I recently attended a closed door meeting organised by ETHOS Institute for Public Christianity which was formed by the National Council of Churches of Singapore, Trinity Theological College and the Bible Society of Singapore in 2014. ETHOS Institute seeks to serve church and society by engaging contemporary issues and trends from the Christian perspective. On this occasion, the topic at hand was ‘The future of the Church in Singapore’. Let me share with you what was discussed at the dialogue session with me injecting some of my own thoughts and reflections. Broadly, the dialogue revolved round two issues and these are issues which churches in Singapore on the whole face and have to grapple with.
I would call the first an internal issue and the second, an external one. For the former, concerns were raised over the unfiltered information our young people are exposed to via social media. How competent are our children in discerning truth from falsehood? As they traverse cyberspace, will they be able to differentiate fake news from reliable information? It doesn’t help that we are living in the post-truth era where increasingly, people are advocating that there are no absolutes anymore; when the majority feel that a certain way is right, then that way will be taken as the truth, at least for the community to which that majority belongs. It also doesn’t help when our young people are restless and lack patience. The digital natives, we call them, do not like to read in depth; they can only tolerate bite sized content and they seem to have lost the joy of reading, reflecting and discovering truths for themselves.
Given the characteristics of our young people and the perplexing environment they are in, do you see the challenges the church faces in passing down the Christian faith to the next generation? Our young people who have passed through the ranks of Sunday school are turning their backs on God. When they were young, they obediently followed their parents to church but once they have gained their independence, they will initially resist church attendance and subsequently fall out altogether, some even doubting the existence of God. If we do not begin to do anything about this, our churches will follow after those in the West where what we see on a Sunday is a sprinkle of white and bald headed people – Christianity is always a generation from extinction if we are not faithful to evangelism and discipleship.
How then can we disciple our young? Parents cannot outsource the passing on of the faith to the church but the church can equip parents with skills and resources, empowering them to disciple their children more effectively. At the start of the year, I met up with parents whose children are in U12 to share with them some devotional materials that they can use with their children during the week. I know young parents are very stretched and setting aside time for family devotion is not easy but believe me – each time the Word of God is read in the family, the Spirit of God can bring about transformation within the hearts of the hearers even though it is not obvious on the surface. On 25 March, after 11 am service, I am conducting a 2-hour workshop on how we can engage our children meaningfully as we gather with them in church for corporate worship. The more often we worship together, the less a stranger they will be when they transit from U12 to YZ where they are strongly encouraged to participate in the weekly worship services. Our young people have lots of questions regarding their faith and as parents and even as uncles and aunties in church, we must make the effort to listen to them and to answer their questions. If they can ask a question, it means that they are ready for an answer. Onus is on us to find out the answer and articulate it in a way that they can understand.
The second issue, which is an external one, has to do with multi-racial engagements. Singapore is a secular state and our constitution allows us freedom to practise our religions which includes the sharing of our faith with others. Under ‘Freedom of religion’, 15 (1) of the Constitution says: ‘Every person has the right to profess and practise his religion and to propagate it.’ For the church, this means that we can proclaim the gospel freely. As long as we don’t poke fun at other religions or criticise them, we will not run afoul of the law when we boldly preach Christ crucified. It is also not illegal for someone to convert from one religion to another. We thank God for the religious freedom we enjoy in Singapore. So let’s do our part in equipping ourselves to share the Gospel. There are so many ways of presenting the Good News – Bridge, Four Spiritual Laws, Wordless Book, Roman Road, Two Ways to Live, etc. Choose one that you are comfortable with, master it or better still, learn a few methods well so that you can pull out whichever tool that you deem more suitable as you engage different friends.
The other platform for us to engage the world in all its racial and religious multiplicity is to be involved in the community and to serve the people regardless of race or religion with the love of Christ. We shouldn’t be doing community work just because we want to use it as a platform to do evangelism. Doing good should not be a means to an end. It should be an end in itself because the apostle John said: ‘But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth’ (1 John 3.17, 18). We do good because God’s love abides in us. We should do good whether there is opportunity to share the Gospel or not. If we do good with an ulterior motive (albeit a good one), people can detect our lack of sincerity. Therefore, treat community work and evangelism as two separate things – we should do good whenever the need arises; we should share the Good News whenever the opportunity arises. Though community work and evangelism are separate, they can still be partners. The message of the Gospel can be authenticated by our acts of love and compassion; our acts of love can also cause people to be curious about the message of the Gospel.
What come to my mind are the Friday Tuition kids and their parents, the Saturday Care Club kids and their parents, the elderly whom we befriend and deliver meals to and soon, those elderly who will be coming to the Strathmore Green Senior Activity Center. We serve them out of our love for God and our love for our neighbours. The Holy Spirit may open doors of opportunities for us to engage them in spiritual conversations. If that happens, seize the day! Otherwise, let’s continue to be equally enthusiastic in serving them. As we live out the Gospel authentically, our lives will stand out and that will cause others to sit up and wonder why we are so different, in a positive way, and that may cause them to be thirsty for the living water that we have.
Going into the future, if we continue to be faithful in disciple-making, especially in nurturing the faith of our young people, with family and church working hand in hand, and if we seize every opportunity to do good and preach the gospel, by God’s grace, True Way as a church will continue to exist and grow until the Lord comes again!
