Tan Hee Guan

G12 Conference Session 11: Vision - Not Why but How, Ps Eugene Seow
Reporter: Jesslyn Chia

The church is now 20 years old. God has given us so much within the last 2 decades.

The church vision that God has given us last year is applicable to other churches too. It is a vision to be shared. In this session, Ps Eugene shares with us how we should carry out this vision. It is not in the “why” but in the “how”.

All the many problems that we would face in carrying out the vision can be summarised into 2 key challenges:
Building bridges between community and church
Sowing the love of God.
If we can do so, it will help others know why we do what we are doing.

There are 4 keys we can use to reach out to the communities.

The Compassion key – the Touch Key
The Communication Key – the Magic Key
The Connection Key – the Youth Key
The Conquest Key – the G12 Family Key

The Compassion key – the Touch Key
This unlocks the community to open doors.

Ps Eugene used his favourite line, “At the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.” If the person’s heart is what we are going after, we should aim to touch the person’s heart right from the start. Although very often, the church ‘targets the head’ by appealing to logic and rationale, touching the heart is actually most important.

1986 Vision
Ps Eugene contrasted the church vision of 1986 with our current one. In 1986, our church vision was to establish integrated ministries of outreach, discipleship and service which encompass the whole of Singapore. This was a far more localised vision. Touch Community Services was later set up in 1992 in response to the vision.
Nevertheless, the 1986 vision already encapsulated the idea of reaching beyond our boundaries. We were tasked to head into the communities without being subsumed under the banner of FCBC.

TCS
The purpose of Touch Community Services was to demonstrate God’s love in a practical way, with no strings attached.

Since then, TCS has made a tremendous impact on Singapore. Currently, TCS has already expanded beyond national boundaries, as Touch Community Services International! It was recently honoured in Singapore with the Public Service Medal for its involvement in the tsunami recovery efforts. This has become an endorsement, a stamp of approval, which opens many gates into communities in other nations. We have also been asked to host major government agencies from overseas when they arrive in Singapore.

The Communication Key – the Magic Key
This unlocks the multitudes, regardless of whether they are rich or poor.
The Magic of Love is the medium by which the message of God’s love is brought out into the community.

Magic of Love
The media is a pervasive influence in our world today. It is a new source of power which the church is still trying to grapple with. Churches are usually one step behind. However, the Magic of Love works to pre-empt this. It allows us to gain some influence in the realm of entertainment.

The Magic of Love works, regardless of the audience. After all, Romans 10:12 states: “There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.” The story of the Prodigal Son is a universal one, overriding cultural differences and touching people from all walks of life.

This is the age of the Internet and rapidly developing technology. At no time in history has power ever been as localised. It is now placed in the hands of just about anybody who has access to the internet.

Project S.M.I.L.E
S.M.I.L.E. is the acronym for Sharing Magic In Love Everywhere.

Pastor shared about a student in Beijing who took part in Project SMILE. After the 2-day course, he went for a Magic of Love performance. He added his stint at Project SMILE into his SV and it won him a job. This student shared that Project SMILE brought to him new confidence. Although he was not a Christian, he praised Project SMILE, saying that it changed his life.

The Connection Key – the Youth Key
This unlocks the generations from apathy to synergy.

Fast facts: 6 out of 10 people on this planet are under 25. 90% of all professions Christians come to Christ before the age of 30. 75% do so before the age of 25.

1 Timothy 4:11-12 calls on the youth to be examples to the believers “in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity”. We must not underestimate the young, because they are the leaders of today, not just of the future.

Pastor shared some future projects with us.
i. Shanghai Connection
It is translated as “a thousand linking hands”. This is a vision for engaging Shanghai youths. 1000 Shanghai and 1000 Singaporean youths will come together to link hands in a show of friendship and eagerness to engage. This is projected to take place in 2008.

ii. Service to the Nations
100 local youths will head off for a camp in Shanghai, joining 200 other youths from Shanghai there. At the camp, they will learn leadership skills to equip them in serving the community. These youths will rise up to be youth leaders for the abovementioned “thousand linking hands” project.

The Conquest Key – the G12 Family Key
This unlocks the church into the community.

Previously, FCBC employed an old missions-based strategy, which involves planting missionaries in different countries to engage the different unreached people groups. These nations were called Restricted Access Nations.

This concept has changed. G12 focuses on family, faith and fathering now.


Conclusion
At this point, one of Ps Khong’s 144, Daniel, shared. He was a Project SMILE trainer and had helped out in the Magic of Love performances in Guangzhou. He spoke of how the Lord had moved in Guangzhou, where people generally had no affinity for theatrical performances.

In Matthew 16:19, it is said:
“And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” It is with this last word that we should guard the keys we were given with.