AS
ONE
By Pastor Lawrence Khong , Chairman of LoveSingapore
Writing this piece brings back so many fond memories . I have been a local church pastor for more than 40 years . I must confess that for the longest time , I was never a fan of mission agencies . Enter Alan Lim of YWAMSG . He changed my perspective .
Flashback to 1993 . Alan Lim , together with a few others , was helming the local chapter of the AD2000 United Prayer Track on an ad hoc basis . Before year-end , I was officially appointed as the Singapore coordinator by the late Peter Wagner , the international convener . I asked Alan Lim to remain on my team .
That was a good move . Alan understood the power of relational unity . He valued the local church . He appreciated the leadership of pastors . He built bridges and cultivated friendships . He willingly played a servant role in any way he could to grow our fledging network , which we renamed LoveSingapore in 1995 .
We had 5 goals then , one of which was to adopt Unreached People Groups . Through YWAMSG , Alan pledged to help local churches think global and go global . In doing so , he did not fly the YWAM flag . On the contrary , he relinquished the right to insist on doing things the YWAM way . I was pleasantly surprised . In fact , I was impressed . I knew I could trust a man like that : one with no personal agenda and who would even lay down his organisation ’ s agenda .
Through YWAMSG , we got to know John Dawson , whose landmark book , Taking Our Cities for God ( 1989 ), became our spiritual compass . It was a great eye-opener . We realised that in uniting to pray for Singapore , we first needed to see her through Jesus ’ eyes . That meant looking back and understanding our history . We needed to discern the Father
32
Seated ( left to right ): Pastor Daniel Foo , Pastor Ian Toh , Pastor Chern Hock Chye , Pastor Lawrence Khong