Think

DURHAM (North Carolina, US) – Health and wellness was an integral part of the ministry of the Rev John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, said the Rev Randy Maddox, a noted Wesley scholar. Indeed, Wesley’s most popular publication in his lifetime was Primitive Physick, a book of medical advice first published in the 1740s. “Wesley […]

JESUS OF NAZARETH was a person of a particular time and place, whose saving deeds were accomplished in time. The Christian reckoning of time therefore focuses on the events of Jesus’ life – His birth, baptism, ministry, arrest and trial, death, resurrection and promise to come again. Our calendar is actually comprised of two overlapping […]

FOUR PRINCIPLES Four principles to guide churches towards a music ministry that glorifies God: § Music supports the Word of God and the sacraments § Music in Christian worship is primarily vocal § Music is for the whole assembly § Music derives from the local culture IN RECENT TIMES, Christians have engaged in spirited disagreements […]

“Worship cannot just be a somewhat-Christian rock concert-cum-comedy routine – expressions of consumerism and our addiction to entertainment …worship cannot ignore culture, since worship must inevitably rely on the words and customs of culture to express the Gospel (contextualisation).” PREVIOUSLY, WE STATED THAT RITUALS convey religious or cultural meaning. Because every culture is different, each will […]

  “I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word”. – Psalm 119:16.   SOLOMON TOLD IT RIGHT when he said, “Of making many books there is no end” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). The number of books extant today would dwarf any library Solomon ever saw or imagined. We have old books, new […]

Being “geared to the times” means that we must be very aware that the youths we are trying to reach are very different from those we were once. (I was particularly tickled by a musical band in my church who called themselves “ The Young Once!”)

“I HAVE A DREAM.” Borrowing those famous words from Martin Luther King Jr, it is my dream and prayer that we, The Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS), will truly live out what it means to be the body of Christ on earth. We call ourselves a connectional church, but what does connectionalism mean and what […]

I WAS IN MY CAR and heard about a DJ interviewing an expert on how to excel in an appraisal meeting. Most of us are employed and being appraised is part and parcel of being employed. I would imagine that appraisals are highly stressful affairs. I picture myself sitting in a room at a table, […]

HE WAS EXCEPTIONALLY QUIET, seated at the end of the sanctuary without his friends. He needed his space to soak in the sermon through prayer. Just the day before, he did not turn up for a Youth Ministry event because he spent time ministering to his classmates who wanted to hang out in a cafe. […]

WORD FROM THE EDITOR THE MOBILE/CELL PHONE, aka the “handphone”, is probably the world’s most used and fastest-growing “must have” gadget that has changed our habits – perhaps forever. From instant inter-continental communication between the rich and powerful, to the poor farmer who can now get instant information on commodity prices or weather forecasts, the […]

RICHARD DUNN in his book Shaping the Spiritual Life of Students wrote: “ There can be quite a gap between knowing a truth is meaningful and learning that truth meaningfully in one’s life.” What Dunn wrote provoked me to reflect and evaluate the way I do discipleship. Does our Youth Ministry provide a conducive context […]

“I FEEL LIKE I’M HERE to change people’s hearts and minds, to say something that’s right for a change.” Reading this line, you would have thought that this is a passionate plea from a preacher or a youth worker. It is actually a quote from Kanye West, one of the most recognised American hip-hop rappers. […]