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Bukit Batok Presbyterian Church: traditional church in the heartlands

16 August 2010 blogpastor 4 Comments

Tucked along Bukit Batok Street 11 and opposite St Luke’s hospital is the one and only Presbyterian church on a HDB site won by open tender. The Presbyterians have a few churches with HDB catchment areas but these are either in schools like Presbyterian High or were built long ago, like Glory Presbyterian Church. This church, Bukit Batok Presbyterian Church, was opened in 1995. It is one of two visible churches in Bukit Batok, the other being the Roman Catholic St Mary of the Angels. It was a branch church started by Orchard Road Presbyterian Church.

Bible Study Fellowship of the west

My wife attended this church on Tuesday mornings for seven years for Bible study organized under the international BSF. Many ladies from different denominations would attend this popular BSF site and it was very generous on the part of BBPC to host them.

Two English services

The church was a 10 minutes drive from home, so we left home at 8am. The overall attendance of the English services were a combined 250-300. The early morning service targeted the young people and those who wanted a less traditional service- praise songs and a band. On the stage was what I thought was some sacred furniture covered with heavy blue material. As the service progressed, I laughed at my ignorance, when the puppet team performed a skit aimed at children from behind the blue-dressed puppet stage.

The traditional service

The 10.30am service was more formal and traditional. The uniformed choir sang an anthem and every song was interspersed with other elements like prayer, offering and scripture reading. The worshippers were mainly adults in their 40s and 50s. The text they gave me was Ephesians 6:5-9 where Paul wrote to Christian slaves about finding inner freedom in constrained circumstances. The title of my sermon was, “From Unfreedom to Freedom” and demonstrated how God wants to redeem the thorn and thistle of toil and transform it into the gift of work. Preaching two services gave the opportunity to fine-tune the sermon for the second service, and that’s why it turned out better.

Surprise, surprise

Pleasant surprises awaited us after the service. Neighbours from our apartment block greeted us with loud hellos when we stood at the door to shake hands with the members streaming out of the auditorium. In addition, two of my Swiss Cottage Secondary School classmates, Soy Tee and Sze Chuan, greeted me with warm smiles, and I was briefly introduced to their families.

Ministry to different nationalities

One of the strengths of BBPC was its offering of services in the following languages: English, Mandarin, Indonesian, and Myanmese. They had different services for different folks. They do a particularly good outreach to the Chinese nationals.

Perceptive and sharp

However, their greatest strengths probably lie with the quality of their pastors. The English service pastor, Rev Eric Chua, was trained in architecture, and then in theology. A sharp thinker and spiritually perceptive, he gives good advice, and makes insightful observations about the church at large. We served together in the exco of the Church Resource Ministry Singapore, which focuses on mentoring marketplace leaders and pastors. It was a privilege to be invited by him to take the pulpit, and I enjoyed sharing my heart with him along the way. As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Humble hospitality

Rev James Seah, the other pastor brought us out for lunch in the nearby food court. We ate fish soup rice from the famous store once recommended by “Yummy King” and to top that we had durian for dessert. Wow…this pastor knows how to select D24 bitter-sweet durians. He said, “I was from Muar where I learned how to pick good durians.” My wife and I were further impressed with his servant attitude. It was the way he served us, and his warmth and friendliness. He even picked up a plastic container to clear our table of durian seeds and husks. Lord, send us more pastors from across the Causeway. Amen.

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SIB Grace: abounding in grace

9 August 2010 blogpastor 5 Comments

Sunday worship service

We entered an empty spacious basement car park of the Crown Towers, an office building. SIB Grace leased the 9^th 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 200 every Sunday. The newly started early morning Mandarin service, and the Sunday school each has 50 in attendance. The English service started at 11.30am. After the singing and communion, Elder Thomas, taught the Word verse by verse. The topic was the stewardship of the Master’s goods and the believers’ progress. The offering was taken, notices given and a closing song wrapped up the service. There was a sense of restfulness about the service, with no one straining to pump up adrenalin, or make things happen, or worry about “Were the people touched by God during the service?”.

A stunning miracle

The lunch area overlooked a lovely view of the Sarawak river. Over snacks we met Bartholomew, a male nurse who worked in the city’s hospital. He could not attend services as regularly as he would want to because of his shift duties. However, he prayed for patients in the hospital, and had seen a few answers to prayers for healing. Improvements in leg movements and the pain of patients as a result of prayer. Other times, he prayed audaciously for patients who died to rise, but they never did……until recently. He shared with me, “The doctor had declared a sick patient dead, and the distraught family had cried over him. I was sent to get him ready for the mortuary. I prayed a simple prayer for God to raise him. To my utter surprise he came back to consciousness. The doctor was called back and was shocked to see it. Later, a church elder visited the patient as he recovered in hospital.” This was a sign and wonder. This low-key but stunning miracle reminded me of another memorable story of a brain-dead member who came back to life in the deaf fellowship of World Revival Prayer Fellowship, where I pastor.

Re-installed by grace

Looking for empty seats at the Kuching food festival was difficult. When we finally did, and others went to order different food, elder Alex, who does most of the preaching in church, shared with me about his journey. During the charismatic revival in Kuching in the 1980’s, St Faith Anglican church was the center of action among the Anglicans. There was so much intensity and activity during that revival. The next two decades saw many who suffered burn-out, including himself, a committed youth leader. On one of his trips to Singapore, his cousin brought him to his church, NCC. There God ministered to him through the message. When he returned to Kuching he wrote to the church and it sent him 22 cassette tapes. He studied all the messages. Alex had severe asthma so that even the air-conditioning of a car could result in an attack. After hearing the tapes, he was completely healed!

Church gripped by a message

Later, Alex met with Thomas and other acquaintances of the charismatic revival. They met above the Crossway Christian bookshop, and had energizing discussions about the books and tapes of Joseph Prince. From there the idea of starting an SIB preaching point began. That preaching point grew and after persevering through difficulties, became SIB Grace, a church that abounds with the grace of God.

(Footnote: The Borneo Evangelical Church or SIB (Malay:Sidang Injil Borneo) is one of the largest evangelical Protestant denominations in Malaysia with membership at about 500,000. SIB Grace is part of this denomination.)

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Nostalgic in Kuching

4 August 2010 blogpastor 2 Comments

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 glass skirted the waterfront. Side by side with the modern, were charming old shop houses. The spaciousness of the small city relaxed the eye; the fresh air perked us up; the pace was slower; and it was quiet.

The Harbour View hotel

We stayed in the three star Harbour View Hotel. It was clean and the rooms and service were satisfactory. Under good advice, we had all our breakfasts outside, in the three Chinese kopitiams, 2 minutes to the left from the hotel entrance. There we had our breakfasts: beef noodles, kolo mee, Sarawak laksa, char kway teow, and a Malay dish which is satay atop mee rebus. Definitely a better choice than the hotel buffet, if you want to try the local fare.

The Kuching Waterfront

The hotel was 3 minutes from the Kuching Waterfront which made for a pleasant evening walk along the Sarawak river. We saw across the river, the lighted-up Parliament building, the Astana, a fort and a Malay village. The feel of the waterfront was the Singapore esplanade of the 1970’s: the Queen Elizabeth Walk. We searched for dinner and wandered through a shopping centre that had about 40 stores and hardly any food. We ended up eating at Top Spot, a popular seafood centre atop a multi-storey car park. The food was reasonably tasty and quite affordable. We loved the local jungle vegetable from the fern, but were shocked at the Medium serving size.

Sarawak Cultural Village

The next morning’s highlight was the Sarawak Cultural Village, about an hour’s drive from where we were. It was the size of several football fields with Mt Santubong as a beautiful backdrop. The theme park, a living museum showcased the different tribal people groups: their longhouses, utensils, culture, dances and food. The highlight was a professionally-performed cultural show of about 40 minutes which entertained us with its movement, colour, sound and humour. The sape, a native indigineous string instrument produced particularly captivating sounds, and I wondered if there were local churches that used them in their worship services.

Alan and Penny Hiu

Facebook again has proven to be a great social network tool. I was introduced to Alan Hiu by Peter Sze. We all got to know each other via today’s social media. Alan brought my wife and I to a better known Sarawak kolo mee stall for breakfast at 8.30am on Sunday. This was our first meeting and together with his wife, Penny and Richard their friend, we got to know each other. My children were sleeping in. It was amazing how quickly we gelled together because we shared a common faith in the Lord. Quickly, I learned that Alan was one of the leading back up singers with Lim Gee Tiong, the pastor of a 1,200 member Chinese church and famous composer and singer of the song, “Hold My Hand, My Lord”. He was deeply committed and served in the ministry without question. One day he received a Joseph Prince tape which, he said, just liberated him. So when he heard of SIB Grace, he joined them. Now he is a key leader of the Chinese service there. We were so absorbed in the sharing of lives, I did not fully savour the noodles, but judging from the crowd there it must be good. The next time, I will slow down and enjoy.

St Thomas Cathedral

Alan Hiu was a gracious host and drove us around. Public transport was unreliable and taxis did not use the meter, so to have a local to drive us around was a big plus. He brought us to St Thomas Cathedral, which unfortunately had its doors locked between the morning and evening services on Sunday. We walked around the Cathedral where my maternal grandparents married in 1913. It was of course a different building then. To see my children walk around the church made me smile. Heritage is important, and I wanted them to be able to say, “I was there” to their kids. That evening, Alan brought us to the Food Fair, an annual August event that never failed to draw the locals. We pigged out with his family and Elder Alex and Richard. Following this, we had cake and melon juice at Alan’s home. This was Malaysian hospitality at its best. Somehow we Singaporeans have lost this in our hectic city lifestyle. We need to recover this biblical value, this precious and timeless virtue.

All the way

The next day, they brought us out for a seafood lunch at a suburban restaurant with a Hockchiew chef. We loved the local jungle vegetables and the bamboo crustacean (that had to be fished out individually from the sea mud). Alan and Richard then did the second mile and sent us to the airport.

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Twitter communion

2 August 2010 blogpastor 1 Comment

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 of commercial space. There’s unlimited virtual space on the internet. Is this a good idea or what? Personally, I don’t like the idea of taking communion alone in front of a computer monitor. The use of technology for the kingdom is great but where’s the communion with brothers and sisters in Christ in this sacrament. God himself is triune; by nature he is communal and made us “in-his-image” humans the same way. This should be experienced in holy communion, He in us, us in the Triune, in communion via a shared meal, not twitter.

“Believers are invited to partake of Communion in front of their computers while following the service via Twitter, the brain-child of U.K. Methodist minister Tim Ross. Rev. Ross will send out a prayer in a series of tweets and ask participants to “read each tweet out loud before typing ‘Amen’” in response. Hundreds of people have registered for the service, and Rev. Ross hopes thousands will join them by the time the service takes place next month. “The perception of church is often that it is rusting away in antiquated buildings and not in touch with the world around us,” says Ross, “but this is a statement that we’re prepared to embrace the technological revolution.”

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The righteousness of God imputed

28 July 2010 blogpastor 25 Comments

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 movement. They express the crux of the message that generated the great revivals of the Protestant Reformation. Study them and you will see that these reformers believed that justification…

…..is an undeserved gift of God’s grace;

…..is not just the forgiveness of sins but also the imputation of the perfect obedience and righteousness of Christ to the believer;

…..is received by faith alone apart from works of law, yet this faith is never alone but works through love;

…..cannot be separated from regeneration.

The Heidelberg Catechism (1563) was written by Zacharias Ursinus, professor at the University of Heidelberg, and Caspar Olevianus the court preacher.

“Question 60: How are you right with God?

Answer: Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. All I need to do is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart.”

The Belgic Confession(1561) was written by Guido de Bre`s, a Reformed Belgian preacher. Article 22 contains these statements:

“And therefore we justly say with Paul that we are justified “by faith alone” or by faith “apart from works” (Romans 3:28). However, we do not mean, properly speaking, that it is faith itself that justifies us – for faith is only the instrument by which we embrace Christ, our righteousness. But Jesus Christ is our righteousness in making available to us all his merits and all the holy works he has done for us and in our place. And faith is the instrument that keeps us together with him in communion with all his benefits. When those benefits are made ours they are more than enough to absolve us of our sins.”

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) was written by 131 pastors and 30 laymen at Wesminster Abbey in London. It is a Puritan Calvinist creed.

XI.1 :“Those whom God effectually calleth he also freely justifieth; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; ….by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.”

“Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the [only instrument] of justification; yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.”

This message of justification, especially the positive imputation of Christ’s righteousness and its manifold applications, have not been preached much from most Protestant pulpits. The Pentecostals and charismatics and other evangelicals have preached being regenerated and sanctified and anointed, but not much on being justified. Even traditional denominations like the Presbyterians, Methodists,Anglicans, Lutherans have jettisoned justification, deemed as risky and with an antinomian aftertaste, in favor of a more popular taste: the “char kway teow” of user-friendly, practical sermons. My plea is for a more Reformation flavor in our pulpits, especially, the one that is at the heart of the gospel: the message of justification. This is something all churches must do if they want to have healthy disciples. We lose a great source of assurance if we do not. This is my firm conviction.

(Source: Hoekema, Anthony A. “Saved by Grace”, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1989, p 170-172)

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