cwm theological consultation reflections.

I thank God for the opportunity and privilege to be a part of this theological consultation. It was surely an eye opener on many fronts, and I certainly took back many precious lessons from it.

1. Social justice

The Church in Taiwan seems to be a great proponent for human rights, and a desire to reclaim God's creation as "good". My group visited migrant ministries run by the Church and the other group, sites of ecological concern (namely nuclear and dumping). My response after the day's programme (migrant ministry in particular) was to ask myself: What are we as the Church doing in the rather similar situation we face in Singapore? Plenty of migrant workers are among and around us, away from their homes — they face similar circumstances of being exploited and mistreated, and even subject to racial abuse and prejudice. Is the Church ready to welcome the least of us into our shiny pews? To know that so many souls are within our vicinity and as lost as the next person on the streets; they are at their most vulnerable, away from their families — they need the love of God in their lives, and this is where they can see it most because they are away from the pressures of their own social contexts. Would we continue doing overseas mission trips with much fanfare when we have little heart for the overseas mission targets who are right here in our midst?

2. Cross-cultural interactions

It was enriching to hang out with people from various cultures, especially cultures in the pacific region which I came across for the very first time. Learning that they do also face similar struggles in different contexts yet also problems of a unique kind was a strong warning that we have to be extremely aware of any sense of cultural superiority as we interact with people from different backgrounds, and never to measure spirituality based on wealth or economy. I found myself intrigued by the acute sense of culture and land and space that the developing nations had and how their spirituality and faith is tied so closely to their being, so that the sacred and secular is really less dichotomised. It is a phenomenon of the opposite in my own context where we have tightness of space, invisibility of land and an arbitrary culture. This led me to wonder about whether we are putting in the effort to address issues of the day and reduce the false dichotomy of the sacred and secular, so that we will be able to better preach the relevance of the Gospel into a world that seems only to be sinking deeper and deeper into sin.

On another note, I was also very humbled by the kind treatment of the fellow attendees who were of very high ranks back in their various countries and congregations. They treated me with respect and gentleness despite me being a junior, and I thoroughly enjoyed my interactions with them.

3. Theological consultation

I thank God for the interesting consultation where we got to hear stories of other peoples and their struggles, and have a peek into how the church does work as a body to build one another up, even in the higher educational level. I was also led to a deeper level of appreciation for my home seminary and lecturers as I realized how blessed we already are to have our building, curriculum and personnel. It was a privilege to share curriculum from SBC and I pray that the other churches in the EAR region will be blessed by the resources from SBC. Finally, I also saw that our context really should drive what seminaries should be teaching, as the graduates from it are definitely headed back into the very same context. Yet it does take a lot of wisdom and prayer as we need to be on the forefront of trends so that we can address the upcoming needs, rather than be fighting fires.

God-willing, I would surely love to attend more of such meetings and exposure trips as these broaden my perspectives on issues; it was also sweet fellowship to worship together and learn at the feet of God's people. As always, being with various tribes and tongue with that same purpose and love in Christ leads me to inexplicable joy as I marvel how this is but a foretaste of what the new heavens and earth will be like.

Glory and thanks be to God.