Church News (Page 73)

By Not Known During recent days we have hosted several visitors from one of our regional mission partnerships. These people came from a difficult and an remote area where to be Christian is to be in a distinct minority and to be under a real and constant threat of persecution. They are humble folk who had not had the life opportunities common to most of us. But they are…

By Not Known I had a childhood friend, Peng Loong whose home was just ten houses away in the Chinatown neighborhood where we grew up. We used to play basketball together and Loong was a brilliant player. One day, Loong slipped and fell on the slippery court and was sent to hospital. He went into a coma for a month and when he did wake up, he was already…

By Not Known Back in 1997 there were a number of Christian organizations which had set a goal of reaching the world for Christ by the year 2000. Ten years have passed since then.   The Jesus film project had reported, “several billion people across the globe had viewed that film and…

By Not Known God’s mission is done through people. There are those who stay where they are to sacrificially pay, pray, promote and publicise. Then there are those who go. This going may be a sacrificial leaving of what the world calls ‘prospects’ and serving in some kind of full time missionary service in the home country. We have two examples of that in…

By Not Known Today is the start of our mission’s emphasis month. Being ‘mission-minded’ is on every church’s lips and in our statements of core values, ministry plans and such like. However, it is one thing to say we are mission-minded but another to embody ‘missions in motion’. It is sometimes true that the more we assert we are…

By Not Known Self-improvement books and DVDs are some of the hottest items to fly off the shelves in bookshops. It seems that we all want to lift our game in some area or another and are looking for tips and techniques to help us get there. Some of these resources are great. I’m a fan of the Dummies series with its no-nonsense approach, clear layout and plenty of…

By Not Known The recent monsoon has cut a disastrous swathe through Asia. China has been badly affected but seems to be handling it well. Not so Pakistan. Imagine a land area 343 times the size of Singapore under water. Imagine double the total population of Singapore being displaced by floods and now facing the danger of disease. And all this in a country ill-equipped to…

By Not Known Idols are ever-present in human affairs, but they take many forms. Jeremiah and others mock the folly of hand making an earthly object then worshipping it. As he says, the idols are like scarecrows in a melon patch –  there is nothing to be scared of, for they can do neither good nor harm (Jer 10:5). That’s something to ponder as we see…

By Not Known First of all then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God who desires all people to be saved .. (1 Tim 2:1-3). As we celebrate the 45th…

By Not Known The void Formless without substance Emptiness spilling into nothingness No light, no life Silence   The word A sound Let there be… Light and life   Life Bristling, bursting, bustling Colour, shape, texture, scent, variety, Wonder beyond imagination     Another void Form without substance Religion without reality Silence  …