Missions and Evangelism

Monday, 28th July 2008

As a youth growing up, whenever someone mentioned the words "missions and evangelism", I would picture having to give up the comforts of one's home to venture into the innermost jungles of Africa in order to bring the good news to the unreached.

Whenever I heard a sermon about the Great Commission, I would feel a sense of guilt and inferiority, especially when it mentioned martyrs like Jim Elliot who nobly and bravely gave up his life in the course of spiritual battle.

In the first 35 years of my life, I remember bringing only one person to Christ, and would feel envious of those who could share about their faith with others so easily.

Well, one of the results of embracing the grace gospel is that missions and evangelism have suddenly become part and parcel of everyday life, because it is God that puts me in the right place at the right time, and gives me wisdom to somehow bring up the gospel in a natural and non-threatening manner.

This started happening in November 2007 when I was attending my nephew's birthday party. My brother-in-law was steep in Buddhism at that point of time, and used to have statues of Buddha and the like all over his house. Somehow, we got to talking over dinner, during which he mentioned he saw Ps Prince and his family when he was holidaying in Australia. (He recognised Ps Prince because he saw Destined to Reign on sale at the Times Bookshop outlet at the Airport). One thing led to another, and I was soon sharing with him what God had been doing in my life. To cut a long story short, 8 months later, his entire family is now attending New Creation Church! Hallelujah!

With effect from 1 April 2008, I am now with a Canadian company which office is located in the heart of Raffles Place. While my previous workplace had colleagues who were mainly down-to-earth Mandarin-speaking heartlanders, many of my current colleagues are English-speaking intellectuals who may have attended church at some point of their life or another.

And that was when it dawned upon me what God's plans are for me at this stage of my life! It was at my previous company that a colleague introduced me to the gospel of grace. Now that I have been firmly entrenched and rooted in it, God has now placed me in the midst of people who can identify with the journey I have been through, and be shown the way back into the fold.

There is this particular colleague whose name is spelt the Biblical way, so I asked her casually how she got her name. She revealed that she used to attend a Baptist church until the age of 22, and have stopped attending it ever since. She even remarked that she has “attended church long enough to last her lifetime”.

A week ago, I shared with her about my being a Methodist for nearly 3 decades and how only recently had I begun to understand what the true gospel was all about. I also told her that many well-meaning Christians folks give up going to church because there were just too many rules and regulations imposed upon them. This seems to resonate with her, and she ended up asking whether she could borrow some Ps Prince sermons to listen to.

I was prompted to lend her "See The Father's Love for You", which is about the Prodigal Son, and she told me that she really enjoyed the sermon, especially the part about there being "music and dancing in the Father's house". Not only that, her preconceived stereotyping of pastors being boring and legalistic has changed because she saw one that was humorous and looked sharp in an Armani suit. Praise the Lord!

As I reflected upon this, I realise that missions and evangelism can be carried out without one sounding "preachy" or being "churchy". Rather, it is something really exciting and effortless! My mission is to make known that Christianity is more than just a religion that is practiced on a Sunday, but is a relationship with a true and living God who is relevant and practical for everyday living. And evangelism is being a messenger of that good news.

And so, I have placed on a shelf in my room, in between the book on Consolidated Accounts Singapore and the English-Chinese dictionary, several Ps Prince's CD and DVD sermons, which will come in handy the next time another opportunity to witness arises. Hallelujah!