How Do We Identify Ourselves? (Part 1)

Monday, 28th September 2026

PART 1: THE PART-TIME FULL-TIMER / FULL-TIME PART-TIMER

While de-cluttering recently, I came across both my parents' ICs.

My mom's has a hole punched in it, whereas dad's remains intact.

Why, you may ask.  Well, when mom went back home to the Lord in June 2012, the requirement back then was to officially notify the Registry of Births and Deaths, so my dad and I headed to the nearby police post with her death certificate, and it was the police officer who punched the hole in her IC.

By the time dad went home in July 2025, MOH had been linked up with ICA.  His death certificate was electronically generated, and the Registry was automatically updated.  

IC is an abbrevation of NRIC (national registration identity card).  It is a card issued by the authorities so that one can "identify" himself and is usually required when opening a bank account, or a trading account, or starting a business, etc.

Another form of identification is one's job, profession or station in life.

When meeting up with strangers at a gathering, a question we typically ask one another is, "So what do you do?"

While children identify themselves as "students", we as adults are largely defined by our vocation, and this is especially so for men.  Some even cite a biblical basis for this: Adam was a gardener, Jesus Himself was a carpenter, Paul a tentmaker, who even remarked in 2 Thess 3:10 that "he who does not work, neither should he eat."

That was one reason why I set up a sole proprietorship back in July 2022, after having left the corporate world after 31 years.  I can tell people that I am "self"-employed rather than "un"-employed, so that I do not need to starve or fast :p

But, seriously though, is our job/profession/vocation our true identity?  What happens when we retire?  Do we lose our identity as a result?  I will answer that question towards the end of this multi-part series of posts, so stay tuned.

As regular readers may be aware, I have been clearing out stuff that has accumulated in my dad's house over the past 48 years (we moved into this place in June 1978).  We will be moving into a nearby condo a fifth the size of our current abode.

Besides my parents' ICs, I have also come across name cards that I kept, literally hundreds upon hundreds of them.

They include some of my very own, which I have decided to keep one of each, for posterity sake.

Unlike my wife, who has only worked for just 3 illustrious companies since both of us graduated from NTU in 1991, I had been somewhat of a serial job-hopper, changing employers every few years.  In fact, there was only 1 company that I stayed at for more than 10 years (and even then, it was over 2 stints). 

Let me take you on a quick walkthrough of my career journey (a la resume, but in a way less formal, light-hearted manner haha)

• Audit (1991 to 1997) : Full-Time Part-timer or Part-time Full-timer?
• Software Consulting (1997 to 2000) : THE CON Job of the Century
• Business Process Outsourcing (2000 to 2004) : The Great Boss (and the Not-so-Great Staff)
• Shared Accounting (2005 to 2008) : From External to Internal
• Finance (2008 to 2019) : The Serial Hopper Finally Stops Hopping
• Listco (2019 to 2020) : The CFO-Designate who Wrapped Sand and Sea
• Business Owner (2022 to present) : The Unemployed Employer

(1) Price Waterhouse (Jan 1991 to Nov 1994): External Auditor

Upon graduation, I joined what was (and still is) considered to be the most prestigious of the Big Four (then "Big 8") audit firms.  It subsequently merged with Coopers & Lybrand in 1999 to become PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Back then, PW was the auditor of choice for the bluest of blue-chip listed companies such as C&C, DBS, NOL and SPH, and because of that, we were barred from buying these stocks and shares.  Mrs Wendy Foo, who was then a lecturer at NTU (and whose hubby Ron was a PW partner), was an unofficial "lobbyist and promoter" of PW, and would be the conduit between the Accountancy Society (affectionately known as "Accounts Soc)" and the firm.  Many an undergraduate who wanted to join PW would thus stand for elections to become Exco members of the Accounts Soc.

I was fortunately blessed to know Mrs Foo in a personal capacity (we both attended Paya Lebar Methodist Church) and I have paid a tribute to her in a post here.

https://rootss.blogspot.com/2025/09/a-tribute-to-class-mentorcv.html  

Needless to say, Mrs Foo was instrumental in me joining the firm as an intern in 1990, the year before I graduated.  She passed my CV to PW's HR and the resulting interview was a mere formality :-)

While tidying up my room, I sadly could not find my maiden name card.  I did however chance upon the July 1994 edition of the Staff Directory. 

I left PW as a Supervisor (the equivalent of Assistant Manager 1) at the end of that very year, just in time to avoid the peak period :p

(2) Singapore Island Country Club (Dec 1994 to Jul 1997): Internal Auditor

Yep, I moved from one prestigious organisation to another.  SICC had just made its hereditarily-exclusive membership transferable, and had started to build up massive cash reserves from conversion fees ($50,000 X say 5,000 members = $250 million), and the Chairman felt that it required someone on the inside to ensure that its assets were properly safeguarded.  I saw the newspaper ad, applied for the role, and was duly recruited as its inaugural internal auditor.

I will remember SICC fondly as the place where my 2 kids were manufactured, as I hardly had to do any overtime, a great place if one wanted a wonderful work-life balance.  I obtained my official golf handicap shortly after joining, golfed once or twice a week (Monday mornings and the occasional Friday evenings), and bowled once a week (on Thursday evenings).

I also pursued a part-time MBA, attending evening classes at NTU, initially once a week and then ramping it up to three times a week.

I recall giving my name card to an ex-colleague, Yee Chen Fah (who was then a PW Senior Manager and subsequently made PwC Partner), who remarked, "Are you sure you are not studying full-time and working there part-time?"  He said it in jest, but nothing could have been nearer to the truth ;-)

Truth be told, I had initially wanted to carry out serious audit work and only start on my MBA a year into my job. My first audit report on Jackpot Operations was 50-odd pages thick.

When it was presented at the Finance Committee sometime in February 1995, the Treasurer (whom I reported directly to) said, "OK, ladies and gentlemen, take note ah."  It took no more than a minute, and we did not even go through the findings and areas for improvement!

Shortly thereafter, I had a meeting with him and he asked me why I had taken on a "dead-end" job, given that I was still only in my late twenties.  What he said caused me to panic, and I hurriedly called Mrs Foo to enlist her help to submit my MBA application, even though the deadline had passed.  Thanks to her assistance, I embarked on the program in August that same year (ie. 1995), rather than having to wait till the following August (ie. 1996) to do so.

Oh ya, I need to point out that it was the outgoing Treasurer who interviewed me for the job sometime in October 1994. His term ended in December 1994. The incoming Treasurer started his role in January 1995 and was the one who told me it was a dead-end job meant for someone in the twilight of his career.

Truth be told, internal audit is a function that is extremely thankless which no colleague ever appreciates. After that curt remark from the Treasurer, I only submitted to him a one-page summary list of work that I carried out every month, and everybody seemed happier.  Nobody felt their toes were being stepped on.  In fact, the less emphasis I placed on my role, the less animosity I encountered from colleagues as well.  I focused on doing my MBA as though it was full-time, and working as though I was there part-time.

Hving obtained my MBA (specialising in Information Technology) in mid-1997, it was time to move on from my "dead-end", "retirement" job and seek greener and more challenging pastures elsewhere.

In the next post, I will talk about the software consultancy stage of my roller-coaster career leading up to the Year 2000, so stay tuned!

Oh ya, after I quit, SICC decided to outsource its internal audit function to Deloitte & Touche, and I firmly believed that was the right decision, rather than hiring a replacement internal audit employee.

Poster Kids

Thursday, 10th September 2026

In recent weeks, I have been speeding up on the decluttering of items that have accumulated in my dad's house over the past 48 years.

It has been a long-drawn process and a learning journey, which over the course of time, made me become less sentimental about what to keep, and consequently more resolute on what to discard, especially since we will be scaling down about five times, from a landed house with a built-up area of approximately 5,500 square feet to a condominium of around 1,100 square feet.

In other words, we have had to dispose at least 80%, or 4 out of 5 items we come across. 

Well, 2 such items encountered while clearing out the study and storeroom are shown below, and are definitely keepsakes to migrate to our new abode, haha.

The first is Singapore Island Country Club's monthly magazine known as the Islander, March 2000 edition.  

Sometime in February that year, I had brought my then 4-year-old daughter and 2.5-year-old son to watch a CNY lion dance and snapshots of them (and other kids) were being taken by Sook Wai, the photographer.

When they were featured on the cover of the magazine, I was of course pleasantly surprised, but what surprised me more was that they were the only ones there!  I spoke with John, the graphic designer, and he told me that he had to photoshop / airbrush the other kids out because they all had frowns or looked grumpy, and my kids were the only ones who were smiling, haha.

This was in 2000, way before the advent of AI or Apple's clean-up utility, so I take my hat off to John for his surgical skills.

Wait a minute, some of you may say.  How come you know the names of the photographer and graphic designer.  Well, that is because they were my ex-colleagues.  I worked at the Club from December 1994 to July 1997, and both my kids were manufactured during my time there :-)

The 1st item may have a tiny shade of kehlong-ness, but this 2nd item definitely does not.  I had taken my then 6+ year-old daughter and 5-year-old son to Serangoon Gardens Country Club's 2002 year-end Christmas party, and a gentleman approached my wife and me, asking our permission to "borrow" them for a photoshoot.

He told us that he was hired by the Club to take photos of the party and also to feature a cover photo in the December 2002/ January 2003 edition of CLUB spirit, the bi-monthly magazine.  The photo was to have a Christmas tree in the background and children of various ages (from kindergarten to primary school) in the front exchanging presents.

The photographer also approached another couple and they also consented to have their 2 primary-school-going children featured.

So once again, my kids became the poster girl and poster boy.

I had the magazine cover cut out and placed into a photo frame.  This frame will also be moving with us into our new abode. 

These 2 occasions were definitely orchestrated by God Himself, and I thank Him for my 2 poster kids.

God Blesses Neverendingly: Perfectly Perfect, Grace upon Grace, Lavishly (GBN 7755 L)

Sunday, 12th July 2026

At the end of every year, our church has this annual practice of getting her members to write down 3 prayer requests for the upcoming year, which we then bring before the Lord as a corporate body on the first Sunday service of the new year.  

Just this week, the 1st prayer request that I had jotted down back in December 2025 was answered.  Thank you Jesus!

Through God's wonderful divine arrangement,  my son was able to accelerate his learning journey and was assigned to a team of elite driving instructors.  That all culminated in him obtaining his Class 3A licence on 8 July 2026.  Hallelujah!

Over the past few months, I would happily fetch him to the driving centre and back for his lessons (he was my "captive" audience, so to speak), and as a consequence, we have gotten much closer because of the time spent together :-)

In fact, he and I went on our maiden father-son bonding trip to UK from 24 to 31 December 2025 (primarily to watch Chelsea v Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge), and will be going on a second trip together to Hong Kong from 4 to 8 August 2026 to watch both our favourite teams in pre-season action (Chelsea v Juventus and Aston Villa v Bayern Munich).

On to the title of today's post.

Separately, I have been monitoring COE prices and noted that one particular vehicle category typically lags behind the rest by around $30,000, which is Cat C meant for commercial vehicles such as vans and lorries.  I have also observed an increasing number of minivans (what the Japanese term as kei cars) such as the Suzuki Spacia and Nissan N-Van plying our roads. It appears that drivers are switching from Cat A cars to Cat C kei cars, and saving at least $30,000 as a result of doing so.

In August 2025, when Cat C COE was at $70,000, I purchased a Suzuki Spacia Base XF for $91,800 so that I could give it to my son to use upon him obtaining his driving licence.  But I kept it under wraps until he did so, so as not to put unnecessary pressure upon him.

Meanwhile, Cat C COEs just hit a record-high of $95,000 (and is likely to breach $100k before the year's end).

Thank God for His prompting then because it has saved me $25,000 :-) 

Indeed, God's Blessings are Never-ending.  They are perfectly perfect (77), filled with grace upon grace (55).  Lavish.  In other words, GBN 7755 L.  Amen?

By the way, I had initially bidded for GBN5775S but someone else beat me to it.  Thankfully, GBN7755L was available.

For those of you also considering doing a switch from a Cat A car to a Cat C kei car, do take note of the following:

- the vehicle has to be G-plated and purchased using an ACRA-registered entity (for which, a sole proprietorship suffices at an annual fee of $30). It cannot be purchased in your own individual name.

- unlike passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles are subject to annual LTA inspections (yup, EVERY year).

- the vehicle technically cannot have rear passenger seats, so they will need to be removed every time before it is sent for that annual inspection.

- the speed limit is 70km/h (although you do see some of them travelling faster than that).

- the vehicle technically cannot be driven into JB (unless you first register a Malaysian business with a director that is also a director/owner of your Singapore business)

Having said that, the above are tolerable "inconveniences", given that you will be saving at least $30,000 on COE.  There is also excellent fuel efficiency -- you can get at least 20km per litre.

Bridges: Buttress Baby Buttress (Part 2)

Sunday, 5th April 2026

Today I shall conclude with part 2 on buttressing bridges.

Yesterday, I gave 3 specific incidences which were God's way of placing in my heart to take steps to strengthen the bridge between my ex-church and my current one.

(1) James Tham pointed out that my daughter and future grandchildren would likely continue the Methodist tradition.

(2) Rev Reuben Ng was promoted to TRAC President because he chose to be a unifier rather than a divider between the Methodist churches and New Creation Church.

(3) God brought a key leader from Faith Methodist church to cross my path.  This key leader knows every single one of the Methodist pastors who were overtly against the gospel of Jesus Christ (Peter Koh, Barnabas Chong, etc), and how their star has faded as a result of kicking against the goads.

Today I shall conclude with Incidents 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Incident Four

James Tham invited TRAC President Rev Reuben Ng to guest-speak at a Men's Ministry organised event called "Blueprints for Success" on 28 February 2026. It was held at, yup, PLMC.

At the breakfast session before the talk, I exchanged pleasantries with the senior leadership who were there, namely Rxxxxx Cxxx, Rxxxxx Txx and Cxxx Cxxxx Sxxx. But what caught me totally off-guard and (momentarily speechless) was when the current PPRSC Chairman Sxx Fxxx Jxx arrived, warmly shook my hand, and said, "Welcome back."  

Was it meant to be prophetic when he used the word "back"?  Why did he not just say, "Welcome"?

At least he didn't say, "What are you doing here?  You are not welcomed back." :P

I quickly composed myself and replied, "Oh, I am here to support President."

Incident Five

My dad kept lots of PLMC memorabilia which I uncovered as a result of clearing out his bedroom and the study room.  I passed an entire box of these stuff to James Tham at the tail end of February 2026 to pass to the PLMC Archivist, but for some strange reason, James sat on it for weeks and did not do so.  Getting slightly impatient, I went to his place to take back the box to deliver the items myself.

I went to PLMC on 12 March 2026 and was pleasantly surprised by the very warm reception I got from 2 of the senior staff -- the Head of HR/Finance/Admin ("HFA") and the Head of Operations.  I did not need to introduce myself; they recognised me straightaway because they said that my daughter looks exactly like me haha.

The HFA Head showed me the room that my wife and I had donated towards (it was previously called Nebo, where weekly tithes and offerings were counted in, but has since been merged with Zion, the room next to it).  I took a photo of the plaque that remains there.  The enlarged space now houses the HR, Finance and Admin departments.

PLMC will be undergoing very major renovations in a couple of years' time and the Operations Head assured me that they will return the said plaque back to me before the building is torn down.

Incident Six

I was a member of the PLMC Choir and the then-choir director, Mr Danny Koh, knew both my parents.  He played the keyboard to provide songs and entertainment at my dad's 75th and 80th birthday celebrations.

On 11 March 2026, Mr Koh called me when I was golfing, sounding very desperate. He told me that his wife had an ear infection, and they had gone to what was my late dad's clinic, only to discover that it was no longer in operation. I told him that I would provide him with the name of a doctor who used to work for my dad.

To cut a long story short, his wife was attended to and she recovered.

Mr Koh was so pleased and thanked me profusely, and also had wonderful things to say about mom and dad, which I reproduce for your reading pleasure.

That night as I reflected upon what had happened, I realised God had used me to reach out to yup, yet another Methodist.

Incident Seven

Now this is the most crucial and critical of them all.

I have recently gotten very much closer to Rev Alvin Chan.  

We had an unexpected "qarah" encounter on 19 December 2025 at Oka Restaurant, and then golfed on 19 March 2026.

What is truly amazing is he sincerely accepts me the way I am, warts and all!  He knows about my previous encounters with Peter Koh, Barnabas Chong, etc, yet he does not look at me with suspicion or disdain the way a handful of members from my previous church do.

If he is indeed posted to PLMC next year as her PIC after he completes his sabbatical this year, then that is a sure sign from God telling me it is time to cross that bridge back.

And it will also be at a very crucial time in PLMC's history.  In anticipation of her turning 100 in 2032, the Covenant Centre block (and perhaps even the Sanctuary itself!) will be completely torn down, and a magnificent multi-storey, eco-friendly building will be constructed in its place.  Just like how my dad and his dad (ie. Robert Chan) worked very closely together in the previous 2 building projects, God has actually given me a vision where I look forward to Rev Alvin and myself continuing the legacy in their honour when 2028 comes around.

During my golf game with Rev Alvin, I joked with him that his delayed but long-awaited return to PLMC in his glowing years was not for him to relax and retire, but for him to take pastoral charge of the re-building of the church office, kindergarten and all ancillary services haha.  His sabbatical was for him to fully recharge his battery to prepare for his second wind.

In conclusion, I sense stronger and stronger the Lord telling me not to grow too deep roots in New Creation Church, because He wants my wife and I to ultimately return to the church of my forefathers.  I had turned down my previous CG leader's request to submit my name to her overseer as a potential CG leader.  I have also been very contented to be just a server driver in the Logistics & Transport ministry.  This is so that when the time eventually comes for us to cross back, it will be a relatively commitment-free transition.

But I told the Lord that the PIC of PLMC must also be grace-based, like how Rev Reuben Ng is.  That is the pre-condition to me returning, (just like how Gideon gave God the pre-condition that the fleece be wet while the ground remained dry, and vice versa).

New Creation Church does not have a monopoly on the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ and His complete and finished work on the cross; it is a Pauline revelation that God wants every single church in the world to have.

I also realise I have been too forthright and forceful in my approach and dealings with Methodists.  It is not God's way to force-march people across the bridge.  It sure did not work on my own children, so how much lesser should I expect this approach to work on others.

God is telling me that I should instead be focusing more on fortifying that bridge, to find common ground between the two, such as the centrality of Jesus, in the magnifying, exalting and glorifying of Him.  This is something that both the 45,000+ Methodists and 50,000+ NewCreationers can definitely agree upon.  Amen?

Now just imagine how much we 95,000+ believers can do for the Body of Christ if we combine forces against our common enemy, the devil, instead of allowing him to sow discord within ourselves.

The gates of hell cannot prevail when we align with Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, that same confession that Jesus establishes His Church upon.

Bridges: Buttress Baby Buttress! (Part 1)

Saturday, 4th April 2026

I shall conclude the series on the topic of bridges with a post today and a final one tomorrow.

Burning a bridge presupposes the existence of that bridge to begin with. It was built by people who came before us.  For example, schools such as ACS/MGS and SJI/CHIJ were established in Singapore because Methodist missionaries and Catholic priests/nuns wanted to build bridges to reach the unreached via educational institutions.  The numerous Methodist and Catholic churches we see across our nation today stand as living testimonies of the bridges built by those from England and the Vatican.

In the last post, I ended with the question, "If cannot burn, then how?"

Let's look at the picture below which I found on the Internet.  What do you see that is common to all 18 bridges?

They all have structures that hold them firmly grounded.

Even suspension bridges like the famous Golden Gate Bridge in California  are not "suspended" in the true sense of the word.  

It has structures called "piers" that are piled deep into the bed of the ocean.  

There are also "anchorages" and "abutments" at each end of the bridge to secure it onto land.

To keep consistent with the words "build" and "burn" starting with the letter B, I shall refer to these support structures (ie. piers, anchorages, abutments, etc) collectively as "buttresses".

I have recently become very fascinated with buttresses because God has placed something very deep inside my heart, through a series of 7 seemingly unrelated, yet related incidents -- because they all concern the people called Methodists.  

Incident One

It all started about a month ago when I was having a conversation with James Tham, who stays just around the corner from me, and attends PLMC.  His family was invited to our daughter's wedding and they are in the extreme left in the photo below.

Out of the blue, he suddenly told me, "Bro, your grandchildren will be running around in Sunday School in PLMC."

Now, that REALLY got me thinking. It was no longer just about me being a 4th-generation Methodist escapee worshipping in NewCre, full-stop, end of story.  It was also going to be about a 5th-generation PLMCian (ie. my daughter) and potential 6th-generation PLMCians (ie. my future grandchildren).

Incident Two

And then a week later, I was on an hour long video call with Rev Richard Tan, an ex-PLMC pastor who has a similar background to me of discovering the grace gospel, yet remaining somewhat rough around the edges. As a member-on-trial ("MOT"), he stood up to the then-TRAC President Rev Dr Isaac Lim.  That took real guts, and made my standing up to Peter Koh and Barnabas Chong pale in comparison.

Rev Richard resides in Perth.  On 26 January 2024, he was so kind to come over to pray for my late dad when he was in Singapore. That's the 3 of us in the photo on the right.

Anyway, during the course of conversation with Rev Richard, we spoke, inter alia, about how Rev Reuben Ng had so boldly invited Ps Lian to guest-preach at Toa Payoh Methodist Church on 26 April 2015 when he was her PIC.  Yet Kow Shih Ming had conveniently left out inviting any pastor from NewCre leading up to PLMC's 90th anniversary in 2022.

Rev Richard concluded, "At that point in time, Rev Reuben had "nothing to lose" as the PIC of a relatively-small church. He never expected that one fine day he would rise to become TRAC President!"

It then dawned upon me that the bridge between the Methodist Churches in Singapore and New Creation Church has been rather precarious and requires much fortification.  After Rev Reuben was posted to TPMC as her PIC in 2012, he played that crucial role of buttressing the bridge in 2015 when he invited Ps Lian to preach, and God rewarded him by promoting him to District Superintendent in 2018, PIC of Faith Methodist in 2021, and finally to TRAC President in 2024.  (Anyone else notice God's fingerprints via the 3-year gaps separating these 5 significant events -- 2012, 2015, 2018, 2021, 2024?)

Incident Three

I used to have a regular Wednesday morning golf game at the New Course of Singapore Island Country Club with 3 octogenarians, but that stopped after they one by one pulled out due to health reasons.  I still golf every Thursday afternoon at NSRCC Kranji, but I yearn and try to golf at SICC more regularly so as to make my monthly subscriptions worth the while.

When the Old Course was re-opened recently after nearly 2 years of renovations, I discovered that I could book 9 holes of morning golf on Fridays (that is when my wife works from home and I have no chaufferring duties).  It was during one of those golf games that I got to know a Mr Lim Boh Chuan, and discovered that he is the LCEC Chairman of Faith Methodist Church! Mr Lim and I shared notes on Rev Reuben Ng, Rev Alvin Chan, Peter Koh, Barnabas Chong and Kow Shih Ming, all who somehow uncannily have connections to his church, either as ex-pastors or ex-DSes at some point in their pastoral careers.

Tomorrow, we will continue (and conclude) with Part 2 of the topic of buttressing bridges, whereby I will relate Incidents 4, 5, 6 and 7 so stay tuned!

Bridges: Cannot Burn Then How?

Friday, 3rd April 2026

In my previous 2 posts, I spoke first about how people left their previous churches very decisively (and oftentimes acrimoniously), effectively burning their bridges behind them.

I then followed that up by saying that we who are part of the Body of Christ should not do so because we are cutting our nose to spite our face, as it were.

Truth be told, I very much had wanted to do the same thing (ie. burn the bridge) when I went to see Rev Dr Jonathan Seet (who was the then Pastor-in-Charge of Paya Lebar Methodist Church) sometime in January 2018, when my wife and I finally made the decision to leave PLMC to join New Creation Church because the Theme for that year, Hesed Wisdom, resonated greatly with her.

In his wisdom, Rev Jon Seet told me not to transfer my membership.  Firstly, he said that Methodist churches operate under an itinerant system whereby pastors come and go.  Secondly, NewCre does not require any official "transfer of membership" letter from the previous church (some churches do so because they want to ensure that the previous church pastor has officially released that member from his coverage).

Rev Jon told me that just the month before I went to see him, a fellow member had insisted, against his advice, on transferring her membership out from PLMC to NewCre to follow the footsteps of her 2 children.  [I have been informed that she has since returned to PLMC after her own children moved on from NewCre to Kingdom City.  Some pastors can insist on such ex-members re-taking membership classes, not sure if she had to do so...]

Back to my meeting with Rev Jon.  I also shared with him my predicament about not being able to "pull" my daughter along with us to NewCre because at that point in time, she was actively serving in the Young Adult ministry and was also seeing a boy from PLMC.  Rev Jon replied that she, being an adult, (she was about to turn 22) had the right to make her own decision.  I countered that I was still giving her a hefty monthly allowance, and if she did not obey me and come along with us, I would cut it off.  Rev Seet smiled knowingly and said, " I don't think that you, as her loving father, would do that."

He was right.  I didn't.

Fast forward, and my daughter married that boy 6 years later, on 21 September 2024. In PLMC.  I walked her down the aisle.

And she is now even more actively involved in PLMC!  <--- Will come back to this point in a future post.

So what did I do after that meeting with Rev Jon?  I worked on my son.

Back then in 2018,  he would typically play online soccer games late into the night on Saturdays and wake up late on Sundays, typically missing church service altogether.

That same week, a few days after my meeting with Rev Jon, I told my boy, "Son, why not you come with us to Great World City this coming Sunday to attend service in the aircon comfort of Golden Village cinema?  After service, I treat you to a sumptuous lunch."

Call it bribery but it worked. He bit the bait and came with us.  For 2 consecutive Sundays.

And then he stopped.

I asked feedback from him as to why.  He said he preferred expository-styled sermons, whereby the pastor would systematically cover the Bible book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse.  Ps Prince typically jumps from the New Testament to the Old, and then back to the New, effectively linking the passages in the light of the person of Jesus and His finished work on the cross, and I enjoy seeing how that single scarlet thread weaves its way through the Bible.

But not everyone appreciates that, and I appreciate my boy for at least giving it a shot. It was 2 shots in fact.

Fast forward to today, and he currently works in and attends a Brethren church located nearby, which is very strong in the expository of the Bible. Sometime in 2021, he transferred his membership out from PLMC because his current church requires that above-mentioned official letter of release.  But to his credit, he still keeps in touch with his peers from PLMC and did not burn any bridges.

So cannot burn, then how?

Well, I found this quotation online and it is really apt.

In the next posts, I will conclude this series on the topic of bridges, so stay tuned!

Bridges: Burn Baby Burn (Part 2)

Wednesday, 25th March 2026

In the last post, I blogged about how people have crossed over from one church to another, or stopped attending church altogether, effectively burning the bridge behind them.

Let us look at such drastic behaviour in the light of the Bible.  Were there examples of God's people being told not to turn back?

Well, in the Old Testament, there is the case of God telling Lot's family that He would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and for them not to look back.

Unfortunately, Lot's wife did and she became a pillar of salt.

We also see how the Israelites complained and some even yearned to go back to Egypt, and God effectively judged them by them dying in the wilderness without entering the Promised Land.

Aiya, those are Old Covenant examples, I hear you say.

Let's go to the New Testament then.  Has there been cases of "no turning back"?

When Jesus called the 12 disciples to "Follow Me", there was effectively no turning back for them.  They followed Him till the very end.  Yes, Judas did betray Him but never did he "unfollow" Jesus, the way some on Facebook nowadays.  He regretted his action and hung himself.  10 other disciples died for the cause, except for John who was banished to the island of Patmos.

In the Acts of the Apostles and we see Luke recording incidences of the apostles shaking the dust off their feet, which was symbolic of leaving a place decisively and never to return.

Even in the epistles, we read of how Paul, Peter and John encourage us to leave past practices behind and only look forward to what lies ahead.

Fast forward to today, and we even sing songs during altar calls such as, "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.  The world behind me, the cross before me, no turning back, no turning back".

So brother Mal, are you condoning the burning of bridges?

Not at all.

In the examples cited above, the people of God in the Old Testament were asked to leave Egypt, Sodom and Gomorrah, which were pictures and shadows symbolising bondages and darkness. In the New Testament, the apostles shook the dust off their feet at Jews who rejected Jesus and turned to the Gentiles who accepted the gospel with gladness.  In the epistles, the writers encouraged new converts to abandon their previous hedonistic lifestyles because they were now new creations in Christ.

The burning of bridges and total severance applied because they were previously in an ungodly place full of darkness and bondages.  God had delivered them to a place of light and freedom.

Contrast this to the churches of today.  Even how law-based or works-based a denominational church may be, all the pastors still fundamentally preach SOLUS CHRISTUS, ie. that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone.

When God looks upon the earth, He sees 3 groups of people: the Church, the Jews and the Gentiles.

He does not see New Creation Church, or Paya Lebar Methodist Church, or XYZ Church, but THE (definite article) Church.

I am reminded of another song that goes like this, "I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together.  All who follow Jesus all around the world, yes we're the church together."

In conclusion, the burning of bridges should only apply to cases when we were previously outside the Body of Christ.  Within the Body of Christ, we should instead preserve harmony, and not cut off our nose to spite our face.  

Jesus Himself said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples."

When George Ong constantly finds faults with Ps Prince, he is unfortunately being used by the devil to be a bad testimony to the pre-believers out there.  If we as followers of Christ cannot even get along with one another, then why would they want to be Christians?

I myself have been guilty of criticising other pastors, questioning how Trinity Theological College could produce graduates so lacking in revelation knowledge.  In that aspect, I am no better than George Ong, so we are all still a work-in-progress.  Let us keep one another in constant prayer.