LutHERAN L I N K 信義网 Lutheran Church In Malaysia and Singapore Level 6, No. 6 Jalan Utara, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. Tel 电话: (6)03- 79565992 / (6) 03- 79560014 Fax 传真: (6)03- 79576953 马新基督教信义会 Email : [email protected]Website : www.lcms.org.my. Vol. 3 May 2011
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Transcript
the Bishop
LutHERAN LINK
信義网
Lutheran Church In Malaysia and Singapore
Level 6, No. 6 Jalan Utara, 46200Petaling Jaya, Selangor,Malaysia.Tel 电话: (6)03- 79565992 / (6) 03- 79560014 Fax 传真: (6)03- 79576953
One of the primary tasks of the Church is to be a Christ’s hands and feet to the world. This is clear-ly laid down when our Lord an-nounced that His disciples are the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world." (Matt. 5:13 – 14) The Apostle Paul further expounded this when he challenged the early Christians not to look only to their own interest but also to the inter-est of others. (Phil 2:4) Hence, Christians are uniquely called to unleash themselves to be a Church for others by becoming a positive influence in the world. When God’s children are actively involved with others by doing good works, the Name of God is glorified. That, "they may see your good deeds and glorify God." (1 Pet. 2:12).
As such, our involvement in our communities should come forth as a fruit of a living relationship with God. With a genuine concern for both the physical and spiritual well-being for others, we pour ourselves as a refreshing stream unto this arid world. This involvement with
others will naturally open doors of opportunity for us to reach them with the Good news of Jesus Christ.
On the other hand, if we choose to be “a lamp put under a basket”, we are on a sure path to stagnation and probably eventual demise. The inward-looking disease of ‘me-first’ or ‘what-is-there-for-me’ will de-capitate the Church from becoming God’s salt and light of the world.
For the reason above, the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore continue to reach out to our com-munities, by providing holistic care to all those in need. The LCMS Social Concerns ministry is estab-lished with the purpose of sharing Christ’s love through our projects and programs like Rumah Love & Care, Kaizen Children’s Home, Klinik Lutheran and the Orang Asli’s Touching Hearts. We are also greatly encouraged by some of our congregations which are find-ing creative and effective ways of reaching out to their communities.
As we take steps to meet the needs beyond the walls of our churches,
A Church for Others“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matt. 5:16
it is also important to remind our-selves that the ministries that we are providing are NOT to draw at-tention to ourselves. Do the people who receive our care and assistance see us, or do they see Jesus? Do they hear the good news of the Kingdom, or do they simply hear self-serving speeches? Furthermore, are our projects and programs merely a one-time act of ‘feel-good’ service, or that we are totally engaged no matter how chal-lenging the needs are? These are pertinent questions we need to con-sider.
It is my prayer that more of our con-gregations and members would see the need for them to be involved with their communities. May we all have the spirit of our risen Lord and see ourselves as people who have "not come to be served, but to serve." (Matt. 20:28)
Bishop Philip Lok
Lutheran Church in Malaysia& Singapore
会督的话
EDITORIAL BOARD编辑部
ADVISOR 顾问Bishop Philip Lok
EDITOR 编辑 Clarice Wong Zi Yun
PROOFREADING & GRAMMAR CHECKS校对及语法查对Melissa Loovi & Melissa Lin
TRANSLATOR 翻译Bro. Wong Foon
is on
Join the LCMS facebook group. Go to www.facebook.com (Search Lutheran Church in Malaysia & Singapore)
欢迎加入马新基督教信义会facebook 圈子。游览 www.facebook.com (寻找Lutheran Church in Malaysia & Singapore)
of a former church planter and pastor in the city of Kuala Lumpur
by Rev. Sivin Kit
On April 1, 2000 a small group of us sat in the living room of 4A, Jalan Utara to begun the unforgettable journey of ‘resurrecting’ Bangsar Lutheran Church (BLC), growing as a Christian community in Kuala Lumpur, and learning (or re-learning) previous lessons along the way. I write this article on April 1, 2011 after more than ten years since that memorable day. A decade is a good period for one to look back afresh on what has been helpful, and what needs further attention.1
How often do we hear whether it’s at the de-nominational level or congregational level the ABC’s of church, in our conversations? A for attendance, B for buildings and C for cash. We are often impressed by churches which large attendances where thousands come every Sunday to impressive buildings and collections. We may feel discouraged when our attendance is struggling, our build-ings are old or modest, and it’s hard to even collect enough to pay the pastors’ salary! Success for many churches often is unfortu-nately limited to looking at our attendance, building and cash.
The pioneers of the renewed BLC were young (mostly below 35) and inexperienced (no one planted a church before). The Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore (LCMS) provided the building at 23, Jalan Abdul-lah, Bangsar, gave initial funds for renova-tion and supported the pastors’ basic salary and housing for a little above 3 years. Like a newborn baby, this was the needed support before BLC could stand and walk on her own later.
For me as the pastor, it freed my mind from focusing merely on attendance, the building and monetary concerns. Every year we still need to give statistical report, but for me that was for accountability and reporting through base measurements more than a pressure to perform. Then we as a small growing com-munity could then turn our attention to peo-ple, facilities, and resources.
It’s more than changing words, it’s a change of mindset and motivations, and frees us to imagine new possibilities in the methods we experiment and use.
People are more than numbers. People have names, personal stories, problems and pos-sibilities. Luther helpfully reminds us that we are saints and sinners at the same time, we are always in a position in need for God’s grace. We are made in the image of God, be-loved children of God, and seeking how to be faithful followers of Christ in this messy world we live in. We have the potential by the transforming power of the Spirit to grow into instruments of change to make the prayer of God’s kingdom and will to “come here on earth as it is in heaven” real in our personal and public lives.
Different people have been and are still part of the BLC community. In the early days, you would see mostly Chinese looking fac-es. But, in God’s own timing and wisdom, he added a healthy mix of Australians, Eu-ropeans and Americans (occasionally Afri-can) to diversify and beautify our common life together. Each brings a uniqueness of their original culture to enrich a new culture within the church where Christ has indeed broken down every wall. “Unity in diversity” is in danger of becoming an empty slogan these days, but every congregation who seeks to be faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ will need to wrestle with how we can be united even in the midst of our individual uniqueness. It starts with the church being a ‘safe space’ for different people to come together.
Differences for most congregations would also include our opinions on different sub-jects from our opinions on styles of ministry compared to how we want to respond to is-sues of politics, economics and education in our setting. And one-way forward is to know what is essential, and what is non-essential, and lovingly discern the difference. This re-quires maturity and humility.
While as a congregation in the city, BLC was undeniably more middle class and above economically, we slowly grew more in touch with the concerns of the wider society. Of-ten, it will take time and effort to fully un-derstand people and what is the concern for each person. Because we value creat-ing a ‘safe space’ where and open to see the “breaking down” of divisive and discrimi-
nating walls. For others and also for ourselves. And when each of us receives the bread and the wine, and participates in the Holy Communion together, Christ’s real presence becomes the origin and re-source for our unity.
We rediscovered resources like the church year and the revised common lectionary, practices like stations of the cross and the Maundy Thursday meal, as well as re-appropriating insights from the Lutheran tradition especially during the Catechism classes, are ways in which this real pres-ence is worked out in our thinking, wor-shipping and living.
Learning to reflect theologically puts God at the ultimate reference point over our personal preferences, and with a good dose of humility (as an antidote to un-thinking dogmatism) we then can go far together. Living in Malaysia today, espe-cially in a place like Kuala Lumpur, we are exposed to thinking educationally, ec-onomically, socially, and nowadays even politically, but one what is often neglected is learning to think theologically.
This means returning to a theological way of approaching the Bible, but also a fresh appreciation of church history and the various doctrines related to daily life. It involves a better understanding of our the strengths and weaknesses of our culture, a greater awareness of our own psychol-
It’s more than chang-ing words, it’s a change of mindset and motiva-tions, and frees us to imagine new possibili-ties in the methods we experiment and use.
ogy and personalities. In short, we cannot stop growing holistically and remain stag-nant in our forms of thinking. As new cre-ations in Christ, our minds are in constant renewal as we engage thinking alien and
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Confession
Rev. Sivin Kit is on sabbatical to pursue his PhD in “Religion, Ethics and Society” at the University of Agder, in Norway for three years. And a father of four kids and a wife.
often uncomfortable to us. But thinking theo-logically means we trust in the leading of God’s spirit, and the mutual affirmation and correc-tion of the Christian community. Practically, this is experienced right from the small groups to the yearly congregation general meeting to-gether with the council meetings and commit-tee meetings in between.
I like the word facilities more than building. “Facilities” help us turn our attention to what facilitates ministry. This move redirects energy from unhealthy debates to creative use of our premises for church life and mission to our sur-roundings. The key question is, “How can this room, this building, or this space facilitate a particular ministry of work we want to do bet-ter?”
Some memorable events we have had at BLC were where the renovated bungalow was used to facilitate worship, community life and out-reach. We adapted versions of the stations of the cross during holy week a number of times. Different rooms in the building were trans-formed into creative stations by small groups to help people meditate on Christ’s journey to the cross and anticipated resurrection. The church premises was transformed into a muse-um-like environment where through the arts, music and silence, we could encounter God out of the regular ways we are familiar with. Two unforgettable events for me was a pancake party for Shrove Tuesday introduced by the British family who had been worshipping with us for many years and the full Maundy Thurs-day meal where we see the connection between the Old Testament Passover meal with the Lord’s supper. Organizing and participating in these events facilitated the theme of community life to the surface.
For outreach, BLC learnt precious lessons when we were able to cooperate even with non-gov-ernmental organizations like Protect and Save the children2 on a common issue of concern, such as ‘child abuse’ and faith inspired organiza-tions like Friends in conversation3 on a variety of social and theological topics. The buildings we are blessed with must never be just to privi-lege only our members. We have been blessed to be a blessing to our community. When we use our buildings to facilitate that, then not only doors will be opened, but hearts and minds as well through the church to God.
Money occupies our minds so often. Congrega-tions are not immune to this. Often the longest discussion in an annual general meeting is dur-ing the treasurer’s report. But the mindset fo-cused on cash, perhaps distracts us from seeing money as part of the wider resource that God has blessed us with.
When we turn our focus to resources, then this includes time and energy people who are not that rich financially to contribute to the life of the church. In the BLC journey, we have dis-covered how resourceful we are when we are willing to be creative and think out of the box. One principle we found helpful was rather than starting many ministries from scratch since we
are already small and limited especially the early years, we can join others who have already started the work. We do not have to reinvent the wheel for everything.
This approach opened up our relation-ships with a variety of ministries within the LCMS; for example, the companion-ship program with the Orang Asli con-gregations as well as the work of United Voice, a self-advocacy organization for people with learning disabilities4. We may not be able to boast of so many ministries we have started, but the real-ity is that more of our time, energy and also money can be channeled to support existing work – good work. It has been most rewarding and fulfilling for us too, because we are able to see how our col-laboration with others truly extend the in-terests of the Kingdom of God more than our own local church.
Increasingly as the seasons and times had changed, some in BLC realized that we as individuals and clusters of individuals are learning what it means to be a resource or catalyst for spiritual and social change in society. This would mean for me as the pastor and church leaders to reconsider how we organize our church programs and balance the internal needs of the con-gregation and the external mission of the church to the world.
each of us individually can manage our own fi-nance, which is humanly speaking earned, but theologically ultimately God’s blessing to us.
In a world where we are defined as consum-ers and defined by our spending power to ac-quire symbols of wealth, the healthiest things to deal with that challenge is the simple act of giving. BLC members through the last ten years have been faithful and generous in giv-ing financially. Then the pastor does not need to worry about finances and can focus on the ministry and mission of the church. As a pas-tor I had to learn how to work with church leaders who are more expert in matters of fi-nance to make this work. Here is where we see each of us with our spiritual gifts contributing to the health of the congregation, and each of us being a “gift” to the church and the world by the role that we play.
Perhaps you would have noticed the ABC’s of church is not thrown away, but rather the place of attendance, buildings and cash are understood in their proper place. Today in 2011, BLC has a larger attendance than the year 2000, the building has just completed a major renovation, and the financial steward-ship of the church is healthy. There is much to be grateful and to give thanks to God for. But that is merely the surface, and does not tell the whole story. It must not be the end of the discussion and focus.
When all is said and done, I found myself hav-ing a fresh appreciation of people, facilities, and resources especially in my own journey the past slightly more than ten years of be-ing the pastor of Bangsar Lutheran Church. I believe different congregations of the LCMS throughout the country can retell the story of their congregation in different ways. My hope is that by sharing our journey a little it may inspire others to take a fresh look at their own.
Whether one is doing well or struggling per-sonally or corporately, we can focus back on what is more important in the wider scheme of God’s plans and purposes for the church and the world. The focus on my last three sermons before I came to Norway to start my doctoral program was “Jump first, Fear later”, “You are not Alone” and “Walk On”. It has been very helpful for me personally at different seasons of my life and ministry to connect me to the various spiritual and theological themes of grace, faith, community, accountability, cre-ativity and perseverance. I offer these words as gifts to encourage all pastors, church lead-ers and members for a better today and to-morrow.
There is no one formula that will fit into every situation. The key question is, “What do we prayerfully discern what God wants us to do in this time and in this place?” We must be ready for mistakes or failed experiments, to correct ourselves along the way, sharpen our strategies and have a healthy humility to learn along the way. When we are confident in God’s grace that not only accepts us as we are, but also guides us in our growth, we press on without fear but in faith. Faith always involves risk. One of the phrases that have been on the lips of BLC members is “Jump first, fear later!”
The turn to “resource” however is not to ignore finances but to open our attention to see beyond money while including it. For BLC, to be faithful in giving our be-nevolence to our mother church that gave birth to us has always been important. We needed to learn financial stewardship where money is not spend wastefully on less essentials so we can focus on the pri-ority concerns. Learning to manage mon-ey as a corporate body is a reminder of our
Bringing concreteness of our Christian faith into the concrete jungleWe have been taught since we were young that we exist in a 3-di-mensional world – height, width and depth; longitude, latitude and eleva-tion. Eventually, we learnt that time is also a dimension of our reality – instead of only three coordinates; we have four coordinates to describe an event in spacetime. Einstein showed us that our world is where time and space make one united fabric that is curved, stretched and twisted by the distribution of matter and energy in the fabric. As we continue to unravel the truths of the cosmos, we now ar-rive at “M-theory” – a possible “theo-ry of everything”, leading our under-standing of our physical world to an astounding 11 dimensions! Drawing this as an analogy, Chris-tians have been discovering the many dimensions of our Christian faith as we journey through history. Far from being a matter merely between “a man and his Maker”, our flourish-ing faith is one that is magnificently multi-dimensional – from the eternal to the temporal, from the personal to the public, from the self to the other, from orthodoxy to orthopraxis, from the phenomenal to the existential – and we have by no means arrived at the cul de sac.
Kuala Lumpur Lutheran Congrega-tion (KLLC) is an LCMS congregation that is strategically stationed in the center of Kuala Lumpur’s concrete jungle. In order to be meaningful and tangible to this thriving cosmopolitan
metropolis, KLLC has to effectively bring “concreteness” to the dimensions of the Christian faith – inter alia our value sys-tem, worldview and ethos – to the com-munity around us.
pathy, towards our fellow human beings. Empathy suggests that we “enter into the emotional state of another’s suffering and feel his or her pain as if it were our own” which in effect conjures up an active will-ingness “to become part of another’s ex-perience, to share the feelings of that ex-perience” (Jeremy Rifkin, The Empathic Civilization).
Many Christians are inadvertently preju-diced and intolerant against people of dif-ferent backgrounds – being incapable or even unwilling to empathize with others as fellow human beings. The concreteness of Christ-likeness is possible by fostering sincere empathy towards others beyond all boundaries and conditions, by shar-ing in their sufferings and experiences as Christ did for all.
The compassionate Christ was also a mas-ter interlocutor, adept in articulating his message by employing logic, paradoxes and dialectics. Many have rigorously challenged his discourse but were futile; some even believed in him eventually. However, simplistic responses by today’s Christians towards many issues are dis-
Jason Lee
Bringing concreteness to Christ-likenessWhenever we think about being like Christ, many would arrive at the imagery of a devout life resembling an ultra-mor-alistic person shrouded in sacredness, liv-ing in an impenetrable bubble of religious and spiritual bliss, and virtually imper-vious to worldly matters. This, however, is a grossly inaccurate imagery of being Christ-like, even for 1st century Greco-Roman believers, and by and large inap-plicable to 21st century people like us. So, what does it mean to be Christ-like?
Compassion is a major theme that runs through the thread of our Gospel narra-tives. When Jesus began his ministry, he “saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matt 9:36) Compassion in this context connotes a deep feeling of pity and sym-pathy towards the predicament of an in-ferior party, with a deep yearning to de-liver the latter from misery and suffering. Jesus our God is constantly moved with compassion towards his people.
However, we must realize that we are not Christ, and are not in any way supe-rior to others to manifest such compas-sion. Therefore to be Christ-like, we must transpose this compassion to mean a deep sense of empathy, rather than sym-
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Bringing concreteness of our Christian faith into the concrete jungle
missed by antagonists as patronizing and being inept at addressing the complexities of reality. Concrete Christ-likeness, hence, involves articulating our faith through sincere moral and ethical deliberations and propositions that make real sense to contemporary society, and avoid being disregarded as sanctimonious-parochial chauvin-ists or rigid religious robots.
Bringing concreteness to the Christian call to public life
The Gospel of John began with, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Fa-ther, full of grace and truth”. (John 1: 14) We must always be mindful that the prime function of Christ’s incarnation is to fulfil God’s promise in Exodus 25:9 to tabernacle with his people – his dwelling is in the midst of human kind. Similarly, Christians who are called to reflect the glory of our Lord must do so concretely by dwelling in the midst of society. We are not called into isolation but into public life! Many exclaim, “Politics has nothing to do with my faith!” Au contraire, politics – i.e. the art and science of govern-ing society – inevitably runs up against profound moral and ethical issues that demand us to draw on conceptions and commitments derived from our Christian value sys-tem and worldview. The same goes with economics. The Lutheran “two-kingdoms doctrine” must be understood as a highly dialectical and paradoxical view of God’s two-fold – not separated – rule.
This leads us to a “public theology” which is about encoun-tering and engaging with grounding questions of pub-lic morality – political, economic or social – in explicitly Christian terms. The church is called to apply the dynamic law of God to all the structures of social life, not only with abstract critiques and commentaries but with concrete propositions and actions.
Bringing concreteness to the Lutheran tradition
We are richly blessed with “the living faith” of those who came before us. Central themes of Lutheranism including justification by grace, law and gospel, 3 ‘Sola’s, freedom of a Christian, and priesthood of all believers have been resonating resiliently throughout Protestant history, pro-viding reform dynamics founded on Lutheran notions of creation, cross, sin, and human response and action for a sustainable world. Lutherans live and act faithfully out of lively freedom and the assurance of God’s redeeming promise rather than skillfully out of a method. Notable Lutherans include Soren Kierkegaard, Dietrich Bonheof-fer, Max Born, and Jaroslav Pelikan.
The Lutheran church of today must continue to realize the concreteness of Lutheran ethos, a way of life shaped by a vision of God’s activities and purposes. We must take up this task with some sense of urgency and seriousness, or risk disintegrating the Lutheran church itself into a ge-neric amalgam of declining Protestant groups. This may occur if we are unable to transmit the distinctiveness of this living tradition to new generations, especially in the face of postmodern culture. The perennial themes that I have mentioned cover only a few dimensions of our Christian faith. As KLLC brings concreteness to more dimensions and engage our modern society, we meet challenges that demand serious reflec-tion and even reconstruction. Above all, we shall depend on whether the Spirit continues to bless KLLC with life and power to be God’s beacon of light to the city.
Jason runs a telecommunica-tions company. He worshiped and served in Taman Midah Lutheran Church since young; called to be the founding com-mittee chairman of new congre-gation Kuala Lumpur Lutheran Church (KLLC).
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The Youth Centre was officially launched on 10 April 2011, which is also the