A. The Decision for Full-Time Ministry
One of the matters that needed to be sorted out was the support for Brother Sing and his family after they have uprooted and joined the church planting effort in Penang. Though fully convinced and ready for ministry full time, for practical reasons Sing was willing and actually preferred to seek some part-time employment until the work is soundly established and became capable of supporting an elder who labours in the word and doctrine. There were other reasons too. Uncertainty about the viability of the work was one. In the worst scenario, the small group could disband for various reasons. He was acutely conscious that not everyone is material suited for the harsh realities and challenges of the pioneering work of church planting on the idolatrous island of Penang. The small group also genuinely felt that they were not ready nor able to support a full-time ministry – which was true - and proposed that Sing should at least seek part-time employment.
The Sri Hartamas Church, however, felt that the new work was urgent and required a full-time ministry in order to stabilize and build up the fragile work. Finally, the Sri Hartamas Church proposed that Sing should consider giving himself full time to the new work, with the assurance that the S H Church would stand with him whatever the outcome. The Church was committed to the work and was determined to ensure its success. The Church also encouraged the new group to contribute to the support of the ministry as best they can, with the assurance that the Church would cover the shortfall required to provide basic support for Sing and his family. For the gospel’s sake, Sing was agreeable to this arrangement and devoted himself to the work of the gospel ministry – full-time from the start. This has continued through the first decade and he remains content with the basic support. The Lord has supplied the need of the Church all these years through the fellowship of other like-minded churches.
B. The Call By the Church
Sing’s family moved to Penang to join him during the first week of April 93. As they settled down into the new place, Sing began to take care of the various meetings. Initially, there was the Sunday morning worship service and evening prayer meetings. The Sunday morning services continued with the exposition through the Gospel of John. After the Church was constituted, the mid-week Bible Study began to meet on Thursday evenings. The first book covered was Joshua. In those early months, except for the Sunday worship services, the Bible Study and prayer meetings were held in the homes of members so that mothers with young children might not be deprived of these means of grace. This way the church had ample opportunity to assess Sing’s suitability for the ministry. This will assist the church in their decision on whether to call him as the pastor of the church later.
Meanwhile, Pastor Poh continued his monthly visit to oversee the work in Penang until November 93. His ministry as the ‘interim pastor’ of the new church was essential and beneficial. The new church was fumbling about with many things and Pastor Poh’s continuing ministry was greatly appreciated. He chaired the first four Church Members' Meetings. The minutes of the fourth Meeting says, “Pastor Poh announced that his position as interim pastor ceased as of tonight. But fellowship continues and church-to-church participation in gospel work will be ongoing.”
In the first Church Members Meeting held on May 2, 1993, Pastor Poh reminded the members to consider the possibility of calling Sing to the pastoral ministry. Item 7 of the minutes says, “The next event, after Church Constitution, would be to decide whether the church would recognize and call Sing to be the pastor of the church. A vote would be taken during the next church members meeting for this purpose.” The Church was reminded to be prayerful about the matter.
Also at this first Meeting, Liew Teik Shin was appointed the Church Treasurer, and Tan Kok Poh the Church Secretary. Many other practical duties were assigned and various other practical issues were settled. Thus the practical matters of the Church were put in order from the start.
In the second Meeting held on July 10, the members requested more time to consider the matter. The Minutes read, ‘The voting is postponed to the next business meeting scheduled in September as some members expressed shortness of time and were not ready to vote. Members were reminded to pray, seriously bearing in mind the qualification of a pastor stated in 1Timothy 3.” In the third Meeting, on September 19, the Church ‘unanimously’ voted to call Sing to be the pastor of the church. There was one blank vote and later this became the source of murmuring against the word ‘unanimously’ being used in the Minutes. This was an indication of the much heartache and difficulties that were to come, but the Lord preserved the new Church.
With the church’s decision to call Sing to the pastorate, a date was set for his ordination. The Minutes says, “Pastor Lau’s ordination into the ministry is planned for the second week of November and like-minded Pastors would be present to ordain him in a special service. Members are to be prayerful.”
C. The Ordination to the Ministry
Below is the content of the programme sheet for the Ordination-cum-Worship Service held by Sungai Dua Church on November 7, 1993.
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Ordination-cum-Worship Service (7 Nov 1993)
Of Sing Foo Lau as pastor of Sungai Dua Church, Penang.
Chairman: Pastor Poh
Invited guests:
Pastor Lim, Kuala Kubu Chapel, Kuala Kubu Baru.
Pastor Ho, Sri Serdang Church, Sri Serdang.
Pastor Kek, JB First Community Church, Johor Bahru.
Order of Service:
Hymn: Our God, our help in ages past (90/1)
Prayer: Pastor Poh
Announcement of Purpose
Brother Sing’s Affirmation
Address to the Pastor (Pastor Lim)
Address to the church (Pastor Ho)
Laying on of hands
Hymn: Crown Him with many crowns (288)
Scripture reading
Sermon: (Pastor Kek) “They had understanding of the time” 1Chro 12. [See message outline at the bottom.]
Hymn: O Lord, close to Thee we would cleave.
Prayer: Pastor Poh
Brief History:
A group of believers, many of whom had been exposed to reformed teaching when studying overseas, finally decided to meet regularly with the intention of forming a church. The Sri Hartamas Church in Kuala Lumpur was invited to help with this. From May 1992, Pastor Poh travelled to Penang once a month, and spent the long weekend teaching the group. Brother Lau Sing Fo and his family were sent by the Sri Hartamas Church to Penang in April 1993 to minister full-time. On May 1, 1993, the Sungai Dua Church was officially constituted. On September 18, 1993, Brother Lau Sing Foo was elected by the church to be its pastor. We gather on this Lord’s Day, November 7, 1993, for the purpose of ordaining him to the office of the pastor of the church. To God be the glory, great things He has done!”
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D. The Weekly Meetings
The basic weekly meetings of the Church from the beginning were as follows:
1. Sunday morning service at 9.30am.
2. Sunday evening prayer meeting at 8.pm
3. Thursday evening Bible Study at 8pm.
From time to time, the time and the venue for prayer meetings and Bible Study were adjusted to suit the convenience of the working members, in order to encourage maximum participation in the public assembly of the saints. The principle guiding the Church with regard to its public meetings has always been, “Minimum meetings, maximum attendance and participation.” So public meetings have always been kept to the bare minimum while members are exhorted to attend all these basic meetings for edification and fellowship. (Multiplication of meetings is a common phenomenon in many churches...)
The services are marked by their NT no-frilled simplicity, and the order of service is labelled derogative ly as ‘hymn-sandwich.’ It ought to be noted, however, that the good doctrinal hymns are sandwiched with solid meat for the mind and soul, i.e. simple expository preaching of the Scriptures. Unfortunately, this no-frill but wholesome diet is not every believer’s delight.
A typical order of service for the morning service is as follows: hymn 1, public prayer, systematic Scripture reading (congregational) and brief exhortation, hymn 2, reading the Scriptures for the message, hymn 3, prayer, preaching, hymn 4 and closing prayer. The evening service is simpler: hymn 1, opening prayer, Scriptures reading, preaching, hymn 2 and closing prayer. For the midweek Bible Study, it is simply hymn, prayers, Scriptures reading and exposition, discussion, hymn and closing prayers.
In the 24th Church Members Meeting held on March 1, 1998, the Minutes says under item 7d, “Evening gospel service: Brother Paul [Tan Kok Poh] proposed that the church should seriously consider beginning the evening gospel service. Pastor Lau commended Brother Paul for this timely proposal.” The members were reminded to consider this proposal very carefully. Even though the Pastor was enthusiastic and excited about the proposal and was looking forward to the additional opportunity for preaching the gospel, yet the poor attendance at the existing meetings made him weary of introducing one more meeting.
At a special meeting held on May 24, 1998, the minutes of the meeting says: “The Church agreed for the evening gospel service to commence on the first Lord's Day of June, i.e., 7 June 1998. The service time is 8.00pm each Lord's day.” Thus, the church began to have the evening service in June 1998 until the present time. With the commencement of the Sunday evening service, the prayer meeting was moved to midweek, after the Bible Study. Sometime later, the church met to pray after the Sunday evening service because it normally ends earlier than the midweek Bible Study.
E. Various Biblical Books Covered (1993-2003)
Expository preaching through the individual books of the Holy Scriptures remains the prevailing practice that marked the pulpit ministry of the church – particularly in the morning service and the Bible Study. Books of the Old and New Testaments are covered alternately. Some of the books covered in the period are as follows (non-chronologically):
1. The Old Testament books covered are, Genesis, Joshua, Ruth, 1Samuel, 1Chronicles, Ezra, Job, Psalm, Proverbs, Isaiah, Daniel, and Haggai.
2. The New Testament books covered are: Mark, Luke, John, Acts, 1 Timothy, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 1 John, Jude, and Revelation
In the evening services, however, this pattern is not followed. The preaching expounded individual passages from all over the Holy Scriptures. Sometimes a short series was taken.
F. The Various Series covered: (1993-2003)
In alternating between the Old and New Testament books, short series of topical studies are conducted during midweek Bible Study. Some of the series (non-chronologically) covered are:
1. He who Wins Souls is Wise – 14 studies
2. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith – 41 studies
3. Constitution of the Church, and the Covenant of Members – 7 studies
4. Biblical Parenting – 6 studies
5. Christian Marriage – 4 studies
6. The Order of Salvation – 10 studies
7. The Second Coming of Christ – 10 studies
8. Doctrine of Grace – 5 studies
9. Church Prayer Meetings – 5 studies
10. A Survey of OT History – 15 studies
11. A Survey of Church History (1-16th century) – 10 studies
12. Local Church Government – 10 studies
13. The Lord’s Prayer – 15 studies
14. Charismaticism in light of 1Cor 12-14 – 7 studies
15. Doctrine of the Church – 10 studies
G. Visiting Preachers (1993-2003)
Pastors of the like-minded churches continued to extend their help and fellowship to the church. The Church had the privilege of having these pastors in the pulpit - Ho Eng Ghee, Peter Kek, Andrew Liew, Lim Fong Jwong and Poh Boon Sing, They were invited to minister the word whenever they were visiting the island. The church guarded the pulpit carefully so that except for the men in the church, only the pastors from confessional churches (1689) are permitted into the pulpit.
The Church also enjoyed the fellowship and ministry of some like-minded pastors from overseas, particularly from the United Kingdom. Over the years we had the privilege of having these pastors to minister to us: Philip Eveson, Robert Oliver, Graham Harrison, John Sherwood, Erroll Hulse, Bala Subramaniam, Noel Espinosa, Brian Ellis, Richard Belcher, etc.
H. A Visitor’s Story
The article below appeared in Grace Magazine, in June 1996. The author (from a Strict and Particular Baptist Church in the UK) shared the experience of his visit to Sungai Dua Church (1689 Baptist) thus:
A Visit to Penang
Traffic drives on the left and most people speak English but it was soon evident to us that Malaysia is a multi-cultural and multi-religious country quite different from England. The population is made up, principally, of native Malays, Chinese and Indians. Officially there is religious tolerance but the dominant influence in every area of the establishment is Muslim. Even on the flight over we were repeatedly reminded by a special map on the cabin screen of the precise direction in which Mecca lay and how far away it was. Soon after setting into our apartment in Penang, an island of the west coast, we had a noisy reminder from a nearby mosque that it was time for prayers. How thankful we are that we can draw near to a holy God anytime and in any place. Facing any direction.
Before leaving England we were given the address of the Reformed Baptist Church in Sungai Dua. On Saturday, we discovered that there was to be a major Hindu festival the next day with a large influx of devotees from the whole country. In view of this we were advised to leave at 7.45am for the 9.30am service! This we achieved and was soon passing among brightly dressed Indians – very colourful in their saris. We also saw men in chains doing penance by crawling over broken coconuts on their knees.
Our taxi driver was so eager to ‘get us to the church on time’ that we arrived over an hour early. So he decided to take us to the pastor’s home! Mrs. Alice Lau knew that we were coming but was a little surprised that we were so early. Nevertheless, we had a warm welcome and soon went with the pastor to the prayer meeting – the first of the three services that day.
The Church meets in a lock-up shop with a ‘garage type’ up and over door. This means that the back remains completely open to the street throughout the meeting. This opening and two or three fans provided the air conditioning so helpful to worship in temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius. The shops all around were open for business. Street hawkers were selling their kebabs, fish balls, rice, etc. just outside on the pavement. There was also the constant background noise of the traffic and children playing both in the street and in the backyard behind the pulpit. Pastor Lau has a strong voice and meets the challenge!
The church was formed less than three years ago, on the basis of the 1689 CoF, as a church planting effort from another 1689 church in Kuala Lumpur [some 400 km south] pastored by Poh Boon Sing. The Kuala Lumpur church was asked to help by a small group of believers unable to find the teaching they desired in the established churches in Georgetown. Pastor Lau, who had trained at the London Theological Seminary, became their pastor.
At the main service, there were fourteen adults and five children, though some members had failed to get through the traffic jams. Singing from Psalms and Hymns for Reformed Worship was unaccompanied and ably led by the pastor. Everyone joined in enthusiastically to sing the familiar hymns.
It was truly a very real joy to feel so at home in their midst – a feeling repeated at the evening prayer meeting and the Wednesday night Bible Study. The pastor and the church there, in their lonely situation, obviously appreciated the fellowship of like-minded saints from overseas.
[John & Margaret Burch, members of Forest Fold Baptist Church, Crowborough, Sussex, UK.]
I. The Ordination Message Outline:
“They had understanding of the time” - 1Chro 12, preached by Pastor Peter Kek.
INTRODUCTION:
Paul exhorts the Philippi church to “stand fast in ONE spirit, with ONE mind, striving TOGETHER for the faith of the gospel.” (Phil. 1:27)
That means:
· The spirit of unity must be preserved – one spirit.
· All must be clear of the common goal – one mind.
· All must work together towards that common goal – striving together.
It is my prayer that the Lord would raise up a mighty army here for His own glory. How wonderful if all present here could be counted in, and that more be added in due course.
However, no one should be forced into this. Discipleship is voluntary. It has to be out of conviction. Would you be a part of this mighty army, the army of God?
This is my challenge to you as I draw your attention to 1 Chronicles 12. There are 3 things to take note of here:
1. David at Ziklag – v 1.
Who was David here? What was his position? How was he being treated?
· He was in hiding, an outlaw, hunted, rejected & despised.
· It is not the pattern of our world to cast its lot with such a person.
· Men tend to rally around more popular & respectable men or organisations.
David at Ziklag pictures our Lord’s present condition!
· The world has little regard for Christ & His church.
· Among the men of the world Christ is not enthroned. His Person is rejected, & His words treated as dirt. His church has no standing in this world.
This is the challenge:
· David at Ziklag, was a man despised & scorned & rejected. He was being persecuted & in danger. Yet, the children of Benjamin & Judah came to him & cast their lot with him! They knew that he was the anointed king, though rejected now, and were determined to follow him & help him establish his kingdom.
· What about you? David here pictures the rejected Christ. But can you not see that He indeed, is the anointed One? Would you cast your lot with Him, fully determined to be part of the army that will build His kingdom?
· Not many will do that, but we know that in every generation there would the sons of Benjamin & Judah joining that mighty army of God. And I pray that you might be one of them.
2. The men who came to David at Ziklag.
Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will serve the King?
It is good to know that there were people who came to David’s side. They came in small numbers, but little by little the group grew.
As v 22 puts it, “day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great army, like the army of God.”
How we wish to see this happening right here in Sungai Dua!
But why did they come to David & cast their lot with him?
· Because they believed David was the anointed one. When asked who they thought Christ was, the disciples answered, “You are Christ, the Son of the living God.” It all boils down to who we believe Christ to be.
· Seeing that David was the anointed king, they desired to make him king & to establish his kingdom – (v 23, 31, 38).Our conviction will lead to commitment. It will cause us to pray, ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’
· And they would not stay passive seeing God’s anointed being abused & misrepresented. Look again at the men who came to David – they were all ready to fight for his honour! What about us? It is a shame that many who profess to be on Christ’s side would not lift a finger to serve Him, & fight for His honour!
The men who came to David were men of conviction & commitment!
3. The condition David laid before those who came to him.
It is interesting to note that David laid down certain condition for those who came to him – see v 16-18. Many Christians today are not even aware that there are such a thing as the terms of discipleship! Jesus made these plain in Luke 9:23, 57-62; & 14:25-33.
What are the terms?
a) It must be HIM that you are coming to.
V 17, David says it must be “to me to help me”.
You don’t come because of your friends, or because it is convenient, or because it is advantageous to do so. It must be to Christ that you come, because of Him, for His sake, His glory.
b) You must come peaceably to help.
Some come to Christ, but quarrel with Him at the very outset!
They would make terms with Him, & set their own conditions for discipleship.
Some would quarrel with people, always finding fault with the church. Spurgeon said:
“The church is not perfect, but woe to the man who finds pleasure in pointing out her imperfections. Christ loved His church, and let us do the same. I have no doubt that the Lord can see more fault in His church than I can see….I dare not find fault with those whom the Lord has loved…. More especially since I find that I need all my time to find out my own faults and to get rid of them.”
Remember, the battle is fierce. We cannot afford quarrels & strife. Let us join in peace TO HELP. We need every person available.
CONCLUSION:
Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will serve the King?
Who will be His helpers, other lives to bring?
Who will leave the world’s side? Who will face the foe?
Who is on the Lord’s side? Who for him will go?
Let us “stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel”
