People: Bishop Dr Gordon Wong

Jason Woo is the Communications Executive at MCS Comms. / Photos courtesy of Bishop Dr Gordon Wong

Bishop Dr Gordon Wong

The Lord’s gentle leading

The Consecration Service of Bishop Dr Wong in December 2020

Some are placed in positions of spiritual authority within the Church because of dramatic, extraordinary encounters with God that transformed them irrevocably. Others have been quite the opposite— where God walked with them from young, moulding and preparing them along the way for the day when they would be ready for His service.

Bishop Dr Gordon Wong, 60, falls into the latter group.

In 2013, while a lecturer in Trinity Theological College (TTC), he was elected in a closed balloting exercise as President of the Trinity Annual Conference (TRAC), a position he never thought he would find himself in. In his early days as TRAC President, he had to straddle the two roles. With the Lord’s guidance, he went on to serve a second term before being elected the Bishop of The Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS) in late 2020, assuming the office officially in January 2021.

It was a touching moment to see his 98-year-old father turning up for the Bishop’s Consecration Service. “My father is a man of few words so he did not say much to me beyond congratulating me. But I could tell he was happy since he did turn up for my consecration,” beamed Bishop Dr Wong.

Journey into full-time ministry

Bishop Dr Wong is the youngest of the three sons of Mr Cecil Wong, a respected figure in the accounting industry. David Wong, the eldest, holds several key board positions in the corporate world. Bishop Dr Wong’s older brother by six years, Rev Dr Norman Wong, currently serves as a Methodist Welfare Services Chaplain.

Bishop Dr Wong was raised in a family with a deep relationship with the Lord. Like his father and brothers, he studied in the Anglo-Chinese schools. He has maintained a spirit of humility while nurturing a love for learning.

“Growing up in a Christian environment, it seemed a natural progression for me to have a developed faith in God. It also helped that in school, since it was a Christian one, there was not a problem in having students come together for activities like Bible study,” recounted Bishop Dr Wong. “In fact, it played a major part during my junior college days in ACJC, where we had regular cell groups that met weekly. From there, we had two members who went on to serve the Lord in various capacities like Rev Dr Kow Shih Ming (Pastor-in-Charge of Paya Lebar Methodist Church) and Dr Calvin Chong, a member of Covenant Community Methodist Church, who became a lecturer in Singapore Bible College.”

Was Bishop Dr Wong’s decision to become a pastor influenced by Rev Dr Norman Wong? After all, the older brother was one of the ACS Clock Tower boys, whose prayer movement sparked a spiritual revival in Singapore in the 1970s?

Being installed as TRAC President during its 37th Conference in 2012

“I was too young then to be directly involved in that movement,” said Bishop Dr Wong. “Norman would have been about 16 or 17 and I would be just 10. To be honest, I don’t really have any strong memory of the Clock Tower story except what I have read about it or what he told me.”

“For me, I have no dramatic testimony, unlike many others who may have had one and in turn made them go into ministry. Instead, all through my life God has given me opportunities both in school and church to serve. For instance, I was already teaching a Sunday School class at my home church, Wesley Methodist Church (MC), since I was 12! I would also go on to lead a cell group during my ACJC days. God exposed me in my early years to the varied aspects of church work and I found that I enjoyed them enough to make it my life’s work,” surmised Bishop Dr Wong.

“I think my father played an important role in all these as in he allowed me to do what I liked to do,” mused Bishop Dr Wong. “He was the kind of dad who was very supportive when I asked if I could go for a Theology degree. I suspect it was easier for me since Norman had already done it so a precedent had already been set.”

Bishop Dr Wong shared a particular dialogue with God while he was preparing for his O-level examinations. This was following a realisation that he had less interest in academic subjects (even though he was doing well in them) than his love for theological subjects.

“Since so much of my Christian journey was spent in the studying and teaching of biblical topics, it just seemed to me that it was something I would be happiest to continue to do long term. I said to the Lord: ‘Wouldn’t it be great if You would give me an opportunity to study for an exam on the Bible?’” laughed Bishop Dr Wong.

Journey to the Bishop’s Office

During Bishop Dr Wong’s National Service (NS) days, God arranged it so that he was able to maintain a regular schedule. Posted into a desk role, he had time to apply for and secure a place in London Bible College (now London School of Theology). His flexible NS duties also allowed him to accompany his pastor, Rev Dr Tony Chi, on various mission trips to assist in leading worship. These not only helped shape the former’s decision to become a pastor but also affirmed the latter’s encouragement for Bishop Dr Wong to seek formal theological education.

After graduating from London Bible College, Bishop Dr Wong served at Wesley MC as lay ministry staff before applying to be a Minister-on-Trial (MOT) in 1986. He would spend the next four years as MOT in Barker Road MC.

In 1991, TRAC established a scholarship to support its pastors for further theological studies to become eligible for teaching positions at TTC. Bishop Dr Wong was one of the pastors selected for the programme.

“Remember that prayer I said years before that wouldn’t it be good if God could put me in a position to study for an exam on the Bible? He made it come true again!”

From 1995 to 2013, Bishop Dr Wong pursued a PhD in Old Testament Studies at the University of Cambridge. He taught at TTC for 17 years in subjects such as Old Testament, Hebrew and Homiletics (methodology of preaching and writing sermons), where he was the Bishop William F Oldham Professor of Old Testament. It was a season Bishop Dr Wong looks back on fondly as he truly enjoyed being a Christian academic.

Ordaining the next generation of Deacons and Elders

Then-TRAC President Rev Dr Wong enjoyed a warm working relationship with the TRAC staff

He has written and published numerous books, including: The Power of Love: Earthly Pain and Heavenly Provision in the Book of Ruth; Faithful To The End: The Message Of Daniel For Life In The Real World; and God, Why? Habukkuk’s Struggle with Faith in a World Out of Control.

Challenges facing MCS

Right from the start of his term as Bishop, Bishop Dr Wong has made apparent what is on his heart for the Methodist community in Singapore, which also formed the basis of the theme for this year’s Aldersgate SG celebration weekend: “The prayer for me, my family and MCS therefore, will be the same and that is always to do with what I believe to be the greatest commandment God has given us: to love God and to love our neighbours as ourselves,” declared Bishop Dr Wong. “Please pray for the Church that more and more we will see that the primary mission of the Church is to help each other to love God, by loving our neighbours and to find all the different ways through which to make that a reality.”

This is a message that he also wants to express to people from other faith communities as he goes about representing MCS.

Indeed, loving God and our neighbours is so important for Bishop Dr Wong that he has earmarked it as a key challenge for MCS in addition to issues such as keeping congregations engaged and connected amidst the government’s restrictions during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Bishop Dr Wong with Lai Foon and their children, Deborah and Jeremy

Wedding photo of Bishop Dr Wong and his wife, Lai Foon

Family life

Bishop Dr Wong and his wife, Lai Foon, were married in 1988. They met when he was serving in Wesley MC. Together, they have raised Deborah and Jeremy.

“There is this truism about three groups of children born to parents who are busily engaged in church work. The first is ‘MK’, or missionary kids, the second is ‘PK’, meaning pastors’ kids and the third, ‘OK’,” laughed Bishop Dr Wong.

Highlighting a trend among offspring of church workers rebelling or even leaving the Church, he admitted that his children, growing up with a father who is a prominent pastor, President and now Bishop, have faced a certain level of external pressure. However, he makes it a point to emphasise to his children not to get stressed by this and engages them in conversations to keep their communication open.

Bishop Dr Wong would attribute his open communication with his children to how his own father had brought up his four children back in the day.

“My father’s manner of parenting was very loving in the sense that he is not the typical Chinese father figure who was all about the discipline. He was very encouraging and pretty much gave us the freedom to pursue our interests,” recalled Bishop Dr Wong. “ I suspect that kind of rubbed off on me and so I too, am not the strict kind of parent to my children. My wife is!”

Bishop Dr Wong shared an anecdote he uses in sermons and parenting talks to enlighten parents that their perspective on parenting may be diametrically different from their children’s.

“I often share this story where a father brought his son on a fishing trip. At the end of the day, the father wrote: ‘Spent a whole day fishing, no catch. A wasted day.’”

“However, as we turn to the entry written by the son, he wrote: ‘Spent a day fishing with dad, BEST. DAY. EVER.’”

Our children just want our time and love. May we always be parenting with these two things in mind.”