Wednesday 1 June 2016

What is the purpose of your current generation in building of the church? - Angeline Lim

‘Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.’ Acts 13:36 (NIV)

What is the purpose of your current generation in building of the church? Name at least one issue.

Introduction

In Acts 13, Paul was giving a word of exhortation to the people in a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch. In his exhortation, Paul made a comparison between Jesus and David, where Jesus received the ‘holy and sure blessings promised to David’ (v34), yet Jesus would not be subjected to decay, unlike David whose body decayed after he fell asleep and was buried with his ancestors (v36).

With this understanding, I will discuss some characteristics of David, as well as the context that he was in.

Firstly, David loved and served the Lord fervently.
·      As a Shepherd, he stood up for God against Goliath (1 Samuel 17: 45)
·      As a King of Israel, he brought the Ark of God into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:17) and it is also to note that David was the second king of Israel, taking over the reign from King Saul. During his reign, he united Israel and extended its territory.
·      As a Psalmist (e.g. Psalms 23), he gave praises to God. He celebrated in praise of the Lord, disregarding his identity as a King (2 Samuel 6:14,21).

Despite these works, David is still a sinner and an imperfect human, as seen in 2 Samuel 11, where he committed adultery with Bathsheba.

Secondly, Acts 13:36 mentioned that David’s body decayed after his burial. This suggests that despite all that David has accomplished in his life, he still remains a human. He did not remain the perpetual king of Israel, and had to arrange for his succession in 1 Kings 28-30 where he appointed Solomon as his successor.

Thirdly, David had a mentor. It was mentioned in 1 Samuel 19, when Saul wanted to kill David, he ran to Samuel. It can be seen from here that the accomplishments that David had made was not by his wisdom alone. David was mentored by Samuel, who walked with David and passed on the wisdom that he had in his generation down to David.

The three lessons learnt through understanding the life of David can be applied in the context today, by extrapolating it to its relevance to the current generation. These will be inserted below in my discussion about the purpose of the current generation in building the church.

God’s purpose of the current generation in building the church

Due to the consistently low total fertility rate (TFR) of below 1.3 per woman since 2003, with 2.1 as the replacement level (Yap & Gee, 2014), the current generation of Singaporeans will face an ageing and declining population. More than a silver tsunami approaching, another prevalent change in demographics is the increase in immigrants to Singapore to ‘help supplement our population, and delay the decline in our citizen population’ (Prime Minister’s Office, 2012). Many of the new immigrants are Chinese-speaking, regardless of their country of origin, which includes China and Malaysia (Yeoh & Lin, 2012).

With this, it is conclusive that the context the current generation of Christians in Singapore faces is a society with low fertility rate; resulting in an ageing population, as well as a significant increase population of Chinese-speaking migrants. The current generation needs to be adaptable and react to such changing demographics, so that the church may effectively meet the changing demands of the population.

One of God’s purpose and calling of the current generation would then be a revival of the Mandarin services in Singapore.

In Yeoh & Lin’s article (2012), social integration was mentioned as a challenge brought about by the increasing immigrant population. From the perspective of the locals, who holds certain degree of xenophobic sentiments, the Mainland Chinese are seen as “uncouth and prone to objectionable behaviors”. On the other hand, there have been incidents where the immigrants ridiculed Singaporeans as “ungracious”, “disgusting” and “inferior”.  There is thus a prevalence of social discords and tension between the locals and immigrants.

Yet, the purpose and intentions of such social discords should not be the main focus here. The current generation of Chinese Christians in Singapore should instead be exploring the potential of spreading the gospel to this new group of Chinese-speaking immigrants. This is due to the fact that many of them may originate from places where Christianity is banned, or where Christians are persecuted.

We are aware of the Great Commission that Jesus Christ has given to all his people, including ourselves, in Matthew 28:18-20:

“18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This reaffirms the conviction of God’s purpose in the current generation, to take the opportunity in the opening of this new mission field to ‘make disciplines of all nations’ within our own nation.

This vision has also been identified in Bethel Presbyterian Church, which will be equipping its Mandarin Service to lead in this church vision and serve this group of believers and pre-believers. From the verse in Acts 13:36, we see that David remained a man despite his dedicated service to the Lord in his lifetime, and died. Similar to David, despite current smooth running of the various ministries through God’s grace, the current leaders would not perpetually be the leaders of the church. One day, the current generation of youths would have to succeed the church leadership to carry on with the vision and continuing the Mandarin services to administer to the Chinese-speaking immigrants.

Challenges faced in the continuation of the Chinese churches

However, this is also the biggest challenge faced in the current generation – the retention of current generation of English-educated Chinese Singaporeans in Mandarin services, as well as inviting the current generation to join Mandarin services.

With English being made the official language of government, administration and medium of instruction in schools (Lee, 2004), the language proficiency of the current generation in Chinese has been steadily declining. This is a result of the impact by the change of language of instruction in schools from Mandarin to English in the 1970s. Being English-educated, many of them may choose to speak to their children, or vice versa, in English language. This is evident as seen from the statistics in the General Household Survey conducted in 2015, where 36.9% of residents aged 5 and above used English at home, as compared to 34.9% for Mandarin. This is a reverse from the statistics in 2010, where 35.6% of residents used Mandarin and 32.3% used English (Lee, 2016).  

One may also use a ‘banana’ to describe Singaporean Chinese today, being ‘yellow’ on the outside, as our skin color, yet ‘white’ on the inside, due to the subscription to the appealing Western pop culture and ideologies.

Bringing the societal context into the context of the churches, many from the current younger generation, with leadership potential, have begun to leave the Chinese congregations to English services and even mega churches, similarly, as it appeals more to them. If everyone becomes more inclined to speak in English and leave the Chinese churches, the conversation below may be the scenario that we will see within the next 3 decades.






STEP Programme 2046

[Facilitator]:   Hello STEP-ers, as part of your assignment, you would have to visit any Presbyterian churches apart from your own this Sunday!

[A]:                   Alright, where shall we go then?

[B]:                  I think all our services are in the morning right?

[C]:                  Yes. But I heard that the XXX Presbyterian Church – Chinese Congregation has services in the late afternoon! Do you want to go for it?

[A]:                   Are you serious? Why would you want to go there?

[D]:                  Yalor, don’t you know that the Chinese congregations are all filled with immigrants from XXX and XXX countries?

Indeed, with younger members leaving the Chinese churches, the work that the current leaders are doing today to administer to both the Chinese immigrants as well as Chinese Singaporeans may soon be taken over by the Chinese immigrants themselves. Very soon, there would be a division of Chinese-speaking and English-speaking churches in Singapore. With the government pushing for more social cohesion within Singapore, wouldn’t we then be a bad testimony in our division of churches?

According to Matthew 28:18-20, the gospel is presented to all nations, and in Revelations 7:9, “there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb”.

This has been practiced by many missionaries from the UK, who picked up Mandarin and Chinese dialects to bring the gospel to our predecessors to form the early churches in Singapore. Being Chinese ourselves, having learnt Mandarin as our mother tongue language, aren’t we the ideal choice to spread the gospel to the new Chinese immigrants in Singapore? Shouldn’t we too, be convicted to use our mother tongue to continue the spread the gospel locally and abroad?

I do not have the intention to rebuke. I am also not pushing for every Singaporean Chinese Christian to serve in the Chinese congregation. As mentioned in 1 Corinthians, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.” God has a purpose for each of us individually, and different people to serve in different ministries, different congregations.  

I hope to challenge the current generation in reflecting on what our identity is as a Chinese Singaporean Christian. Where is our Chinese ethnicity and culture? How are we able to connect and reach out to our fellow ethnic Chinese? Do we have the calling to do so?

We do not need to be a ‘somebody’ in order to be a witness for God, nor do we need to travel overseas to do missions. God can use us in Singapore to do His work, and one of such ways is through missions to reach out to the ‘unreached’, the marginalized in the society. One of these groups of marginalized is the new Chinese immigrant in Singapore.

Recommendations

Due to various circumstances, we may, be it now or in future, be involved in the Chinese congregation ministry. It may also be a calling from God to serve in the ministry. Regardless, we need to engage the current generation of Chinese Christians to remain rooted in the culture, including language proficiency, and equip them with the skills to engage the new immigrants. This may include accepting cultural differences and being culturally sensitive. By first changing our heart and perception of how we view these new immigrants, removing certain misconceptions or stereotypes that we have of them, we would then be able to change our behavior and facilitate the integration of these new citizens into the society.

Before all these can happen, there is a need for the revival of the Mandarin congregations across churches in Singapore.

There is a need for the current generation to reflect on God’s purpose of the continuation Chinese congregation. Only by doing so, and in God’s calling, some from the current generation will recognize the Chinese ministry as one of God’s purpose and be convicted to serve the Lord in the ministry.

Similar to King David, being a sinner, imperfect, and requiring the mentorship of Samuel, the current generation would also need to receive mentorship and guidance. This is especially so for those who have decided to go ‘against the grain’ of trend in society to go towards the West, but remain rooted in their Chinese culture. On top of relying on the Word, the support through mentorship would be vital in their perseverance in this ministry.

In view of the background of the current generation, being English-educated, there would also be a need for a change in the modality of teaching of the Word in order to suit the learning styles of the current generation. There is a need to equip the current generation to remain effectively bilingual, especially with skills to understand the Bible in Chinese language, as well as in the appreciation of Chinese Christian books and resources. Further research could be done with regards to this.

Finally, the aspect of cultural competence of the current generation should be included in the revival of the Chinese congregation. Seminars and talks can help the current generation understand differences between Singaporeans and other cultures, such as the Mainland Chinese. Topics that may be addressed can include:
·      Outlook in life
·      Social personalities
·      Relationships with others
·      Organization style
·      Communication style
·      Confrontational style (Fee, 2008)

Conclusion

A change in demographics is already prevalent in the context today, and will continue to occur. With this awareness, the church needs to adapt and respond appropriately to rising needs in the society.

One such response would be the need for a revival of the Mandarin congregation. The paper has discussed the challenges in pushing for a revival of the Mandarin congregation, as well as the proposed recommendations.

Jesus said, in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”. The mission field within Singapore in the current generation has fertile soil that needs the seeds of the gospel to be planted in it. “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). May the people from the current generation love the creation of God and recognize His calling to us to serve Him in this arising ministry.












References

Blank, W. (n.d.). King David. Daily Bible Study. Retrieved on 30 May 2016, from: http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/david.htm

Cohen, Barbara. (1995). David: A Biography. Clarion Books, New York.

Fee, K. T. (2008). Training American-born Chinese pastors to minister in a predominantly Chinese bicultural church. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest LLC on 31 May 2016 from:

Fletcher, E. (2006). Bathsheba. Women in the Bible. Retrieved on 30 May 2016 from: http://www.womeninthebible.net/1.11.Bathsheba.htm

Holy Bible: New International Version. (2000). Hong Kong: International Bible Society (H.K. Ltd.).

Lee, P. (2016). English most common home language in Singapore, bilingualism also up: Government survey. The Straits Times. Retrieved on 30 May 2016 from: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/english-most-common-home-language-in-singapore-bilingualism-also-up-government-survey

Prime Minister’s Office (2012). Issues Paper 2012 – A strong and cohesive society. Our Population, Our Future. Retrieved on 30 May 2016, from: http://population.sg/vision/society/#.V0wAg2PF7zI

Yap, M. T. & Gee, C. (2014). Population Outcomes: Singapore 2050. iPS Exchange Series, 1. Retrieved on 30 May 2016 from: http://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/ips/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/09/POS2050_Web_Final_3009141.pdf

Yeoh, B. & Lin, W. Q. (2012). Rapid growth in Singapore’s immigrant population brings policy challenges. Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved on 30 May 2016 from: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/rapid-growth-singapores-immigrant-population-brings-policy-challenges

We give you what you want: Consumerism and the church - Teo Charlotte

CONSUMERISM
Today, we live in a world where “the customer is always right”. Consumers’ interests are fiercely promoted and the highest priority is given to customer satisfaction. We have allowed consumer principles to impose on and shape our very own cultural values.

CONSUMERISM IN CHURCH
The consumer society emerged in the 17th century and has been greatly reinforced thereafter, so much so that even the Church has not been spared from the its pervasive influence. Church attenders are part of the crowd that has been conditioned to pursue what generates pleasure and to steer clear of discomfort. This attitude is clearly revealed in a survey where 1000 Christians were posed with the question “Why does the church exists?” 9 in 10 stated that the church’s purpose is to serve their spiritual needs while a mere 1 in 10 believed it was to win the world for God. In response to this shift in mindset, churches have increasingly pandered to their congregation’s every whim. There has been a significant advancement of consumer dynamics within church life where churches are evolving into companies. Church workers (service providers) go all out to promote what the church has to offer – the gospel, worship service, etc. (products) to the congregants (customers).

                            ASPECTS – Consumption, Competition, Counting
(I write of scenarios where consumerism is prevalent in churches, not representative of the general church situation)
Consumption. The weekly service is by far the most marketable “product”. People enter places of worship, some ready to be entertained by well-rehearsed musicians in a time of passive engagement, others expecting to be brought through a whirlwind of emotions as they sing along and lose themselves in the music. We have been very much influenced by pop culture, striving for entertainment value. Often, we too closely relate our ability to worship meaningfully with the mastery of the music displayed and how uplifting it makes us feel. The seeker-sensitive sermon content centers on what people want to hear, that they will be blessed beyond measure and by grace we are saved from our sins. It is geared towards enticing non-believers to convert. There is too heavy an emphasis on God’s grace and no talk about our own efforts.

Competition. Churches leverage on the consumerist model to outreach. In an attempt to bolster church membership rolls, they survey the surrounding community and strategically structure their services to address the felt-needs uncovered. Intrusive marketing techniques are used to distinguish themselves as “the best church in town” that best suits your “needs”. Churches grow at the expense of each other, poaching each other’s members.

Counting. We have inadvertently fallen into an obsession with numbers.  The congregation size has become the most commonly accepted performance metric used to assess how well a church is doing. The amount of offering collected is taken as the indication of how committed church members are. As such, tremendous efforts are directed towards boosting these numbers. Apart from catering to preferences and desires to draw people to its service as aforementioned, churches harp on the Prosperity Gospel. The doctrine proposes that God will ensure our security and prosperity as long as we have faith in Him. Quoting verses such as Malachi 3:10, ("Bring to the storehouse a full tenth of what you earn so there will be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord All-Powerful. “I will open the windows of heaven for you and pour out all the blessings you need") church leaders promote “seed faith” and urge their members to donate so as to receive rich rewards from God.

CAUSE FOR CONCERN - Confusion, Ceaseless, Compromise, Collapse
Confusion. Consumerism’s marketing ploy intentionally blurs the line between needs and wants with the over-emphasis on meeting customer demands. Christians forget the purpose of a church’s existence. We become “church-shoppers”, picking our churches based on whether they satisfy our individual preferences, our “felt-needs”. Do I enjoy the music? Is the sermon engaging enough? Does the church décor suit my taste? We mistake our wishes for convictions and neglect the more essential aspects of a church. Does the church preach doctrinal truth? Do I have service opportunities? That does not suggest that we ignore the needs of the congregation. However, Christ never confused felt-needs with real needs in His ministry. He appealed to people’s deepest needs, not indulged in their desires.

I myself was swept into this wave of self-centeredness. My focus turned towards what the church could do for me and how I could benefit from it. As I saw my friends leaving church, all the more did I question and criticize. What was my church was doing wrong? Oh yes… the sermons are not engaging enough, the music does not minister to me, there aren’t enough members my age, the church NEEDS a lift… I started feeling disoriented, disconnected from my church and used the excuse of a lack of spiritual growth to go around exploring “better” churches. 

Ceaseless cycle. My mum saw what was happening and expressed her concerns. She said that people who church hop often hop right back into their own church because they find that no church is the perfect church that caters to their every demand. Ultimately, your spiritual journey is a personal one, one that takes conscious effort to build and should not be based on external factors such as your church setting. Indeed, churches are finding themselves trapped in a cycle of insatiable and inexhaustible wants. If it took fulfilling a felt-need to attract people to church, how much further must we go to keep them rooted? “You need this and we can offer it!” Wouldn’t we need to generate more make-believe needs just so we can satisfy them?

Compromise. When church efforts and resources are disproportionately channeled towards meeting these felt needs, the church neglects its key mission, to (a) proclaim the gospel, (b) serve as a community of worship and fellowship, (c) help believers mature in their faith and prepare them for ministry, (d) influence society with Christian values.
(a) Churches fail to preach holistic theology. The overemphasis on certain concepts leads to a skewed understanding of the gospel and the truth. The focus on seeker-sensitive messages also contributes to biblical illiteracy as the congregation is exposed to a limited scope of the word.
(b) *see below*
(c)  Knowledge of the word helps us justify our belief and hence builds up our faith, which means conviction and a commitment to act in accordance to the truth. When a church does not put the word (in its fullness) at the center of its teachings, the congregation will have misconceptions about faith. For instance, proclaiming pure grace (the Hypergrace movement) denies other key aspects of the truth, particularly undermining sanctification.  It dwells too much on what God can do for us humans as opposed to man’s duty toward God, leading to spiritual laziness.
(d) Many believers approach Christianity as a separate compartment of their life, not as a lifestyle and “born-again Christians” act no differently than their non-Christians counterparts. They do not bear witness of the gospel in society.

Collapse of community. (b) Consumerism promotes individuality and free will over commitment and community. When people believe that their own satisfaction is of utmost importance, they leave their churches without much hesitation, there is a sagging of church commitment. How then, can quality relationships between church members that need time and patience to grow be built? How can believers have a reliable church community that is so crucial to one’s spiritual journey? When churches compete for membership, have disputes over practices and doctrinal truths, how can churches be of support to each other in the church’s mission?

OUR RESPONSE – Connect, Concentrate, Characterize
Consumption is not inherently bad. Consume to live but do not live to consume. There is a need for us to reevaluate our attitudes and actions and revitalize the church’s core mission.

Connect as a Community. The church should be seen as a community, not a company. An organism, not an organization. Within a church, members ought to seek to serve each other, have fellowship with each other and be accountable for each other. This entails rootedness to and responsibility for the church. Faith is personal but is not private; we should commit to sharing a rich community life that supports our growth in faith. Amongst churches, we should seek to be distinctive, yet not divisive. Instead of competing with each other we ought to embrace diversity, cooperate with each other and share the same desire to bring people to the Lord. The collective church should reflect the Body of Christ and indeed, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” Psalm 133:1.

Concentrate. As challenging as it may be, we need to stand firm in our own beliefs and not be swayed by consumerist values. We need to come to a realization that the church will never win the entertainment game, hence we should direct our attention away from artificial needs towards meeting real spiritual needs. Instead of putting up as spectacular and pleasurable a worship experience as possible, we should work towards an environment that promotes growth in the knowledge (by “going back to the origin”, preaching the word holistically in all its truth) and love of God and love for those around us.

It finally occurred to me that my attitude towards church and worship was one of self-centeredness when Tan Tiong Ann spoke to us about the theology of worship. He reminded us that the act of worship is simply to come before God. It has to be God centered and we should constantly ask ourselves: Who is God? What has He done for us? How should we respond? Worship should not be validated by whether the worshipper is touched or inspired. Worship that is not shiok to me is not necessarily bad worship.

Psalm 95 (Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song) reminds us to turn our attention toward God and come with humility, gratitude and reverence.

Characterize. Even as we utilize consumer models, we should redeem them within a Christian framework. As Christians, our ultimate purpose in life is not to glorify ourselves but to glorify Him. Hence, even as we are in the world, we are not to be of the world. We need to live out our faith in all aspects of our lives, to be the salt and light of the world, set apart as a shining testimony of Christ.

I still hold that the customer is always right, but who really is the customer?
SOURCES: