Church News (Page 68)

By Not Known Would you use a saloon car to transport sand?  Especially if it is your very own saloon car?  That’s what my Christian contractor friend was saying every time he put across his favourite poser in impeccable Singlish, “Would you use a Merz to carry sand?” (Or if you prefer, in the place of your favourite car, read Porsche, Ferrari…

By Not Known The Bible exalts God’s wisdom and ways above those of ours (Isaiah 55:9; Proverbs 3:5-6). Take the Sermon on the Mount for example (Matt 5-7): If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well; if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two…

By Not Known As we look back on our lives, we see several turning points, moments or events that changed the direction of our lives. It may have been the choice of a school or university. It may have been the choice of the area or country we live in. It may have been our choice of career or first job. It may have been meeting our future spouse. It may have been an…

By Not Known One Christian writer has written ‘The fear of commitment is epidemic in the western world’. What is true of the western world is probably true of much of the rest of the world. Certainly there is a lack of commitment in areas where commitment was previously expected. There is lack of commitment in marriage and family life. Many marriages now end…

By Not Known I grew up questioning and struggling with ‘church’. “Why would I go to the same place, sing the same songs, meet the same people week after week? Surely there are better things to do on a Sunday morning than attending church?!” It was after being taught the book of Acts that I realised I had grossly misunderstood what…

By Not Known Leadership renewal seems to be a hot topic recently, not only in political circles but in church circles. The last edition of the Presbyterian Express, the magazine of the English-speaking Presbyterian churches in Singapore, was almost entirely devoted to articles on leadership. When I returned from Singapore to England in 1998, I was offered a refresher…

By Not Known There is a certain danger when human beings are united. And the best example from antiquity is there in Genesis 11 where God confused the language of the whole world at Babel so that human beings would not be full of themselves, and so deny him. Throughout Christian history, the very danger of Babel is found not in the world but within the institutionalised…

By Not Known What actually is the church? The word conjures up many images and associations. We can have a picture of a building in a particular place. We call this church ‘Orchard Road Presbyterian Church’ although apparently that is only one of nine names we are known by outside the church. We can have a picture of a community with people, ministers, elders…

By Not Known In helping people find direction in life, we often ask these three revealing questions: 1. Who are the three most important persons in my life?  2. If I were to die today, what would these three persons have to say about me?  3. If I do not like what they say, how would I live differently from now to change their perspectives? Usually, as the…

By Not Known The Cross as a method of execution is mercifully no longer with us. Nor are the public executions of Jesus’ day. It was a particularly brutal and tortuous form of death. In one way as an event it is something we can only look back to in history, but in another way it is something we have to live with every day, because Jesus told us to take up our cross…