Dear BPCWA worshipper, After we had to cancel our anniversary dinner due to COVID restrictions, I thank God for each time we could continue to celebrate our anniversary with an in-person dinner to thank and praise God. This was particularly important as we commemorate our church’s 40^th anniversary this year. It was a blessed time together, which ended with several generations commemorating the milestone by taking photographs in front of the projected 40^th anniversary logo. It is important that we recall and chronicle God’s reminder to us in 1 Corinthians 3:10-13 and what we must resolve to do as His church in every generation. God’s Word must be a clarion call for this and future generations in BPCWA.

Be a wise masterbuilder. The Apostle Paul says that he was a wise masterbuilder in planting the church (1Co 3:10). He realises that it was according to the grace of God that God enabled him with wisdom. Grace also means that Paul knows that he wasn’t worthy, but God had given him this privilege. BPCWA was planted here 40 years ago by the grace of God. Those who were given the privilege to set up this church are workers, just as we are today, to build a strong church that serves and glorifies God. It is an immense privilege. What will make us wise builders of God’s church is ensuring that the church’s only foundation is Jesus Christ, our Lord. The foundation is not man, not other purposes than His, not other popular directions according to what other churches do. Everything must always be about and for Jesus Christ, in full dependence on Him. The church must point people to Christ’s glory. Christ’s truth must be taught and made known without reservations, else the foundation is useless. Also, Christ calls His church the house of prayer, so prayer must characterise BPCWA in every generation. And let us not forget that He sends the church out to make disciples through evangelism, baptising them, and teaching them to observe all things He has commanded us (Mat 28:19-20). So, these 3 areas must be very clear in every worshipper’s heart to build upon the foundation of Christ: the Word, prayer, and evangelism. And all these are to point men to the Almighty God, not merely an academic exercise. Importantly, the church is not to entertain or please men. Other churches today may conduct events for the social, cultural, and emotional well-being of all people, holding cooking demonstrations, organising meetings around food, and even knitting classes. As we have seen from our history videos, BPCWA was far ahead of our time – we did these long ago. But now, on our 40^th anniversary, we must know what to build upon the foundation of Christ. It is not such activities. BPCWA has the privilege of building God’s church until Christ returns. Only when we do so will men truly benefit. This benefit to men is not in the enjoyment of food and fun, but in the more important eternal benefit of receiving true salvation, being delivered and transported from darkness into light, growing in sanctification, and having eternal life to live in the presence of and serve the living God. This is this and every generation’s privilege to do so.

A warning to remember. There is a strong warning, “every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon” (1Co 3:10). Just because we have this church, we do not stop here. The church needs to build continuously upon this foundation. We are all part of the building of God, and we must be wise builders as we continue building. A wise builder will build with “gold, silver, precious stones” because “wood, hay, stubble” will be burnt up. We must ensure that the Word, prayer, and evangelism are the “gold, silver, precious stones” that we will keep building on. We are accountable for these. Then, there is a reminder, “Every man’s work shall be made manifest” (1Co 3:13). None of us can say that we don’t care. God will call each of us to account. We cannot feel that how I live and what I want to be in God’s church won’t affect the church, because every man’s work is important. This is so from the BOE down to the children. For this generation, let us remember that it is our privilege to continue to build upon this foundation. When Christ is the foundation, no man can remove it. When God set up BPCWA 40 years ago, it was obvious from our history how Satan tried to demolish BPCWA. The Lord protected it through amazing means, exposing men that we would never otherwise have known about. We were led down the wrong path and dwelt on the wrong things. God graciously protected us. How should we show our thankfulness? To never make those mistakes again, but to learn to do better. It is not about comparing, but about being accountable, because every man’s work will be made manifest. We can be the ones who destroy the church. When we do things in ignorance, God will patiently and graciously protect us. But after having known the truth, if we intentionally build with wood, hay, and stubble, let us not presumptuously assume that God will dotingly protect us.

To every generation’s builders. Young children, you will be teenagers, young adults, and adults one day. Remember to ensure that BPCWA is godly, strong, and will glorify God. This is better than building any company in the world. But you can do so only if you are holy and godly from a young age. To the parents of our young ones, unless you realise that these young lives are put in your hands for the next generation of God’s church, remembering how God protected and helped the church, they can be the very ones that will destroy it because of how you bring them up. To the young ones, you must love God and love holiness, so that God will use you to be the next generation to build a godly and holy church for God. Pray every night for God to help you be a godly child, be useful to God one day, and glorify Him. To every worshipper cum builder, commemorating an anniversary is a wonderful thing. Our hearts must be full of thankfulness. But at the same time, there must be a sense of a great burden upon our shoulders. Will we be faithful till Christ returns? Will every anniversary dinner show that the church has grown spiritually, and God has used us more and more to build up the saints? That must be our check every year. In the very year we realise we have become more social and man-oriented instead of focusing on Christ, we know we have already gone astray. We have also seen from our history that the weaknesses of poor building material may not be obvious in the short term, but they will surely manifest in the years to come if we don’t take steps to correct the failures promptly. Let us always pray for God’s church and live aright for God’s church.

We thank God for the blessed dinner we had together in peace and unity of hearts. But that thanksgiving must translate to our building of God’s church into the future. That is the true response of hearts filled with gratitude. Some of us who were at this year’s dinner may not be around in 40 years’ time. What will the Anniversary Dinner be like another generation from now? Whether we have been wise builders will be manifest in the church 40 years from now. Every generation must build wisely. Every generation must be committed to growing in truth and holiness, with love for God and souls. The future generation must be brought up to build only on this strong foundation of Christ.

“According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” (1Co 3:10-13)

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor