Dear BPCWA worshipper, It has been a busy past few weeks at BPCWA where we have witnessed the good Hand of our LORD upon BPCWA in seeing us through our Annual Congregational Meeting and Triennial elections. Last Lord’s Day, we had the Consecration and Installation of the Session where the new Session members vowed to be faithful to their Lord in service in BPCWA and affirmed their personal convictions about, and hence will support and defend BPCWA’s stand on the Reformed Faith as stated in the historic Westminster Confessions, the doctrines of Verbal Plenary Inspiration and Preservation of Holy Scriptures, Infant Baptism, Pre-millennialism, and the use of only KJV/CUV in the public and private reading and study of God’s Word.  The Session then started their term of service with a meeting at the Session Retreat the next day wherein discussions were focused on having clarity of responsibilities and the portfolios of each Session member for the next 3 years. With this having been settled, it is good for worshippers to know who is doing what so that you can approach the right person on the matter or questions that you may have.

The thought process behind the portfolios. It was necessary to relook at who should do what with the changes in this new Session. Different aspects had to be considered. Where areas were complementary, I looked to see if they could be assigned to the same person. Very importantly, I also had to review the load on each Session member to try to balance it out as evenly as possible, since the new deacons added to the Session were already taking care of significant areas of ministries. At the same time, there was a need to redistribute some roles taken by existing deacons so that no individual would be unduly overloaded if we could help it. I have also tried to balance assignments out so that their portfolios do not have peak periods clashing all at the same time of the year. By stating these load balancing considerations, I hope no reader gets the impression that Session members will be free, but rather that their loads are already significant and thus need to be looked at realistically as they take on the inevitable additional work going forward. Through all these, I am thankful that every Session member is keenly aware that service is needful especially when in a church office, and is ready to take on additional roles. Having all these changes swirling around certainly means that we all must work extremely hard during this transition period. However, it is also a positive change as the changes in portfolios mean that we have more men who are familiar with the ministries and processes in church, thus building some form of backups that allow us to have a more robust operation. Please do be understanding and patient as there may inevitably be areas that were overlooked or they take time to ramp up as we transition portfolios and assume new roles. On top of the various weekly duties which will not be mentioned, I wish to highlight the key portfolio distributions so that you know who to turn to and how to pray for the Session members.

Elder Leong. Membership-related processes would be the natural responsibility of an elder since they go hand in hand with membership interviews and intakes, which are BOE responsibilities. This means that baptisms and membership transfers will now be handled by him. Also, he will now take on the Clerk of Session role and plan for our Annual Congregational Meetings. Oversight of the Holy Communion process, Rededication Sunday-related processes and forms, Watchnight Service prayer list, and planning for the year’s dates and calendar would also come under his responsibility in the administration of the church. As we will have a new deacon in charge of maintenance and since this area is also closely tied to the church extension project, Eld Leong will also oversee the deacon on matters regarding church maintenance. He will also take care of the new role of compliance for the use of copyrighted material in the church, which folds in well with his oversight of the Audio-Visual and media ministry. He will continue to oversee the Anniversary Dinner and Camp/Retreat planning. Eld Leong will continue as the lead of the Church Extension Program, which will soon go into a period where activities and follow-up are expected to pick up significantly in the upcoming years as tender is in sight and build may start thereafter. As is also done in many other B-P churches with elders, the BOE will be chairing the Worship Services on the Lord’s Day. All these stated responsibilities are in addition to the spiritual care of God’s people that the elder role entails.

Deacon Adrian Cheng. He will take on Treasury, which is perhaps the most complex and difficult part of the transition in this change. Treasury entails a lot of work that worshippers are not aware of. Everything is done in-house, largely solo, except for someone who helps with the claims process. Treasury includes handling data entry to the financial system, balancing the accounts, the offertory counting, banking, and reporting, and of course maintaining the bank accounts and tracking renewals at the best interest rates for the church. Moreover, before the financial year ends, which happens just before ACM, accounts must be prepared for external auditing so that they can be distributed with the other reports. Taking on a technical area that is not an area of your expertise is never easy especially one of this nature and with many compliance requirements to meet. Despite Joel’s help in the transition, changing hands on this portfolio will be a big change. Concurrently, we are also migrating to a new financial system which was planned to help with the maintenance of our accounts in the longer term after implementation. In consideration of all these factors, Treasury will be Adrian’s main portfolio, while he continues to be the lead for Regeneration fellowship and will also be our liaise for church insurance matters.      

Deacon Terry Chong. He will be taking over the Sunday School Superintendent portfolio, which is complementary to his role as ongoing lead of the Holiday Bible Program. All Sunday School teachers have been informed of this change, but parents will also need to be aware so that they direct questions to the right person as well. There will be additional changes in the Sunday School committee as Dn Adrian requested to be relieved of being a committee member to focus on his Treasury portfolio. Terry will also now be responsible for the church’s maintenance, which includes the regular maintenance as well as planning and execution of Busy Bee, under the oversight of Eld Leong. Together with this portfolio, the photocopier contract and office resources are also his responsibility. Safety processes are also under him. Terry will also assist Eld Leong as Assistant Clerk of Session with Session minutes and ACM reports. In addition, he will be taking over the maintenance of the Session drive, BPCWA official email addresses, Facebook, and webpage updates. He will maintain his roles as lead of Adelphos and Adelphe and Husbands and Fathers Fellowship.

Deacon Soo Jin Kang. While I will be in close contact weekly with the Chinese congregation every Lord’s Day, Soo Jin will be the co-ordinator and main liaison with the Chinese congregation for general administrative matters requiring follow-up or coordination when needed. This includes arranging for translations and interpreters required for various projects. This area will be new to him, so I will be guiding him on this as occasions arise. He will also be overseeing the Chinese Retreat which will continue to be planned by Joel. The rationale is that there will be synergy in this since the Chinese Retreat is complementary to his role as the English Camp Master. Dn Soo Jin will also now be assigned to be the person within the Session to work with the leads of the ushering and transport ministries. As Soo Jin will continue to be in charge of the Nursing Home Ministry which has an outreach focus, he will also take over as lead for the Evangelism Committee as well. He will continue as lead of the School Students Fellowship in Y180.      

I am very thankful to God for having given us Sessions, over the past years and with the start of a new Session this year, with unity of heart and mind. Every worshipper, especially those who have witnessed the checkered history of our church, should be filled with thanksgiving to God for such years that He has given us to this point. May we ascribe all glory to our Almighty Lord for His gracious Hand. This echoes my sentiment for the ACM exhortation which I wrote about at last week’s pastoral. May God give us peace in our time, and may we always use that peace and unity to serve Him and further His kingdom with all our hearts and strength till He comes as we serve our Lord together as one in whatever area He puts in our hands. Please pray earnestly for the Session and BPCWA and strive together with us for the Lord’s glory and kingdom while we all have breath!

Ecc 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor