7 Questions

7 Questions

In this regular feature, we get to know someone by their answers to “7 Questions”. In this issue, we feature Elder Ernest Chew. Elder Ernest Chew taught History for nearly 40 years at the University of Singapore/National University of Singapore, where he was Head of the History Department and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He is now an Associate Senior Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Elder Ernest is also the founding chairman of the University Staff Christian Fellowship, and he serves on the Boards of several organizations like EFOS, St. Luke’s Hospital, the Bible Society, and the Singapore Bible College. He and his wife, Aileen, have three grown-up children (Alistair, Emrys & Alethea), and two grand-children (Mariel & Andrew).

Before you became Advisory Elder in May 2013, you had been an Executive Elder in BFEC for many years. What were your initial thoughts in becoming one?

After returning from my graduate studies in the UK in 1970 and becoming a History lecturer at the University of Singapore, I became a Deacon of BFEC and participated in drafting our constitution statement of faith, and missions policy. In 1976 I was appointed an Elder. I had already become Chairman of the Discipleship Training Centre Council, and was chairing Campus Crusade’s “Here’s Life, Singapore” evangelistic campaign, and felt the Lord’s leading to keep BFEC connected with wider Kingdom concerns and para-church work.

Christian historian, the late Professor Sir Herbert Butterfield (whom I met in Cambridge) once wrote: “I am unable to see how a man can find the hand of God in secular history, unless he has first found that he has an assurance of it in his personal experience”. Such a personal assurance of the Lord of History led me to become a professional historian.

One of your favourite quotes is by Soren Kierkegaard “Life can only be lived forwards:but can only be understood backwards.” Please tell us why and how it is special to you.

Kierkegaard was a Danish Christian existentialist philosopher who saw the connection between past, present and future, that we can only live forwards if we have some understanding of the past. We can make the most of the present; and better envision the future, only if we have a biblical perspective of history and thus of our own identity in relation to God and the world.

Tell us one specific event that greatly contributed to your spiritual formation.

When I was in my early teens, a turning-point was a message at Bethesda (Katong) by Mr J.Oswald Sanders on Romans 6:1-2 - “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid!” This changed me from a professing Christian, presuming on grace, into a committed disciple of Christ, saved by grace through faith. Mr Sanders was General Director of the OMF, and had earlier been instrumental in the conversions of my sister Ai Lin and brother Jim.

Was there a time when you felt inadequate for a certain change in your life? How did you overcome that?

At every stage of my life -- personal, family, church, academia -- there have been times and transitions when I have felt a sense of inadequacy to some degree or another. However, just as St. Paul’s question, “Who is sufficient for these things?” was answered by “Our sufficiency is of God” (2 Cor.2:16 and 3:5), I have been encouraged by the Lord’s preparing me step-by-step for increasing responsibilities, in answer to prayers of family and close friends mingled with mine. One example: as I was completing my Ph.D in Cambridge, there was no assurance of a vacancy in the History Department at the University of Singapore, and my returning to Singapore. There were several hurdles to cross before the door was opened!

Describe briefly something new that you recently embarked on.

Since I retired from teaching History at NUS in June 2009, I have become a researcher at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, and last year served as an adjunct lecturer in Asian Church History at the Singapore Bible College. I continue to serve on the Boards of various organizations and engage in Bible teaching ministry. These have provided God-given opportunities to share my life experiences and historical insights with those in my family and other circles. In my spare time, my hobbies include philately*, deltiology** and gardening. Earlier this year, I assumed a new role as a part-time History tutor and consultant at FINDINGS, an educational study centre started by my son Alistair. Aileen and I continue to enjoy our privileged role as grand-parents (since 2007), though we find air travel increasingly strenuous.

Editor’s Note: * “Philately” is the study and collection of stamps. **“Deltiology” is the study and collection of postcards.

Are there any possible changes in the future that you are looking forward to?

While there are still fresh projects, it’s time to disengage, and to prepare others to take on more responsibilities. Uncle Fred Sabapathy wisely told me, “In Christian work, you don’t drop anything; you pass it on!” I look forward to passing on the baton to more and more faithful servants of the Lord.

Finally, what is your favourite verse from the bible?

It is Ecclesiastes 3:11 – “He has made everything beautiful in his time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”