A newsletter o f T h e N a viga to rs S inga pore M C I ( P ) 185/03/2017
MAY 2017
Cheng King Fai and Yee spent two years in training with the Singapore Navigators before returning to their ministry in Hong Kong.
A SOJOURN IN THE TWIN CITY by Patricia Lian
Cheng King Fai and his wife Yee were university students in Hong Kong when they came to know Christ through a campus ministry that could trace its roots back to a Singapore doctor and his wife who were pioneers with the Singapore Navigators in the 1970s. This couple had migrated to Hong Kong and the faithful men they helped there continued to help others. A thriving campus ministry was born, totally ran by laypersons. When Fai and Yee felt the call to explore full-time ministry, they were the first couple in the ministry to do so and their mentor suggested that they join the Staffin-Training programme with the Singapore Navigators. It’s been two and a half years and NavNews catches up with the Chengs before they head back to Hong Kong. NN: How has the past two and a half years impacted both of you? Fai: Over the years when I served in the Hong Kong ministry, pride unknowingly developed in me. I thought I was a leader already. Coming to Singapore, a new environment and ministry, was enough to expose my flaws and weaknesses. Whether it be in speaking English or playing sports with the students, I felt out of my zone. The more flaws I found, the harder I worked to cover them. I became caught in a performance trap that left me exhausted. Reaching the point of helplessness, God reminded me of John 12:24 “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” To die to my old self! To stop thinking I was a leader but to take the position of a learner and a servant. When I was able to do that, I found freedom and joy! At the same time, I got to know a lot of godly people who were examples I could follow. Humility is not about denying myself (which is still about me), but to know deeply that a humbled heart is beautiful in the eyes of God and men — that is something I want to learn continually.
TOP: Leaders from Hong Kong praying over Fai and Yee before sending them off to join the Singapore Navigators. BOTTOM: Hong Kong mentors came to visit them with their Singapore mentors.
The NUS ministry where Fai and Yee served, held a farewell party for them and baby Caleb.
I am thankful that God gave me some faithful guys and He blessed the relationships these two years. However, there were relationships that ended sadly or suddenly. When these happened, my heart was tempted to fill up with bitterness and pain. I struggled with the feeling of being unappreciated. But the Holy Spirit reminded me that this was a very self-centred mindset. Did I want them to remember me for my sacrifice, or to remember God’s love and sacrifice? Every brokenness of my heart served to expose and purify my motives. Through the pain, I better understood God’s heart for people and His compassion for the lost. “There is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined.” (Job 28:1) God showed me that my impure love needs the refiner’s fire. If making disciples is about love, then I am glad God is teaching me how to make disciples.
Yee: I begin to understand what it means to help people become God’s disciples instead of my disciples. When I had some ladies who were growing well in their faith, I started to put a lot of expectations on them, hoping that they would grow “strong, faithful and committed” (as I saw it). These expectations put a lot of tension into the relationships, and became burdens. Many times I came before God in sorrow, asking Him what I could do about the situation and why these discouragements were happening. God showed me the control I was trying to have over the growth of the ladies I was supposed to help. I thought I could do something in that person’s life! But God showed me
in 1 Corinthians 3:6 that God is the only One who can help a person grow in Him. God humbled me and taught me that all I need to do is to always be ready to bring someone to Him and at the same time, not to trust in men or human effort. When I think about my life thus far, I am always the one who fail to meet God’s standard and go astray from His plan. Yet His love and grace never fail and He never stops guiding me back to Him. I am thankful.
Fai and Yee will continue to serve on a campus ministry in Hong Kong as full-time staff, while seeking God for the next step on their journey as disciple-makers.
THE GOSPEL FOR ALL OF LIFE What is The Gospel to you? How is it relevant to your life and ministry at this stage of life? These were two key questions we were asked to reflect on during the recent staff retreat. Goro Ogawa, former Country Leader of the Japan Navigators, shared with us his personal account of experiencing the Gospel in his life. He reminded us of how the Gospel is not simply a door to becoming a Christian. Rather, the Good News about Jesus is like a diamond with many facets. As time unfolds, each facet reveals its relevance to our lives, enabling us to live through every stage of our lives according to the glorious riches found in Christ Jesus.
Family); and in his 70s, The Gospel of Victory. In naming various dimensions of the Gospel, it has helped him remember the work of the Gospel in all of his life, so that in sharing his life stories with others, the glorious truths of the Gospel can be manifested to both believers and non-believers. After serving 43 years with The Navigators, Goro decided to retire in order to minister to the retirees. Together with his wife Sanae, they have committed themselves to bring the Gospel to the older generation in Japan. It is their hope that many in the evening of their lives will find peace and assurance in Christ.
The transforming power of the Gospel was real for Goro — In his 20s, the Gospel was to him The Gospel of Salvation; in his 30s, The Gospel of Discipleship; in his 40s, The Gospel of Peace; in his 50s, The Gospel for the Weak; in his 60s, The Gospel for Oikos (Greek for
Since the start of the year, our staff has been engaged with the Gospel. We pursued it and grew deeper into it with greater appreciation of what the Gospel is about. We shared with each other promises from the Word that we are trusting God for in our respective ministries. It is an inspiration to see people live out Gospel-centred lives, drawing strength from the Word as they fervently share His Good News with others.
Yap Kim Meng N AT I O N A L D I R E C TOR
We had the privilege of hearing from guest missionaries ministering at other parts of the world. Timothy and his wife came to share about their recent work in East Asia. Having served as a layperson for most of his life, Timothy stepped up to become a full-time labourer late in life. The Lord established the work of their hands as they led hundreds of students to Christ. They opened up their home and served the students sacrificially, using up tons of rice as they fed the students spiritually and physically. It was said literally in Chinese that the students ‘ate their way to heaven’ (从食堂吃到天堂). A female student, touched by the meal she was offered, broke down and cried as she admitted about her insecurities — not having a place to stay, going through a tough time sorting out her courses. What the couple gave was more than just a simple meal; they pointed her to Jesus, God’s greatest gift to her and the rest of the world. May we be encouraged as we bear the Good News of God to others. “For Christ’s love compels us” (2 Corinthians 5:14). In the words of Jerry Bridges, ‘to be compelled is to be highly motivated. That is, we are to be motivated by Christ’s love for us. And where do we learn of His love? Where do we hear Him say, “I love you”? It is in the gospel.’
‘GRACE’ IS THE ANSWER by Hewbert Chew and Loo Jia Yu “Amazingly, our greatest contributions came from our nonbelieving friends!” exclaimed Kathleen Ho, an Accountancy freshman. “Kai Zhu, a friend I invited, was the quickest to solve a crucial puzzle to which the answer was ‘Grace’. When I asked her how she derived the answer, she said, ‘Christianity and Jesus is all about grace.’”
To help everyone escape from the room, participants have to solve 1 out of 4 major puzzles before getting to the final round of challenge. NTU Nav Students Charmaine Lau, Hewbert Chew, Huang Bo Can and Jeremy Sim were the masterminds behind the games.
Everyone walks a different path in life. We encounter different challenges and trials. Some of us find the answer quickly, others have longer routes to take, but at the end, we find that the answer is — that God by His grace, sent his son, Jesus, as the answer to set us free from the eternal bondage of sin and death. In an effort to bring across this meaningful message to non-believing friends on campus, the NTU Navs initiated an Escape Room game to draw parallels between life and the Gospel for a Good Friday outreach event. From piecing words together with ice-cream sticks, to finding a way to reveal words yet to be seen, participants in 4 teams, had to simultaneously work through 4 different puzzle tracks, converging at the end to bring to light the central theme “Freedom in Jesus, by faith, through grace.” Even as the organising team planned and designed the puzzles, we could see how God’s grace played a significant part in enabling the work of their hands. Bo Can, in his third year studying Electrical and Electronic Engineering, shared with us how God and his peers encouraged him in the process:
Bo Can’s game combines Scripture and Mathematics. Part of the game involves moving all layers of the pyramid one by one, without placing a larger piece onto a smaller piece.
“I was slightly hopeless and of little faith before the meetings started, as I am not creative at all to come out with games. Then we prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide us, and it was amazing to see how puzzles came alive in our hands. I believe our work has glorified God, seeing how everyone enjoyed the games and got to know more about Jesus. Through this experience, I now have greater confidence that God can work anything beyond my earthly mind. I learned patience and grew closer with others in the Nav community.” Truly, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)
NEW IN THE FAMILY Abner Yee met The Navigators 9 years ago when he was a student at The Singapore Polytechnic (SP). By God’s grace and through the diligence of God’s people, Abner has come to experience God personally in His Word. Just as he has been blessed, he too desire to be God’s channel of blessing. Abner has been active with the SP Navs since then, and recently took up the baton as their ministry leader. He shares about how God led him to come on staff under the EDGE program: ‘I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind…’ (1 Samuel 2:35a) These words caught my attention as I was reading the Bible last year in January. I pondered over them and told God that I wanted to be that man.
Later in August, while doing Quiet Time on Mark 14, I saw how Jesus called what others regarded as an act of “wasting more than a year’s wages”, “a beautiful thing.” That led me to think, how beautiful would it be to Jesus, if I were to “waste” on
Him my lifetime’s worth of wages? God wants me to use my lifetime to do what is in His heart and mind. Yet, the potential to align my ministry with the heart of Christ is beyond my imagination, for which I can only offer my humble service for His use.
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A few months into full-time ministry, Abner was one of the leaders who taught at the recent SP camp “Renew Your Vision.” He led a workshop on Initial Follow-Up and encouraged the participants to do so with Prayer, Scripture, Love and Example. Two campers shared their reflection from the camp below.
The calling of The Navigators is to advance the gospel of Jesus and his kingdom into the nations through spiritual generations of labourers living and discipling among the lost. Views expressed in published articles are those of the individual writers and may not necessarily be the views of The Navigators Singapore.
National Director:
Hau Wei (Year 2 Student), first-time camper: I learned that God is behind us as we reach out to our family. He is the One who orchestrates and brings different ones to Him. All I need to do is just to surrender to Him and trust Him totally. I want to devote my life fully to God, and let Him use me as His instrument.
Yap Kim Meng
Writers: Hewbert Chew, Loo Jia Yu, Patricia Lian
Editor: Loo Jia Yu
Benjamin (SP graduate), working adult: When our camp speaker asked, “Is there a person you find impossible to witness to?” I knew God was talking to me about a trouble-making colleague. God showed me that in Jesus’ name, I can forgive and love those who have hurt me... To attain and store up eternal treasures at my eternal home. There is nothing in my life more urgent, nor any possession of the world more important than the gospel of Christ in my life.
Design & Layout: Loo Jia Yu
Photographers: Abner Yee, Cheng King Fai, Loo Jia Yu, Chong Lee Yin
Printer: Seng Lee Press © 2017 by The Navigators Singapore