Presbyterians' Immense Contribution to Society - Elvira Tan

This week, we learnt briefly about Presbyterian history. During the lessons, one thing that really struck me was the revolutionary contributions to society by Presbyterians in the past. They really played a key role in changing and improving the landscape for various aspects of society. 

For example, we learnt that the Scottish Presbyterians contributed a lot to literacy and education. The first encyclopedia was published in Scotland. Adam Smith, a Scottish moral philosopher came out with a well-known theory that is widely used in economics today. In addition, Andrew Melville, the founder of Scottish Presbyterianism who completely established the current Presbyterian system, was the principle of Glasgow University. Through his stint as principle, he helped to restore the school from its dying state. He introduced a new syllable system where teachers teach a specialized subject rather than the class having the same teacher for all four years. And indeed, this is now the system adopted in universities worldwide. 

In addition, many Presbyterians also helped to promote education in the various places they were in by building schools and providing education for the locals. For example in Singapore, the Presbyterians set up Presbyterian High School, Kuo Chuan Primary and Secondary School, and Pei Hwa Primary School, among others. This provided education opportunities for the locals and increased education standards among them. It can be seen that the past Presbyterians had such a huge influence and impact on society.

These revolutionary contributions to society must have been a great testament to and witness for the powerful God they worshipped! Seeing how wise and generous these Presbyterian forefathers were must have ignited the curiosity in the people about this God that they are so open in proclaiming about. Seeing how they were so influential in the academic arena really reminded me of Solomon. He asked God for wisdom, and his wisdom was unparalleled in all the earth and was known far and wide throughout the world. And yet, these academic fathers that people look up to, and even Solomon, displayed a human wisdom that is but a small shadow and reflection of God’s infinite wisdom. 

The God who created the heavens and the earth, from the whole universe down to the smallest cell, His wisdom is infinite and far beyond what we can imagine. He is the founder of science, the holder of knowledge beyond the best encyclopedia.

At Trinity Theological College (TTC), we were reminded of theological reasons why Christians engage in social work. Aside from the equally important pragmatic reason of being a good testimony which can lead to sharing of the gospel, doing good is also a show of Christian hospitality towards Christians and strangers. This was something that Jesus himself did, and said that we should do. 

This principle was shown very clearly by the father of Crystal, one of the interns. Her parents run a family transport business, and thus have many vehicles for transport, from 14 seaters to 49 seaters. Out of the graciousness and kindness of his heart, he personally drove 13 of us in the big school bus to TTC, because many of us did not know how to go. That was really a touching display of Christian hospitality towards fellow Christians, and of how God has placed each one of us in our various vocations for a reason, whether it is to bless fellow Christians and non-Christians, or to be a good testimony for God, pointing others to Him wherever He puts us.

Elvira Tan