Wednesday, 20th August 2025
Yesterday, I blogged about how Rev Reuben Ng had persuaded me to return to the church of my forefathers so as to honour the legacy of my parents, and my main hesitation of doing so being that the current Pastor-in-Charge, Rev K, is anti-New Creation Church.
I first got to know Ps Ed personally during the Cruise Camp in Feb 2024. That's a photo taken with him on that Cruise.
I instantly felt a connection with him because we have similar spiritual journeys. He too was from a traditional, denominational church previously.
I shared with him the push and pull factors, and to his credit, he did not say, "you must stay in New Creation Church". Rather, he told me to wait upon the Lord. Should ever the time come for me to change church again, the decision would be one that is restful and peaceable, being led by the Holy Spirit.
[As I reflected upon what Ps Ed told me, I realise what he said was absolutely true. When I was first relieved of my leadership roles in PLMC in 2007, I had wanted to move immediately and bring my whole family over. But God stopped me with a prompting, "No son, not now. Your daughter has developed great kingdom friendships among the youth, and she will resent you and NewCre if you uproot her". God then sent Rev Reuben Ng to PLMC to replace Barnabas Chong and I stayed on in PLMC because of Rev Reuben's grace-based sermons.
It was only 11 years later, in 2018, that God prompted my wife and I to officially change church, and the transition was indeed very restful. When I informed the then-PIC of PLMC Rev Jonathan Seet about our decision, he gave us his blessings and was the one who told me not to transfer my membership. He said and I quote, "the Methodist Church works on an itinerant system whereby pastors come and go, so keep the door open as God may want you to come back some day in the future". And thus, I have retained by PLMC membership and give $555.55 per year to at least cover my Conference Commitment.]
Next, I shared with Ps Ed about my multi-generation involvement in Methodism, and specifically how my dad had equated "Church" with "PLMC". Ps Ed assured me that now that our dads (his and mine) are in heaven, they understand that church is actually the many-membered Body of Christ, and I should not feel that I have let my dad down; he (ie. my dad) is happy that his son (ie. me) has settled in a church and growing in the Lord. What Ps Ed said really took a great burden off my shoulders, because my choice of church, which did not please dad while he was on earth, pleases him now that he is in heaven.
I then shared with Ps Ed how some individuals I know of had "fallen through the cracks" as a result of the church growing so big, and also of yet others who feel that it had become cold and impersonal.
In conclusion, Ps Ed also said that the most important thing for us as Christians is to be spiritually well-fed. The gospel of grace which unveils Jesus and His finished work has indeed made a big difference. Many other pastors of churches out there do not even mention Jesus once in their sermons, and instead focus very much on how we have to please God. They put emphasis on how much we should love God, rather than how much He loves us. As a result, the Sunday experience is not one of being supplied (and hence fed), but one of being demanded from (and thus drained).
And so dear readers, the decision for now is to remain in New Creation Church, and until such a time that PLMC is headed by a grace-based pastor, I will not be stepping into the church of my forefathers.
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