Opinion

What does a Christian Creative do with their gift? This is the question that Irrevocable Gifts, a collection of essays by six Christian creative practitioners, addresses. “Creating is making meaning of life,” Dawn Fung writes in the Introduction. “For Christians, the process and fruit are meditative, so much that we often blur the lines between […]

Is anything ever an accident? The Rev Ling Kin Yew, pastor at Fairfield Methodist Church, ponders this question in his book Accident? When Life Takes an Unexpected Turn. One early morning in May 2005, the Rev Ling received a harrowing phone call from his sister, Dawn, who was in Mobile, Alabama in the US. Their […]

The ladies at work More than 70 ladies from 13 TRAC churches spent two Saturday mornings preceding Chinese New Year at a workshop on writing devotions. At a time when many were busy with Lunar New Year preparations, the ladies did what the Lord told Martha when she complained about her sister Mary not helping […]

“Soundings” is a series of essays that, like the waves of a sonogram, explore issues in society, culture and the church in light of the Gospel and Christian understanding. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that has a very long and venerable tradition in Christianity, stretching back not only to the earliest period of Christian monasticism […]

The Rev Derrick Lau at the BB enrolment ceremony at COSI, Cambodia, 2019. My journey as a Methodist began by the grace of God leading me to faith in Christ through a series of events even though I was raised in a predominately Chinese folk religion environment. First, in the early 1970s, whenever I walked […]

In “Social Action is Integral to Methodism”, Bishop Dr Chong Chin Chung emphasised that it is not enough for the Methodist to be committed to spiritual disciplines such as Bible study and corporate worship. The Methodist must also obey the command of the Lord Jesus to love their neighbour (Mark 12:28–34).1 Bishop Dr Chong reminds […]

In 2 Timothy 3:1–5, the Apostle Paul provides a lengthy litany of sins that characterise the lives of people who live during “the last days”. There is one particular transgression, however, which the church seldom talks about and which some Christians may not even think of as a proper sin: ungratefulness. In his commentary on […]

Adventure—this was the word the Lord gave me at the beginning of 2019. This year, I was to complete my studies at Trinity Theological College (TTC) and apply to enter full-time pastoral ministry in the Methodist Church. “Adventure” spoke to my fear of the unknown and breathed a new perspective: it would be an exciting […]

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. (Mark 10:15) One of the most endearing portrayals of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels is found in Mark 10, which describes His warm reception of the children who were brought to Him to be blessed […]

Rows of neatly arranged colourful art and craft work greet my eyes as my daughter and I step into the lobby of Faith Kindergarten. I immediately sense the cheerful and welcoming environment as the teachers greet each child warmly by name. The children return the greeting as they line up to have their temperatures taken […]

One of Paul’s injunctions concerning the responsibility of Christians towards one another—familiar to many Christians, I am sure—is found in Galatians 6:2, where he writes: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” However, familiarity with this command is one thing; applying it effectually to our common life as members of Christ’s […]

We were on holiday as an extended family. It was just weeks before our only daughter’s wedding and days after I had started on antidepressants. We were playing Taboo, a game we had enjoyed countless times before, but I just could not concentrate. I was not sure if it was the medication or the depression, […]