methodist message Vol 117 No 3 • March 2015
inside
this issue...
The Methodist Church in Singapore
ISSN 0129-6868 MCI (P) 116/12/2014
Coming Up Aldersgate SG 2015 page 2
message.methodist.org.sg
TRACKERS 2015 ‘Found’ – an original musical page 4
Countdown to MethodistWalk 2015!
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aturday, 28 Mar 2015 marks a significant event on the 2015 calendar for Methodist Schools and their students, as they race against the clock to raise money to fund better facilities and programmes for themselves! The target? $2 million. Organised by the Methodist Schools’ Foundation (MSF) and underwritten by Wesley Methodist Church, MethodistWalk 2015 is a crucial platform where we see church-school partnership at its best. This year is significant to all who belong with The Methodist Church in Singapore as we celebrate 130 years of God’s goodness on our island. An appropriate symbolic gesture by each person –
giving $130 to MSF in support of this mission to financially assist our Methodist schools – will have immense results. Just imagine if all of us donate $130 each! We will be able to achieve the target and provide all students with better facilities and programmes. Let us do our part for all school children! Give generously to this wonderful cause for Christian education. Register for the walk with the students on 28 March and you will be given a T-shirt which reads ‘STEPPING OUT IN SERVICE’, and be among those who will step out in service in Singapore for the schools. n
Photos featured are from the last MethodistWalk in 2013
Sign up for MethodistWalk 2015 with your local church today! Starting at 7.30am at ACS (Independent), be prepared to walk 2 km or 4 km according to your fitness level and return to have a scrumptious ‘Picnic on the Turf ’. Enjoy lively entertainment from schools and churches and mingle among walkers to network and fellowship. Who knows? You may inspire your close ones to join you! We look forward to your participation!
‘METHODISTS IN ACTION’ – MARCH In last month’s Methodist Message centrespread, we debuted a calendar that included monthly ‘Methodists in Action’ suggestions – a small action that you can take to bless those around you. Here’s this month’s suggestion!
Sacrificial Acts:
– Fasting, saving money and donating for others Lent is a special time set aside to remember Christ’s sacrifice for us and how we are living sacrifices to the Lord. Practice the discipline of fasting, and pool the money saved together with other members of your small group, to donate toward feeding others.
COMING UP
aldersg
“Seeking the Welfare of Our City”
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hree distinguished speakers from Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka will address issues on “Seeking the Welfare of our City” over three lectures for Aldersgate SG 2015 on 21 to 23 May. The annual keynote event of The Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS), this year’s edition of Aldersgate Convention is based on Jeremiah 29:7 and features lectures from Bishop Emeritus Dr Robert Solomon, the Rev Asiri Perera (Presidentdesignate of the Methodist Church, Sri Lanka) and Mr Anthony Row (General Conference Secretary of the Methodist Church in Malaysia), who will share their perspectives on seeking the welfare of their respective cities. Why do Methodists come together to commemorate Aldersgate? John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, felt his heart “strangely warmed” during a reading of Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans on 24 May 1738. Aldersgate is significant in the lives of the Methodists because that very evening at Aldersgate Street in London, he felt the burning assurance of his salvation, and was inspired to begin a movement that swept across England and the rest of the world. We draw upon Jeremiah 29:7 and are guided by the principle from this verse in our Aldersgate celebration, to “… seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Aldersgate SG 2015 will be celebrated in conjunction with Singapore’s Jubilee and the MCS’ 130th anniversary, and will explore biblical, theological and Wesleyan convictions behind MCS’ role in nation building, the expression of these convictions in other societies, and lessons we can draw from these societies.
21 – 24 MAY
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But seek th e welfare of the city whe re I have se nt you into ex ile, the Lord on and pray to its behalf, fo r in its welfa re you will find your welfare . Jeremiah 29 :7 What part ha in Singapore s The Methodist Churc h played in the of our nation development ? What are ou r Wesleyan convictions motivating this contr nation-buildi ibution to ng? How are the se exp in other soc ieties? Wh ressed from their exp at can we learn eriences? How can we co part in promo ntinue to play a signifi cant ting the welfar e of our city ? Organised
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Sunday 24 May Video Serm on Seeking the by Bishop Dr Wee Boo n Hup Welfare of Our City
ALDERSGATE CONVENTION 21-23 May (Faith Methodist Church, 400 Commonwealth Drive) ALDERSGATE UNITY SUNDAY 24 May (All local Methodist churches) The lectures will be held at Faith Methodist Church at 7.45 p.m. on 21 and 22 May, and 2.30 p.m. on 23 May, followed by a panel discussion with the three speakers. On Aldersgate Unity Sunday on 24 May, our local Methodist churches will screen a video-taped sermon by Bishop Dr Wee Boon Hup at their Sunday services. Do come and celebrate Aldersgate with us! n
Correction On the cover page, P12 and P14 of last month’s issue, we said that there are 45,000 Methodists in Singapore. The number is actually closer to 40,000. We apologise for our error.
methodist message
The official monthly publication of The Methodist Church in Singapore. Published material does not necessarily reflect the official view of The Methodist Church. All Scripture quoted is based on the New International Version, unless otherwise stated. Our address
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Editorial Board Adviser and Publisher Bishop Dr Wee Boon Hup, Chairman, Council on Communications Editor Ms Susan Ding Assistant Editor Ms Grace Toh Sub-editor Ms Tan-Ngooi Chiu Ai Editorial Executive Ms Chia Hui Jun
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BISHOP’S MESSAGE
Denials and Desires Bishop Dr Wee Boon Hup was elected Bishop of The Methodist Church in Singapore in 2012. He has been a Methodist pastor for 30 years.
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ne of the great themes of Lent is self-denial. It is one so contrary to our culture today. Yet it is what brought about the mighty act of salvation in Jesus Christ. This present generation is driven by instant gratification and seeking to pursue one’s passion because “YOLO” (you only live once). After all, what is wrong about wanting to satisfy your personal desires when life is moving at super-speed such that there is no time to stand, stare and enjoy the beauty around us? Indeed, after one has invested so much, you cannot begrudge indulging oneself in the fruits of success that have also come about through sweat and tears. In fact, one would have had to deny brief pleasures in order to taste the sweetness that has come. Yet this sentiment runs contrary to what Jesus prayed: “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) It is a prayer that lies at the centre of what it means to deny oneself. It began much earlier, when He decided to leave heaven. Charles Wesley understood it with the words of his famous hymn ‘And Can It Be that I Should Gain’: He left His Father’s throne above (so free, so infinite His grace!), emptied Himself of all but love, and bled for Adam’s helpless race. ’Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me! The person who practices self-denial in order that he can further improve himself is not in the same boat as Jesus in the journey. Such a person is denying himself so that he can be better, and cannot compare with Jesus who denied Himself, not for His own benefit, but so that the rest of the world can receive the best that God has for them. Paul caught hold of this truth when he realised that even though Jesus was God, He “didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of
that status no matter what … when the time came, He set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, He stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges.” (Philippians 2:6-8, The Message) By not claiming His divine rights, Jesus practised self-denial of the supreme kind. Should we ever think that such self-denial was only possible because He was divine, then we have missed the point. He practised self-denial as a human being. But, still, is that really humanly possible? The secret lies in a paradox. Self-denial is not about numbing ourselves to all desires. To really deny oneself in the manner of Jesus, one must allow one particular desire to supersede all else. This desire must captivate our whole being. Jesus encapsulates this when He summed up the law as: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” (Luke 10:27, ESV) We do not practise self-denial in order to be better disciples. To do so would mean that we are still motivated by self-interest. Self-denial is the evidence that we have matured as disciples. It is the result of a relationship where the love of the greater One so overcomes us that we desire no One else. Then we desire to be like no One else but Him who gave His all for us so that we may receive the best. While self-denial is not readily evident today in many, there are a few who, on the other hand, mistakenly believe that the best way to express it today is by seeking martyrdom. However, one does not seek to be a martyr. Martyrdom comes to those whose peaceful lives of loving commitment to their God become a threat to those who live otherwise. May this Lent be a season of nurturing our desire for God in such a way that we may practise self-denial without even realising it. n Picture by Halfbottle/Bigstock.com
METHODIST MESSAGE • MAR 2015
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HOME
‘Found’ – An original musical by 2015
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ide and seek, lost and found… games not only played by children but by all of us in our everyday lives. We run and hide from our deepest, darkest secrets and sin; we struggle, fight, resist, only to find ourselves starting all over again as if trapped in a time loop. “Is there a solution? Is there hope? Is there someone who really understands? Yes! The answer is found in grace, in Christ. He pursues us! He will find and seek us out! The key? We simply must be serious and desperate about finding Him.” This is the promising premise of ‘Found’, an original musical presented by the 2015 batch of Trackers. TRACKERS is a three-month discipleship programme for youths in transition (after ‘O’ Levels, ‘A’ Levels, or National Service), incorporating biblical learning, mentoring relationships, mission exposure and local internship involvement. It is run by Truthmin – Trinity Annual Conference (TRAC) Youth Ministries. This year, Trackers were introduced to Creative Arts training as part of the programme. The Rev Raymond Fong, Assistant Director of TRAC Board of Youth Ministry, noted: “Based on past years’ experience, we had many Trackers who were skilled and gifted in the area of creative arts. We sensed the Lord’s leading to develop and nurture the strengths and abilities of the Trackers this year, so that they can be a blessing to their local churches after the TRACKERS programme. “What better way to express their passion and gifting in creative arts, than to have an evangelistic musical to reach out to their friends and loved ones?” The script, which is an original, was initiated by Truthmin staff Mr Reginald Chan, with input from the Truthmin team. It incorporates themes of identity, relationships, struggles with sin and addictions, and finding God in the reality of daily living. Reginald, who is the musical’s Director and Producer, elaborates: “The story is based on the lives of three characters who are at crossroads in their lives after exams and army. Decisions, decisions and more decisions. No longer teens but now young adults. Is this new-found freedom or is it just an illusion? “Do they have the power to control their destiny and future? They will soon find out that it is slowly slipping from their grasp. Are they really that invincible? The reality of their frailty will soon be exposed.” 27 and 28 Mar (Friday and Saturday), TRACKERS 2015 hopes to appeal to pre-believing youth and 7.30 p.m. young adults by putting together a musical that uses multimedia, Paya Lebar Methodist Church Sanctuary drama, dance, and singing of contemporary secular and 5 Boundary Road Christian pop songs. For more information, visit www.truthmin.com, Bring your friends for this evangelistic musical that they too email events@truthmin.com, or call 6769-5415. may be ‘Found’ in Christ. n
“What better way to express their passion and gifting in creative arts, than to have an evangelistic musical to reach out to their friends and loved ones?”
SAYS THE ETAC PRESIDENT
Guarding the unity of the Body of Christ The Rev R. Prabhu was elected President of Emmanuel Tamil Annual Conference (ETAC) in 2012 for the quadrennium. He is also Pastor-in-Charge of Ang Mo Kio Tamil and Seletar Tamil Methodist Churches.
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n 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul calls Christians in the Corinthian church to come together. Why did he need to do so? The Church today is in peril of becoming commercialised. Some churches have become so huge that they have become private entities. This commercialisation process may muddle the meaning of being the Body of Jesus Christ. Paul reminds the Church, and particularly the Corinthian church, of the importance of coming together by using the imagery of the body. He illustrates at least three reasons for us to come together as the Body of Jesus Christ. Firstly, 1 Corinthians 12:27 notes that we have ‘common ground’ in Christ. “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” As members of the Church, we are baptised into the Body of Christ. Verses 12 and 13 explain that by belonging to one God, Christ, we also belong to His Body – the Church. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 3:16 that we are one Temple – the temple of the living God: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” There will inevitably be functional differences in His Kingdom as each of us is made differently but uniquely in His image. However, our functional differences should not lead to dissension. We have one task – building His church and ultimately His Kingdom. We need to be conscious that God has called us for constructive and not destructive work. Whenever we ignore this common ground in Christ, the enemy will have an easy access into our Church.
The Church has to guard this unity as we serve God in the world today. Working together always produces better results. We all know that the formula of synergy is “1+1>2”. Secondly, 1 Corinthians 12:21-26 highlights that we are all co-workers in Christ. Every person is important in His Church. God has called us to work collectively; everyone is needed to fulfil His work. This great commission is a great challenge to His disciples. We cannot fulfil it if we each act alone. The problem with the Corinthian church was that they attached too much importance to some gifts and minimised the others. Some tried to dominate the rest on the basis of the gifts they possessed. Gifts are not evidence of our spirituality or symbols of our significance. They are given for service and to be used for His Kingdom alone. But for the Christians in the Corinthian church, instead of contributing to the common good, they isolated themselves and tried to dominate the rest. Friends, we may not have the same gifts, but all are equally important. Everyone is unique in his function, and we are all very important for the smooth functioning of the church. Thirdly, we need to complement one another as highlighted in 1 Corinthians 12:28-31. The Church of God is an interdependent Body of Christ, of
which He is the Head. God’s work complements and is not competitive. In 1 Corinthians 3:6, Paul says: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.” We all need one another. We must remember that our needs are not at the centre of God’s Church. Too many people come to church to have their “needs met”, or leave churches complaining that the church has not met their needs. In Philippians 2:3-4, we are told that we are not only to receive but also to contribute to the cause of Christ. We are asked to give of ourselves and meet others’ needs instead of only looking out for our needs. The Church has to guard this unity as we serve God in the world today. Working together always produces better results. We all know that the formula of synergy is “1+1>2”. In 1 Corinthians 12:7, we learn that we need to exercise our gifts to better function “for the profit of all” (NKJV). Each of us is different yet strong in Christ. Therefore we are made unique by design, to work together as a collective body of Christ to achieve all things together. n
Picture by Rawpixel/Bigstock.com METHODIST MESSAGE • MAR 2015
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YOU & YOUR FAMILY
What crosses are you bearing today? Benny Bong has been a family and marital therapist for more than 30 years, and is a certified work-life consultant. He was the first recipient of the AWARE Hero Award in 2011 and is a member of Kampong Kapor Methodist Church.
Our cross can be an illness in various forms: physical, emotional or mental. It can also be unpleasant office colleagues or neighbours, work or financial crisis.
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his month’s contribution was inspired by a conversation I had with a client recently. He was reflecting on a year gone by since he started receiving counselling with me. He struggled with feelings of inferiority, low self-esteem and also feeling that his parents favoured his younger brother over him. His life brought more than its share of struggles. He felt that he was in the wrong position at work and that his superiors were dissatisfied with his work performance. At home, he and his wife were struggling to manage a child with special needs and a marital relationship that was unfulfilling. This toxic mix of issues often brewed over with irritability and sometimes explosive anger. I wonder how many readers can identify with my client. Many of us would seek a way out of our difficulties even if it is fleeting. We occupy ourselves with hobbies and distract ourselves by watching television or playing mind-numbing computer games. Others seek to drown their anxieties with alcohol or selfmedicate to get some peace of mind. My client sought solace in Sunday sermons. He listened intensely, hoping for an explanation to his suffering. He would cling on to every glimmer of hope presented by the preacher. When testimonies of modern-day miracles were shared, he would go home buoyed, expecting that his salvation was just around the corner. His euphoric feelings were temporary. The next unpleasant exchange with his parents or work colleagues would come like frigid water poured over him. The flame of hope he had would be quickly extinguished, leaving him empty and questioning God’s existence. In one of our sessions, the verse Jesus gave to His disciples came into my mind, when He commanded them to “take up their cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23) As my client professed to be
a Christian, I shared these words with him, confessing that I was not entirely sure what the words meant for him and how they could be applied to his situation. He was unsettled by what I shared. I shared that whilst we often want our difficulties resolved, this may not happen even with the best of help available. Nevertheless, some help is available, and in various forms. For some, the help comes as an unexpected miraculous change; for others, it is in slow incremental improvements; and for still others, the help simply makes life more bearable. Perhaps this last form of help is available to each of us in the cross or crosses that we bear. Our cross can be an illness in various forms: physical, emotional or mental. It can also be unpleasant office colleagues or neighbours, work or financial crisis. I am not suggesting we do nothing to improve our situation. Neither am I saying that God has no interest in making our lives easier and may even, in the sceptical view of others, take pleasure in leaving us to contend with our crosses. Nor am I saying that there is any merit when suffering comes from wrong decisions made or from how poorly we live our lives. However, the manner in which we bear our crosses reveals the quality of our faith. If we choose to bear them with bitterness, that speaks to the world that our God is only interested in our obedience and not our well-being. On the other hand, an open show of suffering for our faith may be merely a veneer of piety disguising a reservoir of religious pride. As I pondered further, I realised that it is the denial of self and self-will that is sought for. God ultimately wants us to depend on Him as we carry our crosses. “Denial” and “depend” — both are six-letter words, and both go hand-in-hand. Our dependence on Him is bolstered by His promise that He never confronts us with a cross that is too burdensome to bear. He reminds us that His yoke is easy to bear (Matt. 11:29-30) and that He always provides a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13). Perhaps it is apt to reflect on the cross you are carrying today and what you can learn from carrying it. n Picture by Creativa/Bigstock.com
YOUTH IN FOCUS
Unlinking teen self-worth from social media
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ach time your impressionable son or daughter logs on to Facebook or Instagram, they enter a potential show-off showdown. Imagine this, for example: A friend changes her Facebook status to “In a relationship,” uploads a photo album of her Bali vacation, then posts a video showing her gourmet lunch, which she says she can eat guilt-free because she ran a half marathon this morning. These three posts by one person account for only a small fraction of the barrage of updates your son or daughter sees on social media sites each and every day! The power of a page: Envy The findings of a study conducted by two German universities reveal the outcome of this digital showand-tell. In their survey of 600 Facebook users, nearly 30 per cent of respondents described their emotional state after surfing Facebook as mostly negative. They identified envy specifically as the root of this negativity. What did these German teens envy? Travel and leisure, happiness and social relations of others were the highest-ranked triggers. The negativity doesn’t end there though. First, it results in what the German researchers called the “self-promotion-envy spiral”, with Facebook users “reacting with even more self-promotional content to the self-promotion of others”. So begins a gruelling game of one-upmanship. Second, the study found that many social media users ride an emotional seesaw: as envy increases, life satisfaction decreases.
“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ ” Hebrews 13:5, NKJV
Parental guidance is advised As a parent, your task is to help your teen unlink their self-worth from their digital space and to equip them to debunk social media fallacies. With your guidance, your teen can firmly ground their sense of value in God’s words and love, not online comments and ‘likes’. With the four tips in this handy F.A.C.E. acronym, you can help your teen securely face social media. Feeling: Does your daughter feel lonely when comparing her online ‘friends list’ to a peer’s ever-growing list of contacts? She needs to get honest with her feelings. Teach her to ask herself, “Am I really alone here, or am I surrounded and loved by real friends and family?” In any case, God’s truth stands as a guideline for social media use: “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ ” (Hebrews 13:5, NKJV) Activity: Ask your teen daily about their social media activity. For example, “What did you see or post on Facebook today?” or “I saw your post on Facebook today. Is everything okay?” Then discuss with your son or daughter their motives for using the site. Are they trying to be socially active by staying in the loop of events? Are they sincerely engaging with their friends online? Or are they passively ‘creeping’ acquaintances’ profiles to fill time or to satisfy curiosity? Content: Help your teen realise that social media content isn’t a reliable benchmark for success. People use social media sites to post edited, filtered and embellished content to their page, justifying lies
for the sake of ‘likes’. 2 Corinthians 10:12 warns that when we compare ourselves with one another, we aren’t wise. Instead, help your teen know that God formed their “inward parts,” and they are therefore “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:1315, NKJV). Consider writing these verses on sticky notes to post on their computer screen. Scripture is a powerful defence against social angst. Engagement: To get the most out of a social network, teens need to replace much of their passive snooping with active engagement. Your son probably doesn’t need encouragement to log on to Facebook, but if he is prone to look, linger and lament, he needs to start actively connecting with his friends by posting positive comments or sending direct messages. Psychologist Amy Wood recommends that to break your daughter’s social media daze, graciously urge her to immediately walk away from cyberspace and to visit with real people when she feels herself slipping into comparison. Does social media seem to fall outside your parenting comfort zone? Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be! If Facebook is unfamiliar to you, simply begin exploring the network. In the meantime, take heart. Your teen’s current struggles to fit in is strikingly similar to yours when you were a teen! With this common connection, loosen up and be real with your son or daughter. Remember that it is your connection to your son or daughter that is real, not what appears on Facebook or Instagram. No matter how real the posts may appear, they should not determine any young teen’s self-worth. n
Used by permission of Focus on the Family Singapore. For more information on family life resources and workshops, visit www.family.org.sg © 2015 Focus on the Family. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
Picture by Siwasan/Bigstock.com
METHODIST MESSAGE • MAR 2015
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MISSIONS
Our God is Love:
A testimony by the late Pastor Pushpa Chaudari The late Pastor Pushpa Chaudari was the founding Pastor of the Surunga Methodist Fellowship in East Nepal. He was called home to the Lord on 14 Jan 2015, leaving behind his wife, Kaushila, and two sons, Riju and Roger. This testimony was written by him in March 2014.
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e believe in a God who is Love! What a privilege! This has been my experience in my walk with Him. I was born into a Hindu family and observed this religion out of respect for my parents. My early adult years were marked by difficult and painful experiences. I was a drug addict. I thought I could find happiness and satisfaction, enjoying the company of ‘friends’ who shared the love for “chasing the dragon”. However, this was the hardest time of my life, as I lost my mother. Before she passed, we had frequent family quarrels which saddened my mother very much. She became sick and slowly her body weakened. Because of our strained relationship before she passed, I felt a terrible sense of guilt, thinking that I contributed to her death somehow. My troubles only worsened after her demise. My drug addict friends succumbed to the various diseases associated with the use of drugs and contracted HIV, Tuberculosis, and Hepatitis. I lost 11 of my friends. I was filled with a sense of hopelessness and despair. I was afraid and feared that I too would come to the same end as my friends. I wanted to rid myself of this habit but could not. I felt helpless and worthless to my family, society and even to God. It was at this time that I decided to leave my home in east Nepal to seek a job in Kathmandu. While I was working in a bamboo handicraft centre, I met a Christian pastor who shared the gospel with me. Through his sharing and constant guidance, I realised that only Jesus Christ can help me out of my bondage to drugs. On 15 June 2003, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and received water baptism. My life started to change. I became less dependent on drugs and my circle of friends changed from drug addicts to fellow believers. Finally I broke free from drugs without having to go through any rehabilitation, but by the grace and love of God. Throughout all these challenges, my wife Kaushila stood by me. I have much to thank her for. She brought up my two sons, Riju and Roger, while The late Pastor Pushpa Chaudari (right) sharing the good news of God’s love with people in Surunga.
I was troubled with drugs. I shared the love of God that I had experienced with my family. My wife willingly accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour after witnessing the changes in me, and joined me in ministry. My church life grew and my Pastor appointed me an evangelist. After a few years, I felt the burning desire to return to my hometown in Dhulabari in Jhapa to share the good news with my friends and neighbours, and received my pastor’s blessings. I started a house fellowship and shared the changes I experienced due to God’s grace, mercy and love. It was at this time that I sensed a calling to serve. I spoke to my Pastor about my desire to attend theological training. However, he did not approve of my request. God pointed me to a training centre, Caleb Bible Institute (CBI) in Dhulabari. I decided to follow what I believe is God’s calling for me, even if it was against the wishes of my Pastor, who ceased all support for me and my family. I enrolled at CBI in 2006. Even seven months after the completion of my course, my Pastor was still distant. I was discouraged by his response but I prayed and waited on the Lord, believing that if one door closed, He would open other doors for me to serve Him. I believe God led me to meet the Rev Gopal Khanal and the Rev Chandra during my time at CBI. They offered me the opportunity to work in the Methodist Church in Nepal (MCN), Surunga, in 2009. I continue to have challenges but I am confident that I will prevail because of God’s grace and His love for me. We have received a plot of land that will house His church and I know that God will prosper this preaching point of 23 worshippers as it grows and matures to become a Methodist church in East Nepal. To God be the Glory! n
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8
PRAY for: u Kaushila, Riju and Roger as they continue to have faith in our loving and caring Heavenly Father. u Pray for the ministry in East Nepal and that God will send another servant to minister to His people in Surunga. Photo courtesy of Methodist Missions Society
WELFARE SERVICES
A united response to care for the needy in the year of Jubilee Bernadette Sandra is an Executive (Communications & Fundraising) at Methodist Welfare Services.
GOOD – short for ‘Getting Out Of Debt’ – will help 850 families clear an average of $2,000 of chronic debt, in a united response to care for the poor in the year of Jubilee.
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single mother of two, Mdm Kong’s power and water supply was cut one day when she had defaulted on one too many payments. The family of three lives on her $700 pay as a parttime cleaner. Much-needed help came through the Methodist Welfare Services (MWS) Family Development Programme. By working closely with social workers and drawing on a debt clearance matching programme, Mdm Kong cleared part of her $1,300 in arrears. She no longer faces concerns about abrupt disruption to her water and electric supply. To understand Mdm Kong’s situation, perhaps we can reflect on how Singapore has developed over the years. Singapore has been blessed with outstanding economic growth for the past 50 years. Yet the real income growth for low-wage Singaporeans in the 20th percentile was found to be “flat” from 2001 to 2010. In fact, after accounting for inflation, in 2012 the lowest 10 per cent saw a drop in average household income from work per household member in real terms. Those who are in the lower-income group will naturally be more affected when the prices of basic household items or groceries rise. Said Mdm Kong, “Everything is so expensive in Singapore and it’s very hard to survive. With assistance from MWS, I feel less anxious.” MWS’ Covenant Family Service Centre’s Assistant Director, Ms Cindy Ng, added that “many ignore their debts as they can’t deal with it. They are crippled by the anxiety of living hand to mouth.”
Recognising the challenges lowincome families face, MWS recently embarked on the GOOD Programme, a community outreach project for the 130th anniversary of The Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS). GOOD – short for ‘Getting Out Of Debt’ – will help 850 families clear an average of $2,000 of chronic debt, in a united response to care for the poor in the year of Jubilee. In addition to being set free from most or all of their outstanding debts incurred from daily living expenses such as housing rental and utilities, these families will benefit from financial education on how to manage their finances and regular engagement by Methodists. For long-lasting impact, these families and their children also receive regular assistance and intervention through MWS’ network of services and programmes, such as the MWS Bursary Programme, Tutoring Programme, casework management, as well as financial assistance and befriending help through the ‘Walk with the Poor’ Programme. n
‘Worship the Suffering Shepherd’ To continue the good work of the Lord, an offering will be collected for the GOOD Programme at a special concert held during Trinity Annual Conference’s (TRAC) Holy Week services at Faith Methodist Church. TRAC President, the Rev Dr Gordon Wong, will be preaching from Psalm 22 and 23 in a three-part series entitled ‘Worship the Suffering Shepherd’. Dates: 3 0 March (Monday) to 1 April (Wednesday) 2015 Venue: Faith Methodist Church (400 Commonwealth Drive, Singapore 149604) Time: 8 p.m. to 9.30 p.m.
CONTRIBUTE u towards the GOOD Programme and the continued help network for beneficiaries like Mdm Kong – visit www.mws.org.sg/good
Picture by badmanproduction/Bigstock.com
METHODIST MESSAGE • MAR 2015
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HOME
ETAC thanks God, pioneers Veronica Poore is Chairperson of the Board on Presidency of Emmanuel Tamil Annual Conference. She worships at the Tamil Methodist Church in Short Street.
O Great has been God’s favour ever since Tamil Methodism took root in Singapore in 1886, and continued with the formation of ETAC in 1976.
n 31 Jan 2015, Emmanuel Tamil Annual Conference (ETAC) held our Annual Thanksgiving Service in the sanctuary of Tamil Methodist Church in Short Street, the second-oldest Methodist church in Singapore. Great has been God’s favour ever since Tamil Methodism took root in Singapore in 1886, and continued with the formation of ETAC in 1976. It is with God’s grace that we now have a generation of ministers and lay persons generously termed as “the pioneers of ETAC”, who have worked for over four decades in their respective local churches, Conference Boards, Councils and related Christian agencies of The Methodist Church in Singapore.
Pioneers who have passed away were honoured, and their wives who graced the occasion received gold or silver coloured leather-bound Bibles addressed in their memory. Similar Bibles were also presented to retired ETAC pioneer ministers and their wives, and pioneer lay persons in appreciation of their devoted and sustained service to God. The event also marked the launch of a book, ‘Under God’s Almighty Hand’, which captures a historical record of the key events of ETAC, from its formation and going into its 40th year. Proceeds from the book will go towards the ETAC Theological Scholarship Fund. n
CHURCH PROFILE
Singapore Telugu MC:
A community touching lives for Christ The Rev Anil Samuel is Pastor-in-Charge of Singapore Telugu Methodist Church.
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he Telugu-speaking community is tightly knit, much like friends, and they come from the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states in Southeast India. The Telugu community in Singapore started when work opportunities in Singapore opened up for them over the years. Our Telugu-speaking Christian friends have been worshipping with Tamil-speaking congregations since two decades ago. But they always felt that a Telugu service in their own language for them would be beneficial as they would naturally feel more at home. So, as the number of Telugus increased, with much prayer they sought the help of the Rev R. Prabhu, who is currently the Emmanuel Tamil Annual Conference President and was then Pastor at Tamil Methodist Church (Short Street) among other churches. He welcomed the Telugu community and conducted a service in the year 2000, sharing God’s word and praying for the community’s various needs. A congregation was formed in the year 2008, and this year the church celebrates our 7th anniversary. The Telugu people are community-oriented, and when worshipping as a community, they enjoy sharing Biblical and cultural values and feel a sense of belonging. This is the vision of church: to share Christ’s love with others, win them over with love, build their faith and engage them through fellowship to give them hope for their future. There has been some transition in the ministry over the years. In the beginning many singles joined, and it was years later that families came in to worship. As we sought to accommodate their needs, God initiated Family Prayer Fellowship, where families come together to fellowship, pray, meditate on God’s word and discuss relevant issues that currently affect Christians. Church women play a significant role in this fellowship and children who attend with their parents are drawn into Sunday School ministry. The strength of the Telugu ministry lies in personal evangelism and discipleship, as well as outreach and social service. Hundreds of people came to know the Lord through evangelism. Personal evangelism allows the church to befriend the people, care for them and connect with them, and our 10 cell groups in various localities in Singapore help bind the people together through weekly prayer and fellowship. As most of them come from a non-Christian background, there is a need to teach them how to worship God, the joy of following Christ and the goodness of being led by His Spirit.
Evangelistic events organised on public holidays are one of the ways that the Singapore Telugu Methodist Church offers community to its Telugu friends.
Singapore Telugu Methodist Church (Emmanuel Tamil Annual Conference) 8 Short Street (Tamil Methodist Church), Singapore 188214 Sunday Service: 7 p.m. (Telugu) Contact: 8611-7374 or contact.sgtmc@gmail.com Visit: www.sgtmc.org
We continue our series of profiling local churches from our three Annual Conferences of The Methodist Church in Singapore. As we come to have a better understanding of each other’s history and ministry, we may discover more opportunities to forge crosschurch partnerships and collaborations. Through outreach and social service, the church makes avenues to reach out to precious friends who are away from their home country, be with them and meet their varied needs. The tagline ‘Be there when people need you’ reminds us of Christ’s ministry, and drives us to make a significant impact in people’s lives by granting them hope, allowing them to see Christ’s love in action and have the opportunity to seek and follow Christ. We worked with the Methodist Welfare Services to embark on a new ministry initiative, SEVA (which means service to everyone), to reach out and give hope to the precious friends at Westlite Dorm at Mandai Estate through care and counselling services. Harvest is plentiful as hundreds of Telugus come to this beautiful country of opportunity to make their living. We envision starting worship centres in Jurong and Sengkang or Punggol to win many people for Christ. n Photos courtesy of Singapore Telugu Methodist Church METHODIST MESSAGE • MAR 2015
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ST. FRANCIS METHODIST SCHOOL
Keeping the Methodist sp Lenie Cho is Principal of St. Francis Methodist School.
“We hope to equip every student of SFMS with knowledge and skills, instilling in them the right character and attitude.”
Photos courtesy of St. Francis Methodist School
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t. Francis Methodist School (SFMS) aims to express the mission aspects of the Methodist church through its holistic approach to education and its expression of Christian values and beliefs. Hence, although its key focus is and will always be to provide quality education for all, it continues as a mission school – to propagate the Christian faith and spread the Christian gospel while respecting the sensitivities of the multi-ethnic and multi-religious population. This is reiterated by Dr Stephen Yeo, Chairman of the Board of Directors in his message in the School Yearbook 2014. “In SFMS, our mission is to educate young people with the necessary knowledge to pass exams and move on to tertiary institutions. But much more than that, we aim to instil the virtues of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and selfcontrol into their character so that they will bring good into this world, do good to people around them and maintain what is good for the environment we live in, so as to leave behind a better legacy for future generations. “We hope to equip every student of SFMS with knowledge and skills, instilling in them the right character and attitude.” Character education in SFMS is supported by the Pastoral Care Curriculum. To sow the seeds for positive thinking in its students, SFMS adopted the “You Can Do It” (YCDI) model for pastoral care developed by Professor Michael E. Bernard, joining over 6,000 schools in Australia, New Zealand, England, and North America that use this programme. Through YCDI, students are introduced to 12 positive habits or types of thinking, so that they may develop strong foundation in ‘Confidence’, ‘Getting Along’, ‘Persistence’, ‘Organisation’ and ‘Resilience’. The curriculum helps build the social and emotional strengths of SFMS students so that they will achieve overall well-being, success in school and in their social life, develop positive relationships and be socially-responsible individuals in future. The YCDI curriculum is taught weekly on Fridays.
pirit alive in SFMS One of the foundational pillars of Methodist schools is the Christian Ministry. SFMS is a private school which belongs to The Methodist Church in Singapore, and has the privilege of following two traditions that have been handed down through all our Methodist schools, assisting in our educational mission to build character. Firstly, there is the weekly chapel service which is an integrated part of the life of the school. All staff and students attend the chapel service. We are privileged to have three chaplains from Bukit Panjang Methodist Church (BPMC): the Rev Yeung Hin Fai, the Rev Tan-Yeo Lay Suan and Pastor Peace Choi. The second tradition is a daily practice of sharing a brief ‘Thought for the Day’ based on the Bible followed by a time of silent prayer. This morning devotion conducted daily at the school assembly by Christian teachers, BPMC volunteers, Christian ministry workers (Mrs Joyce Seet and Mr James Lee) and the Principal. Our School Vision is to be a school of choice, in an international learning community, rooted in God’s Word and inspiring lives to be the best that they can be. Our Mission is to minister to the lives that God has placed within the SFMS community that is also intricately linked to BPMC, which is situated next door. Rosabella Yuan Yu Qing (left), an alumna of SFMS, is one such life that God has touched through the school. “The turning point in my life came when I attended SFMS. I have many fond memories of teachers who were patient and encouraged me in my studies. The morning devotion, chapel services and other Christian programmes in school sowed the seeds of the Gospel in my heart. It was a friendship crisis that led me to receive Christ in 2011. I was baptised at BPMC the following year. “I did not know where to go after my ‘A’ level exams so I sought the Lord’s guidance. And amazingly, God opened the door for me to study at the University of Arts in London. God helped me overcome many obstacles during my application and I am very thankful to Him for leading me this far in my life. The life in
492 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 678095 Tel: 6760-0889 Fax: 6760-8032 Email: sfmsadmin@sfms.edu.sg Website: www.sfms.edu.sg ■ In 1960, Mrs Harriet T. Doraisamy (a member of Wesley Methodist Church) established St. Francis Girls’ School. Upon her retirement in 1995, she graciously donated the school licence to The Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS) and the name was changed to St. Francis Methodist School. ■ The General Conference of the MCS, which made the decision to accept responsibility for running the school, recognised that schools were an excellent means of outreach and service to the community. ■ SFMS has about 650 students, most of whom come from neighbouring countries around Singapore. Its present principal, Mrs Lenie Cho, joined the school in August 2008.
London is challenging and filled with temptations, but knowing Christ gives me the assurance that I am not alone.” The Christian ministry in SFMS under Mrs Joyce Seet provides substantial support for students in their daily lives by offering a listening ear, a comforting word, and a prayer for comfort when they are troubled or taking examinations. With a student population of 650 students from Singapore, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and many other Asian countries, the potential to influence young lives is tremendous. Students in SFMS have the opportunity get to know the Lord and be helped in their journey to discover God’s plan and destiny for their lives. n
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MOVIE REVIEW
Unbroken Chia Hui Jun is Editorial Executive of Methodist Message and worships at Foochow Methodist Church.
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any of us fervently hope to find within us a fount of courage to weather trials and tribulations. Unbroken is the real-life account of one such person, whose tenacity lasted him through difficulties that might have been unbearable for some. Directed and produced by actress Angelina Jolie, this film begins in World War II in 1934, with aerial combat in a B-24 Liberator bomber where Louie Zamperini (played by Jack O’ Connell) has his plane shot down at sea. Adrift in the Pacific Ocean with two other comrades and battling heat exhaustion, dehydration and hunger, Louie promises God to serve Him all his life if he is rescued. The scenes of them catching, killing and eating sharks with their bare hands are some of the few light-hearted moments in the film. One of Louie’s comrades passes away one night, and Louie and his remaining comrade are discovered and captured by the Japanese troops after 47 days. There are flashbacks to Louie as a young boy growing up in Torrance, California. He often got into trouble, much to the embarrassment of his Italian immigrant parents. Realising Louie’s athletic potential and also to get him off the streets, his brother Peter painstakingly trained him to become a runner. The training was a turning point in young Louie’s life as he broke records at track competitions and qualified for the Olympics. There are heartwarming scenes of Peter cycling next to him as he trains, and his family crowding around a radio to listen to the sports commentator at the Olympic event. Peter left him with these words “a moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory” – a foreshadowing of his heroism in WWII. For two years after his capture, Louie was held in a concentration camp for prisoners-of-war and
singled out for torture by Japanese corporal Mutsuhiro “Bird” Watanabe (played by Takamasa Ishihara) due to his fame as an Olympian. Wartime atrocities such as being pummelled in the face repeatedly, having fingernails pulled out and shovelling coal depict the dehumanising quality of war. Watanabe’s cruelty culminates in a scene where he drags an emaciated, injured Louie out and forces him to hold a heavy plank above his head for what seems like hours, with the threat of death if he drops it. The hatred and determination in Louie’s eyes as his fellow prisoners silently root for him makes it clear that his spirit remains unbroken despite the atrocities he had suffered. Unfortunately, this is where the movie plateaus and becomes underwhelming. His journey in finding faith and forgiving his captors was truncated into lines of sanitised text onscreen, but is covered in the book by Laura Hillenbrand.
In the book, Louie struggles with alcoholism as a temporary escape, and a troubled marriage, but his life turned around after he received Christ during a Billy Graham rally. Faith helped him to overcome post-war trauma, and in turn, win the battle within himself. He passed away in 2014 from pneumonia. For those in need of encouragement, this 137-minute war film is a reminder of the power of hope, the stark contrast between those whose hope is tenuous and those whose hope is tenacious, and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of horrendous ordeals. n Background picture by icholakov/Bigstock.com
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HYMNS & SONGS
Going with Christ to Gethsemane Judith Mosomos is Acting Director of Worship and Church Music at the Methodist School of Music, and a member of Kampong Kapor Methodist Church.
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he author of the above 18th century hymn, James Montgomery, was born in Scotland to Irish parents. His father, John Montgomery, was a Moravian pastor. From a young age, James participated in the Holy Week services of his church where he heard the scripture readings interspersed with hymns and anthems. These experiences had immense impact on him and he was inspired to write this hymn. ‘Go to Dark Gethsemane’ (UMH 290 in The United Methodist Hymnal) summarises the Passion of Christ during the last days before His crucifixion. Jesus meditates in the Garden of Gethsemane in the first stanza, He suffers on the cross in the second and He dies a sacrificial death in the third. In the final stanza, it is revealed that Jesus resurrects from the dead. For this reason, some hymnals omit the final stanza so that this hymn can be used for Holy Week, helping worshippers to reflect on Christ’s love for us and the suffering He endured.1 Note the author’s use of four bidding verbs at the beginning of each stanza: “go”, “see”, “adore”, and “hasten”.2 These verbs call us to be engaged and remember Christ’s passion for us. The act of remembering however takes us deeper as the author exhorts us to “learn of Jesus Christ to pray” (stanza 1), “learn of Christ to bear the cross” (stanza 2), and “learn of Jesus Christ to die” (stanza 3). Stanza 4 brings the story to a close with a petition: “Saviour, teach us so to rise.”3 This reminds us that we are people of the resurrection so we ought to seek God’s help to teach us to be such a people. Consider using this hymn as the thread that connects Maundy or Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday services. On Maundy or Holy Thursday, the first stanza is sung as the charge before the benediction. This allows the worshippers to set the mood and prepare their hearts for worship on Good Friday. On Good Friday, the second and third stanzas will be sung as a response to the scripture reading. It is essential that attention be paid to the exhortations and to have them as points for reflection. Finally, on Easter Day, begin worship with the fourth stanza in the opening of the liturgy, followed by the Call to Worship. In anticipation of the Holy Week and Easter, we could meditate on how we gained salvation to Christ by His dying on the cross and reflect upon who we are as a result of His Love for us. n Background picture by McIninch/Bigstock.com
aymond F. Glover, ed. The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3 (New York: The Church Hymnal R Corporation, 1994), 347-348. 2 Carlton Young, Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993), 361. 3 http://www.hymnary.org/text/go_to_dark_gethsemane, accessed 28 Feb 2014. 1
Go to Dark Gethsemane (UMH 290) Go to dark Gethsemane, ye that feel the tempter’s power; your Redeemer’s conflict see, watch with him one bitter hour. Turn not from his griefs away; learn of Jesus Christ to pray. See him at the judgment hall, beaten, bound, reviled, arraigned; O the worm-wood and the gall! O the pangs his soul sustained! Shun not suffering, shame, or loss; Learn of Christ to bear the cross. Calvary’s mournful mountain climb; there, adoring at his feet, mark that miracle of time, God’s own sacrifice complete. “It is finished!” hear him cry; Learn of Jesus Christ to die. Early hasten to the tomb where they laid his breathless clay; all is solitude and gloom. Who has taken him away? Christ is risen! He meets our eyes; Saviour, teach us so to rise. Author: James Montgomery (1771-1854)
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SOUNDINGS
Secularism and its discontents Dr Roland Chia is Chew Hock Hin Professor of Christian Doctrine at Trinity Theological College and Theological and Research Advisor at the Ethos Institute for Public Christianity (http://ethosinstitute.sg/).
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he American sociologist Peter Berger is perhaps one of the most interesting scholars of secularism and religion. In his book The Sacred Canopy published in 1967, Berger presented the famous secularisation thesis which postulates that as modernity advances, the influence of religion will diminish and eventually disappear altogether. Thirty years later, however, Berger changed his mind. In The Desecularisation of the World published in 1999, Berger and his colleagues abandoned their earlier hypothesis because “the theory seemed less and less capable of making sense of the empirical evidence from different parts of the world”. Berger, who now could speak of the “myth of secularisation”, argues that modernisation and secularisation are not synonymous. Secular philosophers and scholars are also beginning to acknowledge the limits of secularism. For example,
“Soundings” is a series of essays that, like the waves of a sonogram, explore issues in society, culture and the church in light of the Gospel and Christian understanding.
the eminent atheist German philosopher Jurgen Habermas argues emphatically that secularists must take religion seriously because of the enormous contributions it has made to civilisation. He adds that the philosophy and values that the JudeoChristian tradition has inspired are still important in modern moral and scientific life. This is not surprising. Theologians have long maintained that it is secularism – not religion – that is an anomaly and must offer compelling justifications for its own outlook. Can secularism do this? Can it present a substantial and comprehensive rationale and ethic for the moral and social life? As a vision of reality, secularism has been shown to be wanting and impoverished. Even its extravagant claims of neutrality and as the supreme guarantor of social peace have been rightly challenged. Let us begin with the myth of secular neutrality. Far from being philosophically and ideologically neutral, secularism is a way of understanding and constructing reality. It is a worldview. To be a secular humanist, one needs to embrace certain commitments like “God does not exist” (atheism) and “the physical world is all that there is” (scientific materialism), none of which can be established on scientific grounds. It takes a lot of faith to be a secularist. On its own secularism is unable to offer a moral vision that is indispensable for human societies to flourish. Irving Kristol writes perceptively that “The philosophical rationalism of secular humanism can, at best, provide us with a statement of
the necessary assumptions of a moral code, but it cannot deliver such a code itself.” That Western secular humanists can speak eloquently of values like dignity, freedom and rights is largely because secularism is parasitic on the Judeo-Christian tradition it denounces. But it is precisely because it has rejected the tradition that provides the philosophical and theological foundations for these values, that secular ethics will willy-nilly drown in the sea of relativism. Secularism often appeals to the Enlightenment myth of the triumph of reason. But experience has repeatedly shown that reason alone is unable to forge a universal consensus, especially when the issue in question is complex and contentious. Nietzsche is exactly right when he says that no man of reason would rejoice in the death of God. For if God is truly dead, reason’s demise will soon follow. For if God is really dead, truth itself would dissipate. What is left is an ocean of conflicting and clashing opinions, preferences, and assertions. As the Catholic philosopher Michael Novak has pointed out: “If all is chance, random and inherently meaningless, reason has no North Star and its needle spins mindlessly”. Because secularism fails to offer a substantial vision for the moral and social life, it is also unable to articulate the meaning of human existence. And in a meaningless world, the purpose of human action becomes frustratingly murky. On its own, secularism must remain silent in the face of suffering because it simply does not have the resources to respond to human tragedy. What has secularism to say to the weak and the vulnerable, asks Novak, “that it does not borrow directly from Judaism and Christianity?” The great 20th century theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg perceptively notes that “Secular culture itself produces a deep need for meaning in life and therefore also for religion”. Secularism raises a bitter protest, but offers no answers. And it is perhaps the very impotence of secularism that has led to what G.K. Chesterton has memorably described as the “revolt into orthodoxy”. It has caused atheists like Francis Collins and many others to put their faith in God. n
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WORLD
Pope Francis – the people’s Pope (P The Rev Dr David Lowes Watson is an eminent Wesleyan scholar, author and Methodist minister of the Tennessee Conference, The United Methodist Church. He was keynote speaker at the Aldersgate SG 2014 Convention last May. This is the first of a three-part article by Dr Watson on the ministry of Pope Francis, who has made international headlines with his decisions and actions since his election to the papacy in March 2013.
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Introduction: The tradition of the papal office f there is a leadership role immediately recognisable in world Christianity, it is that of the Pope. With a tradition going all the way back to the Apostle Peter, it is an office accorded honour, authority and respect from the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), comprising some 1.2 billion members worldwide. By contrast, there are 345 member churches in the World Council of Churches (WCC) representing more than 500 million members, including most of the world’s Orthodox, Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed churches.1 The World Methodist Council is likewise diverse, representing 80 member churches in the Wesleyan tradition with some 80 million members. All of these figures are of course approximate, and it should further be noted that Protestantism as a whole consists of a billion members. But in terms of a unified church structure and discipline the Pope is unique, since nowhere else in the world church is such authority bestowed by so many on one person. So when a new Pope is elected it makes headline news, and this particular Pope has been making news almost by the week since he was installed on 13 March 2013. The history of the papacy has not been without challenges and divisions in the church. The original office was that of the Bishop of Rome, a title the papacy still holds, and which grew in stature as the church expanded throughout the western world, facilitated by the power and topography of the Roman Empire. However, the Empire was also instrumental in the first major division in the church, when the Roman capital was moved east to the city named after the Emperor Constantine. While it was Constantine who legalised the church and who convened the first Ecumenical Council at Nicea in A.D. 325, the new capital gave the eastern churches a growing independence from Rome. Organised in geographical patriarchates with their own hierarchy, they effectively became separate in the 11th century, and are known today as Orthodox churches, comprising some 230-250 million members. The next major challenge to the office was what historians have named the Great Western Schism. This began in 1378 when factions in the church resulted in two papacies in Avignon and
There was some surprise in reaction to the name chosen by the new Pope. The image of Francis and the Order he founded is not only one of poverty, but also disdain for the institutional aspects of the church in favour of a radically simple life.
The history of the papacy has not been without challenges and divisions in the church. The original office was that of the Bishop of Rome, a title the papacy still holds, and which grew in stature as the church expanded throughout the western world, facilitated by the power and topography of the Roman Empire. Rome, and in 1409 even a third papacy in Pisa. To resolve the schism, the Council of Constance negotiated the resignation of Pope Gregory XII in 1415, replacing him with a compromise candidate Martin V. While this did not resolve the problems that led to the schism, it did affirm the supremacy of the papal office, only to be challenged even more forcefully in the 16th century by the Protestant Reformation. With the watchwords sola fide and sola scriptura, Protestantism rendered the Pope not only irrelevant but an encumbrance to personal faith in Jesus Christ, and while the Council of Trent (1545-1563) did much to address the theological issues raised by Luther and the other Reformers, Protestants and Catholics remained mutually opposed for the next two centuries, both with a sizeable roster of martyrs. They remain separated today, though much more open to dialogue. Through John Wesley, who was a clergyman of the Church of England, the particular branch of Protestantism to which Methodism belongs was initiated by King Henry VIII who assumed the title Supreme Head of the Church in England in 1534 on the grounds that the Pope as Bishop of Rome had no more authority in England than any other foreign bishop. Ironically, Henry had been given the title Fidei Defensor, Defender of the Faith, by Pope Leo X in 1521 in recognition of a treatise he had written refuting Luther’s sacramental theology. With that curious British custom of retaining titles long after
Part 1) they have lost their original meaning, the letters “FD” appear on British coinage to this day. It is also noteworthy that the election of Pope Francis was occasioned by the resignation of his predecessor Pope Benedict XII on grounds of age and ill health. As the first such resignation in 600 years, it exposed problems in the church that required urgent and extensive reform. The one that has received most publicity has been the scandal of sexual abuse by clergy, but more fundamental and pervasive is a bureaucracy in Rome, the Curia, that has become unwieldy and self-perpetuating. The election of Francis on 13 March 2013 and his dramatic steps toward dealing with these problems continue to signal the fresh winds of reform. The first Pope from Latin America There are a number of ‘firsts’ in the election of this Pope. To begin with, he is the first to come from Latin America. In his excellent biography2, Austen Ivereigh plots the pedigree of this Argentinian priest, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who became Bishop, Cardinal, and Pope. His election was not just an adjustment to the global realities of the RCC, but a resounding affirmation of where the spiritual momentum of Christianity can most readily be found today – not in the old world of European tradition and sophistication, nor yet in those parts of the new world that merely reflect the old veneered with affluence, but at the grassroots of humanity where ordinary people live and work, and all too often still suffer. His ministry has been dedicated to these people, and the outcome of his papal election is all the more remarkable – some would say miraculous – because at no point has he compromised this priority. To the contrary, in all sorts of ways he has affirmed it, personally in his lifestyle and professionally in his appointments and pronouncements.
The first Pope to take the name Francis There was some surprise in reaction to the name chosen by the new Pope. The image of Francis and the Order he founded is not only one of poverty, but also disdain for the institutional aspects of the church in favour of a radically simple life. As Vatican commentator John Allen said on radio in Boston, “That’s an awful lot of weight to put on your shoulders right out of the gate. If you’re not prepared to walk that talk, then you’re going to be in real trouble.” Pope Francis immediately made clear that he would indeed “walk the talk”. His simplicity of life was already well known for his modest living quarters throughout his time in Argentina, before and after becoming Bishop and Archbishop, as well as his cashing in first-class airline tickets and flying coach on his visits to Rome. He has brought these priorities with him to the Vatican, and imaginative stories are already circulating about him driving around Rome in an old decrepit car wearing threadbare clothes. However, what is on record is his choice of down-to-earth habits, and more important, his meeting and talking with ordinary people as often as he can. Having chosen his papal name, he is indeed living it. n Picture by neneo/Bigstock.com Look out for Part 2 of this article in an upcoming issue of Methodist Message
If there is a leadership role immediately recognisable in world Christianity, it is that of the Pope.
S ince 1965, a Joint Working Group co-sponsored by the WCC and the RCC has met regularly to discuss issues of common interest and promote cooperation. 2 The Great Reformer: Francis and the making of a Radical Pope (New York: Henry Holt, 2014). 1
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POEMS
Gethsemane Dr Oliver Seet is a member of Wesley Methodist Church and a Board Director of the Metropolitan YMCA.
Gnarled and weighed down with age, the olive trees, deep-rooted in mothering soil had witnessed the soul-wrenching struggle that fateful night when the Lord of all Creation made flesh agonised over the magnitude of the cost of redeeming the creatures fashioned in His Father’s image.
That He, the Son of God should become sin and perish as the sin offering, the Sacrificial Lamb for all people from all time,
How the Master agonised over this untenable bifurcation until drops of blood fell like sweat over His countenance As He prayed “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.”
That His precious and immortal blood alone could atone and save Mankind But the divine, ineffable love from an eternity of suffering He had for His Father and for Humanity and separation from his Creator, drove Him to His knees It wasn’t the humiliation, scourge, a third time as He prayed And far worse or the fatal cross, “Not as I will, but as You will.” that He would have to be forsaken by the Father that daunted Him whose Holiness would be repelled but the prospect of bearing O Jesus! by the presence of sin, the execrable and heinous sins, Truly there is no measure known to Man He who had never been separated the vituperative depravity for the wideness, length and depth from the Father of men and women from all time, of Your grace and great love for us. who with the Father and the Holy Spirit that separated humankind from a Holy God are one and ever one. upon Himself, Matthew 26:36-46 blameless and without sin, in essence immortal, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, infused with the Holiness of God to whose nature Background picture by Robert Hoetink/Bigstock.com sin was anathema,
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March REGISTERING FOR GOSPEL BRIDGE WORKSHOP
9 Mar (Monday), 7.30 p.m.– 9.30 p.m.
Cru Centre, 18 Verdun Road #04-01, Singapore 207280 Join this evangelism workshop to learn to bring the gospel for your Mandarin-speaking friends. Session 1 is titled “Witnessing to Skeptics” by David Geisler (with Mandarin translation) and Session 2 is titled “Bridging the Gospel using the Five Planks” by Raymond Kwan (conducted in Mandarin). Organised by Cru Singapore. Register online at www.cru.org.sg/gospelbridge. Free admission. A freewill offering will be collected to defray costs. For more info, visit www.cru.org.sg, email corpcomms@cru.org.sg or call 6589-9600.
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SIGNING UP FOR TWIN TIDE TURNERS COURSE
21 Mar (Saturday), 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. M E T H O D I S T
M I S S I O N S
S O C I E T Y
P R E S E N T S
TWINTIDETURNERS!
In these fast changing times where boundaries of space and cultures are blurred, TWIN TIDE TURNERS of our cross- cultural society are the media savvy YZ generation and the 1.5 million multi-ethnic internationals at our doorstep here in Singapore! How can we meet the challenges of the:
Next Generation (4/14) : Missions Field or Missions Force? Nations at Our Doorstep : Privilege or Problem? Come be empowered & partner with God to nurture the next generation and help shape the future for peoples of varying cultures within our borders and beyond our shores!
Kum Yan Methodist Church, 1 Queen Street, Singapore 188534 This course covering ‘Next Generation (4/14): Missions Field or Missions Force’ and ‘Nations at our Doorstep: Privilege or Problem?’ empowers you to partner God to nurture the next generation, where many decisions for Christ are made between ages four to 14. You can also help shape the future for multi-cultural individuals here and beyond our shores. Organised by Methodist Missions Society. Register by 16 March. Fee: $20 per person (includes tea break and refreshments).
For more info and to download the registration form, visit www.mms.org.sg, email mms@methodist.org.sg or call 6478-4818.
21 March 2015 (Saturday) 9.00 am to 1.00pm Kum Yan Methodist Church, 1 Queen Street, Singapore 188534
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Course fees : ($20 include tea break and refreshments)
Registration : Please download and print registration form from MMS website (www.mms.org.sg)
Dr. Foo Fung Fong has been involved in Children’s Ministry for the past 19 years. She is the Chairperson of the TRAC Board of Children’s Ministry, The Methodist Church in Singapore. She has been leading children and youth teams on missions trips to Thailand, Cambodia and Sarawak since 2006. As the Executive Director of Filos Community Services, she has the experience in reaching out to disadvantaged and at-risk children, youths and others. (Topic: Next generation - 4/14)
Closing date : 16 March 2015 Juliette Arulrajah, currently the Transform World Southeast Asia Regional Co-Facilitator and MMS Training Committee Chairman, has also served as National Director of Singapore Centre for Global Missions (2009 -2011), ordained Methodist (TRAC) pastor (1996-2008), MMS Home Director & Vietnam Country Coordinator, TRAC Board of Missions Chairman (2001-2008)), TRAC Crisis Relief Coordinator & in the leadership of GO4th National Missions Conferences, Migrant Work & Disasterhope Networks, Global Network of Centres of World Missions and SEALINK! (Topic: Nations at Our Doorstep)
Dr Christopher Cheah is a medical doctor at the Singapore Health Promotion Board. He is a member of Fairfield Methodist Church and has been involved in missions, prayer and outreach ministries for many years, including ministry to China Nationals. He is married to Fung Fong and they have three children.
Mr Solomon Joseph has obtained a Bachelor Degree from the Trinity Theological College. He is presently serving at the Asia Evangelistic Fellowship Singapore, and actively engaging in the ministry to the unreached foreign Indian migrant workers. He is married to Ruth Roslin and they have 3 adult children, 2 sons-in- laws and I grand- daughter.
REGISTERING FOR THE GLOBAL EXPANSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH COURSE
(Topic: Nations at Our Doorstep)
(Topic: Nations at Our Doorstep)
25 Mar, 1, 15, 22 and 29 Apr, 6 and 13 May (Wednesdays – no class on 8 Apr), 7.30 p.m. – 9.45 p.m.
70 Barker Road #06-01 The Methodist Centre Singapore 309936 Tel : 6478 4818 Fax : 6478 4817 Email : mms@methodist.org.sg Website : www.mms.org.sg Facebook : www.facebook.com/mms.org.sg
St Andrew’s Cathedral, 11 St. Andrew’s Road, North Transept Hall, Singapore 178959 This course covers a series of life stories of people in the marginalised masses, religious hermits, the educated, adventurers and explorers. They tell the stories of Jesus, first in Jerusalem, then Samaria and the rest of the world. This course is conducted by Mrs Kimhong Hazra. Organised by Trinity Theological College’s Centre for the Development of Christian Ministry. Registration required. Fee: $100 ($80 for returning students for a year, free for TTC alumni and students) For more info, visit www.ttc.edu.sg or email cdcm@ttc.edu.sg
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SIGNING UP FOR BI-VOCATIONAL MISSIONS COURSE
24 Apr (Friday), 7.15 p.m.– 9.45 p.m. 25 Apr (Saturday), 9 a.m.– 5 p.m.
Kum Yan Methodist Church, 1 Queen Street, Singapore 188534 Christian professionals seeking to become bi-vocational ministers in a cross-cultural context should attend this course. It covers the biblical basis and definitions of bi-vocational missions, vocational paths and models, work and ministry mix, dilemma and ethics, and relating with the national church and host government. Organised by Methodist Missions Society. Fee: $45.
APR
For more info and to download the registration form, visit www.mms.org.sg, email mms@methodist. org.sg or call 6478-4818.
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METHODIST MESSAGE • MAR 2015
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THINK
A H.A.N.D.S on approach to showing Jesus is God David Jonathan Graieg is a Masters of Theology graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary (2012). He is currently serving as an adjunct lecturer at East Asia School of Theology and attends Wesley Methodist Church. He runs a monthly Reasonable Faith Apologetics meeting in Singapore. David is happily married to Grace, and they have three young children: Sophie, Charlotte and Elizabeth.
I
t is sometimes said that for most people in Asia it is not a question of whether there is a God, but a question of which God? The challenge for us as Christians, then, is to show what reasons we have for thinking that Jesus is truly God. Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski in their book Putting Jesus in His Place:The Case for the Deity of Christ published by Kregel in 2007, offer a simple and memorable way to do this. Using the acronym H.A.N.D.S., they reason that the Bible teaches that Jesus shares the Honour due only to God, that Jesus shares the Attributes of God, that Jesus shares the Names ascribed to God, that Jesus does the Deeds that only God can do, and that Jesus is Seated on the throne of God. Here are a few of the lines of evidence from the Scriptures that we can draw on.
Attributes C The holy Bible tells us that Jesus has the same attributes as
God being eternal (John 1:1-3; 8:58), all-powerful (Matt. 28:18), all-knowing (John 21:17), and loving (Rom 8:35-39). If someone possessed the same characteristics, the same nature as God, in the same way that God did, what would that make Him?
Names C Jesus is said to have been given the name that is above every
other name (Phil. 2:9-11). Jesus is called God (John 20:28), Lord (Acts 1:24), the King of kings (Rev 19:16), Saviour (Luke 2:11), and the First and the Last (Rev 1:7-8). It would be wrong to call any older man our father, so if Jesus receives such titles, that is saying a lot about who He is.
Honour C The inspired Scriptures indicate that God alone is to be Deeds C worshipped (Deut. 6:13; Matt 4:9-10), yet Jesus is worshipped Who can do the things that God alone does? Jesus is said and accepts such worship (Matt. 14:33; Heb. 1:6; Rev 1:17), so who does that mean Jesus truly is? If Jesus were merely human it would be wrong to honour Him as God alone is to be honoured. Yet, we read that devout Jews in the New Testament bowed down and worshipped Jesus (i.e. “doubting” Thomas in John 20:28) and Jesus accepted that worship.
to be the creator (John 1:3), the sustainer of all things (Heb. 1:2-3), He is sovereign over the forces of nature (Matt. 8:2327), the one who forgives sins (Matt 9:1-8), and even the one who gives life (John 1:4; 5:21). In fact it could be said that everything that God does for us, Jesus does for us. How should one respond to such blessings?
Seat C Lastly, Jesus sits on God’s throne (Rev. 3:21), ruling over
all things (Rev 5:13). This is nothing short of claiming to be equal with God (John 10:27-33). Jesus is the judge of all history, of the entire world, of each person – to Him every knee will bow. Just as the Istana is the residence of His Excellency the President, so one who reigns sovereignly from heaven is none other than the God of gods.
In conclusion, we should rejoice that Jesus is the one true God. This is the same Jesus who died on a cross for our sins – He knows our pains and struggles and He understands us and is here to help us. This is the same Jesus who rose from the grave and will come again, to take home all who confess Him as He truly is. As such we should have confidence in Him and should share with others the good news about who Jesus is and what He has done.1 n 1
is is not to say there are not some hard to understand passages in the Th Bible. For those interested in more details about this, I would recommend Archer, Gleason L. Jr. New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001.
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