Dear BPCWA worshipper, This year, as in many other years previously, we will once again rededicate ourselves to our Lord with our Rededication Sunday vows. As a vow, this is not to be taken lightly, but I want to take this pastoral to help us to realise how meaningful this should be to us. Who should be standing up to take the vows together with us? The answer is – every worshipper who serves in any area in the church in one form or other. Many of us do in so many ways, small or great. Even our students go to the Nursing Home, some also helping out in the transport ministry. Our elderlies continue to come for Busy Bee to help out in the maintenance of the church.

Many new areas of service. As I look around the church, and as I think of this year’s rededication, my heart is filled with thanksgiving to God. Over the years, I have made an effort to ensure that service is not “concentrated” around a select few individuals. This does not mean that I please everyone by letting them serve in any area of service that they choose. Rather, it means that I conscientiously think about and look out for who can fit what role in the church. If some are in significant areas of service, I spread out the load to others. As the saying goes, “more hands make light work”. And conversely, when a member is not serving much, they may be approached to consider taking up a regular area of service. Here are some areas why more are serving today than previously: 1) Decentralisation of resources. For example, duty rostering of most of the ministries previously involved mainly one person. The knowledge resided predominantly in one person, which was not ideal. After setting up processes and addressing interlinks, we are now able to decentralize and hence start to involve more people in the church to serve in this critical ministry for the smooth and orderly operation of the church. Today, rostering is handled by a member in the background, coordinating it between the leads and reminding them when the worship roster must be filled in. He then takes it and emails it out via Google calendar to those rostered. We also involve someone else to roster the Tuesday English corporate prayer personnel as well. 2) The start-up of separate English and Chinese worship services. This means that while previously only 1 team was required, now it requires 2 teams. Over the past few years, the majority of the people involved in the various processes supporting the preparation of the Sunday bulletins are new. There are the announcement personnel, the bulletin formatting & printing personnel, and the proofreading personnel – all multiplied by 2 to support both services. Even the person who now translates this pastoral into Chinese has taken up this role over the past few months. And in addition to this, so as to reduce the workload on months where there are special occasions, we have a 2^nd team that takes care of these “special event” bulletins – ready to backup the main team as and when required. Besides this, I am thankful also for those that have stepped into new roles in taking care of the usher ministry, as well as the new roles of AV and transport ministries for the Chinese service. 3) COVID-19 restrictions. With the regulations and restrictions which we are currently faced with, we now have many, many more areas needing attention. We have a seat arrangement committee that constantly looks at reconfiguring seating based upon the changes required. Even the monthly Holy Communion now requires someone to track the reorder stock levels, and arrange them into boxes for the respective services. For the church cleaning that many are involved in as well as the hand sanitizer that we use every week, someone needs to ensure that the material is topped up and reordered. 4) Improvements to processes. You probably use it every week, but have you thought of who tops up the toilet paper and the handwash fluid? Someone! 5) New personnel assigned to better distribute areas of service. The COVID-19 situation made the Nursing Home ministry more complex due to the restrictions. It then opened up opportunities for more to serve as well! After having a new lead in charge where he took care of each week’s rostering of personnel to visit the homes, someone else can now step up to take over this highly needed visitor rostering work for the nursing home ministry now that it has been stabilized. After finalization and approval, this too is sent out via Google calendar to those rostered. There is someone assigned to take care of archiving church photos taken over the years so that we do not lose the memories.

What that means to the church. 1) More can serve. Besides the fact that more areas of service have opened up, there is also a move to ensure even distribution of resources. Service is not a “special favour” to friends and those who like visibility. Together with the rostering that is done, there are general checks to make sure that there is an even distribution of service personnel over time. 2) Continuity of processes. It prevents the church from becoming overly dependent on one person for the church operations, without which things fall apart. The church has multiplied in complexity, now with 2 services and coupled with COVID restrictions. 3) Backup personnel are also needed in the new areas of services created and hence there are greater opportunities for more to serve. 4) But as more complexities, more people serving, and more interlinks in areas of services increase, it also means that there are also more opportunities for misunderstandings. What it means to everyone who serves is that we must be more understanding and less demanding to have things to our convenience since we are reminded, “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Php 2:2-4).

Time does not permit me to mention all the areas of service in God’s church, and there are many more areas which space limits me to mention. But I hope this helps to give you, BPCWA worshippers, the opportunity to realise how many people are involved in serving in BPCWA. In many churches, these are handled by several dedicated full-time workers and administrative staff. As we wait on the Lord, this is the model that we work on in BPCWA for now. It is “labour intensive” because it does mean training up new people to serve and having to liaise with so many now. But as a pastor, I am thankful – very thankful at how God has raised the many that have willingly taken up new roles especially over the past year. God makes the pastor overseer over the church, but together with that, He has also prepared and worked in the hearts of many to make them able and ready to use the skills that God has developed in them to serve Him in His church. Though many of the areas of service may seem to be very mundane, yet when done for the purpose and in the spirit of edifying the church, it is spiritual work for His kingdom. As such, it is of utmost importance that we must do all things with clean hands and pure hearts for we do it to serve our Lord and King alone, not man!

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Rom 12:1

Yours in our Lord’s service,

Pastor