Dear All, as there is “live” singing in church, the government requires ALL to be fully vaccinated if you wish to attend worship service in church premises starting 22 Aug 2021. If you are not vaccinated, you can do a Pre-Event Testing (PET) so that you can attend worship in church premises.

If you are a regular worshipper in TOLCC, and you are not vaccinated for some reasons, you can take the Pre-Event Testing and the church will subsidise you up to $40. Please give to Chen Ming the receipt and she’ll reimburse you. This is to encourage you to come for worship in church premises for your spiritual health. Please ensure that your test results are valid within a 24-hour period . . .

The church will provide the subsidy starting August until the end of November. The motivation for this subsidy is two-fold. As we have emphasised several times, first, worshipping God online or at home is simply unconducive as there are so many distractions. Second, Christians need fellowship, and fellowship is only wholesome when we see each other physically, not through social media like Facebook or even Zoom. Thus, you must return to church premises for worship. But if you wish to return to church premises for worship, you need to be fully vaccinated, which happens two weeks after you take your second dose of vaccination.

I urge you to be vaccinated. Of course, if medical personnel certify you as medically unfit for vaccination, then you should not take the vaccination. If not, I strongly encourage you to be vaccinated. Undeniably, like most if not all vaccinations, there are risks to your health, including the approved vaccinations offered by Pfizer and Moderna. No one can coerce you into vaccination. Everyone must make his or her decision whether or not to be vaccinated because in the event that your health is compromised, you, and not the one who encourages you to be vaccinated, have to face the consequences. Why, then, should we be vaccinated? Is it not better to avoid the risks altogether?

First, the Singapore government has repeatedly emphasised that these vaccinations are safe (with minimal risks) if you are certified medically fit for vaccination. Most people who have been vaccinated using Pfizer and Moderna in the world and in Singapore, including many people around you, are well after both doses. Second, as our government has emphasised, the advantages of being vaccinated using Pfizer and Moderna outweigh the risks. For one, you are protected. Also, you reduce the risk of infecting people around you, including your loved ones. Third, with vaccination, you can attend Sunday Worship service in church premises. This is important for your spiritual well-being, as I have emphasised above. In other words, be vaccinated for the sake of your spiritual health and for God.

As I have said, if you are medically unfit, do not take the vaccination. Otherwise, please be vaccinated. Vaccination is in the process of becoming a prerequisite for a new-normal daily life. There is no such thing as zero-risk or risk-free life. It is both impractical and does not exist. Even crossing the road or waking up from sleep involve risk. We have to co-exist with risks, including germs, everywhere and every day. You have no choice. The daily risks that a normal human being faces and must face are not foolish risks but controlled risks. Vaccination is one such controlled risk. Then we can live a normal life, including following and serving our Lord. As we do our part in taking the necessary vaccinations as guided by medical advisories, we do not need to fear because the one who decides our well-being is not the vaccinations or medical experts. The one who ensures our well-being is our Almighty God, Jesus Christ who is our Saviour. Our Saviour “who watches over you will not slumber nor sleep . . . He will watch over your life” (Psa 121:3, 7). As you take vaccination for the sake of the things of God, He will also provide you the necessary strength to live life: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt 6:33).