Month April 2008

Christianity: The Need for Relevance

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I believe the world that we live in needs to know how Christianity is indefinitely more than just another religion. Especially for those of us who profess Christ as Lord and Saviour, the onus is on us to accurately represent Christ in a way that is relevant and anew in this 21st century.

It is safe to say that majority of the unchurched view God as outdated, unexciting and boring. How do they formed such impressions?

The answer: The Church.

This surely is ironic and sad since the Church should actually be the truth bearers and for a fact, Jesus is certainly not outdated, unexciting and boring.

We are in the world, but not of the world

I think the problem starts when we Christians become too religious and focus on the do’s and don’ts. The deeds or the outward behaviour becomes the standard rather than the being.

As such, for many Christians, this world is something to stay away from. Everything in society—with all its sciences, philosophies and pop culture—is seen as the work of the devil; something profane and must be totally rejected. Since this world is not our home, we should have no ownership of material assets. As much as possible, we should not have any unnecessary contact with anything “secular.”

However, Jesus says to us, “We are in the world, but not of the world.”

So how can we live in the world, and not be of the world? How are we to be the head in the world, and not be the tail in the world? How are we to function in the world, have a relationship with it, and all the while not be influenced by it?

Understanding the “world”

Is the Bible confused concerning the world, blowing hot and cold at the same time? Hence, knowing the whole counsel of God ’s Word is very important. When the Scripture uses the word “world,” it could mean one of three things:

  1. The world is God’s created order (or masterpiece) for His own enjoyment– The Bible says that though the world is fallen, God still loves it. In fact, He loved it so much that He sent His Son to reconcile all things in the world back to Him (Col. 1:20). So this world, which God loves and Jesus saves, is not totally evil. But nevertheless, it suffers the effects of sin and the way sinners have treated it. Acts 3:21 says that the plan of God now or in this age is to restore all things to its original purpose and intention.
  2. The world also implies physical lands or nations- Jesus says that “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14). To Christ, used in this context, the world refers to countries and physical territories on planet Earth.
  3. The world is the realm of wickedness and prideful rebellion against God- In this wicked realm, Satan is its prince and god (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). This sinful realm constantly opposes God and persecutes the godly. It is this “world” of pride and rebellion that a believer must not conform his mind to (Rom. 12:2).

Evidently, there is an urgent need for us to change how we think and communicate the reality of Christ to the world. The gospel needs to be re-presented (with its biblical principles intacted), not just represented.

Being relevant and engaging the world

Personally, I believe that God wants the world to envy us (just as how it was depicted in the Old Testatment) and say to us: “We must have your way of life!” Yet, how many among the unchurched are actually jealous of Christians today?

Why aren’t the unbelievers rushing to church every weekend, or knocking on our doors saying, “Help me, I have to get into the kingdom of God! I want to be like you—happy, successful and creative!” Or have we presented Christianity in a way that is flaky, boring and ugly? Have we presented the kingdom of God to be so backward and irrelevant that the world doesn’t want any part of us?

Let us decide to be relevant to our society. We shouldn’t be afraid to engage a world that God has created and always loved. We should not be fearful to engage culture by being as creative, as colorful, and as progressive as we could possibly be for the glory of God.

We mustn’t shun the sciences and arts out there in the marketplace. Rather, we should work hard and excel in the arena of life God has planted us in. As we do that, we will become the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Ultimately, we will be able to bring many into the kingdom of God !

Soccer-Pro Scores for Jesus in EPL

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Proudly presenting the first story for “Jesus and the Marketplace” series that will hopefully inspire and empower us, Christ-followers to live our faith relevantly and powerfully in our marketplace. Here’s Linvoy Primus’ testimony told by Jeremy Wilson for The Guardian.

Linvoy Primus

Primus was 27 when he found his faith and is convinced that the correlation between that event and a dramatic improvement in his football career is no coincidence. The likes of Sol Campbell, Glen Johnson and Lauren have joined Portsmouth over the past year but he remains an automatic choice in a team who have been in the Premiership’s top six all season. Among Pompey supporters he is the club’s most popular player.

“I know that, win, lose or draw, life will still carry on,” he said. “I do my job properly and to the best of my ability because God wouldn’t want me to misuse the gift he has given me.”

His faith initially made him the subject of dressing-room banter but he never hid his beliefs and praying has now become routine for a growing group of Portsmouth players before matches. “The people who have found the Lord at this club have had their lives changed – Kanu, LuaLua, Sean Davis, Andy O’Brien, Benjani,” he said. “We are not scared to say we pray together before games. We’ve got the laundry room at the club – there’s two washing machines behind us and about 45 minutes before a game we link our arms and just pray that we can glorify God.”

Read Linvoy Primus’ full story here>>>

The United Winners

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Tag United Team

Picture taken after TAG (The Ah-Lao Adults Group) United’s first recorded 3-2 win in Hope Premier League against Venture 14 FC on 30 March 2008 at Tampines.

View our table league standings here>>>

The Three Powers of Leadership

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Touching more on the topic of leadership, here’s something insightful and interesting that might help us understand the dynamics of the co-relation between leaders and followers that we can observe around us.

True Leadership influencesAccording to a best-seller book- Principle-Centred Leadership– by Stephen R. Covey, there are three basic levels of power and influence that leadership have over followers: coercive, utility, and legitimate powers.

Here is a brief summary of what these three powers are:

1. Coercive power is a manifestation of the psychology of fear on the part of the leadership/leader and the frightened masses. The former, due to lack of confidence in itself and in the people, unleashes psychological terror and when necessary the ‘big stick.’

The follower follows out of fear that something adverse might happen to him, if he does not. In this case, there is a fear that something bad might happen to him or something good might be taken away if he does not comply. The follower obeys the leader in order to avoid facing adverse consequences.

The follower’s loyalty is superficial and he just moves along for the sake of tagging along. Most of what he does is simply to ensure that his interest and comfort are not affected.

2. Utility power is based on a relationship where there are some benefits that will accure to the follower if he follows.

Both the leader and the follower has some interest to protect. The follower has something the leader wants such as time, energy, personal resources, talent and support. The leader too has something the follower wants such as information, money, promotions, inclusion, security and opportunity.

These followers believe that the leader can and will do something for them if they fulfill part of their bargain. Much of what happens in most organisations today are fueled by this utility power.

3. Legitimate power is based on trust and respect for the people. Unlike the two powers discussed above, legitimate power does not depend on fear and material reward, but rather because the follower tends to believe in the leader and what they are trying to achieve.

As Covey succinctly puts it, leaders with legitimate power “are trusted, respected, honored… And they are followed because others want to follow them, want to believe in them and their cause, want to do what the leader wants. This is not blind faith, mindless obedience, or robotic servitude; this is knowledgeable, whole-hearted, uninhabited commitment.”

True Character Revealed in Adversity

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A person going through adversity is like a tea-bag;
         one will never know what kind of flavour (character)
is in the bag of tea until it is placed in hot water.  

Anonymous

The Warning Signs of Toxic Religion

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By J. Lee Grady
Charisma Magazine

All of us would like to enjoy a healthy spiritual life. But the sad truth is that many of us, and many churches today, are barren because of hazardous additives. We have believed a different gospel—one laced with legalism, performance-based religion and salvation by works—when Christ alone is our only source of life.

Jesus Himself referred to these toxins as “the leaven of the Pharisees” (Luke 12:1). He told us that the Pharisees’ brand of religion, which looked good on the outside, was deadly—and contagious.

Avoid toxic at all cost

Have you been infected? You can take your own pH test by examining these eight characteristics of a religious spirit.

  1. A religious spirit views God as a cold, harsh, distant taskmaster rather than an approachable, loving Father. When we base our relationship with God on our ability to perform spiritual duties, we deny the power of grace. God does not love us because we pray, read our Bibles, attend church or witness, yet millions of Christians think God is mad if they don’t perform these and other duties perfectly. As a result they struggle to find true intimacy with Jesus.
  2. A religious spirit places emphasis on doing outward things to show others that God accepts him. We deceive ourselves into believing that we can win God’s approval through a religious dress code, certain spiritual disciplines, particular music styles or even doctrinal positions.
  3. A religious spirit develops traditions and formulas to accomplish spiritual goals. We trust in our liturgies, denominational policies or man-made programs to obtain results that only God alone can give.
  4. A religious spirit becomes joyless, cynical and hypercritical. This can turn a home or a church completely sour. Then, whenever genuine joy and love are expressed, this becomes a threat to those who have lost the simplicity of true faith.
  5. A religious spirit becomes prideful and isolated, thinking that his righteousness is special and that he cannot associate with other believers who have different standards. Churches that allow these attitudes become elitist—and dangerously vulnerable to deception or cult-like practices.
  6. A religious spirit develops a harsh, judgmental attitude toward sinners, yet those who ingest this poison typically struggle with sinful habits that they cannot admit to anyone else. Religious people rarely interact with nonbelievers because they don’t want their own superior morals to be tainted by them.
  7. A religious spirit rejects progressive revelation and refuses to embrace change. This is why many churches become irrelevant to society. They become so focused on what God did 50 years ago that they become stuck in a time warp—and cannot move forward when the Holy Spirit begins to speak in new ways. When religious groups refuse to shift with God’s new directives, they become “old wineskins” and God must find more flexible vessels that are willing to implement His changes.
  8. A religious spirit persecutes those who disagree with his self-righteous views and becomes angry whenever the message of grace threatens to undermine his religiosity. An angry religious person will use gossip and slander to assassinate other peoples’ character and may even use violence to prove his point. Jesus, in fact, warned His disciples: “There will even come a time when anyone who kills you will think he’s doing God a favor” (John 16:2, The Message).

Read the complete article here>>>

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My Doodling:

Can’t believe since the start of this year I had been thrusted into having to make a number of MAJOR decisions one after another within just 3 months!? These sort of major decisions usually happens only once a year or not at all. What is He trying to tell me or teach me? Where is He leading me?

Leadership: Character and Competence

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Regardless of the different trends that surround leadership in our marketplace, family, politics and the church. I am with the school of thoughts that the leader’s character plays the foremost fundamental role in his or her credibility.

If a leader’s character is placed in any doubt, he automatically loses a chunk of credibility that would lead in losing the influence he has over his followers.

That is the reason why I believe Singapore’s Senior Minister Lee never hesitates to slap a lawsuit on anyone that would defame his character and credibility as a premier leader. He understands the kind of risk that is at stake which might threaten his influence.

Competence for success

Is character (though important) the only quality required in a leader?

What about competence? Have we overlooked or undermined the importance of this prerequisite in a leader in our over-zealousness pursuit for character?

If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success

Ecclesiates 10:10

Imagine that you are in an office of a surgeon. And you observe his certifications from the courses of his training he had to undergo through medical school. Furthermore, you had read raving testimonials of his past successful surgical operations.

If he were to operate on you or one of your family members, I believe you would give him the full trust as he has provided enough confidence for you to allow him to perform his duties regardless whether he has a good or bad character.

As your life or your family members’ lives are at stake, you would most naturally and definitely seek a surgeon that is most qualified and experienced. If the surgeon has a good character, that would be a bonus. But in no circumstance should I believe we would subject our lives to a untrained surgeon who has a good character.

Likewise, can an uncompetent leader win the full trust of his people to follow him or her even if he or she has a good character?

Character for sustainability

The character of a leader forms the moral block or is the backbone of who the leader is, and can be describe as the capacity  to lead.

The greater the character of a leader, the greater is the leader’s capacity in leading in terms of quantity and quality.

Because leadership is such an intense and demanding role where the leader is constantly subjected to criticism, abuse and rejection, he or she must have a strong inner will and power to confront and deal with these while rallying and trudging forward. And character provides that sustainability.

In the face of such challenges, the leader’s character aids in the focus of his vision and meekness to deal with the strain in relationships around him as he leads.

The leader’s unwavering character provides the stability and confidence that the followers need as a beacon and anchor especially in marching through the difficult moments.

Leadership in 21st century

In this knowledge-based era where much is expected with the progress of mankind, I believe competence is an equally important quality in a leader that is expected and required in the 21st century. But it should be ideally built upon a leader’s character as the foundational quality.

Therefore, the immenient challenge for leaders today is to attain these two invaluable qualities that should be clearly displayed with constant renewal in his or her life.

In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

2 Timothy 2:20-21

What we truly need in this day and age are cutting edge leaders that are with the capacity, ability and the drive to raise the bar of morality, service and innovation to add value to our communities and industries by leading and creating opportunities where everyone is able to share and enjoy quality holistic living and sustainable success.

Some Quotes on Leadership

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The greatness of an organisation is synonymous to the greatness of its leader. And the greatness of a leader is synonymous to the greatness of his vision

~ Anonymous

Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence

~ Bernard Montgomery

Competence goes beyond words. Its the leader’s ability to say it, plan it, and do it in such a way that others know that you know how- and know that they want to follow you

~ John C. Maxwell