It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Hence, I urge you to be faithful in attending Sunday Worship service, classes, and fellowship meetings. They are how God feeds and protects you. Resist sin—you can. Trust and obey the Lord even in unfavourable situations—he will protect you.

We hold this annual meeting because we are responsible to the Singapore government and the congregation. In the rest of this pastoral letter, I want to explain our church government, that is, who holds authority in church. There are three types of church government: Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Congregational. Tree of Life Christian Church practises “Congregational” church government. Let me explain.

Episcopal: Here authority resides in a particular office—the bishop. There can be various levels of bishops: the simplest is the Methodist which has only one level of bishops. The Anglican or Episcopal Church has several levels. The Roman Catholic Church has the most complete system in terms of levels of bishops—the bishop of Rome, that is, the pope holds the highest authority. In the Methodist church, for example, the power of bishops is greater than ordinary pastors. The bishops govern and care for a group of churches rather than just one local church (a particular church in a particular location). Thus, the bishops hold great authority which can overrule the wishes of individual believers.

Presbyterian: The presbyterian system also places authority in a particular office. It differs from the episcopal system in that authority is found more in a series of representative bodies than in an individual office or office holder. By “representative” it means these bodies represent the authority of individual believers which Christ gave to believers. The key officer is the elder, more precisely, a group of elders. As an example, a local church is governed by the “session” (we do not use this term as we are not Presbyterian; our equivalent term is “Church Committee”). Authority resides in the elders of that local church. As an example of “representative bodies,” all local churches in an area are governed by a group of elders who come from different local churches. They represent the authority of believers of different churches.

Congregational: The congregational system of church government emphasises two aspects: autonomy and democracy. First, autonomy. This means that the local congregation, for instance, Tree of Life Christian Church, is independent and self-governing. No external power can dictate the actions a local church is to take. Second, democracy. This means that every member of a local congregation or church possesses and exercises this authority (rule by all; direct democracy; congregational). It is neither monarchical (rule by one; episcopal) nor oligarchical (rule by a few; representative democracy; presbyterian). The authority that elders and deacons possess are delegated by individual believers of the local church (this is similar to the Presbyterian system). Denominations which practise congregational government include Baptists, Congregationalists, and most Lutherans.

The correct form of church government is not as clear as we would want it. But I believe that the congregational form (which emphasises autonomy and democracy) is well supported by the Bible. First, autonomy. The Book of Acts and the epistles do not mention powers outside the local church for making decisions. Second, democracy. The congregational system takes seriously the principle of the priesthood and spiritual competency of all believers (Rom 5:1-2; I Tim 2:5). That is, all believers are capable of relating to God directly. Moreover, every believer has spiritual gifts that can contribute to making decisions (Rom 12; 1 Cor 12). Also, in the New Testament, the whole church was often involved in decision making, including choosing someone to succeed Judas (Acts 1) and sending people to Antioch: “Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas” (Acts 15:22).

Regarding our church doctrinal beliefs, please refer to our church website. Some distinctives are: reformed (moderately Calvinistic; not hyper-Calvinism); dispensational premillennialism (in eschatology).