Sister Rubina, Derrick and Connie Jacobs

S. Rubina with Kenny and Jenny

It was several months ago when Sister Rubina from the Sisters of Mary, Australia visited her family in Singapore. I met her at Nat and Janice’s registration of marriage, and then later she shared an exhortation about first love for Jesus in our Sunday church service, and we had lunch with her and her parents. Her parents, Derrick and Connie Jacobs, are old friends and excellent examples of godly couples who grey graciously, strong in faith, and contentment.

Derrick and Connie Jacobs

I have known Sister Rubina and her parents way back in the late 1970’s. They attended our church and I was sent to help the home fellowship in Derrick Jacob’s home. I remember long bus commutes from Hillview in the west to the Parbury area in the east, fellowship, prayer times and returning home very late. I cannot remember how long this went on but I do remember  that I baptized Rubina in the East Coast sea. Revival fires were still burning in those early days.

Derrick Jacobs went on to start “The Christian Library” ministry and recently I visited him again and had fellowship in the office. Besides lending out books they carry a large array of messages in digital formats and they are available for sale. Take a look if you are interested: www.thechristianlibrary.com.sg

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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, chinese Jesus“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 2000 it had declined to just 28% who claimed to be Christian. Far fewer go to church. Conversely, in 1900, only 10% of all people in Africa (10 million) were Christians vs. over 50% (360 million) today…I may surprise some when I say that there african jesusare by far more Christians in China than in America. There are more Presbyterians in Ghana than in Scotland, where they were founded by John Knox. There are more Baptists in the India state of Nagaland than in the American South. There are more Anglicans in Kenya or Uganda or Rwanda or Nigeria than in England. There are two million Anglicans in England compared to 17 million in Nigeria. Last Sunday, more Christians went to church in China than all of Europe combined. This is a fundamental shift. If you want to know the future of Christianity, it is the developing world. It’s Africa, Latin America and Asia.” (Pew Forum 13 Nov 2009)

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