Author andrewong2024

Internet Evangelism Day 2009

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Like Earth Hour, Internet Evangelism Day (IED) is an awareness day for local churches and ministries to learn and explore ways of tapping on New Media to extend community, enable ministry and harvest online.

Like it or not, New Media is changing us in subtle but profound ways — the way we think, work, live, relate and it requires us to interpret our faith as individuals and communities, as we work to be salt and light of Christ to others.

This will be the first time IED will be carried out in Singapore, so do join the series of exciting activities on and offline.

Visit www.iedier.com to find out more details or to register.

Praying for our Leaders

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After writing one of my previous posts about fighting against apathy in the Church, I realised that I had missed out a very important role that we (Christians) can play to make a difference.

That role that all of us who are members of any church should be doing on a regular basis is to PRAY for our leadership on an individual and corporate level.

Covering leadership in prayers

Especially in these times where we are witnessing more and more leaders (including secular organisations) falling under the bondage of sin, the more we need to pray for them.

“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”

1 Timothy 2:1-4

Ultimately, we need to recognise that by default we are embroiled in a spiritual battle that is waged and won through prayers.

We need more godly leaders

Apart from prayer being the change catalyst in fending off apathy in the Church, I also do believe when we pray for our leadership we are exhibiting the highest honour towards them.

With the kingdom of God always in great lack of godly leaders, I’m certain that such love and support towards leadership can only create a dynamic and favourable environment for more of such leaders to arise for the next generation. 

The Final Solution- A New Messiah?

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Visit City Harvest Church this weekend as their all-engaging cast presents you an original and thought-provoking drama, “The Final Solution- A New Messiah?”

Check out the trailer below.

Full details on the venue and timings here>>>

Becoming “BIG” People

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Being BIG refers to the magnanimity of our inner being; our capacity to love others and in being secure in our true identity.  

Our “BIG-ness” should not  be solely measured by our qualifications or size of our paychecks, but especially on how well we take care of  the poor and vulnerable around us.

10 Characteristics of Big People:

  1. Big People are GENEROUS
  2. Big People are ACCEPTING
  3. Big People FORGIVE and FORGET easily
  4. Big People EMPOWER others to be successful
  5. Big People don’t try to be BIG PEOPLE
  6. Big People treat “LITTLE” People well
  7. Big People LISTEN
  8. Big People honour LEADERSHIP and accept GUIDANCE
  9. Big People respect MANNERS and “SPATIALITY”
  10. Big People have BIG CAPACITY

I believe we should desire becoming BIG PEOPLE just as our God is a BIG God. My prayer is that I will be able to reflect His likeness. Amen.

The World’s Highest Paid Politician is…

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Yesterday, UK Times published a report on the top 10 highest paid politicians in the world. And it is not too difficult to guess who tops the list.

It’s none other than Singapore’s  Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong.

Read the report here>>>

On a seperate but related matter, here was PM Lee’s most recent reply when queried by BBC if he was worth all that money:

“I am not comparing myself and I don’t look at these rankings. We go on a system which is open, honest, transparent – what is the job worth, what is the quality of the person whom you want.

We need the best people for the job and these are jobs where you make decisions which are worth billions of dollars. And you cannot do that if you are pretending and you just say, ‘Well, we are all in it for the love of King and Country’.

We want it to be honest, we want people not to come in for the money. But at the same time the sacrifice cannot be too great. And at times like these, you want the best possible government you can have.”

Interestingly, this part of the interview was not published in our mainstream media.

So where’s the “open, honest, transparent” part which PM Lee had boldy talked about?

Read more about the BBC interview here>>>

Early April Fool’s Joke?

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I almost fell off my chair laughing when I read the headline of the above article on the Straits Times dated 31 March 2009.

On the onset, please do not mistaken me for being disrespectful to our leaders. Nothing against them, but I am merely flabbergasted by the use of ‘depth of leadership’ here.

In my personal opinion, depth is built over many years of trials and challenges to mould a leader’s character, capacity and competence.

In Singapore, it seems our leaders are identified and measured mainly by their academic achievements over the ‘trials and challenges’ in our educational system.

Take a look at Barack Obama, Mahatma Ghandi, Lee Kuan Yew, Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King, they started right from the bottom and fought courageously to earn the spot on the top.

Honestly, what credible and proven track records are there in our present leaders to measure their quality of depth? And what depth of leadership do they exhibit when everything is so conveniently handed to them? 

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My Read of the Month:

Title: Don’t Just Stand There, Pray Something: The Incredible Power of Intercessory Prayer
Author:Ronald Dunn
Published: 1992
Genre: Discipleship/Spiritual Development
Ratings: 4.3 out of 5 stars

I must confess that I don’t have a wide collection of books on prayer. Nor do I read a lot of books on prayer.

But this has to be the best book on prayer I have gotten my hands on in spite of it being published more than 20 years ago. This shows the timeless-ness of prayer.

The author does a great job in sharing comprehensively on this subject without boring the reader with an overload of theology.  He shares many relevant anecodotes and personal experiences that helps readers understand about prayer.

The book is systematically broken down in 20 chapters with four parts: (1) God’s great idea, (2) The secret kingdom’s secret weapon, (3) The life that prays and (4) The God who hears.

Definitely a must-read for all Christians. You will be motivated and inspired to pray down a storm in your life and community!

Who should read it: Christ-followers who desire to be an effective prayer or to have an intimate prayer life with God.

Fighting Apathy in the Church

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Two years ago, I wrote an article sharing my observation and opinion on Singaporeans’ general apathetic attitude towards politics.

My concern was how this general passivity and overly ‘trusting’ of our goverment leaders would pose as a threat that was awaiting to implode.

Today, it appears that the Church also suffers the same predicament.

Apathy in the church

“I believe they (pastoral leadership) know what they are doing”

“Things are not that bad and it won’t happen here”

These are common cursory responses that we too often hear from members within the ranks of a church in regards to their church’s leadership and governance.

I think we are in such a position because we believe or safely assume that the leadership in the church are people of high moral standards or even perfectly godly.

Perhaps some of us might be resigned to the fact that we cannot change anything as one person out of many. Thus, we accept the status quo since it is “not that bad” and stay out of engaging our leadership.

But who is to say that this happy situation will always be the case- when we know that these are also imperfect men like you and I that are operating in leadership?

Jesus was not apathetic

I believe God expects us as His followers to be actively involved and to take ownership of His Church since we are His sons and daughters.

We read in the gospel how this sense of ownership is displayed in Jesus when the holy temple became a ‘den of robbers’.  In Luke 19:45-47, it said that He drove those wrong practises out!

Though it was the main responsibility of the teachers of the law to uphold the holiness and governance in the temple, Jesus didn’t wait for them to do so as He saw the temple as His Father’s House.

Therefore, whether out of apathy, ignorance, indifference, resignation or complacency, I do not think Jesus wants us to blindly follow or to just “sit on the picket fence” and be apathetic.

For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

1 Peter 4:17

On the contrary, we should be deeply involved in not only supporting the leadership, but also actively engaging them when policies or decisions are made especially in terms of finances for the accountability of His Church.

In whatever positions of authority we may have in our church- no matter how little we think our authority is, we can contribute to the betterment of the church by highlighting possible errors or wrongs in policies or processes.

Dear A.I.G., I Quit!

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The following are extracts from a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G.

DEAR Mr. Liddy,

It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. 

I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so.

Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid.

Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down.

I have the utmost respect for the civic duty that you are now performing at A.I.G. You are as blameless for these credit default swap losses as I am. You answered your country’s call and you are taking a tremendous beating for it.

But you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial products unit had nothing to do with the large losses. And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us.

I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press over our retention payments, and that you didn’t defend us against the baseless and reckless comments made by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut.

Read the full letter here>>>