Dear BPCWA worshipper, We have a combined worship service today to commemorate BPCWA’s anniversary. 40 years ago, BPCWA was established by our founding pastor, Dr Tow Siang Hwa. We began as an outreach of Calvary Pandan Bible-Presbyterian Church in Singapore, to serve as a local church here. As a church plant in Perth, it is important for us to understand the biblical purposes of a local church witness.   

God’s witness through the ages. The Bible tells us that time began at creation.  Right from Genesis, we see men bringing sacrifices and Abraham building altars to worship God. The nation of Israel had not yet begun, and families were God’s witnesses wherever He had placed them. God passed His covenant through the family, by preaching the Gospel of salvation by grace alone in Genesis 3:15. To Abraham, God promised to “make of thee a great nation . . . and thou shalt be a blessing” (Gen 12:2). Through the line of the patriarchs, God would eventually form the nation Israel, “a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Exo 19:6) to God. However, judgement came when the Jews rejected Jesus Christ, the Messiah. The nation of Israel is temporarily set aside as God’s witness, while the Gentiles, “being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree” (Rom 11:17). God will not have the world without a witness for Him. To achieve this, Christ promised and assured, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat 16:18). The church in this verse is “the catholic or universal Church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof” [Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF), Ch XXV:1] which also includes the children of Israel, who were referred to as “the church in the wilderness” (Act 7:38). However, the universal Church is invisible since it consists only of truly born-again believers. Not every member of a physical, i.e., visible church, is part of the universal Church. The visible church “consists of all those, throughout the world, that profess the true religion, together with their children; and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.” (WCF, Ch XXV:2). BPCWA is a local visible church. Local churches have both born-again believers and those who are not genuinely saved. Nevertheless, God has chosen for the local churches to bear witness for Him now, instead of Israel, till His ordained time when Israel will finally fulfil its role as His witness one day.

The witness of the local church. We see many references to the local church in the New Testament. This largely refers to a group of believers in a specific locality. It was the church in Antioch (Act 13:1) where “the disciples were called Christians first” (Act 11:26). There are repeated mentions of the church in Jerusalem (Act 8:1, 11:22). There is no clearer evidence that there are local churches than the fact that Christ addresses the 7 churches in various locations in Revelation 1:11. 1) The church assembles. The local church is God’s visible witness through its assembly to worship and serve God. We see the group of believers assemble, as in Corinth, where they came together (1Co 11:18). Unless special circumstances such as sicknesses hinder us from being part of the assembly in a sound church, there is a clear expectation of the people of the church coming together “into one place” (1Co 14:23). Even without an official church building, many of the early churches gathered in the house of an individual, such as churches in the house of Aquila and Priscilla (1Co 16:19, Rom 16:5) and Nymphas (Col 4:15). Hence, we must realise that assembling is not optional (Heb 10:25), despite today’s technological age where livestream is readily available. Assembly is part of our visible witness for God in His visible church. 2) God’s visible witness to testify for His Truth and for prayer. The purpose of assembling in church is more than a mere communal get-together. It is to be part of the spiritual work of the church, continuing steadfastly “in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Act 2:42). The church must contend earnestly for the faith (Jud 3) to ensure that it stands as a witness. This is because the church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth (1Ti 3:15). 3) To evangelise and build up the believers therein. By God’s ordination, there are languages and nations around the world. On the day of Pentecost, God supernaturally gifted the disciples with the miraculous ability to speak different earthly languages to preach the gospel message. Sign gifts have now ceased, but the duty to preach the gospel remains. Today, visible churches minister to the believers in various languages according to their locality. The gospel witness does not end with the salvation of souls from hell. It includes building up these saved souls. The normal situation is for each church to have a resident pastor. The resident pastor, with an understanding of and residing in the country’s environment, and knowing the people in the church, can better minister to the needs of the congregation to fulfil God’s purpose of “perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph 4:12). A pastor must feed (teach and provide spiritual care) God’s sheep in the church he is called to serve. This is why God holds him accountable for the souls under him (Heb 13:17).

As BPCWA commemorates our 40^th anniversary, we must have clarity about what our witness as a local church entails. From that, we must pray, labour, and be faithful to why God planted us here in Perth. This means each worshipper must stand united to fulfil our part since God has placed us in this church. Will BPCWA remain faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ till He returns for His universal Church? It depends on each worshipper, from the BOE to every individual. Our individual walk with the Lord matters. Local churches fall because of both leadership failures, and worldliness or the negligent living of the congregation. Our individual and personal lives have a great impact on others and the church. Would you live for others’ sake (1Th 1:5) and for God’s kingdom?  God has been faithful to BPCWA. Let us not fail Him,

Hold the fort, for I am coming,
Jesus signals still;
Wave the answer back to heaven,
By Thy grace we will.

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor