a Tamil service, a Malayalam service, a Sinhalese service and a Hindi service. Not to forget recently they have started an Indonesian service, an international service and a small Korean fellowship also worships there. I like the way that this church is going counter-culture. While Singapore society totters on the edge of xenophobia, this church, even with its physical signboards, declare that there is nothing to fear: the good news is for all races and God is bringing all things together in His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen and amen.

Friends and familiar faces in the church

The current pastor of the English congregation, Rev. Vincent Hoon, invited me to preach last Sunday, and so I did, on the topic: God’s Love Tattoo. This church is not new to me. I have taken two of their church camps two decades ago. One was in Port Dickson and the other was in Cameron Highlands. My daughter was in kindergarten then and now she is an adult. The camps were followed by several invitations to preach in the church. Then for many years we were out of touch. They outgrew me for sure. So I was pleased to see at least 8 couples that were still there faithfully serving in the church. A faithful man who can find? In this day and age, they are as uncommon as mousedeer in the nature reserves.

One of the friends I met and took pictures with are Drs Samuel Cheng and Chay Giam his wife, an earnest and lovely couple who love the Lord and are the Singapore representatives of the Elijah House. He is himself a psychiatrist and a trainer of ministers of inner healing and wholeness. With his practice and experience, he brings a useful down to earth perspective and spiritual discernment to bear on the fine line between demonic intrusion and mental illness.

The Church of True Light is very much setting up the sails to catch the supernatural wind of the Spirit. My prayer for them is that the Holy Spirit will visit them in waves that will carry them farther than any man-made fan or motor can. May they ever carry the torch of Christian hospitality to the foreigner and stranger.

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Good news for thousands at New Creation Church(NCC)

11 December 2012 blogpastor 119 Comments

Whenever I have no idea of what is good to eat at any hawker center, I follow the Singaporean rule of thumb: look for the queues. Where there is a queue, the food is probably good. It has to be good if people are willing to wait patiently for it. Though it is possible the cook is slow or the system of delivery is bad, the likelihood is that the food is tasty.

So when New Creation Church became the only church where you had to queue to get a seat, the surmise is that the “food” is good. Of course we can be skeptical or cynical and say: its bad organizing or its a image projection or whatever. However, at the crux of it, you’ll have to admit: the queuing thing which went on for close to a decade without waning says something. The “food” has lots of satisfied customers. People, including pastors, may say otherwise. However the thousands of satisfied customers rub their stomachs and say, Jia pa pa (Eat full full).

Now it seems the thousands of New Creation attenders have good news: they don’t have to queue anymore. They can book their seats online using their ez-link card number. Now this is a wonderful creative solution, one that meets a real need (even though people are actually willing to queue and wait). The pic above is what a booking slip looks like. So this is the true gospel for NCC members: no more queuing. I am happy for them. However if they are late, their passes will expire and the empty seats will be released for others and this is fair and encourages punctuality and responsibility. Technology and moving to the new facility at Star Vista has made this possible. Their first service will be on the 23rd of December 2012.

Instead of queuing just click.

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Singapore churches New Creation Church, Star Vista

Kong Hee’s arrest: framing a gracious response

2 July 2012 blogpastor 57 Comments

Being human I am not surprised at myself when a secret momentary delight surfaces when the mighty are cut down. We small church pastors have been made to look like inferior products compared with these mighty men and their churches, and whenever a merciless media cut them down to size, we somehow feel taller. However, it was not to be so when news broke about Kong Hee’s arrest together with 4 other leaders of City Harvest Church.

The morning after the Straits Times featured their stories, I awoke and imagined how painful it must have been for Kong Hee and Sun Ho. It ached. I flashed a prayer to the Lord for them. I am learning to weep with those who weep, to feel other people’s pain in my heart, and not to throw stones. Prayer has a way of aligning our heart attitudes to God’s.

I see the seriousness of the charges, but I do not condemn him. Not because we share a similar vocation, but simply because he is another frail human being. Only God is perfect, and all of us are flawed and imperfect. We are but common, easily broken, and earthen pots with hairline cracks; our only glory is in the content within: Christ himself. Even if he is guilty, which has not been proven yet, who am I, another frail human being, to throw stones?

Christians will be besieged by questions from friends and family members. With wisdom and graciousness we can let God’s grace shine even from what seems to be a dark moment for the church. For one thing, we must realize the church is not a target of the authorities. Let’s not demonize the intentions of the government. God knows the intention of every heart, so leave that to Him.

Neither should we demonize the accused, because they like everyone else are innocent until proven guilty. The wise will not speculate or prejudge before the conclusion of the case. Although we often assume that if the government agency spent two years investigating, it is likely there is substance to their case, let us not make that assumption that the parties are guilty of all they were charged of.

On the other extreme, we put the accused on the pedestal, perfect as a classic sculpture, without a single flaw. We deify him; he could do no wrong. This is to be expected of followers of men, but not followers of Christ. Michael Jackson was perfect. Whitney Houston was perfect. Don’t you dare insinuate otherwise. This is not good, not real. We should support and love unconditionally and that means we let the law run its course and acknowledge that they may have done something wrong, we have faith in a sovereign God, we pray for the accused through this difficult trying period, and even if proven guilty, they will not be abandoned and thrown aside like used tissue paper on a hawker centre floor.

I cannot allow for some of the comments I have seen in the last two blog posts. I have to do unto others as I would want others to do unto me, and I wouldn’t want my church’s name put down in digital infamy forever and ever amen. So I have privatised the last two posts – too many specific churches’ and pastor’s names have been mentioned negatively. Some of you have fire in your bones and some have pain in their hearts, and I request that you go directly to the people concerned and express your feelings. Perhaps you have already done that and there has been no response or change as you would want. I urge you then to leave it to God since you have done all that you can to speak the truth in love.

The saga, if I may call it that, will not end any time soon. May the Lord bless all believers with a spirit of love and discernment for we need these two qualities the most in these last days.

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Singapore churches

Century Christian Fellowship: moving on in faith

30 April 2012 blogpastor 1 Comment

Pilgrim church

Century Christian Fellowship is a small church on the move. It is a pilgrim church. When God says, Pitch up tent, let’s move on to another leg in the journey, a new chapter in the book, we can either say, “Lord if it is possible, take this cup from me”, and stay there….or we continue with, “…. but not my will, but yours be done”, and move on in faith. This extension of Chapel of Resurrection has chosen to do the latter. In a month, they would be moving from their current premises in Simei, to be the Sunday evening English service of Church of Epiphany at Jalan Kayu, between masterstroke Punggol and conventional Sengkang. It will be a convenient English service option for Anglicans living in either of these estates.

Pastor Peter Chang

My wife and I were early for the 9.30am Sunday service, and we caught up with what’s been happening with the church. Pastor Peter has enjoyed his over 2 years of leading the church. The congregation has been around for about 20 years and there were a handful of faithful members who have been with them for more than a decade.

They were doing a series of messages on the book of Joshua and as it turned out the passage allotted to me was Joshua 18. It was an interesting passage pregnant with relevance to the move in front of them. Seven tribes had not yet moved in to possess the land that God had given to the descendants of Abraham. Joshua urged them to do so, and I love the King James Version of it because it shows how much the version has contributed to our use of the English language. “And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD god of your fathers hath given you?”(verse 3). Notice the word “slack” – a favorite among young people even today! Anyway, I had a good time connecting with the people and encouraging them to press on into all that God has planned for them in terms of blessings as well as calling.

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Singapore churches Century Christian Fellowship, Church of Epiphany, Singapore local churches

Pastor Lawrence Koo of Agape Community Church

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Stalled car and stalled mind

My thoughts jumped about like monkeys in a tree. I had to tell pastor Lawrence Koo of Agape Community Church about what happened. He may have to be prepared to speak instead, as I was to be the guest speaker in his 4pm church service on Saturday. Maybe I should call for a tow truck. I should get a cab, but can I leave the car here on busy Bukit Timah Road? I could not get him, so I messaged him and hoped he read it.

My car had stalled in the middle lane near Eng Neo Avenue, but I managed to slowly guide it to the side with my hazard lights on. The stalled car was hampering traffic on lane 3. Somehow I managed to get the car going again, with the air-con switched off, but the car stalled again along the main road, and I managed to guide it into quiet Dunkirk Road. Hailing a cab, I dashed to Toa Payoh where the church meets in a cozy red auditorium, that could easily pass off as a cinema.

Pastor Lawrence Koo

The singing had already begun and Pastor Lawrence was glad to see me and I was glad I was only 10 minutes late. My thoughts still wandered about while others worshiped. Lord, give me Your peace and I entrust the situation to You. Before I knew it, I was graciously introduced. Pastor Lawrence and I first met when we went together to visit Willow Creek Community’s Church conference about a decade ago. He is a widely respected Assemblies of God minister who during his Bible college days planted a church in Seremban, Malaysia which today is one of the more notable churches in that town. We have caught up on various occasions since then . He went frequently to the annual Leadership Summit hosted by Bill Hybels’ church. What a wonderful thing it was when he actually brought the Global Leadership Summit (an abridged video version of the Summit) to Singapore several years ago and chaired the executive committee for several years. He provides able and loving leadership to Agape Community Church and chairs the denomination’s Bible college, A.G.B.C. It was evident there was a strong bond of love between pastor and congregation.

The Father’s love for us

Before I knew it I was at the sleek modern pulpit and despite a slow start managed to gradually connect with the congregation that comprised mostly young families. I preached to them some fundamental truths of what the Father has done for us from gospel-rich Ephesians 1: 3-7. I talked about the Father’s love for us: how He wants to bless us; how he had chosen us, and adopted us as his children. The message was peppered with lots of relevant illustrations and analogies and applications.

Chong’s car diagnosis

The service ended and the people were friendly and Lawrence introduced me to Chong, an expert with cars. They were very kind and drove me to my stalled car. Chong took about 25 minutes to investigate the problem thoroughly. His diagnosis: radiator problem. You can drive back but do so without air-conditioning and keep sight of the temperature gauge. As I drove off, I thank God for this kindness, and was happy to be safely home and to have the car to use on Sunday.

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Singapore churches Agape Community Church, gospel, Pastor Lawrence Koo