Pentecostal – Page 4

Category: Pentecostal

Goh Ewe Kheng: servant leader

8 October 2011 blogpastor 4 Comments

The session of the Pastors’ Conference organized by Tung Ling had ended. Pastors and leaders stood up to stretch, look for the restroom, or just stand around and chat. A grey haired man went about with a carton of packet drinks to serve the pastors. He dressed simply and looked ordinary, though he was a very wealthy businessman and notable church leader. He was a great influence in the local and wider church and in the marketplace. He was one of many pioneers who unknowingly could be modelling a bi-vocational church and marketplace leadership that will increasingly needed in the decades ahead. He is Goh Ewe Kheng, one of my favourite sermon illustrations of humble and faithful servanthood. So when I read an article about him by Edmond Chua in the Christian Post, I just had to link it. He wrote:

Elder Goh Ewe Kheng is the quintessential minister in the marketplace. He started church ministries, preached, co-founded a denomination and participated in the governance and activities of over 30 committees, all while running a business. The passion of the 87-year-old Founding Elder of the 7,640-member Church of Singapore passion to serve God began at an early age.

Continue reading about the personal and family life of this inspiring marketplace and church leader HERE.

Speaking in tongues in the worship service

21 June 2011 blogpastor 7 Comments

During the revival, speaking in tongues was a common phenomena during the meetings, whether for prayer or worship services. There would be loud speaking in tongues with tears and crying. People were convicted and overwhelmed by the Spirit and speaking loudly in tongues, sometimes with interpretation, but most times without.

My understanding about tongues and its use in church gradually shifted with exposure to different churches: Anglican charismatic, Methodist charismatic, Baptist charismatic, Love Singapore meetings and even mega church Pentecostal services. This coupled with theological training on the interpretation of scriptures formed and shaped a nuanced understanding of the usage of tongues in the church. However I found it difficult to put it in words or to explain them simply. Until I came across this video in Adrian Warnock’s blog by Terry Virgo the founder of a network of 600 churches in 50 nations called Newfrontiers. They are Reformed Charismatic and Evangelical small churches. He spoke about the use of speaking in tongues in the church service, and it resonated with me.

5e. Free to worship from Terry Virgo on Vimeo.

Contemporary worship akin to moshing?

12 February 2010 blogpastor 7 Comments

I first heard about moshing from worship lecturer Dr Lim Swee Hong of Trinity Theological College. During his lecture, he mentioned how a certain writer likened what you see in contemporary charismatic worship (particularly the megachurches) to the moshing you see in punk rock concerts. Is contemporary worship in the megachurches borrowing too much from the world? Are they aping popular culture so that the non-Christian will be more comfortable, and attracted to the church? That really got me all curious. So I went to do some research about moshing.

Wikipedia definition

“an activity in which audience members at live music performances aggressively push or slam into each other. Moshing is frequently accompanied by stage diving, crowd surfing, and headbanging. It is commonly associated with concerts by heavy metal, punk rock, and alternative rock artists, although it occurs at performances by musicians of all sorts of genres. Moshing primarily takes place at live shows, though it can be done to recorded music, too. In the 2000s, many variations of moshing exist, such as “thrash”, and the dance is practiced at concerts of many musical genres. Moshing is typically done in an area in front or the stage which is referred to as the mosh pit or circle pit. While moshing is seen as a form of positive feedback or reflection of enjoyment from live audiences, it has also drawn some controversy over its dangerous nature. However, it is generally agreed that moshers are not trying to harm one another and follow a “moshing etiquette” which promotes safety through behaviors such as immediately helping audience members that have fallen back to their feet to avoid their being trampled”.

Then I went to YouTube to get an idea of what it looks like.

And then I compared it with a worship concert done by Hillsong United. Compare them for yourselves. You may think otherwise but I think they are different.

Perhaps moshing is more like what’s in this next video. No offense is meant to moshers. Please do not complain to the police or the ISD. 🙂

(First published in 13th January 2008)