Milestones of a Different Kind

A church community’s shared milestones are not only physical or practical (e.g. site changes, leadership transitions); in fact, one might argue that spiritual milestones are really much more important.

Daren Ng, our People’s Warden, and Prof John Lim, our Vicar’s Warden, have been part of SJSM since the 1970s. As long-time members, servers, and leaders, their personal histories and journeys are closely intertwined with SJSM’s, giving them a unique perspective on developments that have been key to our growth as a church.

BUILDING BLOCKS OF COMMUNITY

“A key event that has turned out to be very significant, even critical, to the growth of the church, was the start of the cell group ministry in the 1980s under Rev Roger Campbell, and the way that it really just took off, and continues to this day,” John continues. “We have always been a family church with a firm ongoing commitment to sound Biblical preaching; spiritual renewal came through the charismatic movement in the 1970s, and the cell group movement has defined us since the 1980s.

“Looking back over the history of the cell group ministry, even with the creation of the new zonal system, we have never really been overly dogmatic or rigid about the individual cells’ programmes. But without the cell ministry, I don’t think SJSM would have grown as much. Through cell groups, we have experienced years of growth, with a deepening of our prayer life and our worship ministry.”

“The cells are arguably the pulse of the church. They take ‘church’ beyond the Sunday worship services, and it’s also how people connect,” says Daren; to which John adds: “The cells are among the things that the Lord laid in place in advance, and they have been instrumental in helping us go through the COVID-19 pandemic because there are still opportunities to gather, even virtually when physical meetings have not been possible.”

LOOKING BEYOND THE PHYSICAL

“Initially, we were a very small comfortable church and viewed as being ‘upper middle class’. When the first HDB flats in Dover started coming up around us, there was initially some concern about a social divide but we opened up and integrated into our growing neighbourhood,” John shares.

“There was the 18-year journey involving the need to change SJSM’s Temporary Occupation Licence of this plot of land to a 30-year lease, and several changes and plans and adjustments that involved much prayer and pain, before Christ Sanctuary was completed in 2005. Then Project Spring Winter hit us like a bombshell; it has completely changed the life of SJSM, and been a major theme for us over the past decade.

“There’s also the fact that each time a new vicar has come in, it’s always been that the Lord put the right person there for that season. And they’ve all been such different personalities. After Rev Roger Campbell, Rev Soh Chai Ann brought the church into a season of major growth with a focus on missions. Bp Rennis was next and as our Vicar for nearly 20 years, greatly influenced the overall spiritual and physical development of the church. Ps Joshua brought us through PSW. And now with Ps Alvin—what’s the next phase, we wonder?

“In my sermon in January at the start of this Jubilee year, I shared that we must not forget the lessons of the past. In moving forward, we face the danger of being blind to who Jesus is and what God is doing in our midst. To recognise the Lord’s hand at work over 50 years, in the development of our land and our history, is only one part of the story. What is fundamental and critical is to embrace the liberty and the life that Jesus offers to us and through us. We must affirm one another, so that we do not dishonour or displease our Lord by wronging each other.”

“God directs us through events to our current calling,” Daren adds. “If we lend our ear to Him, we can usually hear His call quite clearly. And if the church has the courage and the wherewithal to obey and follow, that is what will really define the future of SJSM. We look back to learn and relearn our lessons, and God is in the process of renewing us over and over again.

“As humans, we see this as uncomfortable, but to God, it’s a necessary process of change. We’ve been ‘kicked along the path’ so many times that we’ve learnt to see beyond the discomfort and our own limitations, and come to expect God’s enabling, anointing, and bestowing of knowledge, wisdom, discernment, and more. Over time, we learn to appreciate such lessons.”

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE…

Daren notes: “It’s significant that the largest amount of change and of new direction comes in a time when we’re under the most restrictions and with lowered engagement opportunities during this pandemic; God has ordained that we should be more active in a season of enforced inactivity. We’ve certainly found ourselves having to learn a lot of new things, and do things that we have no experience in. Such is the journey that we find ourselves on. Consider this current calling to serve both the young and the old: How does God take a laid-back bunch of people and thrust them into the forefront of service? This is where we find ourselves today.”

“COVID-19 has provided us with a whole new dimension of meaning and ministry that is still in the process of defining our Jubilee journey,” John says. “We’ve long had a strong outreach focus, and we have connected over the decades with our neighbourhood through social services, which will now move into a whole new level through SJSM Nursing Home and Little Seeds Preschool.

“PSW is radically changing us, and on a totally different order of magnitude than we first imagined, when we thought we were finally ready to embrace it. The majority of our nursing home residents will probably be those with dementia. It’s a big challenge that the Lord is pushing on us, but I believe He will give us the means to rise to it. We always think we can plan things to suit ourselves, but God doesn’t work that way. He’s always surprising us.

“Look at the fact that SJSM Village was supposed to launch last year — it’s significant that this was delayed to the middle of our Jubilee year, in the midst of a pandemic. The confluence of all these things… there are a lot of things we don’t fully understand, but if we look at God’s trajectory, it’s clear that we are in the process of being moulded.

“When we were in the design stage, we thought everything was so tight in comparison to other nursing homes in Singapore because of the small building footprint. But visiting it now, there’s just such a sense of space. A sense of how God amazes us and gives us more than we expect. Yes, we’re in transition, but He has encouraged and strengthened us all this way, and His plans are so much bigger than ours. What else is lying around the corner?”

…THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME

“The joy of being ‘called’ by God, includes being ‘enabled’ by God, in spite of our limitations. God also strengthens SJSM by bringing new additions to the church — the right persons at the right time,” Daren says. These ‘new members’ draw us, lead us, even drag us, to where God is taking us. “SJSM’s journey is not only to learn to accept and embrace God’s call, but also to ‘Be Transformed’ along the way.

“And we’re coming to a point where instead of dreading the next change, we can have a Christlike calm as we encounter new surprises. We’re leaning to have the excitement of anticipation as we look to what God has for us next. Over time, we learn to fall on our knees and not off our chairs” Daren quips.

“It strikes me how much God loves us despite our weakness and complacency, how He still wants to make more of us and transform us into something new. He has been taking us on a metamorphousthe journey since Day 1; He has been at work even while we were unaware,” John muses. “Over the years, the Lord has injected various groups of people from different backgrounds into our midst, and they have injected new life into SJSM which has helped us to keep moving.

“I feel that most of our older members are not resentful of newness and change. There’s something special in the quality of fellowship in the life of SJSM, but there’s also always been openness to welcome new people, and to work together. It’s a very different church now in many aspects. But there’s still this strand of faithfulness, of people who’ve remained since the church was established 50 years ago. There will definitely be more differences when onsite activities resume and life ‘restarts’ (again), but I think there will be a different order of growth — not just numerically.”

“Since the early days, many of the parents would know one another. Both our mums knew each other well and would meet to pray for each other; and now their sons do likewise,” Daren adds, “defining SJSM as a ‘generation to generation’ church, and that is special and to be cherished."

“Discipleship in the community will continue to stretch and grow beyond anything that we can imagine or plan,” John says in summary. “The Lord is the only true Discipler, and as long as we listen humbly and obey, all will be well. He’s not finished with us yet.”