Missions ¢ Dr Lionel Lee is a retired SAF Brigadier-General and a former Professor with NTU. He was the Chief of the SAF Medical Corps, Director of the Defence Medical and Environmental Research Institute and the Executive Vice Dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. A member of Charis Methodist Church, he has been involved in the Education and Missions ministries of The Methodist Church in Singapore serving on the Boards of Geylang Methodist Schools, Vineyard Methodist School and Little Candles Methodist School.
Education
as a missions endeavour “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Prov 22:6
J
apanese gardens provide a stunning visual experience—trees are beautifully shaped in ways that are very pleasing to the eye. The clever gardener can envision the potential beauty of each young sapling and guide its growth so that eventually each tree will be shaped differently yet be equally pleasing. To achieve this effect, gardeners prune and sculpt the trees during their early growth, and shoots are guided around wires. The twists and turns of the young tree’s stems and branches are supported until the trunk is stronger. In the end, these trees are shaped to their natural inclinations and bents. We could view the nurturing of children in the same way. Wise teachers and parents will teach and guide their children, understanding the latter’s natural inclinations and “bends”. They can recognise and support desirable tendencies whilst smoothing the rough patches and shaping out undesirable attributes.
24
|
METHODIST MESSAGE SEPTEMBER 2020
This was the aspiration of Singapore Methodist Missions when the Rev William F. Oldham set up Singapore’s first Methodist English language school in 1886, giving birth to the educational mission of The Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS). Today we have 14 Methodist schools and these schools have impacted many generations of students and brought many young pupils to Christ. This is also the aspiration of the educational mission of Methodist Missions Society (MMS) in Chiangmai. The Bible teaches that every child should be given the chance to start right. We aim for this in our two schools, the Vineyard Methodist School in Sansai district at the outskirts of Chiangmai and the Little Candles Methodist School in Phrao, a two-hour journey to the north. When Bishop Emeritus Dr Robert Solomon asked me to set up a School Board for the Vineyard Methodist School
