Renewing My Relationship with God – Brother Chester Lai

I was born into a Christian family. Since young, I attended church with my family. I do not have vivid memories of my early childhood in church. I do, however, remember the basics that God so love the world he gave his only Son to die for our sins. I grew up with Christian friends in Sunday school and attended cell group meetings weekly with my parents (albeit that it was mainly kids gathering to play).

To be honest, I do not have a specific date or time when I formally accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour. I was taught since young that we are all sinners, and that only by God’s grace and sacrifice for us that we are forgiven. This was something taught me from young and something I have personally accepted it as far as I can remember. I know I am far from being the perfect Christian, but thanks to my parents and the way they have brought me up—I can say I personally never had any doubts about the fact that I am a Christian.

I have to admit that I have not been doing many things that I should be doing especially when I was in my teenage or young adult life—keeping my Quiet Time. I had never been someone who enjoyed reading no matter the type of text. I also first started attending church on my own independently from my parents when I turned 21 as it was then when they first allowed me to attend a church of my choice—I attended New Creation Church. My walk with God was also distanced when I started my first job at a bank. There I was required to work two or three Sundays a month, during which I only managed to attend church about once a month. I was also very focused on my career as making more money was my main goal to which I dedicated most of my time at work.

Things changed mainly this year when my parents asked me to attend TOLCC for my marriage counselling with Pastor Andrew. Attending a more Bible and Scripture focused church and with personal Bible study lessons with Pastor Andrew really made me realise that despite being a Christian for so many years, there were still so many things about the Bible that I did not know of. It also strengthened my faith in God. For the first time in many years, this made me want to read the Bible more. One of the things that Pastor Andrew mentioned that really stuck with me was that “because the word of God is God-breathed, the Bible has all the answers to life.” As I have begun my daily Quiet Time, I also realised a change in my life. Every time I faced a problem, instead of trying to solve it myself or use a “worldly” means, I would now think how God would want me to go about facing and solving these issues. The results have been amazing.  For example, I have been exposed to hearing and sometimes even spouting vulgarities unknowingly probably because you hear it so often nowadays, be it in the army or workplace, etc., that I have become numb to it. But after having read numerous verses and even chapters in the Bible that we need to be mindful of our tongue, I started to make an effort to stay away from it. At first, it was difficult as sometimes it would just be a habit or slip of the tongue. With prayer and being extra conscious about it, now knowing that it greatly displeases the lord, however, I have been able to almost completely remove these terms out of my life. Right now, even hearing songs with those words can make me uncomfortable and makes me want to turn them off.

I want to transfer my membership to TOLCC as the past few months of attending church here has really renewed my faith in God as well as my thirst for the word of God. I believe it can help me set my heart on God which is especially important as I begin this new phase in my life of getting married and potentially raising a family.

To Live by Faith and Not by Sight – Sister Cheryl Tan

I was born in a Buddhist household, and my first exposure to Christ was when I was enrolled in a Presbyterian Primary School, a stone throw’s away from my house. I enjoyed the daily learnings and singspirations, but I never felt the need to further explore the religion. When I was young, on special occasions, my family would prepare offerings to both the Bodhisattva statue and the ancestral tablets placed in my house. My parents would instruct me to hold joss sticks towards the statue and tablets and pray (bai bai) to them. Thereafter, I would follow them out of our house and they would burn the papers in a red metal tin.

I met my fiancé in the university and some years after, he brought me to New Creation Church. We attended the sessions together with some friends. While this increased the exposure towards Christ, looking back, it did not strengthen my faith and conviction as much as I thought it would.

I first came to attend Tree of Life Christian Church (TOLCC) early in 2023 because my fiancé and I were recommended by his father to attend a few of Pastor Andrew’s marriage counselling sessions as we embarked on our marriage journey. Even though we were not yet members of his church, Pastor Andrew provided personalised marriage counselling sessions and Bible study classes. This class stressed how we, as a couple, must start our lives together on the right foot and advocated how important reading and studying the Bible are to all Christians, old and young alike.

I am a sinner and need the Lord’s forgiveness. On Easter Sunday, under Pastor’s guidance, I repeated after him as he recited the Sinner’s Prayer and received Jesus as my personal Saviour. As I started attending church weekly and coupled with the many sessions of Bible study and marriage counselling, some of the lessons learnt really stuck with me and made a lot of sense. For example, I have always known the fact that money can cause a lot of friction in relationships. Growing up, my mother had always emphasised to me the importance of having my own money even after being married in case of any emergency. There was a particular session with Pastor that shed a lot of light to me as he mentioned to both me and my fiancé that the godly way of handling finances was to share everything as we would be one body at marriage in the eyes of the Lord. As the details of why it should be done the godly manner, it suddenly made sense to me that by doing so we can remove many potential conflicts that is so evidently shown in many “worldly marriages” today.

Another habit Pastor Andrew encouraged both me and my fiancé to start was our daily Quiet Time. At first, it seemed a feat to clock in at least five sessions weekly. However, as time progressed and as I consciously made an effort to stick to it, I personally felt a change in my own life as well. Besides being now a very sacred time of the day for me, where I can put aside stress from my daily life and wholly focus on the word of God, I feel a lot more grounded after my readings as I feel that I am not alone anymore—He will be there every step of the way, through all walks of my life.

I have made the decision to join TOLCC and be baptised because I feel that not only will it help me to put my focus on God, I also believe it is a vital step to take as my fiancé and I embark on our journey in marriage together.