Taking a Sabbatical

Sunday, 6th July 2008

Those who have been following ROOTSS faithfully have realised that I have been contemplating leaving the church of my forefathers to join 20,000 others that worship at the Rock.

Sometime in Aug 2007, I had gone into the Rock Auditorium on my own, but left within half an hour because I felt the Lord prompting me, "Son, why are you here when your family is still back in your previous church?"

Well, since then, I praise and thank God that the rest of my family members have started to embrace the grace gospel. My daughter went to a Hillsong United concert organised by New Creation Church, my wife is currently reading Destined to Reign and is listening to Ps Prince's sermons in the car everyday. My son looks forward to eating at Carl's Junior and Pepper Lunch (ok, that's not a "spiritual" reason, but that's what he actually said).

So after nearly a year of deliberation and seeking the Lord's direction, it is the time to finally move on. My dad however told me that rather than withdraw membership from the church of my forefathers, taking a break would be a better alternative. This way, we can hold on to our roots, and yet still be able to experience unhindered spiritual growth.

We will be taking a sabbatical until such time God causes His grace gospel to take my church by storm, like He has done Hillsong Church and RHEMA Bible Training Centre.

This was the letter I wrote in this connection...


2 July 2008

Pastor-in-charge
Paya Lebar Methodist Church

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My wife and I (as well as many others) have been experiencing a spiritual famine ever since Rev Dr Wee Boon Hup left the church to assume the role of TRAC President.

In order to satisfy our spiritual hunger, we have had to supplement our diet with external sources of food.

The advent of Ps Reuben Ng in August 2007 has addressed this deficiency somewhat, but being fed but once a month is not sufficient for our spiritual well-being.

Rather than continue to be in a state of constant hunger and malnourishment, and after much prayer and seeking the Lord for His direction, we have decided that it is time for us to move on.

I had initially considered withdrawing my membership from the church, which is the very same one that my great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, siblings and children have grown up in.

However, having considered the wise advice of my dad regarding the itinerant nature of pastoral appointments, a better option would be to take a sabbatical from the church until the famine is over.

In this connection, please take this letter as a means of informing you that we will be taking sabbatical leave from PLMC with effect from 1 August 2008 till further notice. This will in turn enable us to tithe to as well as to sow into ministries where we have been getting our spiritual food from, so you do not need to send us our pledge cards for the new financial year.

Yours-in-Christ
Malcolm Loh

cc.
Rev Dr Wee Boon Hup, TRAC President
XXX XXXXX XXXX, PPRSC Chairperson
XX XXXXXXX XX, LCEC Chairman
XX XXXXXX XXXX, Layleader