Pastoral Letters

The Church’s Responsibility to the World

May 24, 2015 Author:Pastor Andrew Tan
Jesus commands us to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19) At another time, Jesus tells his disciples more specifically, that they are to be His witness, that is, to tell people about Jesus in “Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In other words, the church has a responsibility not only to preach the gospel to people we know, including our family, relatives and friends. The Lord commands us to preach the gospel to complete strangers, including those beyond Singapore. A failure to do so constitutes blatant disobedience to God.

But this act of refusing to bring the gospel to strangers is not only an act of disobedience; it is also a heartless act. Not too long ago in a certain country, a young child was badly injured by the road side. What angered many people was that no one stopped by to help the child. Perhaps, the passer bys feared that this might be a scam. This worry, however, is not acceptable as the fact remains that the child is indeed badly injured.

Dear Christians, we cannot not save the child. In the same way, we cannot not do something to save people out of hell. Inconvenience, being busy, tired, are all not reasonable reasons not to preach the gospel to strangers. You must do something. You owe it to God and to these lost souls the preaching of the gospel that can bring them salvation, without which they will perish in hell for all eternity.

Today, we are not going to have our usual Sunday Schools. Instead, we will attend a training session to learn how to get to know the residents in our neighbourhood. This training is necessary as we are total strangers to them. It is only natural that they will have reservations about talking to us. We hope, by this training session, they will come to know us as sincere friends as this is what we indeed are.

We will learn how to introduce ourselves to the residents. We will also learn what we should and should not do. As much as we are sincere, we also need to learn to approach these residents in a way that will not be offensive to them. If you are serious about doing gospel work, and if you really love the Lord and these lost souls, please stay back for the training.

On the 31st of May, the church will visit two designated HDB blocks. We have many several hundred homes to visit. Hence, we need everyone to help. This includes babies, children, teens, adults and the elderly brothers and sisters in the Lord. We need people who can speak English, Chinese, and dialects. On this day, we will distribute gifts to these residents. Hopefully, by these gifts, the residents will know that we are good and sincere people who have their interests at heart. I understand that it is a challenge to have to talk to strangers. What if they scold us or reject us? Do not worry. Let’s pray and ask God for courage and wisdom. Ask God to soften and prepare the hearts of these residents. Start praying every day from today onwards, both for yourselves and the residents whom you are going to meet.

Doing gospel work is hard work. But God promises us: “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them” (Psa 126:5-6).