(P) 048/04/2007 - Bedok Methodist Church

A Publication by Bedok Methodist Church
Vol 22/1 Apr 2007
MICA (P) 048/04/2007

foreword 2
short-term teams & long-term impact 4
destination: sihanoukville 6
destination: prey veng 8
destination: manila 10
hi, you’re invited! 12
alpha: first fruits 14
for the record 16
Vision aims to develop disciples for Jesus Christ
and to provide practical resources for the
understanding and application of Scriptures in daily
life and ministry. It is published three times a year.
Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations
are taken from the Holy Bible, New International
Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International
Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan
Bible Publishers. If you have any questions, concerns
or comments, please write to us at:
Newsletter
Bedok Methodist Church
86 Bedok Road Singapore 469371
Website: www.bmc.org.sg
Email: vision@bmc.org.sg
Editorial Committee
Lim See Keen * Vimala Christie
Bernice Tay * Karen Teo * Kyle Lim
Graphics & Photography
Michael Tan * Wong Wai Min * Darius Chua
Tan Eng Keng * Jason Lim * Johnson Tan
Oikos Helping Hand
© Bedok Methodist Church 2007.
All rights reserved.
Printed by Integrated Press Pte Ltd
Let me begin by posing you a question
I asked myself: “Who are the people you
will not see in heaven?” I was rudely
awakened by the answer: “The Non-
Christians!”
In this lifetime, you and I are given
opportunities to share God’s Good News
with them. We all have a chance to show
them the meaning of true Christian
charity. However, once this life is gone,
all the opportunities given to us to reach
out and win souls for the Lord will be
gone forever, never to be repeated!

This world map was
exhibited in the History
Tunnel during BMC’s 60th
anniversary celebrations last
year. The red pins represent
the countries our members
pledged to pray for or visit
to share the gospel.
Missions is not an option. To be a true
disciple of Jesus Christ, one must first
carry the cross of obedience related to
two key spiritual essentials, namely, the
Great Commandment and the Great
Commission.
Missions 2007 offers all at BMC the
chance to reach out and share God’s
Good News with those in our
neighbouring countries and beyond.
zones, to move from self-preservation to
caring for others. But is this not a small
price to pay, so that someone else may
gain eternal life?
So let us not lose out on this opportunity
to share with our neighbours the Good
News, an opportunity that the Lord will
ask us to account for when He returns.
Certainly going on a short-term mission
trip will require us to leave our comfort
Rev Vincent Goh
Pastor-In-Charge
3

By Ashok Kumar
Missions 2007 is all about the proclamation of the
sovereignty of God and the redemptive work of
Christ on the cross for all people. Thus far, 120
people from BMC have gone out on mission with
God to six different countries in the last six months.
Twenty teams are ready to go out in the coming
months. (See reports of some returned teams on
pages 6 to 11.)
When I started my missions journey with Operation
Mobilisation as a short-term mission tripper, I
applied for a six-month commitment. That journey
of six months has lasted more than twenty years.
That short-term trip definitely made its impact on
my life and missionary career.
Short-term trips give a glimpse of what missions in
foreign fields is all about and have tremendous
influence in impacting people into going into
missions. A number of our own BMC missionaries
started their missionary journey as short-termers.
“Diving into the deep end of world missions without
putting at least a toe in the water is unthinkable to
most boomers…,” writes Stan Guthre, in his book,
Missions in the Third Millennium: 21 Key Trends for
the 21st Century.
Short-term work started about forty years ago with
the launch of Operation Mobilisation and Youth
With A Mission who employed short-termers. Scott
Olson, Director of Mobilisation, Wesleyan World
Missions expresses its impact in a very poignant
way:
I am convinced that if we want long-term
missionaries, we have to be totally committed
to a short-term program. That has been proven
by the fact that fields who have an aggressive
short-term program are the ones getting career
missionaries right now. We have to look at short-
term experience as part of the ‘funnel’ that
intentionally directs people to the needs of the
world and what they can do to make a
difference.
4
vision nov 2006

According to Luis Bush in a Mission Frontiers journal
article, The Long and Short of Mission Terms, people
serving as short-term workers can be very y valuable
to the cause of Christ in a particular country:
* Short-termers become inspired to go into long-
term work.
* They communicate their enthusiasm to their
senders and home churches and involve them in
hands-on missions.
* They contribute in specific areas like on-site
prayer, medicine, teaching English, fixing
computers etc.
* They free full-time missionaries from routine
administration, which can be done without cross-
cultural depth.
* They relate positively with the youth, especially
if they are young.
* The more mature ones adjust more readily, have
more tact and understanding, and are able to
handle lack of Western conveniences and
entertainment.
The paradigm shift in missions is very obvious with
globalisation as the world has become flat.
Geographical boundaries are no longer barriers and
we can reach any part t of the world within hours.
Short-term service however is no substitute for long-
term missionary commitment. It is about finding
out what God is doing in that country and joining
in for a long-term commitment. Our goal is to reach
every people group on this flat world.
We hope to bring about an awareness and
understanding of how every follower of Christ can
obey His Great Commandment to go to peoples of
all nations and make them His disciples. We are in
partnership with Him. This is what Missions 2007 is
all about.
When you go forth to the mission field, may you
embrace the words of William Carey, the father of
modern missions:
“Expect great things from God; attempt great things
for God.”
Ashok Kumar is our Lay Ministry Staff for Missions. He worships
at BMC with his wife, Phebe, and children, Ashish and Priya. His
personal mission with God began in Operation Mobilisation (OM)
India in 1982. Since then, ministry opportunities have taken him
to over thirty countries with OM, OM India, OM ship M.V. Doulos,
OM East Asia and Pacific (EAP) and OM Singapore.
5

6 vision vision nov nov 2006 2006

2006 2006 nov nov vision 7

vision nov 2006

2006 nov

“Come and see…” (John 1:39, NLT)
When Jesus was asked by two disciples of John where he
was staying, the Messiah’s reply was for them to come and
see for themselves.
We read on, and find out in the rest of chapter 1 that one
of the men who had been invited, Andrew, later invited his
brother Simon Peter to meet Jesus in verse 42.
The invitations didn’t end there. In verse 46, Phillip invited
Nathanael to “come and see for yourself.”
We know the rest of the story – Andrew, Simon Peter, Phillip,
Nathanael (whom biblical scholars believe to be also known
as Bartholomew) all came to become the apostles of Christ.
By Rev Joel Yong
Extending an invitation to experience Christ is better than
raging a war of words. Sometimes the worst arguments are
best settled by an invitation – the act of asking those who
disagree to come and witness for themselves.
I remember arguing with a friend about which laksa stall
at Katong sold the best laksa. We both had different opinions
since we had eaten at different stalls.
Failing to agree, it was settled by an invitation to try out
each other’s sampled laksa – and the argument was hence
settled.
I won.
Sometimes, we get into similar arguments with others
about the Christ. I’d like to suggest that while we can engage
in endless arguments, nothing beats inviting them to come
and have a look at what the Messiah can do.

The initial step is to invite someone to experience Christ.
Yet simple as it is – these three words “Come and see” – we
often stumble when faced with the reality of inviting
another friend or loved one to coming to church or a church
activity.
The fears of what the other party will think of us begin to
sink in. The words start to choke up inside our throat. Does
that sound familiar?
We are trying at BMC to establish a culture amongst our
church folk, to dare to invite. Every time the church has an
Alpha programme, a Christmas event, a Good Friday or
Easter event, a Christmas Carolling party – invite someone
you care about.
Who knows? Your simple invitation may nurture a life that
lasts an eternity with God – for the one you give the
invitation to.
If that is your struggle, here are some words which spoke
to my heart a while ago. This was another pastor’s
paraphrase of Acts 20:24. He said it like this:
“I don’t have to survive. The Gospel however must thrive.”
Paul says it like this in the original:
“But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the
work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling
others the Good News about God’s wonderful kindness
and love.” (NLT)
All that we are trying to defend, protect and preserve are
for naught, if we do not use our lives to share the gospel.
For none of our earthly treasures will cross over into the
next realm – God’s Heaven. We will not take our cars, our
children, our degrees or certificates with us when we stand
before Almighty God on the last day.
Instead, we will have to give an account before Him of how
we have lived our lives – whether we have shone His light,
so that others might see, or whether we have hidden His
light in the darkness of this world.
In our attempt to invite our friend or loved ones, the worst
that they can do is to reject us, and maybe poke fun and
be sarcastic.
This will not hurt our soul, our body, or our eternity with
Him. But if we do not ask – it will hurt THEIR soul and THEIR
shot at an eternity with Him.
Is your life worth something? It begins with extending a
simple invitation to someone to experience Christ – and in
doing so, we live out our purpose to share His good news.

Jason Lim attended BMC’s inaugural Alpha course in January 2006
during which he received Christ. Since then, he has made an
incredible journey with the Lord by going on three mission trips
to Cambodia and the Philippines.
life seemed like a series of endless challenges
and struggles. Getting married and raising a
family has been one of the most tangible
and fulfilling purposes in my life. As the
children grew up and my parental
responsibility diminished increasingly, there
was more time to re-visit my spiritual
direction as well as to catch up on having
more quality time with my wife, Set Yee.
I have also thought about religion, but
ended up getting more confused with so
many religions in the offering. I have
considered Christianity on account that
my wife and two sons have accepted
Christ but was not sure which of the
various sects was the way to go. So I
remained sitting on the fence as a freethinker
for almost my entire life. I stood
on the belief that if one treaded on a
principle-guided life that hinged on
the correct side of legality and
morality, and caused no one any grief
or hurt, one should be able to score
points with whoever controlled our
destiny beyond this life.
But the ultimate question for me
had always been: “What is life all
about?” Coming from a humble
background and thrown into the
job market at a very young age,
About two years ago, I was introduced to my
first Alpha Course by a long-lost friend, David,
who did National Service with me some 36
years back. It was not the David I knew from
my army days and I was surprised that he
had become a devout Christian. At that time,
I was still busy with a demanding job and
had to miss half of the 11 sessions and as a
result, was not able to grasp most of the
messages in the videos I viewed. But I found
the post-video discussions interesting
because my fellow group participants made
me feel comfortable enough to be candid
with my contribution to the discussions.
At about the same time, I also connected
with another friend and ex-business partner
named Patrick, who along with his wife,
Patricia, had become staunch Christians.
Patrick was also another person I never
imagined would become serious about Jesus
Christ. During the time when we were
vision nov 2006

unning our business, he would faithfully burn joss papers
and joss sticks every fifteenth day of the Chinese calendar
month to seek blessings for continued success for our
business.
Since quitting my job about a year ago, I found no more
excuses not to accompany my wife, Set Yee to BMC as well
as spend more time with her. I also began to appreciate
Set Yee much more and marvelled at the peace she was
enjoying and the change in her attitude towards life
because of her newfound strength and faith in God. At
BMC, I got to know some of the members who changed
my perception of Christians. I also had the benefit of
chatting candidly with a church member, Tan Lye Whatt,
on religious matters.
I felt that people like David, Patrick and Set Yee were
fortunate to be touched by God and even confided in Lye
Whatt that it would be great if I could be similarly touched
by the Holy Spirit in order to have the faith to surrender
my life to Jesus Christ. Lye Whatt’s recommendation to me
was simply: “Jesus has been knocking on your door, but
He has not been able to open it because there is no door
knob on His side of the door.” Since I had the door knob
on my side, I would have to open the door to invite Jesus
into my life.
short cut to take without having to fulfill all the obligations
and disciplined way of life as a Christian?”
Hik Loy’s reply was: “We don’t know when our final day is
and whether we will have the opportunity to receive Jesus
Christ.” After the second session at BMC Alpha, I prayed as
I drove home for God to make Himself real to me as I wished
sincerely then to get to know God.
I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ on 18 February 2006
while attending a Christian Valentine’s Dinner and reaffirmed
my acceptance of Christ as my Saviour during the BMC
Alpha Weekend in Sentosa. I also attended the 40 Days of
Purpose Spiritual Retreat at BMC and found Rick Warren’s
teaching fascinating, very practical and relevant in making
sense and giving new meaning to my life.
In all, I benefitted by being more at peace with myself,
relying on my faith in the Lord and letting Him take charge
of the more complex issues in my life. Recently, I have also
had a taste of the power of prayer in my life. Praise God.
I attended BMC’s first Alpha Course in January 2006 and
only missed one session. My first question to Chan Hik Loy,
our group discussion leader, was: “Is it true that a non-
Christian can make a last-minute decision to accept Jesus
Christ at his death bed and be saved?” It seems like a nice
Since the past three Alpha courses, over twenty persons have come to know
our Lord Jesus Christ. Alpha is conducted twice yearly in BMC.

for the record
F YOU sense God calling you to be on mission with
Him today, here’s what you can do:
* Pray. Ask God what His mission is for you. Ask for that
appointed time and place specially reserved for you in the
mission field.
* Gather information. Refer to the Missions 2007 Guide for a
suggested listing of mission trips. You can also log on to the
BMC website for the latest updates in the guide. Dates and
venues of mission trips are subject to confirmation.
Website: http://www.bmc.org.sg/missions
* Talk to someone. Talk to representatives from the respective
mission agencies. Get your group leader to contact the mission
agency or Ashok Kumar, BMC Lay Ministry Staff (Missions) at
64484215 (O) 98394997 (HP) or m007@bmc.org.sg
* Equip yourself. Attend the missions-related talks and training
sessions offered by BMC or other churches.
* Form a group. You can form a group with your care group
members or ministry group members. You can also start a new
group based on common skills or interests. If you are not
attached to any of the above groups, you can also register as
an individual participant. You will be placed with a suitable
group.
* Sign up. Complete the Missions 2007 Registration form and
GO in faith!
Then I heard the voice
o f t h e Loo rd, r d , s a y i n g,
“ WhW hom s h a l l I s e n d ?
And who will go for us”
Then said I, “Here am I;
send me.”
Isaiah 6:8