Before I begin, I would like to thank my church elder, Elder Henry Tan, for insisting that I attend STEP program. I would like to thank my fellow church mates, Jia Wei and Dorcas, for going through this enriching and purposeful journey with me and not me alone. I would like to thank all the new friends I made through STEP, you guys are not just friends but my role models as well, for inspiring me to be a better leader. Lastly, I would like to thank God for opening my eyes once again to see your blessings in the Presbyterian community and for guiding me through my life with your words.
Throughout the two weeks spent in Synod Training and Exposure Program (STEP), I visited other Presbyterian Churches in Singapore, Catholic Church, Megachurch as well as several presbytery ministry, ranging from school ministry (Pei Hwa Primary School, Presbyterian High School) to society ministry (Hannah, Sarah, HealthServe). Every session had their own valuable and unique takeaways, but I will elaborate on my three main takeaways from STEP thus far.
John Calvin and his relevance for today
Though Rev Dr Jimmy Tan was unable to share with us the Relevance of John Calvin to our faith that day, we had Rev Peter Chan in place of him to share. I have learnt so much about the history and story of John Calvin through him and how we can learn from him as Christians today. The sovereign God’s plan for us. Though Calvin had to abide to his father’s personal request to study law, making him stop his pursue in Theology, it was not in vain. Calvin was able to put his law skills into practice by structuring defense and argument of Theology with law standards against the bishops. Another story of Calvin that left a deep impression was his humility. Calvin as told to leave Geneva shortly after a year of pastoring the church. It wasn’t even till his end of term when his own church members showed him to the exit of the church after his preaching. It was because he was disciplining the church, excommunicating disobedient believers that triggered anger and dislike. Years later, when the church of Geneva needed a pastor and begged Calvin to go back, Calvin agreed humbly and began preaching just where he left off! What a man he is! It struck me, how a man can drop his whole idea of pride and serve God humbly simply because he saw the need and importance of work of God. Am I like Calvin? That was the question I asked myself that day at Prinsep Street. I was reminded that no matter what field you serve in church, serve with humility. Serve our God and give all honor to God that as we take none for ourselves. Never let pride deprive you the opportunity to serve. God doesn’t need me to serve him actually, he is giving me the opportunity to do so. I remembered Rev Peter saying this “the church is larger than you and I”, the lesson of pride is a powerful testimony of Calvin for me. From the passage James 4:10, “Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will lift you up”, this serve as a reminder for me today as we serve to glory our God and not ourselves. Serve with a humble heart.
Defense of our faith
This could probably be the weakest aspect of me in my faith. I always find it extremely challenging to articulate reasoning in defense of my faith. Lacking of biblical knowledge, quotation of bible verse just makes it even harder. With that in mind, I tried to absorb as much as I can during that session. One thing I noticed was this bible verse that kept appearing throughout the session.
15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)
This bible verse reminded me of the fundamental of defense of our faith; that no matter how others may question me for answers or poke me for reasoning, I must always respond in gentleness and respect. Many times the impression I give while defending my faith is that my religion is a superior over others. That is not the right mentality according to this bible verse. With gentleness and respect, in other words, it means love. While we defend our faith, it is not about proving how wrong other religion could be. It is more of how we can let others see our faith in a logical and systematic way, that our faith is not just a blind faith.
The biggest takeaway from this session is the video, The Fine Tuning of the Universe. It proves to Atheist that it is impossible for our universe to be fine-tuned through needs and chance; but rather through a divine design. And that marvelous designer is our God, the creator. There are many constants and quantities scientists discovered, but the fact that these constants exists at such precise value where no other means of explanation could be used to explain only proves to explain one thing: Our God is creative in his creation.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Psalms 19:1 (NIV)
Biblical counseling
Pastor Gideon shared with us biblical counselling at Providence Church. What I took away the most from that session was the three tree model used to provide counselling through recognizing God. Rather than the counsellor identifying the situation and response, the tree model goes to the root of the problem, allowing the counselee to identify for themselves. This is guided by the eight main framework of the model, which brings the counselee out of vicious cycle of sin, identifying god and his plan for him/her and creating the beneficial cycle of living in Christ. This taught me not to infringe my judgement on others before counseling, as our judgement might be wrong or misguided. Asking sincere question to find out more about the person is also a form of genuine care, and through this approach we will be able to uncover more, eventually the roots of the problem. That being said, Pastor Gideon also reminded us that “biblical counseling is not unconditional acceptance”. It is not just a form of “self-help”, but rather counselling from the word of God and redirecting the person to God. The ultimate goal of biblical counseling is to introduce God into the person’s life, which is clearly different from conventional counseling methods. Thus I have to be careful with my choice of words with people of different situations.
Friends
After going through STEP program, what I learnt are not just from lessons, but also from the sharing and interaction with the other interns; friends I made from this journey. In fact, I actually learnt more valuable tips from them, tips on how to lead in a fellowship. Tips such as how can I more effectively lead a group that in biblical study, how I can care for my group members, what are the alternative fellowship structure models, etc. It is really heartwarming to know that the difficulties and challenges my church faces are also faced by other Presbyterian Churches in Singapore and we are all working hard together for our church. Every day, we pray earnestly for our church, our fellowship and our ministries to grow not just by numbers but spiritually as well. What I learnt from them is the passion for God’s word and ministry, through serving in fellowship and worship. And the passion comes from appreciation of Christ, a form of response to God’s love and guidance in their lives.
Personal Reflection (Spiritual Slumber)
Many times, we are guilty of “spiritual slumber” or “lethargic spirit”. Lethargy is defined as a lack of energy and enthusiasm. In the church context, the lack of enthusiasm to pursue spiritual matters is a symptom of spiritual lethargy and the cause of spiritual immaturity and stunted growth. I am guilty of the above, and I must confess there are times, no wait, many times, I was stuck in the state of lethargy, unable to escape. Being a leader in church, I am supposed to be a role model for my members in terms of living my life as a disciple. The lack of biblical knowledge and thirst for God’s word has put me to shame, even more so when I interact with friends from STEP, finding out that they are so much more driven. Through these two weeks in STEP, I was able to readjust my direction and point it to God. I was able to see him once again as the almighty creator who creatively creates the universe. I was able to see him once again as the sovereign king and a loving father who loves us so much that he send his son for us to die, for our salvation. STEP gave me an opportunity to relook at my faith, and see how God has provided me for the past twenty odd years. Through STEP I was able to rekindle the passion and love for God, as I rediscover his plan in my life. The answer to having passion for God is simply having the right state of heart, and it could be achieved by taking a pause from our busy life, and redirecting our eyes upon him again, away from our work, busy commitments and troubles of life. There may be many ways to rekindle your passion for God, but I believe that God is amazing himself, and you simply have to take time to gaze upon him to see his awesomeness once again.
That being said, how can I share this “rekindling of flame” with my fellowship and church members? Being in a “Family” church that originated from a “Kang Pong”, we tend to get too comfortable with each other, and too comfortable in the state we are in. We tend to cut some slack in pursuing God’s word as after all, we grew up in church ma, bible stories hear since we were young”. We tend to develop a resistance to serve, not because our god love us FIRST and we respond AFTER, but rather we simply took his love and grace for granted and became complacent. I am not saying everyone in my church are in “spiritual slumber”, there are still passionate Christians and disciples in my church that continue to serve humbly and glorify him. What I am saying is that there a bunch of us (I know who you are in my fellowship) that are caught up with the rat race, that are too numb to the love of God that we became spoilt, that when God wants to use you for his kingdom but you turned the sovereign king away.
I urge my fellowship, my church, and those who are reading this. Take a step back and look at our amazing God’s creation and glory. We are only so finite and small in comparison to God’s infinite’s timeline. Yet he spends time to listen to each of us, guide us, protect us and even love us when we are not even adorable. Appreciate his greatness and know that he is our god, the God of our lives, and you’ll find yourself asking and finding out more about the faith you had believed in since young. Don’t let excuses come in your way this time round. Take a step. A small step of faith and courage to see God’s guidance since your birth and what he wants you to do for the rest of your life. Serve with all your heart, humbly. John Calvin taught us how to be a faithful servant as his testimony of humility and perseverance can still resonate with us in today’s time. In Chinese there are sayings such as 先苦后甜 and 良药苦口. Serving our God will not be easy, but it is in fact that it isn’t easy, greater satisfaction after. And the best reward that we have already received beforehand is our salvation. Lastly, you are not alone. You will not be serving god alone. There will be me, and other brothers and sister in church serving, friends from other churches serving for a same purpose: glorify our God. Once you know that you are not alone in this lifetime journey and acknowledge that this journey is made with likeminded people, the journey becomes more pleasant and enjoyable.
Citations
Zelenka, C. (2016, August 20). Spiritual Lethargy. Retrieved May 30, 2017, from http://facingtrials.com/spiritual-lethargy/
Avoiding a Spirit of Lethargy (Part 1). (n.d.). Retrieved May 30, 2017, from http://www.alliancenet.org/christward/avoiding-a-spirit-of-lethargy-part-1#.WSvIaut97IU
F. (n.d.). Bible verses about Spiritual Slumber . Retrieved May 30, 2017, from http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/2408/Spiritual-Slumber.htm
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