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Combining Two Pleasures

8 April 2022 blogpastor Leave a comment

To be able to combine two pleasures is a great blessing. I enjoy catching up with pastor friends and cycling, so to have these two pleasures combined is time well spent. I have had the pleasure of doing this recently in two cycling trips with pastors. One was from Khatib MRT to Labrador MRT following the Round the Island route. A second was from East Coast Park (car park D1) to Changi Point and back.

Khatib to Labrador (RTI)

When National Parks published the partially completed Round The Island (RTI) route, it inspired me and I asked a more experienced pastor, cyclist and YouTuber, Eng Hwa if he would like to do this route. He said yes and we agreed on the date. Later I invited one pastor Paul Loh to join us. Paul was a pastor in charge of logistics in New Creation Church before he began his own regional ministry of equipping pastors and church planting. They both lived in the north, one in Sembawang and one in Yishun. I lived in Jurong East. So I folded my Brompton bike at Jurong East MRT and took the train to Khatib MRT station. It was 23 Feb at 7am when I boarded the train. The ride all the way to Changi Point was predictable with a few familiar scenic places, where we stopped at to take pictures and rest.

At Changi Point we ate at the hawker center and we got to know each other better, lingering over cans of 100 Plus, a necessary isotonic drink for such long-distance rides of over 70km. It helps to prevent cramps.

After lunch we continued our ride and took regular timeouts to rest, drink and chat. We were stuck for about 15 minutes at a bus-stop along the East Coast because of sudden rain. After that we kept going all the way to Marina Bay and passed the many bridges along the Singapore river.

Fatigue began to set in along the Alexandra PCN. From then the going was tough but somehow by God’s grace, sheer perseverance and 100Plus, we finally reached our destination with great joy and a sense of satisfaction. We reached Labrador MRT station at 5.23pm. From there we took the train home with our folded bikes. What an unforgettable trip. I now have a deeper respect for those who do the full round the island route like it was a piece of cake.

East Coast D1 to Changi Point

There were more pastors on this trip because it was organised on a Monday so a still-working Anglican pastor Vincent could join us. Another pastor Richard Wong is executive director of T-NET, a disciple-making ministry. Although he is working, he has a flexible schedule. The rest of us are retired pastors Eng Hwa and Seng Chor and myself. We enjoy doing whatever the Lord bids us to do in this new season of our lives. We have the greater flexibility.

This was not our first pastors cycling trip. We met at a free car park D1 at the East Coast Park. The day was beautiful but according to the weather report, sunny at noon and rainy in the afternoon. It was one of those days when the weather forecast was highly accurate. We had fun riding all the way to Changi Point and chatting over Tiong Bahru chicken rice, and later downed with chendol dessert at another location opposite the hawker center. The talk over the table was about the church during the pandemic, catching up with each other about what’s happening in our lives, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

*Richard, myself, Vincent, Seng Chor, Eng Hwa*

On the way back, the rain hit us in the afternoon, and we had to speed up and ended in the exact same bus stop as during the February cycling trip, all wet from the rain. After a while we decided to ride in the drizzle until we reached the hawker center near the Bedok Jetty. There we loitered for quite a while over hot teh tarik, and left under a drizzle because the rain refused to stop.

I gave a ride to pastor Vincent who lived fifteen minutes from my home. Thankfully we could put two foldable bikes in the car. Although we were drenched, it was an eventful outing, and I enjoyed the ride of 40km, and the camaraderie. This is one kind of environment that helps men to build relationships: doing things we enjoy together and tossing in some meaningful conversations. We are planning another cycling trip, this time from Jurong East to Marina Bay and back.

On Returning To In-Person Worship Services

7 April 2022 blogpastor Leave a comment

It was pleasant to meet up with Pastor Peter Sze, to see his boyish smile and hear his cheerful voice. He is one who always bothered to arrange to meet people and friends whenever he was in town. Although he had retired, he is still the pastor of New Covenant Church, a grace-based church in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Lunch was in Din Tai Fung at Suntec City and we caught up about family, church and, of course, frustrating Malaysian politics. Peter has three daughters and a son and a blessed total of eleven grandchildren. The pandemic has meant more times of family togetherness – one of several meaningful and happy outcomes.

Church During Pandemic

The pandemic in Malaysia has affected his church just as it had affected churches in Singapore during the few periods of tightening and loosening of pandemic regulations and restrictions in the last two years. The church has had to respond quickly to the ever-changing situation. The church’s media team had to learn to pre-record services while keeping to the government restrictions. It learned to be resilient and quick to respond to changes. It had to be able to shuttle between online, on-site and hybrid models of doing worship services.

The church conducted more meetings on zoom and when it offered mid-week online Bible studies the attendance was much better than when it was done in-person in the past. They have also found that the online presence of the church now saw visitors from other countries viewing their worship services and messages and with a few emailing letters of appreciation.

And Now?

Now the church has a hybrid model and restrictions have been loosened. Members are returning to the services. However, like in Singapore, church members are creatures of habit. It will take some time before all the regular members and attendees turn up for the in-person services.

My take is that two years of watching mainly online services have enslaved the people of God to the idol of convenience, and made us spectator worshippers with special multi-tasking powers and lazy bones. Without judgmental and holier-than-thou attitudes, while being sensitive to special situations of some members, we need to pray for God’s people to be freed from this digital captivity, cross the Red Sea, and return to embodied community and worship, where one can be more fully attentive to God and one another.

Personally

As for me, the online worship had been a blessing. Having retired I felt compelled to be away from church so that the new pastor of the English congregation, Ps Alvin Lim, can freely establish the new dynamics of his leadership with members. With the church going online, I had the joy of remaining in contact with my home church, and did not need to look for other church services to attend. It has now been a year and a quarter since I retired, and I feel it is a good time to return in-person more often but keep a low profile.

Last Sunday, I found it a joy to be together with God’s people, singing, listening to the preached Word, and having lunch with members. Being able to sing, albeit with masks on, was a bonus.

What is it like for your church with the loosening of restrictions? Let us know by making a comment. It would be enlightening to know what’s happening in churches in Singapore and Malaysia.

MFI Singapore Pastors Consultation – 24 Mar 2022

24 March 2022 blogpastor Leave a comment

What a Joy

It was a joy to be welcomed by Pastor Bernard. His church Harvester Community Church was hosting the event. I knew Bernard from the Christian fellowship at CMPB when we met for times of prayer and encouragement, before he completed his National Service.

My joy doubled as I saw various pastors I know among the groups of five that were seated around tables: Ps Lawrence Koo, Ps Francis, Ps Justin, Ps Ben (one of the panel speakers), and of course my cycling buddy, Ps Richard Wong. I felt relaxed and at home.

Joining MFI Singapore

I joined the Ministers Fellowship International Singapore after my retirement. They are an association of ministers that intentionally facilitate meaningful relationships among ministers. In doing so they hope to strengthen churches. They also believe that the Church would be strengthened when local churches recognise and allow for the development of the five-fold ministry amongst them. The two main key leaders of MFI Singapore are Ps Chua Hock Lin and Ps Gabriel Han.

Pastors Consultation 2022

This Pastors Consultation began at 9.30am and ended around 1pm. Surprisingly the three and a half hours passed quickly, which was a good sign. The theme was “Leading With Clarity In Uncertain Times” and the speakers were seasoned pastors: Ps Chua Hock Lin, Ps Jeremy Seaward, Ps Ben Lee, and Ps Joey Bonifacio. There was also an interesting panel discussion of three youth pastors: Joel Tan, Jay Ong, and Jess Ong. On the whole, the program fulfilled the purpose of helping pastors gain the clarity to move forward. The program was ably helmed and facilitated by Ps Rhordan Wicks. Every speaker and their respective topic, and the panel discussion contributed to expanding and developing the theme. It was an enriching time, though more time for processing on the insights we gained would have made the meetings more fruitful. However, pastors are busy people and we have to leave it to them to reflect on what the Lord stirred in them personally, and pray about the implications and action to take.

Clarity For The Church

For me the session about “Clarity For the Church” was inspiring in its centrality and simplicity. The church needs to stop being pre-occupied with reacting to the rapid changes triggered by government covid regulations, necessary as this was, and let Jesus come and give us clarity. He used Luke 5, where Peter was pre-occupied with cleaning the nets and Jesus facilitated a process of revelation where in the end Peter realised his real call was to be a fisher of men. This however was but the first of three encounters where Jesus came and clarified things for the disciples. The other was during post-resurrection, when Peter and the disciples went back to fishing, and Jesus came and clarified their call. The last was when the disciples asked Jesus when would the kingdom come, and Jesus in effect said, Do not be pre-occupied with such matters of last days timing; rather let the Holy Spirit empower you to be My witnesses. I could feel that the pastors were moved by the simplicity and clarity and directness of the message. It was a timely rhema word for the Church in the midst of pandemic uncertainty.

Ps Chua gave an overview about what he believed the Lord is doing in the midst of this pandemic. He is shaking what can be shaken, and judgment has begun in the house of God, so that the Church would be purified and prepared as the Bride for the return of Christ.

The other speakers spoke about “Clarity in the Family” and “Clarity in the Personal Life”. Here are some of the insights and catchy lines delivered to us:

Clarity addresses uncertainty; it does not remove it. You cannot have certainty but clarity is the next best thing to have.
Covid had made it such that parents could not outsource the discipleship of their children to the children’s programs. It had to be done by them at home.
Families need to root themselves in the local church and not move from screen to screen and church to church because the children and teenagers need more than the input of mums and dads – they need adult uncles and aunties to enrich their faith and lives. This can only happen if they root themselves in a local church and stay put.
Online or physical services better? Most important thing is to be fully present. In which format can you be more fully present to what God is saying and doing?

Youth Pastors Panel Discussion

Jess Ong, Jay Ong, Joel Tan, Ps Rhordan Wicks

The youth pastors panel was interesting as you get glimpses of what today’s youth pastors are like and what are their perspectives and experiences of ministering during the pandemic. Some points that struck me:

Young people prioritize authentic relationships.
They are tired of being online behind the screen and prefer face to face. At the same time, they need help to relate to others and have authentic conversations.
They want to engage and make contributions that make a difference and would participate in social causes and justice issues in tangible ways.
They feel a sadness to have lost two years of precious experiences due to covid restrictions.
They need and would appreciate the humble sharing of the ups and downs of life stories from people older than them, as it helps them imagine what their life can be like in the real world and give them hope.

Reflection Time

At the end, we had a time of quiet reflection and then in our groups we shared about the insights that struck us the most. This was a good time of collaborative learning and of iron sharpening iron. Some good news also came through as it was announced that by next week groups of ten would be allowed, and wearing masks outside would be optional! Someone remarked: I hope this does not undo the good that the pandemic has done in the church. A great way to end the consultation.