Entries by churchli

When the feel-good factor creeps in

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In today’s do what feels right culture, it is becoming increasingly uncomfortable and unpopular to talk about sin. I am thinking particularly about how we have found so many ways to explain our conflicts, intractable situations and lack of spiritual vitality. We have come up with style, personality, tradition, experience as explanations – which make it acceptable […]

We need time and more..

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With two young children, and three pastorates behind us – we are not harbouring illusive expectations about church. In fact, somedays we have to fight the shadows of cynicism and often, weariness. I suppose we are at the edge of falling over a precipice (a sense we have had for the last two years – […]

birthing a new church

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So we are finally here- at the shores of vast and welcoming sea. The idea was always there within us. The dream, the thoughts, the longing. We stayed and worked and learnt…accepting, rejecting, refusing, celebrating…the wonder known to us as The Church, the Bride of Jesus Christ. We have been through heady excitement, deep pain, […]

God’s servants in pain..

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We are not strangers to pain. All of us know some kind of pain – losing an opportunity or a loved one, being mistreated and misunderstood, illness and injury… But we never get used to it. And we should not. Pain is of course the sign of being in this world – tangled in its […]

our impatience to maximise..the Kingdom no less!

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We are an impatient lot. we hate to queue. we dont want to wait to grow. we expect God to intervene – now – to change the person, adjust the situation, overtake the conflict… an old hymn has a line that goes: “unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see…” but no, we dont […]

hope, hopeful or hopeless?

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we are doing a series on Thessalonians in church with our elder. The reality of the Thess church is that they came to faith against odds and hung on to their faith, growing and demonstrating their genuineness of their faith in the midst of persecution. Hence Paul encourages them much about the hope they have […]

sleepy in church?

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Literally. yes, we dont have to nod away…there are many ways to slumber. even busy pastors, working, talking, acting…can be snoozing away. How? when we go into auto-pilot and rely less on God and more on experience, what works, and a whole hosts of ideas, programs ad nauseam. Reliance on God is nearly impossible to […]

Easter thoughts

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Easter is drawing near…it comes every year… with a mjor Gd Friday outreach at church; we can easily forget how important this season truly is. The old church tradition has a forty day season called Lent that leads up to Holy week which of course culminates in Easter. We should bring back Lent – because […]

ending 09 well

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Another year will soon come to an end. In true Singapore style, we will start to hear people moaning about how how fast time has flown and what a lot remians to be done…friends we have not caught up with, targets unmet, changes not implemented, hearts not settled… How shall we end the year well? […]