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Building the Church

We’ve often heard that the Seed Fund faith journey is not merely about a church building, but building the church. How does our giving actually lead to the building of the church?
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Rev Dr Chua Chung Kai

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My Journey as a Faith-Raising Chairman

The Search
In 2008, when we had to renew the lease of our church office at Bukit Merah Central, our search for a third property began. It was to be a production and training centre with office spaces to support it.

As chairman of the Property Search Task Force, finding a non-residential property of about 20,000 sq ft at the fringe of the central business district and near an MRT station, at a price of not more than $1,000 psf, was not an easy job.

Nevertheless, I was mindful to approach the project with our core value of efficacy, and not effectiveness or efficiency. We waited upon the Lord to do the God-thing, in God’s time, in God’s way, with God’s motive, to achieve the God-result. We did not attempt to maximize our search by putting up advertisements, contacting as many estate agents as possible, viewing every prospective property, etc. We simply waited for divine appointments to accomplish the divine assignment in divine alignment.

The Lord Has Spoken
Lo and behold, I was introduced to a Christian fundraiser for a Christian charitable organisation, who knew the developer of CT Hub and saw the development as a potential for Christian organisations that needed large spaces for their use. The developer gave us a free hand in taking as much space as we wanted. It was both a privilege and an awesome responsibility.

 

As the chairman of the Task Force, I wanted to be doubly sure that CT Hub was the place from the Lord. One part of me was tempted to take more space, given the attractive price and features. The other part of me believed that no matter how attractive the place was, if it was not from the Lord, we must give it a miss and look elsewhere.

In my solitude time, the Lord spoke to me from Exodus 16. In verse 16, on the manna that the Lord was going to provide, the Lord commanded the Israelites through Moses, “Everyone is to gather as much as they need …” and added that no one was to keep any of it until morning. While the majority obeyed, some Israelites paid no attention to the command and kept part of it until morning. However, the next day, it was full of maggots and began to smell.

 

Additionally, God commanded the people that on the sixth day, they were to collect twice as much for each person as the seventh day would be a day of Sabbath rest (v.26). Nevertheless, some people disobeyed and went out to gather manna on the seventh day, but they found none. Such is the kiasu spirit of a man.

The Lord impressed upon me from these two incidents, “Take only what you need. Don’t look for what I have already provided.” There were no accidents! The Lord had spoken. My heart was rested. The Lord had identified — and provided — His third property for Covenant EFC. But that’s not the end of the story!

Platform for Faith-Raising
Having found the property, I thought my job was done. But it was not so. Elder Hock Choy, the Board Chairman, asked me to be the fundraising chairman to raise $25M for this property! Wow, $25M! “What if I failed?” I thought to myself. I didn’t want the job. Then in one of the Board dawn prayers, God chided me through a word shared by Ps Kay Kiong from Isaiah 49:6, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

There and then, I knew the LORD was asking me if I thought the job was beneath me; to think again — do I know whom I am really serving? And so, I said, “Yes, LORD. I serve the King!” God then showed me that the fundraising is really a platform for faith-raising in the congregation. My real job title is not the Fundraising Chairman, but Faithraising Chairman. To do this, I am to lead the congregation to do the following:

  • To make decisions based on the SPO paradigm: Spiritual, Personal and then Organisational — to seek to listen to the voice of God for themselves first, then to obey that voice (be it to give and if so, how much, or not to give as the case may be)
  • To walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7)

 

Exhilarating Journey
It was an exhilarating journey — the easiest fundraising job! The people simply gave and gave. There were no fundraising dinners or events. Just lovingly, consistently and creatively pointing the congregation to these two paradigms in one way or another, month after month, as I joyously addressed the church, “Good morning, Church! Good morning, Committee!” and with a “Ruach!” battle cry.

Ps Sebastian Quek

31 January 2023

Building the Church

We’ve often heard that the Seed Fund faith journey is not merely about a church building, but building the church. How does our giving actually lead to the building of the church? And all the more so, since the pandemic seems to suggest that we can function as an online church without the need of a physical building. Allow me to answer the second question first.

 

We are grateful for the technology that allows us to still meet, albeit in our respective homes, in crisis moments like the recent pandemic. Yet that is not the true state as God intends. Our final state would be in-person gathering of the worship of our King (Rev 7:9 – 12), and there will be no “online” services then. There is a physicality of the church and worship that cannot be replaced by a mere screen. The mutual encouragement we receive by being present with other followers of Jesus in community and worship is irreplaceable. We need that space to gather to worship our Lord together. Of course, this begs the question as to whether we need to buy property versus renting. It is the collective discernment of the leadership that for Covenant, buying property is how the Lord is leading us. It builds for greater stability for our congregations and engages us deeper with our surrounding communities. Consider how the founding missionaries of Singapore had the wisdom to buy land and build schools and churches that exist till today.

 

Now, more critically, how does our giving grow the church? Consider our Lord’s encounter with the rich young man in Mark 10:17 – 31. Here was someone who had, in every sense of the law, surely been considered righteous. He would well be considered a poster-boy for a disciple today. Yet, you and I know the story: when called by the Lord to “sell all that you have and give to the poor…” he went away sorrowful, “for he had great possessions.” In some sense, this man did not merely have great possessions — he was greatly possessed by his possessions. There is nothing wrong with having great possessions. The danger is that it has such a hold over our lives we cannot really follow Jesus. I wish to say that I am unlike this man, freed from material grip in my life. Alas, I, too, am gripped by material things that hold sway over my life. The Lord is right, I cannot serve both God and money (Matt 6:24.) In calling us to give, God is actually presenting us with the opportunity to deepen His Lordship in our lives. The church grows as more and more of us are set free from the grip of money in our hearts, and Jesus is the Lord of our lives. This is a very critical part of discipleship in our modern materialistic world. May we give as our Lord so directs and find our hearts freed to follow Him more fully. Join us in building His Church!

Rev Dr Chua Chung Kai

10 February 2023

Our CEFC Property Faith Journey: God-sized Vision, Spirit-led Adventure

God may give us a vision.  God may give us a dream. 
But it will usually not materialize in the way we expect!

The road is often long. The challenges are many. 
And it is, by divine design, no express ticket to the Promised Land!

But it will be better, infinitely better – if we embrace a God-sized vision and a Spirit-led adventure!

Our Covenant East journey has all the hallmarks of such a faith-shaping classic!

A Prolonged Waiting Season…

For a time that felt like an eternal winter, we prayed in earnest; we deliberated hard.

We petitioned to God for a permanent place, in a heartland community, and one where Covenant East can truly call home! 

We exercised great diligence; we studied countless options.  We engaged the church at various platforms to catalyse conversations and to gather feedback.  In time past, we were a whisker close to one, but it was not meant to be.  Some were disappointed, and understandably so!  But as good faith stewards, we remained on our bended knees; we soldiered on for the greater land promise.

With hindsight, we are incredibly thankful! We side-stepped a massive financial burden during a global pandemic. It was an uncertain period, a seismic moment that seared our collective memories.

The Search is Over Now!

 Yes, it is official, and we all excitedly know, Sengkang is indeed God’s answer to our land search for Covenant East. It has fulfilled all that we had petitioned for! It is a blessed land.  It is God’s promised land for us!

CEFC’s history books must remember this day: 23 Feb 2024. 
It was a glorious day at the HDB land ballot!
We saw the Hand of God! Grace shaped the verdict.

We became an unmerited recipient of God’s grace!  Our God of “How much more” prevailed. 

In His signature fashion, the magnitude of blessings was immense! The land came steeply discounted at one-third the estimated market price (a generational low at $4.47m )!  Even more so, the manner of blessing was supremely providential – by ballot!  We were leaning in feebly with only one-third chance! It was against the odds. It was the Hand of God that sealed our place! 

We were not the better one. But simply, the chosen one – for His glory in Sengkang!

Not the End of the Journey…

In the (paraphrased) parlance of Sir Winston Churchill, this is certainly not the end of our property faith journey. It is not even the beginning of the end.   It is only the end of the beginning of our faith march towards Sengkang.

A New Chapter of Our Covenant Story…

Now, we are envisioning our vision for Sengkang –  a “church without walls”.  We are asking God for a new philosophy of ministry. 

We want to be a “community church”, not a “commuter church”.  We want to weave into the fabric of our communities, where the gospel will be real to souls unsaved, lives untouched. We are dissatisfied to merely exist as a church that commuters flock to on Sunday mornings. God has a bigger ask of us! A glimpse from the first-century church, perhaps?

At the heart of it, we want to build deep and long-term equity in Sengkang – to build spiritual equity, to be His light and His salt!

Where do we go from here?

The Resolution for East was approved in the 2019 AGM with a $40m mandate.  We will keep to this prudent, perhaps tight, budget. We want to abide by our biblical principles of prudence and stewardship, as we navigate the global crosscurrents ahead of us.

And our fund raising must continue. 
We’re very grateful for your sacrificial giving that has already brought us past the $27m mark.  This faith journey perseveres on.

God willing, we should be ready for our first Sengkang Sunday service in or before the first quarter of 2028.  As always, we have planned diligently, and we intend to hold lightly – allowing the Lord to lead us at all times and at all turns.  By divine timing, this will perfectly coincide with our CEFC Jubilee Celebrations in 2028! It will be a high moment – 50 years of unmerited grace upon us!

Final Exhortation

I will end with this final exhortation, Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV).

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding. 
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your straight your paths.

Let’s acknowledge God’s Promises, Presence and Power in our property journey.  He will make our paths straight.

It has been both a privilege and honour to serve God and CEFC through the ministryof the Property Committee.

This is a faith journey. 
This is a spiritual journey. 

It has been a fascinating ride of faith! 

Come, join us!

Elder-Designate Paul Liu

22 April 2022