A n e w s l e tter o f The N a viga to rs S in ga po re M C I (P ) 047/03/2020
JUL 2020
Navstaff Robert Goh celebrated his 80th birthday in April this year, marking his 50th year in serving the Lord at Navigators. Find out what motivates him and how he spent his birthday this year! (Image Credit: Phek Tin)
LIFELONG LABOURING
How does the younger generation perceive older people and how do you integrate with them?
By Robert Goh
R
obert Goh, our senior Navstaff, celebrated his 80th birthday in April this year. We thank God for his continued and unwavering faithfulness in serving the Lord at Navigators for the past 50 years. As his birthday was during the “Circuit Breaker” period, he had a one-of-a-kind birthday celebration this year which was held online over Zoom with Ngee Ann Poly (NP) Nav Alumni, and another with the National Executive Team (NET).
The younger people whom my wife and I disciple interact well with us and we have received respect from them as elders. Many have told us that they feel comfortable with us and regard and relate to us as teachers; for some, as parents or grandparents. When we make young people the focus of our attention and show them that we care for them and love them, age is not an issue. What are some of the challenges that you face? I do not operate at an optimal level now as I used to but I accept it as part of the ageing process. Tiredness and lethargy sometimes creep in and forgetfulness is now a “byword”. I try to exercise 5–6 times a week, get adequate rest and pay attention to my diet. For things beyond my control, I commit them to the Lord. I have never felt social stigma or marginalized for my age because of my security in Christ. What will be your advice to younger people who aspire to labour for a lifetime?
Birthday celebration over Zoom with NP Nav Alumni (Image Credit: Jennifer Tan)
As there is no retirement in God’s ministry, let us find out how Robert stays motivated and faithful in serving the Lord! What keeps you motivated to continue to be involved in ministry at 80?
Strengthen your personal walk with the Lord and have a clear defined vision of what a labourer is and does. Ensure that you have an undying love for people and God and that your commitment, perseverance and faith is strong. Obey the Word and trust God for fruit (John 15:1-5). Equip yourself and others with the truth (2 Timothy 2:15) and be engaged with like-minded people who are labouring amongst the lost. What are your future plans?
What keeps me motivated is my deep conviction that I can help fulfil Christ’s Great Commission –– to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18-20). Even in old age, God can still use us and we will still bear fruit (Psalms 92:12-15). I thank God for Phek Tin, my devoted wife and companion who encourages me and has served faithfully alongside me in the gospel as a fellow labourer and soldier these 50 years. We have been privileged to work together to share Christ and help many students, adults and elderly understand and respond to Christ’s offer of forgiveness of sins and receive new life in Him. Seeing them grow in love and maturity as they follow Jesus gives us joy and it has been a rewarding experience. As long as God gives me health, strength and mental capacity, I will continue to proclaim Christ and make Him known.
As the Lord leads, we will persevere and stay faithful in the work God entrusts to us and raise up labourers from the people we are investing our lives in.
Robert Goh celebrated his 80th birthday in April. (Image Credit: Eugene Goh)
LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS By NUS and NP-SIM-TP Ministries
E
ven when we don’t see it, God is working. Though we may not always understand, for His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9), we know that God has allowed the coronavirus pandemic for His purposes and reasons (Romans 8:28). Despite the country’s lockdown and many businesses being forced to close temporarily, our ministries are still hard at work and the advancement of the gospel has not stopped. Let us take a look at some of our ministry highlights during this period of COVID-19: NUS Ministry Ministry Work Ministry work has not stopped. Our NUS labourers have been meeting online at 8am from Monday to Friday each week to have Quiet Time sharing and Bible studies. Despite the social isolation and exam preparations, our students exhibited high morale and eagerness for fellowship and diligence in studying God’s word. Daily Thanksgiving One of the ministry highlights during the lockdown period was to share thanksgiving items with one another, so as to remind ourselves to be thankful for all the blessings in our lives, big or small. The Nav labourers as well as the individual ministry teams have set up their own thanksgiving chat groups where students and graduates can share their thanksgiving items throughout the day to honour the Lord and encourage one another.
“Dear Lord, thank you for the prayer time with Amanda and Ruth today where we learn how to pray like Jesus. Thank you for Amanda who has been enjoying Quiet Time more in the mornings and for her willingness to join our Quiet Time sessions again. Thank you for Ruth who can journey with Amanda and see her grow and mature in her spiritual walk. And thank you Lord for taking such delight in making your heart known to us. How blessed we are to be able to know all these great and unsearchable things about you and your great plan of salvation!” Salvation & Discipleship We would also like to thank God for the salvation of souls during this time. By God’s grace, three individuals –– Samuel, Felicia and James (alias) have decided to commit their lives to Jesus recently. James has been seeking God for some time and got acquainted with the Navigators through his Junior College friend who is one of our NUS Nav members. He did Bible studies with one of our labourers for a few weeks before deciding to accept Christ on 1 Apr 2020. Samuel, who has been doing Bible studies with his mentor for the past one year, accepted Christ on the same day. In compliance with the Circuit Breaker measures, follow-up sessions with their mentors were done online over Zoom.
James learnt how to do Quiet Time over an online Zoom meeting with his mentor, Zhenyang who led him to Christ. (Image Credit: Zhenyang)
Girls’ Fellowship over an online Zoom meeting (Image Credit: Astrid)
The following prayer is one of the thanksgiving items shared by one of the members in the chat group:
Felicia has been joining several of NUS ministry activities this semester. It was during the online Bible discussion over Zoom on 11 April 2020 when her mentor found out that she was ready to accept Christ. The lockdown did not stop her hunger and fire for God’s word. She continued with the Bible study discussions online, which eventually led her to make the decision of committing her life to Christ. We praise and thank God!
NP-SIM-TP Ministry Serving Others Some of our labourers have even stepped up to serve the migrant workers at their dormitories in the fight against COVID-19. Here is a sharing from Kah Yin about her experience: “I am really thankful that I had the chance to serve the migrant workers. They are very loveable, cooperative, humble, appreciative and they are very precious in God’s eyes. When I was praying for the migrant workers, the Holy Spirit moved me to tears as I realised that I had only joined the operation for three days and I was already feeling so uncomfortable with the full protective suit on due to the heat and sweat. On the other hand, the migrant workers have been working tirelessly for long hours each day in the heat, yet they persevered. Their circumstances at work are more difficult than what I experienced during those three days, and there is no way I can compare my service for them to what they have done for our country. May each one of them know this one true God who loves them so much and how they are very precious in His eyes.”
Various small groups in the ministry also gather online via Zoom at 6 am every Saturday to pray for the nations using materials from prayercast.com. Some even pray daily.” To get the ministry teams to go beyond themselves and encourage each other during the crisis, each week, a team will prepare (1) A Creative Encouragement Video & (2)Testimony of Personal Thanksgivings/Lessons and present it to the ministry on Sundays.
The guys’ team produced an encouragement video during the Circuit Breaker period to encourage one another. (Image Credit: Viloane Ko)
Praying for the Nations & Discipleship First Evangelism Fruit Joelle found out that a few of her friends were entering Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP). Her team leader asked her if she would like to reach out to them to share the gospel. Joelle shared that she actually had thoughts about doing it last year but was too afraid. Joelle’s leader encouraged her to carry out her plan by using the CCA (Co-Curricular Activity) fiesta period as an opportunity to reach out.
Praying for the nations during a virtual dawn prayer meeting. (Image Credit: Viloane Ko)
Viloane, Ministry leader of the NP-SIM-TP Ministry shares with us some of the ministry activities that took place during the Circuit Breaker period: “The alarm goes off at 5.30am every morning and my wife’s morning routine begins––an online meeting on Zoom with a few ladies she has been discipling to pray for the nations.
Joelle used the Navigators’ resource ‘Bridge-To-Life’ to assist her in her gospel sharing. It was the Circuit Breaker period, hence she shared the gospel with her friend over an online Zoom session. To Joelle’s delight, her friend received Christ after her sharing. She described how surreal the experience was as it happened so quickly and unexpectedly! “It feels so surreal, like a dream that it could just happen like that!” she said. And that was Joelle’s first evangelism fruit. We thank God for Joelle who stepped out in courage to reach out to her friend. Indeed, we never know if we don’t try. Let our faith be greater than our fear!
BOARD OF GOVERNANCE In the last issue, we had three of our BOG members to share their journey with the Navigators. This time, we have the other three members––Yap Kim Meng, Viloane Ko and Alex Lo to share their story with us!
Yap Kim Meng
Viloane Ko On 22 November 2016, Mr. Yap Kim Meng was appointed by the Asia-Pacific Leadership Team as the new National Director of the Singapore Navigators.
“I was a 17-year-old Singapore Poly student when I met the Navigators through a Sunday School teacher at church. He was a Nav-trained person who discipled me. I then became his ‘insideman’ and helped to lead fellow students to Christ. After my National Service, my leader encouraged me to stay on in the Army to disciple those whom we have led to Christ. I stayed for 11 years before I came on full-time at Navigators––it has been 36 years since. One-on-one discipleship is the hallmark of Navigators. It was a privilege––a special, treasured occasion––to learn to follow Jesus with someone guiding and showing you the way. I realised that not everyone was brought up in this way. Hence it became a debt to repay and a great way to live out obedience to Christ by helping and training others in the same way. There is no other way or a better way.”
Viloane graduated with a PhD from the National University of Singapore (NUS) Graduate School for Integrative Sciences & Engineering in 2008. He served a 3-year bond with A*STAR before deciding to join the Navigators as a fulltime staff. “I did not come from a Christian family, but the Lord led me to a divine encounter with a Navigators missionary on campus (NUS). My spiritual growth was marked by this man who walked alongside me and discipled me in all the ups and downs of life. Sharing our lives together, I had the privilege to watch how he devotes himself to Scripture and prayer daily, while pouring his life into discipling others. His life modelled Jesus’ heart for individuals and the commitment to disciplemaking and servanthood. Looking back, I am deeply grateful for meeting the Navigators, encountering Jesus Christ and embarking on a lifelong journey of following Him. My close association with the Navigators community has served to lay a strong foundation of discipleship in my life which has moulded me into the person I am today.”
Alex Lo Alex Lo is the founding Director of TechSource Systems, a software distribution company with offices in ASEAN. “I came to Christ during my first year in Singapore Polytechnic (SP) in 1980 through a Campus Crusade student who witnessed to me during lunch. Initially I was skeptical and I even challenged God to ‘make me believe’ in him if he were so powerful. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by a fear I could not explain, and I knew I had done something wrong by challenging this supreme being. That was when that student asked me if I wanted to receive Christ. To my own disbelief, I said “Yes.” I became a Christian but didn’t know what to do next. Several days later, two students from SP Navigators approached me and invited me to join them for Bible Study. I was discipled by one of them for about a year. I soon got involved in serving with the Navigators, learning from my mentor and leading freshmen in their walk with Christ. Two good habits that I acquired from the Navigators are Scripture memory and personal devotions (Quiet Time). It has been 30 years since I joined the Navigators, and these habits have been very helpful in keeping my relationship with God going.”
www.navigators.org.sg
FROM THE NATIONAL DIRECTOR
@SingaporeNavigators The Navigators Singapore, 117 Lor K, Telok Kurau, Singapore 425758 Tel: (65) 6344 4133 Email: admin@navigators.org.sg
Yap Kim Meng
Psalms 60:12 (ESV) states, “It is he who will tread down our foes”. The cry to persevere is reinforced with strong resolute trust in victory given by the Lord. Our call to obey God is not dependent on our circumstances; rather, we are to claim His strength in the midst of trying times, and to trust that we will prevail and overcome. Isaiah 64:4 highlights that the Lord works on our behalf: “Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” Even when we don’t see it, God is working. We only need to stand back and trust that He will work things out for us. Despite the campus lockdown, we have been getting new connections from all walks of life, which we saw as a great opportunity for us to share the gospel with others. The advancement of the gospel has not stopped and people are coming to Christ. The lockdown has carved time out for us to focus our attention back to Him and to spend more time with Him in his word, praying and reflecting.
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. All Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® Copyright © 1984, unless otherwise stated.
National Director: Yap Kim Meng Editor, Designer: Chelsia Chan Printer: Seng Lee Press © 2020 by The Navigators Singapore
There are now more opportunities than before for families to bond as family members are spending more time with each other at home –– having meals together, learning to live in harmony with each other and treasuring time spent together. The pace of life has slowed a little; we rest while He works on our behalf. It is He who treads down our foes.
PRAYER PULSE Nav Community Ministry (NCM) NCM invited 5 speakers from New Zealand, USA, Canada and Singapore in Apr/May to speak about faith amid the current world situation. Seminars were conducted online over Zoom. People from all over the world attended the sessions, with an increasing number of attendees––50 to 100 over the last sessions. Pray that the upcoming sessions (from Jun to Oct) would be uplifting to those who need encouragement. Divine Connections With schools and campuses reopening, pray that the Lord will entrust us with new contacts from referrals from friends and people that we meet.
Online Ministry Pray for lives to be touched and transformed even as we carry out our Ministry work (Evangelism, Disicpleship, Bible Study) online through virtual platforms. Relationships at Home Pray for deepened relationships between family members and broken family ties to be restored. Blessings & Protection In 1 Chronicles 4:10, we saw how God granted Jabez’s request for blessings and protection. Let Jabez’s prayer be our prayer for this season and for God to work mightily in our lives.