A n e w s l etter o f T h e N a viga to rs S inga po re M C I ( P ) 012/03/2019
JANUARY 2020
Can Christians celebrate the Lunar New Year (LNY) in a God-honouring way? In this LNY issue, our NavStaff shed some light on the subject and give tips on how you can make this festive occasion a time to celebrate Christ too!
HOW GOD BLESSES (上帝赐福给我们) By Andson Tang, Republic Polytechnic (RP) - Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) Ministry Staff
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o be blessed is the desire of all mankind. No one wants to be cursed but to be blessed. With this desire, Man seek blessings from various means in hopes of being blessed, be it materially or spiritually. Chinese characters are written in pictograph form, via pictures or symbols to describe events or happenings in the past. The word “blessing” (福) comprises of four symbols which reveal how a person can be blessed:
Why is the word “blessing” written in this way? Some research indicates that ancient Chinese characters are closely related to Bible events. Citing Genesis 2:8, “Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.” According to Scripture, in order to be blessed with eternal hope and happiness, Man must have a close relationship with God, as when Man and God communed in the garden. Unfortunately, this relationship was broken when Man disobeyed God and fell away from Him (sin). Sin leads us to eternal condemnation and separates us from God. Through the years, Man has tried to seek God’s blessing through his own efforts, but in vain. Thanks be to God, He provided the remedy for all mankind through Jesus Christ who can bring us back into righteousness (義) in His sight. In John 1:29, ‘… John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”’ To redeem Man back into righteousness with God, the Lamb needs to be “slaughtered”. Jesus, who died for our sins, is the Lamb of God. Interestingly, the Chinese word for righteousness comes in three symbols:
From the Bible, we know that it is by the blood of Jesus that we are cleansed of our sins. Through Jesus, the Lamb of God, our relationship with God is reconciled. This is how Man can be blessed again.
Bible.ca (n.d.). The Garden of Eden. Retrieved December 7, 2019, from http://www.bible.ca/ark/cvhinese/bible-evidences-chinese-language-characters-words-garden-of-eden-genesis.htm
義 Righteousness - the Lamb over me
LUNAR NEW YEAR, AS GOD SEES IT By Viloane and Patricia Ko, Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) - Temasek Polytechnic (TP) Ministry Leaders
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ur family always looks forward to the Lunar New Year (LNY) as it gives us a break from our hectic lives to enjoy a meaningful celebration with family and friends! We video-call those who are overseas to send our new year greetings, to let them know that they are remembered. We also open our home to the foreigners among us so they have a place to enjoy familial warmth during the festive season. For conversation topics, we try to find appropriate times to discuss LNY traditions that run parallel to Bible stories. Some of our conversation ideas include: 1. The idea of creation within the first seven days of Lunar New Year and its similarity to creation in Genesis (Genesis 1-2). 2. Hanging couplets of red paper (对联) on doorframes that resemble the Passover account in Exodus (Exodus 12). 3. Reunion feasts that resemble heavenly feasts (Revelations 19:9). Learning about our heritage through the lens of the Bible helps us to uncover rich, new facets of the gospel, which serve as opportunities for us to point others to Jesus!
Viloane and family invite foreigners to their home during LNY. Georgia (centre), a Nav labourer from Malaysia, is explaining the symbolic meaning of the tangerine. (Image credit: Pat Ko)
Celebrating LNY is inevitably linked to our God-given ethnic identity. Our family participates in the usual traditions of spring-cleaning, reunion gatherings, and so on. We also express our heritage through Chinese calligraphy, especially Chinese characters that are associated with Chinese culture and biblical themes.
Viloane’s family looks forward to a meaningful annual LNY celebration that is spent with family and friends.
There are many practices within our Chinese culture that carry positive symbolic meanings. For example, marking the new year with spring-cleaning and the donning of new clothes is much like the way God gave renewal to the natural world during springtime. Likewise, just as the Lord blesses us, we also exchange mandarin oranges and give out angpows during visitations to express our blessings to family and friends. Last year, unfortunately, on the first day of LNY, a friend’s wife was hospitalised. His family was in distress. Despite the taboo of going to places associated with bad luck (such as hospitals) during LNY, it could not deter us from showing practical love and help to a dear friend who needed encouragement. We felt that God’s commands shall have supremacy over all LNY superstitions and symbolic practices. LNY celebrations are a great opportunity for us to express both our ethnic Chinese culture and Jesus’ Kingdom culture. May the Holy Spirit help us to bring the abundance and blessings of Jesus to our loved ones this LNY.
By Leslie and Cecilia Choudhury, Nav-Community Ministry Leaders (left); Joseph Baek, Nav Associate Staff (right)
Acts 16:31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
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s a boy, my main motivation for visiting during LNY was to be “blessed” by as many angpows as possible. However, coming to Christ and maturing in faith changed the way I viewed LNY—as an opportunity to share Christ and bring the entire family into fellowship with Him. Festive holidays are a special time for God to do His saving work. He doesn’t just have my wife, Cecilia, and me in mind, but our whole families. Occasions like these open a big door for God to move into our lives and touch everyone of us! My son, Zack, Cecilia and I used to have a practice of presenting oranges to our elders and even my own Indian parents. Blessing others is biblical, and traditions like orange-giving is a way of honouring and blessing family and friends. These days, however, the act of “blessing” seems to have been lost, hence LNY is a great reminder to continue this practice, as was done often in the early Christian days. Since both Cecilia’s and my parents have passed on, greetings now go out via WhatsApp and Facebook to our family members, regardless of ethnicity (our extended family comprises of Chindians, Aussindians, Amerindians and Amerinese)! We praise God for the diversity in our family and His faithfulness through the years. We aim to testify of God’s goodness and readily share with anyone what He has done in our lives. To do this, we initiate worship sessions as well as Lo Hei with our disciples (of which Cecilia makes the best Yu Sheng in Singapore!). We usually conduct our Lo Hei sessions with a Christian blessing or praise. For example, the fish used in Yu Sheng is representative of us being “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). In 2020, we are going to embark on bi-monthly bible study sessions with residents of The Hiding Place, so blessing them with a Lo Hei session is on the cards!
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y wife, Hannah, my two grown daughters and I usually take a spiritual retreat during the LNY holidays with our group of Korean expat friends who work in Singapore. We treat it like a reunion gathering with our spiritual family, a celebration centred on the Word. These handful of couples form our regular Bible study group. Our annual trip includes their immediate families, numbering over 20 in total. With no relatives to visit, no colleagues calling or emails to check, it is a good time for all of us to concentrate on God’s Word and fellowship. Hence, for the last decade, we’ve frequented nearby cities like Johor Bahru and Batam to have our Bible workshops, play sports and so on.
(Image credit: Joseph Baek)
In Korea, Confucian teachings on filial piety and ancestor worship were prevalent in the 1980s, and so some families made it a habit to return to their hometown. However, the LNY holidays would see 500 to 600 Nav labourers retreat to a mountain for prayer instead, all in my city of Busan alone. Young believers struggled with this initially, but the more committed disciples saw the importance of these trips and were determined to put God as their priority in this way. This LNY, pray for the Lord to refresh our families for the year as we gather in Palm Resort.
IN MEMORY OF JIM CHEW (1937-2019) Contributed by Wong Kim Tok, former National Director from 1990-1998 On 7 December, Jim’s memoriam was held at his home church Bethesda (Katong) Church, where church leaders and various missional agencies gave their eulogy. This was Wong Kim Tok’s address: Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
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im Chew was the first Asian to be appointed as a Navigator staff. He started the work in University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur (KL). Having established the work there, he and his wife, Selene, were sent to New Zealand, where he subsequently became National Director and then Regional Director of Southeast Asia, and finally Missions Mentor for the Asia-Pacific. Missions was very much on his heart, and it was at this time that Jim wrote the book When You Cross Cultures: Vital Issues Facing Christian Missions. These job titles meant little to him. He would rather be called a servant and be a shepherd to the people around him. The measure of his ministry was not just about how extensive it was, but also how deeply he impacted the individuals around him, one of whom was
me. I began my journey with him as a student in university, trying to survive campus life and juggle ministry. It was challenging; however, Jim would pop down from KL to visit at a time when NavStaff were on home leave, praying and sharing the Word with me. I appreciated the trouble he took to see me when I needed help. Jim believed in and practiced the importance of “other works” as in the Big Dipper illustration by Dawson Trotman. In leadership positions, there’s a tendency to follow in the footsteps of your predecessor, which I soon found out after taking over as National Director from him that it was not easy. It was an impossible task to keep up with the level of involvement Jim had with other Christian groups. My shoe size is 6.5 and his seemed to be 12 or 14. During his interim stay in Singapore throughout this year battling cancer, he grasped every opportunity to witness and disciple healthcare workers around him. It was Jim’s lifestyle, ministering to young believers on the medical team. He truly was a quintessential disciplemaker with a heart for men, not distracted by his illness but focused on Christ and exhibiting His love. When my wife and I visited him, intending to lift his spirits, we were instead encouraged by him. Jim had pages of meditations written down in his personal diary—devotional moments in conversation with God that were very precious and private to him. Despite those difficult months, we could still see his excitement of being in close touch with Jesus, an intimate relationship he had with Jesus alone. Jim loved Jesus. He lived life fully unto God and ended well. We give glory to God for this man’s life.
www.navigators.org.sg
FROM THE NATIONAL DIRECTOR
@SingaporeNavigators The Navigators Singapore, 117 Lor K, Teluk Kurau, Singapore 425758 Tel: (65) 6344 4133 Email: admin@navigators.org.sg
Yap Kim Meng
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.
Bountiful blessings upon you this new year from the Lord! As Psalm 119 (ESV) puts it, V17 “Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word.” V65 “You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD, according to your word.”
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.
The former statement was like a prayer request, a person petitioning to God; and the latter, an answered prayer as God grants his request. We therefore learn not to be shy in asking God. While Jeremiah 33:3 encourages us to ask of God boldy, Ephesians 3:20 assures us that He answers our prayers beyond our expectations.
National Director: Yap Kim Meng
However, the Psalmist does not simply ask God for material blessings, but for what God wants us to be blessed and equipped with (“ … according to your word”), as we stay true to Him and live for Him. Verse 72 provides a better perspective: “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” Hence, we find God’s law a treasure far greater than monetary gains.
Editor, designer: Chelsia Chan Copy Editor: Ms J , Kylie Chia Printer: Gogo Print © 2020 by The Navigators Singapore
The Good News transformed our perspectives on how to live. We are forgiven and redeemed, restored and adopted into His family with a renewed status as sons. May you stay true to God and His Word, which opens our eyes to His blessings, allowing us to in turn bless and influence others for Christ.
PRAYER PULSE
NavStaff Prayer Retreat 2020 Pray for our staff to have renewed New Year resolutions and convictions as a result of the Prayer Retreat. May they follow-through with them well in obedience to God and His commands. Missions Update Myanmar: Two SP Nav labourers are there for a short-term mission trip in January. Pray that these ladies will grow in His vision for the world and deepen their conviction to be His lifelong disciplemakers. Sierra Leone: NP-SIM-TP Nav labourer Wingben returned safely to Singapore in December 2019, after surviving bouts of malaria. In light of his heart for Africa and his desire to return, pray for God’s will for his life to be revealed. Likewise, pray for emergent labourers, that they will go longer and deeper into missions this year (see Isaiah 49:6).
New Nav International Executive Team Members Former Asia-Pacific Regional Director Koay Chee Hoe and his wife, Bitt, are now members of the International Executive Team. Pray for God’s wisdom and strength for these two Malaysians, whose new assigned roles are to pioneer Navigator works worldwide, especially in places where the gospel is not known.
Chee Hoe and Bitt will join this present IET. (Image credit: Mutua Mahiaini)