5 minute read
The Last Word
Our new vicar, Revd Alvin Toh, wraps up this special transitional issue of In Review with a closing address.
WORDS: REVD ALVIN TOH
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If there’s any word that can summarise what has happened over the past 1.5 years, it might be the word ‘disruption’. COVID-19 had taken centre stage, and disrupted everything else from the mundane to the extraordinary. The everyday mundane of handwashing and hygiene has been spotlighted as critical in combating the viral spread. The extraordinary events of the year, from the Tokyo Olympics to civil unrest and climate changes, were overshadowed by the growing COVID-19 infections, reaching 196 million cases worldwide and 4 million deaths globally by mid-2021.
But if there’s another word that can also encapsulate all that has happened, it is the word ‘new’. This past 1.5 years has seen the world adapt to and experience new things… from the mundane to the extraordinary. We have done things we have never done before, innovated new ways of connecting and getting things done, and settled into a ‘new normal’ in our daily lives. We’ve since found ourselves accepting (or tolerating?) the necessity of developing new ways of conducting our daily and routine affairs that we would never have imagined ourselves ratifying before COVID-19 hit.
I still believe that while COVID-19 is not directly from God — for God is good, and the source of all goodness and order, not evil and chaos — He has used it to work His sovereign purposes, and to achieve His aim of “doing a new thing” in the world today.
For us in SJSM, God’s word from Isaiah 43:19 has been central in two very important journeys of transformation: both Project Spring-Winter as well as our Jubilee Vision. This verse was prophetically released very early in SJSM’s Metamorphousthe journey, and it has continued to make unexpected appearances over the years, through various platforms. And as we can all see, this shared journey has since led us into the many new things that have sprung up in our midst.
A NEW PARADIGM
My predecessor, Ps Joshua, was very much inspired by the Lord to lead SJSM into an extremely well-crafted Jubilee Vision 2021, in which he prophetically proclaimed “SJSM to be a thriving discipleship ecosystem, and every member a fruitful tree”. This was a major thrust for the whole church to be involved in discipleship, both at the corporate as well as the individual level.
This didn’t come about because SJSM failed to be involved in discipleship before: Many of our members will gladly testify as to how they came to Christ and were discipled in SJSM in their early years of growth through Alpha, cell groups, solid Bible-based teaching from the pulpit, Know-TheWord classes, and more. Indeed, many disciples, leaders, full-time workers, and clergymen have been raised through SJSM!
Jubilee Vision 2021 presented us with a more structured and intentional way to approach discipleship, identifying and zooming in on a few aspects at the church’s corporate level, and also outlining for the individual the need for balanced growth through what we call the 3Ms: Maturity, Ministry, and Mission. It projects a new paradigm of growth and discipleship that we are still discovering and understanding the length, breadth, and depth of. The 3Ms have provided a way for us to understand how we grow and serve in SJSM, and as you would have noticed, this also provided the framework for the very issue of In Review that you are reading now, as well as the lenses for us to view all that has transpired in the past year.
We draw from the imagery of an ecosystem the understanding that discipleship is neither done in a silo, nor in a linear one-track fashion; it is dynamic, and grows organically via a complex web of relationships within a community that cannot be fully defined, systematised, or restricted. Although it is true that spiritual growth occurs more organically than mechanically, there are some structures and handles that can be put into place to help guide and facilitate such growth.
In view of this, we look forward to how the Discipleship Roadmap that is being put together as part of Jubilee Vision 2021 will serve SJSM in the years to come. It’s being designed to guide and nurture growth, and to facilitate the work of the Holy Spirit in growing disciples, shaping leaders, and preparing future full-time workers, missionaries and clergymen for the fields that are ripe for harvest!
A NEW VILLAGE
A major paradigm shift that the Lord has effected in our midst is the birthing of SJSM Village, and a vision of how He will use SJSM Village to disciple SJSMers. And He chose to use the disruptions caused by COVID-19 to time it exactly in the middle of our year of Jubilee, as we celebrate 50 years of God’s work in and through SJSM. We see the fingerprints of God in every twist and turn that Project Spring-Winter (PSW) has experienced, from the very beginning to the day the Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) was obtained… this nine-year labour of faith and love that has resulted in SJSM Village.
What was previously an empty and ‘barren’ open-air carpark, is now a 273-bed Nursing Home, a Senior Care Centre with capacity for 80 individuals, and a connecting Church Annex building that houses a childcare centre which can accommodate up to 154 children in its full-day preschool. What was once ‘barren’ and occupied solely by lifeless vehicles, will now be bustling with life and life-giving intergenerational activities and interactions, even as we nurture the young and care for the elderly. As the Lord declared in Isaiah 43:19b: “I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” — this has become very true for us in our PSW journey.
THE LAST WORD?
PSW is by no means the last word, nor the completion of what God wants to do in SJSM. The adventure and journey of following and becoming like Him continues, dare I say into even greater heights and deeper depths than ever before — but only if we are willing to go where the Holy Spirit leads. Having tasted His goodness and experienced His faithfulness this past year (and indeed, these past 50 years!), would we even be tempted to choose otherwise?
So join me as we stride into this next lap of SJSM’s journey together, into what God has for us as a church. And let us continue to write this story of God in SJSM together — loving, sharing, serving, and making “HIStory” together. Amen.
