New Move Ahead
Some of my readers may remember that I posted in September 2014 on my big move out of MOH. That , on reflection, was one of the biggest decisions I made in my life back then, to give up my good paying job in MOH and to move to Eagles Communications to work on marketplace ministry. Things went in other directions back then and since I have since not been posting about updates of my life, I think this is a good moment to do it.
1. God has other plans for me, it seems
It was entering into Eagles and leaving MOH that I was beginning to gain a better clarity of the ministry that God has in store for me. At that time, I was still leading a young adult lifegroup and was struggling to transit into my new roles. There were certainly some struggles, one of which is the objection from my then future father-in-law. The other was the new schedule that I had to adjust to after moving over to Eagles. Having been attending the Saturday adult service of my church, I found myself unable to attend service as a result of my Saturday works with Eagles. Given that I was helping out in Bible studies, I decided that it was okay but I did not expect myself to struggle with the lack of contact time with my lifegroup and frequently needing to attend the Sunday service. Eventually, I moved to the Sunday service, having dissolved my lifegroup as part of my church's regionalisation move.
Nevertheless, during this period, I began to teach and take on more regular classes in church and outside of church. I began to be able to take one whole module by myself in HopeSem, and I was teaching full classes in my missionary trips. This was when God showed me that my main ministry, or rather the equipping that comes along with my training in Acts College, is to be involved in teaching and equipping God's servant. Or rather, this vision came to become clearer to me since I already received several words of prophecies from several people, including Dr Vee Davidson (my lecturer in world mission, also a long term missionary in China) and Ps Anthony Phua, who happens to be the very pastor who ordained Kong Hee.
With this clarity, this means that I could now afford to be focused in the kind of ministry work that I take on, although pastorally, I am still being arrowed left right centre.
2. Getting Married
Getting married marks another milestone in my life during this period. The full story will be posted sometime soon in this blog but it was also a journey in its own right when I and Angelina found ourselves depending on God to sustain us through that difficult period. It suffices to say here in this post that I have weird in-laws and very accommodating family who were willing to accept Angelina more readily.
Nevertheless, being married means that I can no longer make decisions all by my own. Case in point here, I went for academic counselling on Monday and decided to commit "academic suicide" by taking two consecutive night classes with the same lecturer who is known to have heavy workload. Then my wife came in and intervene, asking why I won't take more block classes instead. After reflecting, I realised that she was right in asking. I thought I could take the workload but I realised that I would have to submit two term papers at around the same time, which would be crazy for me.
Getting married also meant that I lead a lifegroup with another person, not just me alone anymore. This is a new change for me, since I was used to leading a group entirely by myself, without the additional interference of another person. But nevertheless, I began to realise that it is a blessing as there is someone to share the burden of leading the group with me. This is a good thing.
3. Getting out of Eagles
In some sense, this month marks my last month in Eagles Communications, which closes a 2.5 years chapter of my life as a full time Christian worker. Coming May, I will move back to the marketplace, considering this 2.5 years a short detour. In some sense, there are some purposes in this move 2.5 years ago. Firstly, it gave me time and space to attend to my ex-girlfriend's emotional trauma from her MOH days. Secondly, it gave me time and space to consider and reflect what I really want to do in my ministries. The stint allowed me to realise that I never ever want to worry about attendance and turnout for an event, and treat participations as a number game. Thirdly, the stint gave me the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the spiritual giants in the faith, and some of the early pioneers in Singapore's Christianity.
But now that God has provided, it is about time to move on.
So how did this move come about? I think the first time when I realised that I am not meant to stay long term in Eagles was 6 months after my move. Along the way, other things happened which made me realised that this is not the final promised land from God. I know that after my marriage, I would probably need to start exploring other options.
The whole experience resembled my first job search, where I bumped around but eventually, I landed myself an opening out of Eagles, which I give thanks to God for.
I will share in more details in future posts.
Let me know what you want to hear from me in the comments, I will try to write more of these accounts.
1. God has other plans for me, it seems
It was entering into Eagles and leaving MOH that I was beginning to gain a better clarity of the ministry that God has in store for me. At that time, I was still leading a young adult lifegroup and was struggling to transit into my new roles. There were certainly some struggles, one of which is the objection from my then future father-in-law. The other was the new schedule that I had to adjust to after moving over to Eagles. Having been attending the Saturday adult service of my church, I found myself unable to attend service as a result of my Saturday works with Eagles. Given that I was helping out in Bible studies, I decided that it was okay but I did not expect myself to struggle with the lack of contact time with my lifegroup and frequently needing to attend the Sunday service. Eventually, I moved to the Sunday service, having dissolved my lifegroup as part of my church's regionalisation move.
Nevertheless, during this period, I began to teach and take on more regular classes in church and outside of church. I began to be able to take one whole module by myself in HopeSem, and I was teaching full classes in my missionary trips. This was when God showed me that my main ministry, or rather the equipping that comes along with my training in Acts College, is to be involved in teaching and equipping God's servant. Or rather, this vision came to become clearer to me since I already received several words of prophecies from several people, including Dr Vee Davidson (my lecturer in world mission, also a long term missionary in China) and Ps Anthony Phua, who happens to be the very pastor who ordained Kong Hee.
With this clarity, this means that I could now afford to be focused in the kind of ministry work that I take on, although pastorally, I am still being arrowed left right centre.
2. Getting Married
Getting married marks another milestone in my life during this period. The full story will be posted sometime soon in this blog but it was also a journey in its own right when I and Angelina found ourselves depending on God to sustain us through that difficult period. It suffices to say here in this post that I have weird in-laws and very accommodating family who were willing to accept Angelina more readily.
Nevertheless, being married means that I can no longer make decisions all by my own. Case in point here, I went for academic counselling on Monday and decided to commit "academic suicide" by taking two consecutive night classes with the same lecturer who is known to have heavy workload. Then my wife came in and intervene, asking why I won't take more block classes instead. After reflecting, I realised that she was right in asking. I thought I could take the workload but I realised that I would have to submit two term papers at around the same time, which would be crazy for me.
Getting married also meant that I lead a lifegroup with another person, not just me alone anymore. This is a new change for me, since I was used to leading a group entirely by myself, without the additional interference of another person. But nevertheless, I began to realise that it is a blessing as there is someone to share the burden of leading the group with me. This is a good thing.
3. Getting out of Eagles
In some sense, this month marks my last month in Eagles Communications, which closes a 2.5 years chapter of my life as a full time Christian worker. Coming May, I will move back to the marketplace, considering this 2.5 years a short detour. In some sense, there are some purposes in this move 2.5 years ago. Firstly, it gave me time and space to attend to my ex-girlfriend's emotional trauma from her MOH days. Secondly, it gave me time and space to consider and reflect what I really want to do in my ministries. The stint allowed me to realise that I never ever want to worry about attendance and turnout for an event, and treat participations as a number game. Thirdly, the stint gave me the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the spiritual giants in the faith, and some of the early pioneers in Singapore's Christianity.
But now that God has provided, it is about time to move on.
So how did this move come about? I think the first time when I realised that I am not meant to stay long term in Eagles was 6 months after my move. Along the way, other things happened which made me realised that this is not the final promised land from God. I know that after my marriage, I would probably need to start exploring other options.
The whole experience resembled my first job search, where I bumped around but eventually, I landed myself an opening out of Eagles, which I give thanks to God for.
I will share in more details in future posts.
Let me know what you want to hear from me in the comments, I will try to write more of these accounts.
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