Home ¢ Goh Eck Kheng is the Managing Editor of Loaves+Fishes, the publication of Covenant Community MC. / Photos courtesy of Juleen Shaw
Sharing salt and light Juleen Shaw is the managing editor of Salt&Light, a website that unites Christians in spirit and purpose to live out their faith, to serve and lead, to influence and impact. She is a member of Covenant Community MC, where she serves as one of its service managers and sits on the Alpha@CCMC committee.
How did you get involved in Salt&Light?
Where did you start?
Two-and-a-half years ago, I was approached to launch Salt&Light as its managing editor.
In the beginning, we were at our Genesis 1:1—formless and void. There was no team (except me), no content, no website, not even a name. I thought I could take my time to learn about the technology and the church ecosystem, contact newsmakers, build my team, then launch the website when I was ready.
While I saw the necessity of the Gospel and testimonies going out to a digital generation (which includes all of us who use platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp), I did not seriously consider the offer. Digital news was not my natural habitat—I had always been a print journalist at SPH and MediaCorp. But God seemed to think otherwise. About 12 hours before I was to give my answer, I told God: “God, You know I would not take on this role unless You want me to. If You really want me here, will you show me clearly?”
But two weeks after I’d joined, my CEO, Edric Sng, said: “We’re launching in eight weeks at a pastors summit attended by 800 senior pastors.” I couldn’t believe it. I felt the weight of responsibility to readers, churches, our Board of Directors. I remember sitting on my bed (I had no office yet) crying out to the Lord: “I can’t do it! I’m the wrong person! I must have heard You wrongly!”
I thought no more about it. But that very night, I opened up my DISCIPLE study manual to do my homework for the upcoming class. Guess what the theme for the week was? Work. The theme verse was 2 Thessalonians 3. I realised I had been telling myself that I was already serving in church a little, working on freelance projects a little, attending Bible classes a little. It was “enough”. I had only just left my teaching position at NTU and thought I’d take a break. But God chastised me through this Bible passage: “Don’t be idle! I did not make you to just take on a little. You can do more!” God was right. I was only giving Him a little; not my all, not my best. There’s no concept of retirement in God’s economy! (Just ask Moses and Noah.) The next day, I called the CEO and said: “Okay. I’m in.”
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METHODIST MESSAGE AUGUST 2020
The Salt&Light team in a Zoom editorial meeting during Circuit Breaker. Clockwise from top left: Tan Huey Ying, Gracia Lee, Gemma Koh, Juleen and Christine Leow. Now working from home, the team, including Juleen, shares daily personal reflections and weekly team devotions
