A n e w s l e tter o f The N a viga to rs S in ga po re M C I (P ) 047/03/2020
APRIL 2020
Navstaff Royston Koh and CDM team attended the 2:7 Jubilee Celebration at Texas from 6-8 February 2020 (from left to right: Royston Koh, Sita, Chung Lee & Mogan)
ROOTED, REVITALISE & REACHING By Church Discipleship Ministry (CDM)
“Rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” –– Colossians 2:7
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he 2:7 Series is a discipleship training resource that has been used by God to raise disciplemakers around the world for the past five decades. Ron Oertli, the brainchild of the 2:7 Series, together with his US Navigators team developed this series in 1970. In 1983, US Navstaff Denny Repko was invited to conduct the first 2:7 Training Clinic at the Navigators Regional Office in Upper Bukit Timah.
Denny Repko conducted the first 2:7 Training Clinic for Navstaff in 1983 at the Navigators Regional Office. (image credit: Royston Koh)
Navstaff Patrick Tan was then assigned to train church leaders keen on using the program. In the subsequent ten years, more than 100 churches were using the 2:7 Series to equip their members for the work of discipleship and disciplemaking. Royston Koh, our senior Navstaff, came on board in 1990 to facilitate the continuation of the work. Currently, our CDM (Church Discipleship Ministry) team conducts 2:7 Series Clinics both in local and overseas churches.
world. Here are some reflections of the conference from our CDM staff who were at the Jubilee Celebration: Chung Lee: “The theme of the Jubilee Celebration – “Rooted, Revitalise & Reaching” was well achieved as we sat through messages, testimonies and reports during the conference. We were reminded once again to help people get rooted in God’s word; and for those who might be discouraged after labouring for so long to be revitalised again as they witness how God has used this series to bless so many people throughout the world; and then to encourage and challenge people to keep reaching out to many more through the use of this series.” Sita: “I’m more familiar with how God has used the 2:7 Series in Asia, because we work more with Asian countries. So it was very exciting to learn that even in Russia, Mongolia and different countries in Latin America, the Lord has used it so powerfully in the churches. It is a ‘simple’ tool but God has used it so effectively, not just over 10 years but 50 years, so it was very encouraging.” Mogan: “For me, the biggest highlight was to see how God is so mightily moving around the world. God is at work through the 2:7 Series and we praise Him for that. But we must also do our part –– keep working hard for the Lord and his kingdom.”
Since its introduction in 1970, the 2:7 Series has been translated into 58 languages and it has been estimated that more than 2 million people worldwide have gone through the 2:7 Series training. The 2:7 Series just turned 50 this year (its Jubilee year!). At its recent 2:7 Jubilee conference held in Texas from 6-8 February 2020, our CDM team was deeply encouraged as they saw how God has been using this series faithfully over the past 50 years and all over the
Our CDM team (left to right - Mogan, Sita & Chung Lee)
WHERE GOD GUIDES, HE PROVIDES By Gabby, Fijian Navstaff and Methodist Lay Pastor Gabby is a full-time Navstaff and Methodist Lay Pastor from Fiji. He came to Singapore from 30 Jan to 2 Mar 2020 for campus ministry training with the Singapore Navigators. Gabby shares about his life and what he has learnt during his stay in Singapore.
I was helping the people in the village to build our new church. Then came my turning point. I was invited to attend a youth camp. I believed that God took me to the right place. After the camp, I started to join the Indian ministry, taking the gospel to the Indian people. Then someone from the Indian ministry introduced a bible school to me –– College of Theology and Evangelism at Lautoka, Fiji. At that time, I had this hunger for God’s word in me to study and learn more about Him. So I had to make a choice –– to complete my Diploma in Civil Engineering or to go to bible school. At midnight on the last day of 2010, I was sitting inside the church, praying for God’s direction. Then on 2 Jan 2011, someone informed me that “You are accepted –– you have to report to the bible school on 16 January.” It felt like God had answered my prayer and that it was God’s confirmation for me to go to bible school. I spent four years in the bible school and graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor in Divinity.
“Who will pay for all these (purchases, bills etc.)?” as she was the only one supporting us. So I told her that this is our step of faith. Gabby (left) shared how God has provided for his family and what he has learnt during his one-month stay in Singapore.
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grew up in Labasa, a small town in Fiji. My father passed away when I was 16 in the year 2000. As kids, we depended on our father for everything. So when my father passed away I didn’t have any hope. A few months later while I was at a church service, the pastor preached a message about hope in Christ –– and that was when I accepted Jesus into my life. My father was a Catholic, my mother was a Methodist. After my father passed away, I started attending the Methodist church. From the years 2003 to 2009 I was staying in Suva, the capital city where my university was. In my first year of university I was the same person back at home. But in my second year, things changed. I still went to church on Sunday but I was only a Sunday Christian. In 2009, I left the capital city and went back to the village. I had enough of the city life. I was supposed to go back to school in 2010 to complete my Diploma in Civil Engineering but I didn’t.
Taking the Leap of Faith After my graduation, I went back to Labasa where I started helping my church as a lay pastor. I also volunteered as an evangelist at the prison (correction centre). I did bible studies with the inmates and had one-to-one counselling sessions with them. As my wife was a nurse, we looked for a place in town so that it was closer to her workplace. There were so many things God did in our lives, so many blessings I see... we didn’t have a home but God provided a lady from Australia to come and build our house for us and that’s where we are staying today. My wife was a nurse until April last year when we decided that she would stay home with the kids (as it had been tough bringing the kids around as no one was home all the time to take care of them). Before my wife resigned, the first thing she asked me was, “Who will pay for all these (purchases, bills etc.)?” as she was the only one supporting us. So I told her that this is our step of faith. I believed that the most important thing was for us to do God’s work.
After that I met Ratu Inoke Kubuabola (current Fiji Nav Director) and he told me that he wanted to support me and my ministry in Labasa. At that time, he didn’t know that my wife had just resigned in April. He is the one who is supporting us now, and that is how God has been doing things in my family. Subsequently I went to Suva a few times to attend training from the Navigators and Ratu always told me to pray about Navigators. What I saw during that one month in Suva with the Navigators was amazing –– it was God’s way of raising up disciples –– to witness and to follow up with them. That really changed my perspective of witnessing so when I went back I prayed about it with my wife. I believed that God was directing me to campus ministry. Hence, last year, I joined the Navigators as a full-time staff. As Ratu wanted a young leader to help lead the work in Fiji, he asked me to come here for this training and it’s a blessing to be here.
that a leader is a servant. Vision & Plans for Fiji Three letters: E.D.M. –– Evangelism, Discipleship, Multiplication. I asked my wife to pray about these and to find one faithful leader, just one. Invest in that one leader and I think God will do mighty works through that leader (campus student leader). I have been working with a few young men and I was thinking of inviting them to my home upon my return to share what I have learnt and encourage them. That is what I will do first––to find someone who is faithful and try to share the word.
Gabby is a lay pastor in his home church –– Saioni Methodist Church, which was opened in 2010 (image credit: Gabby)
What is Discipleship to you?
Gabby’s first day at the guys’ life-training apartment (image credit: Jae Kwan)
Valuable Lessons Here in Singapore, I see the students’ lives and how they have taken ownership of the programme. For example, there is no one pushing them to do their quiet time or bible reading but I see the joy in them while doing the programme, sharing what God is speaking to them every morning. It’s not only a pattern of life but it’s something that is real to them. These students’ lives are a reflection of who their leader is –– how much sacrifices and commitment the leader has made for them. Servanthood is what challenges me most –– how to serve another person, and everyday I see the servanthood in them –– they want to serve someone. I have observed how the apartment leader has served as part of a team, not just directing others. I have learnt
Discipleship is like parenting –– spiritual parenting. Parenting starts when the baby is born. Even until the Christian becomes someone who is able to walk on his own, the relationship does not go away –– you are still a parent and you still have a parenting role in that person. You can still guide him, give him instruction… that relationship is always there. That’s what I have learnt about discipleship.
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Discipleship is like parenting. Parenting starts when the baby is born...the relationship does not go away...that relationship is always there.
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BOARD OF GOVERNANCE The Board of Governance (BOG) consists of Dr Neo Boon Siong, Victor Tan, Judy Ng, Alex Lo, Viloane Ko and Yap Kim Meng. In this issue, we would be featuring three of our BOG members and have them share a little about their background and journey with the Navigators.
Dr. Neo Boon Siong (Chairman) Neo Boon Siong has 38 years of corporate experience in corporate governance, management education, business consulting and research fields. He is a Chartered Accountant (Singapore), and holds M.B.A. and PhD degrees in Business Administration. He is currently serving as Director on the Board of Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation Ltd and Chip Eng Seng Corporation. He was helped by the Navigators during his teens, military and university days. “I got to know the Navigators during my teenage years (Navteens) through several church mates. The Navigators taught me the essentials of the Christian life –– quiet time, bible study, sharing the gospel, discipling others, and the importance of maintaining this way of life for my own walk with God. These are things that I have continued with even up till today.”
Victor Tan (Secretary) Victor holds a M.B.A. from University of Strathclyde (Scotland), and is currently a Financial Services Director in Phillip Securities. He worked 20 years in two foreign banks and was a director/shareholder in an independent financial advisory firm for 23 years. Victor accepted Christ as his personal Saviour in 1975. “I joined the Navigators through a church friend in 1977 when I was 24 years old. The Navigators has laid a firm foundation in my spiritual life and anchored me in the Word of God. Through “one-to-one” personal time with various leaders, it has given me deep convictions about life-long disciplemaking (Isaiah 43:4). The Lord has blessed me with a wife who shares the same heartbeat and convictions as we were in the same Navigator ministry since the 1970s.”
Judy Ng (Treasurer) Judy is a finance professional with 30 years of experience in the banking and financial sector. She is a chartered accountant and has a Master in Applied Finance, M.B.A. She is currently the Chief Financial Officer for the Institutional Banking Business at DBS Bank. “I got to know the Navigators through my husband, Hock Tiong when we were both students at NTU. I remembered I was enthralled with what the Navigators stood for–– the Wheel and the Word resonated with me strongly. The Navigators’ indelible impact on me is the power of life-on-life discipleship and Scripture memory. The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. So let us continue to do the work that God has called each one of us to.”
www.navigators.org.sg
FROM THE NATIONAL DIRECTOR
@SingaporeNavigators The Navigators Singapore, 117 Lor K, Telok Kurau, Singapore 425758 Tel: (65) 6344 4133 Email: admin@navigators.org.sg
Yap Kim Meng The Psalmist reminds us in Psalms 121:1-2 ‘I lift up my eyes to the hills––where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth’. I trust your heart echoed this quiet trust and confidence that the psalmist had in the Lord when we were hit by the COVID-19 crisis. Travel plans, work schedules and family lives were disrupted as many feared being infected by the virus. In the midst of this pandemic, how then should we as believers live? As we are living in the last days, we should not expect anything less than the early Church with its challenges. The recent events in the political scene with Brexit and Trump or the natural disasters––the ravaging bushfires in Australia, the hazardous Taal volcano eruption, and the new deadly Coronavirus that plagues the nations––further remind us that life here is not meant for peace and prosperity. Yet this is a timely reminder for us to seize the day to share the Gospel earnestly in these last days. The recent events present us with many opportunities to point people to Christ and offer them good news and hope in the midst of an uncertain world. Jesus tells us in John 16:33 ‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ What a great promise of peace in Christ amidst all the tribulations in this world! This is an opportune time for us to offer our loved ones, friends and colleagues the message of peace and hope in Christ.
The calling of The Navigators is to advance the gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom into the nations through spiritual generations of labourers living and discipling among the lost. Views expressed in published articles are those of the individual writers and may not necessarily be the views of The Navigators Singapore. All Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® Copyright © 1984, unless otherwise stated.
National Director: Yap Kim Meng Editor, Designer: Chelsia Chan Printer: Seng Lee Press © 2020 by The Navigators Singapore
You and I can be credible bearers of the Good news. Let us go about our Father’s business and waste no time ‘but in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect’ (1 Peter 3:15).
PRAYER PULSE Coronavirus Crisis (COVID-19) Health & Care As we adhere to wise guidelines on social responsibility, many face-to-face group meetings have been suspended. Pray for God to bless in these times as we take our meetings online.
Health & Wisdom Uphold country leaders and those in authority for wisdom to deal with current health threats. Ask for strength and resolve to press on with difficult decisions.
Health & Kindness Pray for love and kindness expressed at home where more time is spent with loved ones.
Health & God Turn to Him and thank Him even though we don’t always understand, but to trust in His unfailing love (‘His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.’ - Psalms 147:10,11)
Health & Outreach Pray for opportunities and willingness to share with others about Christ and build up younger ones to trust in Him.