Grace-Based Pastors Conference in India

Hello guys, some members in my cell group are organizing a Pastor’s conference in India in February 2012. My cell group is made up of Christians from different Churches, though most or all of us have been impacted by the message of grace – and most attend New Creation. We are all just ordinary Christians who have been impacted by the revelation of grace and the love of God. We also believe the days of the “big men of God” – specially anointed and holy servants of God that Christians ought to look up to because they have something special that we don’t have – are dying and instead all the saints are called to do the work of the ministry. The grace message has often been accused of producing passive Christians and to a certain extent that has been true. However, for us as a cell, we don’t believe in being passive, but in demonstrating the love of God to this world in an active manner. The grace and love of God empowers us to live for Him and bless people and our heart is to go out into the world and make an impact on peoples’ lives. I think two ministries / churches that we really identify with in terms of getting that message and ministry balance is Andrew Wommack and Bill Johnson.

Therefore, though many of us in the cell are not pastors or big leaders in Churches (none of us are actually) – and we still face many challenges in our own lives and are definitely “not there” yet (as Andrew Wommack would say, “I haven’t arrived yet, but I’ve left”) -, we challenge ourselves to step out and share and minister.  So with this Pastor’s conference, we are collaborating with a good Indian pastor friend of ours who is doing a lot of good work in one part of India.

We are holding this conference in a Seminary and targeting over 100 pastors from all over India (though mainly the Southern part). The focus of the conference is going to be on the gospel of grace and the love of Daddy God. All of us are united on this, having had our lives transformed, and thus this is the message we want to share to impact the lives of many pastors and their congregation.

This is going to be an exciting conference. I’m in charge of the curriculum and making sure all the messages are in line and flow from one to another. About 8 people from my cell group are going and 5 of us are going to share about 8 messages in total. We’re going to share on interpreting and preaching the Bible from a New Covenant perspective, righteousness-consciousness, grace, Sonship, union (identification) in relation to overcoming sin and ministry and the practical message of Spirit, Soul and Body and living it out from our spirit. Some of our influences have been people like Pastor Joseph Prince, Andrew Wommack and Bill Johnson.

Three of the 8 of us are pretty new to sharing – two of us only shared our first message in 2011 and one I think hasn’t really shared before. Some may be thinking how we can organize a pastor’s conference when many of us are so inexperienced. Perhaps that’s so. But I hope we’re not going into India thinking that India is a developing country and Singapore is a developed country and therefore we can do this because we’re somehow superior to them and they would respect us because of the fact that we’re out of town and thus know more. Definitely not! I don’t think we presume to go there thinking that we’re somehow better or know better than them. Both sides will learn from one another. For us, we have a very personal message and revelation that we want to share – something that has transformed our lives and we believe will transform the lives of the pastors and their congregation. And we really believe in getting to know the pastors there and not acting like we’re some big shots from out of town. In fact, most pastors would be traveling from afar off and will be sleeping on mattresses  in the Seminary. Our cell group wanted to live with them rather than stay in a hotel – because we truly want to interact and get to know the people and we don’t see ourselves as different or on a higher level than them – but for some security and other reasons this could not be arranged.

Donating Grace-Based Books to the Seminary (and maybe the Pastors too?)

Anyway, so this is what’s happening in February 2012. Actually the main reason for this post is to appeal to people who want to contribute books to the Seminary there in India. The Seminary is new and so they have need for books. I’ve given about 100 or so of my Christian books to the Seminary. They are a portion of the books I’ve bought since 15 years ago. But most of them are not very grace-based. The reason why my cell group is very passionate about organizing this conference is because it’s about teaching and transforming the thinking and hearts of pastors. If the pastors catch the loving and gracious heart of Daddy God and the message of the New Covenant, they will share this message to their congregation. The potential for impact is thus enormous. And that’s why I also believe in investing in books for the Seminary students to read.

So for those who want to be part of donating grace-based books to the Seminary, you can donate through me through the Paypal button below. I will use the money to purchase a list of different grace-based books I know (I haven’t read all of them, but I know they are good). Below is my compilation of various life-transforming grace-based books which I will get with your donation – feel free to comment below and point out some books I’ve missed. And if you want to donate to purchase a specific book, then let me know too. For those in Singapore, you can contact me if you want to physically pass me one of your books. If there’s enough money, I’ll think of purchasing one good grace-based book to give also to the pastors at the conference (maybe 100+). That’s only if we have enough money because we want to be fair and give all of the pastors the book and not just some of them.

Donation amount

Donate $5.00 USD Donate $10.00 USD Donate $20.00 USD Donate $50.00 USD Donate $100.00 USD

1) Books by Bill Johnson of Bethel Church (I put Bill Johnson’s books first because for those who are wary of the grace message, he’s probably the least controversial, and most influential, leader of all names here. While his books don’t address the message of grace directly, I believe his theology and his books, like that of the Vineyard (at least in the past), ASSUMES the foundation of the message of the love and grace of God. He uses a different language and doesn’t get caught up in all the controversies, but he’s definitely grace-based in most senses and his Church even sells Pastor Joseph Prince’s books. I first heard of the message of the Father heart of God through Vineyard and the Toronto Blessing was mostly about that message, which to me is a message of grace using different terms)
2) Destined to Reign by Joseph Prince
3) Books by Andrew Wommack
4) Books by New Nature Publications
5) It is Finished by Nerida Walker (just got this book and it looks interesting)
6) Books by Elyse Fitzpatrick (Elyse is a good Reformed author. My background is in the Reformed tradition and even though I don’t agree with a lot of beliefs in that tradition now (and I think it’s too legalistic for me in general), one section of the Reformed tradition has a very strong “gospel-centered” focus which is very grace-based and which I think a lot of grace-based Christians can learn a lot from.
7) Books by Mark Hankins (good identity in Christ stuff)
8) Books by EW Kenyon (good identity in Christ stuff)

[I don't have time to complete my list, but I will keep adding books when I have time and will continue to welcome donation for these books even after this upcoming trip because the team may plan to go there regularly in future and work with the Seminary and pastors there and the Singaporean pastor we work with goes there quite regularly]

Fahkram Church after the floods in Thailand

Hi to all who read my blog (not that I’ve been writing much lately!) or who have stumbled upon this blog. I wrote a post a while back on Fahkram Church which I’ve gotten to know over the past year plus. If you read the post, you’ll know why I think this is a very unique and amazing church – I encourage you all to read that post if you haven’t.

I’ve gotten to know some people there pretty well. I’ve visited the Church about 3 times over the past year or so and twice I stayed within the Church compound (they put me up in a nice air-con room for free). They are a church that has services every day because maybe 50 or so people live within the Church compound. The pastor has helped many people to get jobs and make money. He preaches a message of God’s grace and love and God’s desire to prosper His people. Yet he also lives the message of generosity out by helping and blessing his people. I know his sheep come before him. Even though he teaches his people to give to God and he could become pretty rich through the church tithes / offerings, he actually lives within the church compound with some of the members. He doesn’t live a better lifestyle than them. I think a person who truly understands our God of love and grace will not focus on his own self, but on other people and helping and blessing them. Demonstrating the love of God to others will become (effortlessly) more important to us than just focusing on ourselves and our wants as we conform more and more to the image of our Saviour. While I believe in prosperity and God prospering us, I’ve seen too many who preach such a message for themselves and not understand that God desires to use them to be a blessing to other people too. That’s why I admire someone like Andrew Wommack who I believe truly lives that message out. I know the pastor of this Church and I know he’s someone too that lives out such a lifestyle.

The reason for writing this post is that I want to provide an opportunity for my readers to help this Church. As you know, floods in Thailand have caused a lot of damage to the country. And it has caused a lot of damage to Fahkram Church too as you can see from the above picture. You can also see more pictures of damage here (their facebook account). Also, a list of damage done to the Church provided by Anne is listed below this post.

During the floods, the Church actually went on one of their mission trips to the north of Thailand. I think they stayed away from their Church for a month or more as the Church was flooded about 40 days. You can find out more about what happened to the Church and how to help them out here: Fahkram Church. There you’ll be able to see some pictures and get the contact numbers and email of the Pastor and one translator who speaks English. You’ll also get the bank information if you desire to transfer some money over.

I’ve set up a PayPal (you can use credit card) donate button (actually it’s a PAY NOW button coz it’s not easy to get a PayPal Donate button as I’m in Singapore) for those who want to contribute a bit of money to the Church. You can contribute as little (even $5) or as much as you want. The little donations add up. Do note that the money will go directly to my PayPal account, not theirs.  The reason I’m doing so is because I know a lot of people will probably not go through the trouble of Telegraphic Transferring (TT) money over to the Church. PayPal and using one’s Credit/Debit Card is so much easier and quicker – especially if you want to donate just a small amount. For big amounts, I’d encourage you to contact the Church directly. For small amounts, you can use the PayPal button below. Of course, this will be based on trust – for those of you who know me or are familiar with my blog, it’s your judgement to make if you want to go through me.

I will be TTing some money over this month or next month so I’ll transfer your money along with mine. You can also email the Pastor or Anne (the translator who speaks English) at the above email address to make sure they get the money from me if you’re concerned about it – in fact, I encourage you to do so. I’ll also get them to email you an acknowledgement of your donation when I send the money over. Please note that it is NOT their idea that I help them raise money through my PayPal account. It is my idea because I know how easy it is to transfer money using PayPal. It’s actually more of a hassle for me to organize this, but I think it’ll encourage people to give small donations they may not give if they had to TT the money (the cost of TTing is probably around US$5-10 or more per transfer which is a lot if you want to transfer a small amount).

Donation amount

Donate $5.00 USD Donate $10.00 USD Donate $20.00 USD Donate $50.00 USD Donate $100.00 USD

PS: There seems to be a problem with the donation amount. If it shows US$5 on the next screen, just change the QUANTITY to make it add up to the amount you want to donate.
PPS: Thanks to those who have already donated very generously through PayPal. I’m pleasantly surprised yet very encouraged. And the Church will be too! :)

A list of damage (and cost) caused by the floods provided by Anne, the translator (note that US$1 = 32 Thai Baht)

1 A fence are damaged now we brought corrugated iron to make the fence temporary from now on.
2 The motortri-cycle for the need peoples in our church 68 motortri-cycle have to fix it because stay in the water for 40 days
it’s cost to repair per motortri-cycle is 3,500 bath total 238,000 bath
3 The water main,pipe it’s break down water can’t run down.
4 The wall must painting new again inside and outside door 15,000 bath
And other rooms inside the church is
5 The kitchen room
5.1 A refrigerator 1 = 16,990 bath
5.2 Machine cold water 3,500*2 = 7,000 bath
5.3 The Kitchen cabinet 5,000*4 = 20,000 bath
5.5 The Gas and Gas tank 2,750*2 = 5,500 bath
5.6 A bowl,cup,pot,pan,glass total =30,000 bath,P.S The stain of the oil can’t remove.
6. Storage room
6.1 Cabinet device performance 5000*2 = 10,000 bath
6.2 Equipment performance 50,000 bath
6.3 Instrument 12,000 bath
7 Praying room
7.1 Clothes closet 4000+5000 = 9,000 bath
7.2 T.V.cabinet 3,500 bath
7.3 Sofa 15,000 bath
7.4 The Table and chair 4000 bath
8 The worship room and office room
8.1 The table computer 2900*2 = 5,800 bath
8.2 Steel filling cabinet 5,000 bath
8.3 Table Mixer 3,500 bath
8.4 The carpet on the stage in worship room 7.50 * 3.20
8.5 The curtain in worship room
8.6 The books cabinet 5000*3 = 15,000 bath
9 The Audio mixer rooms
9.1 sound proot wall lining
9.2 Microphone condenser
9.3 Speaker mix down
9.4 Cutting computer
9.5 table mixer
9.6 Equipment mixer cabinet
9.7 Ground
10.The Toilet
10.1 The door for PVC 1,500*2 = 3,000 bath
11. Air condition repair and change equipment,clean up =11,500 bath

On Wednesday during one of our regular Healing On The Streets (HOTS) outreaches, a friend and I were returning for a debriefing session at Plaza Singapura McDonald’s with the rest of the group. We were stopped outside Macs at the Vardi & Migdal booth by a saleslady named Tom (yes, a lady!) to try their Dead Sea products. This is one of the many Israeli companies selling their Dead Sea products in Singapore. After chatting a while about the products, we asked if she had any pain in her body. She was curious why we asked her that and we told her that we pray for people and God heals. We managed to pray for some rash or something on her hand and also that God will bless her with great sales the rest of the week – these people earn on commission. In all, we had a nice 10-15 minutes chat with her and I left her my contact, promising to introduce her to my Singaporean friends.

In June, another friend and I were stopped at Funan Centre by a saleslady from the Sea of Spa shopping cart (outside Polar) selling Jericho Dead Sea products. We chatted for about 20 minutes – about the products, Israel, etc – as she got us to try the products. My friend, a missionary, could not afford the products which were quite expensive. After the long talk, I didn’t really want to buy the products either because they were expensive. However, I also felt bad for taking up so much of her time – although I shouldn’t have felt bad about it! In the end I bought some stuff. We continued to chat with her and her guy colleague about their life in Singapore. We ended up praying for them too. The guy asked us to pray for his mother who is ill and so we did and also prayed for good sales for them. We invited them to church and they invited us to attend a Synagogue (although they are not devout Jews). I’m praying and hoping that this will take place as I know they are pretty busy with work.

These people work about 6 days a week for quite long hours each day. This is like an overseas work experience for them. Each would probably stay about 6 months or so. And they live together in a place with their colleagues. They get one day off a week (which is not fixed on any particular day), but they probably use that day to take a rest from the tiring week.

Since I’ve been involved in outreach to international students the past few years, this group of people caught my attention. They’re not studying here, but they are similar to the many international students in that they are young adults and they are not really assimilated into the Singaporean society. Like many international students here, most of these Israelis would not have any/many Singaporean friends – partly because they live with other Israelis and they hardly have time to have much of a social life as they work long hours.

They are the strangers in our midst: the young Jews selling Dead Sea products, international students studying in Singapore or low-income migrant workers here to earn money. God has brought the mission field to our doorstep and there are tons of foreigners out there who would love to get to know more Singaporeans. Because of the situation they are in – be it needing to work too long hours, having no/few contact point with Singaporeans or Singaporeans not accepting of them (low-income migrant workers) – it’s hard for them to get to know Singaporeans. Because this is our country, the onus is on us to be the ones to take the first step to show hospitality to them. Invite them to get to know our circle of friends – most would be totally delighted if we were to extend a welcoming hand to them. Those of us who have lived overseas before know how difficult it can be to get to know the local people.

There are about 100,000 (our government aims for 150,000 by 2015) international students in Singapore, most of them being young adults studying in private schools where there are few Singaporeans studying. Most, therefore, do not have close Singaporean friends and are very open to friendships. There are more than 1 million foreign workers in Singapore. About 250,000 are in the construction industry, which basically means they don’t really have Singaporean friends – except maybe their bosses or supervisors. Probably another 250,000 to half a million of these foreign workers are low-class/low-income workers in other sectors, which also means that they probably won’t have any Singaporean friends because we just don’t associate with them for various reasons.

Unlike many locals who have heard the gospel one too many times, many of these people may not have heard the gospel before. They are much more open to the gospel because they are in a new land and they welcome local friendships enormously. My heart is especially for the low-income migrant workers, especially the construction workers from South Asia. I’ve talked to many over the past few months and they are so open and friendly. Nowadays, I often pass construction sites and ask them if they have any pain or sickness. It’s such a joy to start a conversation with them. If only I could speak their language (most can speak basic conversational English but would be more comfortable in their mother tongue), I would definitely spend much more time reaching out to them.

For Christians who have a heart for the nation of Israel and pray a lot for them, how about going beyond praying for them to showing hospitality to many of these young Israelis all over Singapore. Embrace them, invite them out and if possible share Christ’s love with them. There are many of such stalls in shopping malls filled with Israelis. And I know there are many Christian groups that believe strongly in praying for Israel and also many Christian groups that visit Israel. I’m generally not into all this as too many of these groups are unconsciously tied to right-wing political agendas and I think money could be much better spent than going on a holiday to Israel! That’s my personal opinion that everyone is entitled to if they so desire. But regardless, wouldn’t it be great if these same Christians who are so passionate about praying for or visiting Israel come together to befriend and welcome these young Israelis in our midst! Personally, I think God would be much more pleased with us actually spending time with them, befriending them and reaching out to these Jews, than if we were to only pray for them or visit the Holy Land.

Anyway, we’re living in a really exciting time in Singapore. It’s only in the past 5-10 years that we’ve seen a huge influx of migrant workers and international students. I’m all for missions and I want to be a missionary overseas one day. But it’s exciting to be in Singapore now too. There are incredible opportunities to embrace the strangers in our midst and demonstrate and share Christ’s love with them. And you may just live a missionary life vicariously through the lives you touch in Singapore, for when these people return to their homeland they will be your missionaries – and a better one than any of us could ever be!

I was in two minds about sharing about my trip to the States here because I don’t want to reveal too much about myself personally on this website. But I’m going to do so anyway!

I’ll be on a trip to the United States from 22nd June to 15th July. Those who know me well know that I’ve been involved in ministry to international students and I’m very passionate about that. I haven’t shared a lot here for various reasons, but I hope to do so more in future. Anyway, because of this ministry interest, I’ve been in touch the last two years with a large para-church organization from America (that reaches out to international students) which is hoping to be more active in Singapore. They invited me to their national conference and their headquarters in the States so we could both get to know more of each other – with the view of me perhaps becoming a ministry representative for them in Singapore. I said I’d go if they paid for the trip – and so I’m going! So blessed!

Since I was going to be in the States, I thought I’d make good use of my time there and arrange to go to some other conferences on my expense. It’s so incredible that two conferences (involving two Christian leaders whose materials I’ve been devouring recently) take place before and after the above trip. So I’ll be going to Bill Johnson’s Bethel Church’s Kingdom Culture Conference from the 23rd to 25th of June. And also to Curry Blake’s Divine Healing Technician training in Arkansas from 8th to 10th of July. I’ll also be visiting my brother after in San Francisco on the way back to Singapore.

So this trip will be awesome! Two things that have been on my heart for the past two years are reaching out to international students and moving in healing. And so I’m excited for this opportunity to learn more about both during this trip.

[I don't know anyone who will be going to the Kingdom Culture and Divine Healing Technician conferences. So if anyone who's going happens to read this, do drop me a comment or email at idealist at stillhaventfound.org and we could meet up! :)]

If anyone would like to pray for me, do pray that I’ll have a life-transforming encounter in the states and learn a lot!

I only started writing in this blog a lot about New Creation Church and theology related to grace the past 2 years or so. That’s because I started attending New Creation more regularly 2 years ago. I felt that because of my theological struggles and interest in the topic of grace (Lordship Salvation, etc.) that started years ago, I had something to contribute to the discussion and so I started writing all these posts related to grace. And the more I started to attend New Creation and the more I started to learn from Pastor Prince and New Creation and the more I started reflecting on everything I’m hearing at Church, the more I blogged on these topics.

But if anyone ventures beyond my blog posts on New Creation and grace to the other parts of this website with all my previous articles and biographical writings, you’ll see a different side of me. That’s the social justice / missions side which I’m hugely passionate about. Maybe it’s taken a bit of a backseat the past 2 years as I focus more on grace. But I’ve also purposely not mentioned a lot of things happening in my life on the blog because I know how controversial it is to write posts about New Creation. Most of the posts about New Creation’s theology has been more positive in nature. And New Creation Church is still very far from being accepted in many places – though things are slowly changing. Therefore, I’ve kept my identity mostly a secret here and not written about other aspects of my life because many Christians still can’t accept someone from New Creation.

I know a lot of people wonder why the name of this website is stillhaventfound. After all, haven’t I already found everything in Christ? Well, the reason for the name is here so I won’t elaborate further suffice to say that the reason has to do with my interest in social justice and seeing this world become a better place – and of course, Christians have a role to play in that. The truth is that a large part of my life concerns social justice (and also missions). Read my past articles on social justice issues like poverty (e.g. Encountering Peter Singer which explains my view of what the Bible says regarding helping the poor) and you’ll understand why some friends who know me from old wonder if I’ve lost that passion for social justice. They wonder about this because recently I’ve been writing so much positively about New Creation and grace and the New Creation message seems so self-centered and prosperity-centered and a contradiction to the altruistic, other-centered, social justice mindset I’d been advocating in my previous writings. What gives? Have I completely changed my mind on this issue?

Well, a big “NO”! The purpose of this whole post is actually to explain how I reconcile my recent writings in defense of New Creation’s theology with my old writings on social justice and helping the poor. To start, let me first talk a bit about the issue of prosperity (and blessings). I believe God desires to prosper us but it’s not always true that those who don’t prosper lack faith. I think a lot of it has to do with unjust social structures and I’ll leave a part of it to the mystery of God. But this doesn’t mean we have no responsibility to exercise faith and ask and believe – faith plays a role and a lot of times we don’t get because we don’t ask. (Regarding the issue of suffering, I’m still reflecting how that fits into the Christian’s life).

I’ve never written much in support of New Creation’s view of prosperity. Nor have I written much against it. I strongly disagree with using so much money on a new building, but what would I know anyway and you can still respect and honour the leadership while disagreeing with certain things.

I’m against Christians living extravagant lifestyles. I dunno about New Creation’s view on this. But I disagree with Christians being too rich not because it’s a sin to be rich. It’s definitely not! It’s just that it’s way better (i.e. more loving) to live more simply and give your additional money to bless those who need it. But if prosperity preachers could be faulted for living too extravagantly and not thinking about better ways of using their money (instead of using it on themselves) like using their money to bless others and reach the lost, let me just say that to be fair the same accusation can to be leveled against most Christians in the developed world – most of whom are middle-class and can easily do more to help the poor and contribute to missions. But of course we don’t look at it this way, do we :) We love to take pot shots at churches like New Creation and City Harvest (which, by the way, easily talks more about prosperity than New Creation), but the truth is that all Christians fall short of the ideal.

I may not be entirely comfortable with New Creation’s teaching on prosperity, but it’s not because they are like the extreme prosperity (tele-evangelistic) churches / preachers. They aren’t – they are much, much more moderate and those who lump New Creation in with the other prosperity churches / preachers have no clue what they are talking about. And there happens to be many such heresy hunters and self-proclaimed watchmen of God out there who have no understanding of the nuances involved, but just love to criticize New Creation and pronounce guilt by association. No doubt New Creation would claim to be of the Word of Faith (Prosperity) movement, but they are of a very different kind. New Creation doesn’t continually ask for money or manipulate Christians to give (see here). If it does, I wouldn’t be there listening to Pastor Prince and I would suspect the majority of the church wouldn’t be there too. We’re there because of the strong preaching on Jesus and God’s grace and love and this helps us see the beauty of Jesus. That’s why we’re there for.

Yet still I’m not entirely comfortable with some of the teachings on prosperity in New Creation. But neither am I entirely comfortable with the Methodist Churches (English speaking) which contain easily the richest Christians in Singapore. The preaching may not be prosperity-centered one bit, but it’s not about the preaching, but the lifestyles of the Christians.

Here’s the kind of prosperity teaching I believe in. While New Creation isn’t like the extreme prosperity preachers, I don’t think it’s up to this level yet either. I’ve spoken approvingly of Andrew Wommack’s view of prosperity (Wommack comes from the Word of Faith / Prosperity tradition) when he said:

Prosperity is how much of a blessing are you to someone else. That’s the way that God evaluates it.

When you get to where the priority on your finances isn’t for you, but rather it’s to bless someone else, then God will assume the liability of taking care of you.

I’ve also quoted approvingly of P.G. Vargis (another prosperity dude):

I live a simple life. Do not misunderstand me – I am not preaching a poverty gospel, neither do I practice it… I spend money if it is really necessary. I have not saved any thing [sic], money, land or a house for me or my children. Whatever I get for the ministry is put into the ministry… Live a simple life and give all the rest to the mission – that is my policy.

I think the above two people are wonderful representations of the so-called Prosperity Gospel. They may preach that God wants to prosper us, but that’s not wrong when they truly believe in prosperity for a purpose, money for missions and blessed to be a blessing. Now, these are wonderful phrases that many prosperity churches like to throw around, but I know very few that actually truly believe them to the extent that it’s so clear through how their lives are lived. From what I know of the above two people (admittedly not a lot so I may be wrong), I think they truly try to live those phrases out – at least to a much greater extent than other Christians, whether from the prosperity tradition or not.

In my opinion, a person who truly believes all the above phrases would live a simple life, just as P.G. Vargis put it. As I argued here,

In the light of almost unending poverty in the world and endless opportunities to help the poor, what justification do we have to live a luxurious lifestyle when by cutting down on such a lifestyle we could bless and love the poor?

I would add to the above giving to missions to reach the lost – not just helping the poor. To me, then, living up to the ideal that God calls us would require us to live a simple life. This doesn’t earn us favour or blessings or salvation for that is all for us in Christ. We ought to strive to such a life simply because we desire to love God and people. Even if we fail, that’s OK. We all will. God won’t punish us. There’s always grace available. So this isn’t something that’s meant to be legalistic. We will never attain the ideal because we’re not perfect. But, on the other hand, let us not deceive ourselves to think that we can be passive and it doesn’t matter how we live. We still ought to strive to be Christlike in every way, even though we will fall short. In this regard, prosperity church or not, we’ve all failed. The majority (if not all) of middle-class Christians in Singapore have fallen short of this ideal, whether your church is for or against the so-called prosperity gospel.

So me being in New Creation doesn’t actually reflect that I’ve changed my view from old that we Christians as a whole have failed terribly in helping the poor and reaching the lost and that we can and should do a whole lot more in this area. I still believe that. If I were in any other church in Singapore, I’d still be faced with Christians who live the middle-class, me-centered lifestyle, in spite of what is preached in the church.

(Perhaps the Christian tradition that most identifies with social justice and poverty issues is the emerging or emergent church movement. Their passion for social justice is admirable, but many verge on compromising the gospel and that’s something I can’t accept.)

I still have my passion for social justice and missions. I still wanna see more Christians standing up for the rights of the poor and marginalized and oppressed and giving their lives to reach the lost. I like the radical message calling people to give up their lives for the lost and dying. Oh, we need more preachers who preach the radical message of self-sacrifice and other-centeredness, who will preach on the Christian’s responsibility to missions and social justice. Surely that will transform the church into other-centered Christians who will do God’s work even if it cost them everything… Or will it?

And here’s the crux of the matter. This is what I’ve been reflecting a lot upon: If your preaching focuses more on calling Christians to sacrifice and to help the poor and do missions, will it actually result in that happening? I don’t think so. As I reflect on my life and talk to people, I find it’s not preaching such messages that will transform lives. It’s not harping on the fact that Christians should work out our salvation that will result in transformed sacrificial lives. I don’t even think that was the focus of the New Testament Epistles in the first place. Instinctively, we think that telling your members that they should do more will change their minds and their lives. But really, does it?

My passion for social justice came through reading secular books and understanding the world. My passion for missions came through understanding more about grace. I’m sure other people will have different experiences but I certainly don’t want to go to church and listen to the pastor telling me how much more I should do for the poor and the lost. Why not? Because I ALREADY KNOW THAT! And for those who don’t already know that and don’t have much concern for the poor and lost, I don’t think it’ll help if we keep on reminding them what the Bible says about this area. There’s a place I think to preach what the Bible says about all this every once in a while, but I think it’s really understanding and experiencing grace that empowers Christians to do the above.

Some people have told me they’ve appreciated some of the articles I’ve written on poverty as it’s challenged them. That’s all good. But challenging them to think is one thing. It’s a good start. But that doesn’t empower one to take action – the gospel does. And that’s why we go to church – to listen to the gospel that empowers us, more than to listen to what we should do and how short we’ve fallen (we already know all that).

I think together with the empowerment that comes through hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ, we need opportunities to experience serving. This is where I think New Creation is extremely weak in for a church of 20,000 people. City Harvest Church is a model for providing myriads of opportunities to serve. If we could somehow bring together New Creation’s gospel empowerment with City Harvest’s opportunities and passion for serving, that would be way awesome!

I’ve been reading Bill Johnson’s books and I came across this quote:

By nature love does not require anything in return, or it is not love… I have heard teaching on the subject of giving to the poor and needy that emphasizes our stewardship instead of compassion. It basically means that you don’t want to give to someone who will not use what was given properly. My opinion is that there is too much concern about giving something to someone who might misuse what is given. That didn’t stop God. While we do have a responsibility for good management of what God has given us, we are not responsible for what another person does with what we’ve given them. We are responsible to love, and love requires giving. Even if a person misuses the money or gift I gave them, the message of love has been demonstrated. Giving His love away is the goal. (Bill Johnson, Face To Face With God, p. 187-188)

Because the subject of helping the poor has been a big part of my life for some time, I’ve thought a lot about the issues that Bill Johnson wrote about above. Like him, I agree that in focusing on stewardship instead of compassion when addressing the subject of giving, we could miss the essence of what love and grace is about – actions which do not “require anything in return”.

We hear so much about that famous Chinese proverb:

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

While I think there’s certainly truth and wisdom in it, I also think that pushing the implications of the above to the extreme can actually cause one to miss the essence of what grace and love is.

In 2003, while in Colombia (teaching English and learning Spanish), I was faced with the question of whether to continue to give money to a beggar and her family I met on the streets. Was it wise to continuously give them fish, or should I make sure that my money goes to teaching them how to fish? I pondered the above proverb and I reflected upon the meaning of grace. Below are my reflections taken from here:

“So I was confronted with the question of whether my helping Isabel and giving her family money was a good thing. Or perhaps, it was a good thing, but was it a wise thing? Or was it the wisest response in such a situation? In a way, it’s like when one meets a beggar. Should we give money to him/her? Giving to the beggar is just like giving to Isabel (she is after all begging for money) – in both circumstances, we would be giving a fish to the recipient rather than teaching him/her how to fish.

Should I continue giving to Isabel or somehow make sure that my giving to her would result in her working and thus earning her way to self-sufficiency? If I were to continue giving “fishes” to Isabel, rather than making sure she fishes for herself, would I thus be considered a bad steward of my money? Wouldn’t I be of better use if I were to somehow help her to get a job? Wouldn’t it be more right for her too if she were to earn her wages rather than depend on charity to survive?

Although the reasoning behind the “fish” quote is indeed true and wise, I realized that we could indeed take all this too far. What I mean is that we could start thinking that we should not give to the poor if indeed nothing comes out of it – if there is no long-term results to show for our charity. We could start thinking that we need to make them earn their wages and not rely on us for charity. In a way, we could fall into the spirit of the very famous saying (which many people think is taken from the Bible, but is in actual fact not) that “God helps those who help themselves” and thus think it wrong to help those who do not show they want to put in effort to help themselves. While all this in some sense no doubt true, I realized it is dangerous because this spirit could easily go contrary to the spirit of grace. That is, we could forget what grace means. Grace is unconditional giving. It is not conditional at all. By coming up with criteria to be fulfilled before we start giving, our giving ceases to be unconditional. Whether the criteria is imposed on the recipient or merely guides us as to whom we should be giving doesn’t really matter. As long as we don’t give freely – as long as we are being in any way conditional in our giving – we do not understand what grace really is. After all, Jesus didn’t die for the sins of certain people who fulfilled certain criteria, He died for all. When He loved us, he didn’t love only some but all. And when He called us to love others, He didn’t specify who we are to love – except that we are to love all without exception. When we give to others, we are called to give without expecting anything in return. We aren’t asked to give only to those who would use our money wisely. Rather, the only criteria, if any, which needs to be fulfilled before we give, is that those given ought to have needed it.

I came to this conclusion after much struggle within me. Initially, I had told myself that I should be giving for a good purpose. And a good purpose would be if my giving would help Isabel to get a job and thus support herself. There would thus be a long-term effect. In a sense, I would be leaving a little “legacy” of my giving. I would be proud in future to let others know that I gave to help this person who now has a job and is self-supportive. But I realized that this kind of thinking could go very much against the spirit of grace. I wanted to get something out of it – to get the satisfaction of having made a big difference to Isabel’s life. In a sense, my giving was conditional upon the fact that it would lead to something big. But I realized grace doesn’t make such conditions. Jesus loved us all and died for us all even if some would never have accepted His love. Or even if some would have accepted His love but still fail over and over again. That’s grace!

I’m not saying that using our money wisely is not something we ought to do. Obviously we should do that. The parable of the talents encourages us to be responsible for the use of our money. We should use it in such a way that it blesses others and that there are results to show. If we were to go by the parable of the talents alone, then the “fish” quote would indeed be wise and right and ought to be followed. Then we should think about using our money as best as we can and not just give unconditionally, but making sure that results follow. Indeed, the parable of the talents reminds us that we should not be lazy and thus when we give money to people, we need to make sure they are not just lazy and “consume” our gifts but they will invest wisely with it – preferably to learn how to fish, not just to buy fishes! The parable of the talents has a sort of “meritorious” feel to it.

I acknowledge that God does want us to be responsible with the way we use money. We need to put it to good use. But on the other hand, there’s the notion of grace. And grace has absolutely no “meritorious” feel at all! God is a God of grace. His love for us is more of reckless abandon than a calculative sort. The parable of the talents has to be balanced with the understanding of what grace is all about. When we think about grace, we banish all notions of merits or conditions. After all, in the bible there are hints of both capitalism (in the parable of the talents and such) and communism/communalism (Acts 2:44-45, Acts 4:32-35, 2 Corinthians 8-9). And let us not forget that the idea most prominent and preeminent in the bible is that of love and grace.

My point in all of this is that I realized how easily it is for one to forget the idea of grace. And in terms of giving and development, I believe remembering about grace should cause us not to think so much about how our giving produces good long term results, but should instead remind us that even if our giving were to produce nothing in the long term, but were only to be a short term and one-time expression of grace and love, grace would compel us to do it anyway.”

Yesterday night, I went out with a group of Christians for an exposure walk around Geylang. For those not familiar with Singapore, Geylang is Singapore’s infamous red-light district – although also famous for its good food! Each group spent about 40 minutes walking along 4 streets. We also entered the alleys. It was definitely an insightful experience for me.

This group was a bunch of progressive-leaning Christians from the Student Christian Movement (SCM) and Free Community Church (FCC).They’re hoping to start a ministry to the sex workers in Geylang and so this was an awareness trip organized for people interested in the ministry.

I brought an East-Timor missionary friend I met at the YWAM gathering I attended two weeks ago. Incidentally, YWAM has also been working with sex workers. Just before that gathering took place two weeks ago, YWAM held a mooncake party for sex-workers in the same room. Both FCC and YWAM are situated in Geylang and so it’s good that they’re working with these people.

Anyway, this group hopes to use some form of English classes to reach out to the sex workers. That’s definitely interesting and it’s been done before. For example, there’s an x:talk project in London which gives “free English classes for sex workers by sex workers”. A Thai NGO, Empower, also offers English classes to sex workers. From a Christian bent, you have Rehab Ministries.

For these people, improving their English empowers them:

Many foreign sex workers struggle to string a sentence together when they are negotiating prices and sexual acts with clients. When men put pressure on them to provide sex acts without a condom, it is much harder to refuse when they are unable to cajole punters into accepting something safer. The language barrier means they also fail to secure themselves the best possible deals and working conditions with brothel owners.

But of course there are many important issues to think about. For example, by teaching English, are we thus “encouraging them to do the work”, which was a criticism of the Thai NGO Empower (see Robert Preece’s “The Edge of ESP: English for Sex Workers” article in the Aug/Sep 1997 edition of TESOL Matters). That is, are we legitimizing their kind of work?

And if we see this as “ministry” to sex workers, what is the purpose of our ministry? What are we trying to help them for? Should we even be seeing what we do as trying to “help” them? Is that being too condescending? Or should our work been seen as more of coming alongside them? x:talk quoted Australian Aboriginal activist Lila Watson in their website:

If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.

How do we define our success? Do we seek that they quit their jobs and find a new one? But what if they can’t find a better job – in their home country or here? The problem is definitely more complex than just getting them to quit their job, if indeed that is one of our goals.

Do we see this from a moralistic (“oh, sex work is really bad and it’s a sin!”) point of view, or do we see this from another perspective? And very importantly, because we’re Christians, how does the gospel of Jesus Christ fit into all this? A lot of tough questions to think about. And how we answer, I would argue, depends a lot on our ideology and Christian beliefs. The more progressive SCM/FCC would view their ministry differently from how YWAM views their ministry. I’m sure both will have similarities, but also differences. For me, I’m more progressive in relation to most evangelicals, but more conservative in relation to SCM/FCC.

Anyway, this last month or so has opened up my eyes to the opportunities in using teaching English to reach out to people beyond international students. I’ve been working with Christian friends over the past few months to start a weekly free English class for international students. That’s been going well, but we still need more support and help so if you’re reading this and would like to be involved in any (however small) way, do get in touch with me! But along the way I’ve come across people who have asked me to consider free English classes for migrant workers and now I’m thinking about how such can be done for sex workers. I’m not sure I’ll really get into working with migrant or sex workers just yet because working with international students and working with migrant/sex workers is very different. At least I can relate better to the international students who are around my age and with whom I have a lot in common. But I definitely want to move towards working with the migrant and sex workers in the (hopefully near) future.

I just came back from a small gathering of Christians who arranged a meeting with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) to find out more about their organization. Besides the great food, great fellowship and great discussions (including how we Christians in Singapore ought to be treating the migrant workers in our midst), I was so glad to hear a bit more about what YWAM is all about. I’ve encountered YWAM a lot of times in the past year or so (including in Perth last year), but never really had the desire to find out more about the group. I came away from the meeting last night really attracted to this group. I’m definitely going to find out more about them and maybe get more involved with them in future.

Here are some of their values which I love:

- One thing that straightaway attracted me is their focus on hearing God’s voice. This is something that I’ve been looking into and working on in the past half a year or so. To actually make “Hear God’s voice” one of their foundational values is impressive. In fact, it’s third after “Know God” and “Make God Known”. I think a large part of their success is due to them hearing from God and obeying Him. I received a free book written by their founder Loren Cunningham entitled “Is That Really You, God?”, subtitled, “Hearing The Voice Of God”. And I think it’s going to be an exciting and challenging read!

- Another thing that attracted me is its value of decentralization and interdenominationalism, both of which I value highly. I think these two values make sure that authoritarianism and narrow-mindedness are avoided. There have been a lot of criticisms about YWAM being authoritative and abusive and like any group I’m certain it’s not perfect – and there have been a lot of abuses. But the fact that they value decentralization means that at least in some ways they are not all about controlling everybody and making everyone believe and act as they do. There is also a great diversity of doctrines being taught in YWAM which I think is good. The fact that this is allowed (of course, I think within limits) means that they know it’s not all about one’s doctrines, but about one’s relationship with God. We can all have different ideas, different beliefs (within limits) and be from different denominations (they even work with Catholics) because in YWAM’s eyes these are not as important as many other groups and Christians make them out to be. What’s most important is one’s relationship with God and doing His work. It seems that YWAM knows what’s important and knows the importance of majoring on the majors and minoring on the minors.

- YWAM doesn’t pay any of their staff members. Each person has to raise money by himself. I think that’s good because in the first place these people there are not overpaid as most likely it means they’re not going to get a lot of money. But more importantly, it means each person has to be dependent upon God to provide. They need to go by faith. That’s radical. And there are many stories of God’s miraculous provision in response to His people’s radical faith and dependence.

- YWAM also emphasizes a lot on mercy ministry – i.e. helping the poor, needy and marginalized. It’s one of their three main ministries along with Evangelism and Discipleship. I think this is in line with a more balanced and holistic view of what God’s mission in this world is about.

- I’m glad to see “inner healing” as one area that’s touched upon in their foundational DTS (Discipleship Training School) that all YWAMers need to go through. This is one area that has also been on my mind that past year or so because of various people in my life. I think there is a big need for this ministry.

If there’s any concern I have with YWAM, it is that their radicalness can easily result in legalism and abuse. But this has always been the problem when the organizations’ beliefs (churches included) are radical and they seek to promote such radicalism in their members. Any intensive pursuit of God without a strong foundation in grace can turn out badly. Pursuing God wholeheartedly often entails a lot of introspection (i.e. looking inside and searching one’s heart) and too much of that can be legalistic. On the other hand, no introspection at all can lead to stagnation and complacency. And there’s a fine line between the two. But all this is not so much a specific criticism of YWAM as it is a recognition of the danger one needs to be aware of with all organizations.

Just watched the above. Awesome, awesome stuff. Need to watch more of these kind of things! The more I watch them, the more my heart is challenged to get out of this comfort zone which I’ve been in far too long. As I mentioned here, reading The Heavenly Man really challenged me. And I’ll probably look back upon that as a defining moment in my life. It made me think really seriously about being a missionary to China. It made me think seriously about being a missionary to a persecuted area. It made me think seriously about improving my really bad Chinese (Mandarin)!

I stopped learning Chinese when I was 10 years old when I left for Australia. When I returned back to Singapore, I didn’t want to study Chinese (I had too much to catch up) and was allowed to take German as my second language. So I’m your typical English-educated Banana/Potato (white on the inside, yellow on the outside for those not in the know) Singaporean who grew up not really liking Chinese. Of course I regret not continuing my Chinese because I’m so far behind now. People talk about Singaporeans being poor in their Chinese and that makes me even more discouraged to pick it up now because I’m so much worse than the typical Singaporean of my age! But I think I may pick it up real soon. Not sure whether I should because I don’t know if I’ll use it in future. Besides the fact that I’d like to spend time mastering my Spanish, I’m also not sure if I’ll go to China in future. I think there are places in the world that need missionaries more urgently than China – like Muslim nations and the unreached places. And anyway, I’m not sure how much I’m needed in China. The lives of Christians there would put all of us to shame. They know what it means to live for Jesus more than any of us. They know what persecution is about and they’d gladly suffer it. That can’t be said of us in the developed world. They’d make so much better missionaries to unsafe places (like Muslim nations) because they’ve experienced enough in their own country to not fear persecution!

Christianity in China is easily the real deal – clearly what Christianity is meant to be like. Of course, such forms of Christianity (when people are truly living for God and not building their own kingdom) are seen everywhere. But I don’t see much of it in the developed world. The Christians in China and places like that are the true warriors of faith. No doubt about that. No Christian leader in the developed world (no matter how famous or well-known) could even compare to most of those faceless heroes in China and the like.

I can’t wait to get Brother Yun’s new book Living Water. Though I don’t expect to agree with all the teachings in it (the book is meant to be of his teachings). I can admire his dedication to God without agreeing with everything he teaches. One can live the true Christian life without having one’s doctrines perfect, just as one can have his doctrines perfect (or more perfect) yet not live as one ought to live. I admire his lifestyle. But I probably wouldn’t agree with everything he teaches. I wasn’t comfortable with some of the songs I heard on the above video which focused more on what the Christians are going to do for God, rather than on what God has done for them in Christ. I still love grace and believe that good biblical teaching and preaching should be focused primarily on God’s grace as shown to us in Christ’s death for us. And that’s clear in the posts I’ve written on grace. What God has done for us in Christ is what the gospel is all about. The gospel of Christ is the message of God’s love for us in Christ. The gospel is not about about what we ought to do for God, it’s what God has already done for us. And yet there’s also a side of me that believes so greatly on giving my all to God – a place I’m very far from now, of course. (If I’m truly living that out, I won’t have time to blog. Duh!) I believe that Christians are called to give their all, to stop building their kingdom (which I think most Christians are actually doing, especially in the developed world) and to start living wholeheartedly for God and His glory alone. How do I reconcile the emphasis on God’s grace and the call to give all? It’s difficult. There’s a certain tension there, I admit. I love New Creation’s grace message (not everything, but a lot), but in my opinion there’s no way that the lives of the majority of the members of New Creation reflect how Christians are meant to live. I love the passion and zeal among City Harvest members for the lost (when they’re not thinking only of money), though I can’t agree with a lot of the teachings which lack the focus of grace. The lifestyle of City Harvest members challenges me (when they’re not chasing after money). I want to be in such an environment. It’s definitely closer to what I envision Christianity is meant to be, than it is in New Creation. The missions and reaching the lost. That’s beyond exciting! That’s what it’s meant to be like!

While I’ve been generally supportive of the Florida Healing Revival, I’d prefer to see Christianity in China as a model of how Christianity ought to be like. Up to this point, I don’t doubt that what’s happening in Florida is the work of God. But we also have to get our perspectives right. Christianity isn’t all about healing and miracles. Jesus promised persecution. Christianity as it’s meant to be would be filled with healings, miracles and persecutions too. It’ll be filled with suffering and victory. All of that happened in Brother Yun’s life and in the lives of many Chinese Christians. And I’m very sure that one day the Church will be awakened from its state of slumber. We will see increased healings and miracles, but also increased persecution. To tell you the truth, I can’t wait for that day…

For those of you wondering what I’m doing now (as in work-wise), well, I’m teaching English. Not in a mainstream Singapore school. I’d never survive working under the MOE (Ministry of Education) with the way things are. I’m reminded of Mark Twain’s quote about not letting schooling interfere with education. Going to school nowadays – in most countries but especially Singapore and many Asian countries – is not about true holistic education that values the whole person. It’s not about passion for life, but about exams and money. It’s about doing well so that you can get a good job so that you can earn good money. As with everything done in Singapore, the schooling system is there for just one purpose: to promote economic growth. The ‘god of economic utility’ has become the pre-eminent reason for schooling. That’s in keeping with pragmatic Singapore.

Woops, I didn’t start this post wanting to bash the MOE, the Singapore education system or the Singapore government :) Singapore’s education system, like its way of governing, is but a reflection of society-at-large. Society not just of Singapore, but of the world. So in a way, I don’t blame them. It’s the way things are. But then again, I do. The youthful idealist in me doesn’t stay silent for long. He (Mr. Youthful Idealist) is quite in sync with the whole of creation which groans… (Romans eight)

Anyway, back to where I was. Not only am I not teaching English in a mainstream school, but I’m not teaching English to those who speak it as their first language. I teach English to those who speak it as their second (or third…) language. The common term for the industry I’m in is TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). It’s a huge thing throughout the world because millions of people desire to take up English as it’s the language of the world. And teaching such people is very different from teaching English to first language English speakers (i.e. most Singaporeans) or even teaching any other subjects. The teaching methodology is different and there are so many things to learn in order to be a good TESOL teacher. Like I said, it’s a huge industry.

Anyway, I won’t get too much into all this. Just to mention that I started moving into this last year. I got my Cambridge CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) – a TESOL certificate – in Perth, Australia. And today was my first day of teaching English in the private school I’m working at. It’ll be a great challenge for me which I’m quite excited about. 90% of my 40 or so students are from China and have only been here for 1-2 months.

Why I went into this area? It’s because I love teaching. I love relating and interacting with students – especially youth and young adults. But why TESOL specifically? I’ve shared a bit here. Basically, I want to do missions work in future and teaching English is a skill that’s greatly in demand in many developing countries. Thus, having this skill would enable me to be a tentmaker.