By Rev Tan Eng Boo
As my “retirement” date draws near (end of 2024), I thought I would share with you my heartfelt thanks to the Lord for the many good years of serving in Grace Church. I know the feeling of uncertainty of many of you who would think that Grace Church will not have a pastor after I “retire”. But that will not be the case as I will still be in Grace Church as the Advisory Pastor. I will still perform pastoral duties till we have a new pastor. Now, let me begin my thanksgiving to the Lord.
Stuart Townend wrote a meaningful song which I can identify with in the 3rd and 4th stanzas:
(3rd stanza) My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who walks beside;
Who floods my weaknesses with strength
And causes fears to fly;
Whose ev'ry promise is enough
For ev'ry step I take,
Sustaining me with arms of love
And crowning me with grace.
(4th stanza) My heart is filled with thankfulness
To him who reigns above,
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace,
Whose ev'ry thought is love.
For ev'ry day I have on earth
Is given by the King;
So I will give my life, my all,
To love and follow him.
In my response to this song, Psalm 113: 3 (KJV) comes to mind: “From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised.” I took a photo of a sunset in at Changi Beach one day and the photo reminded me of a song I love to sing in praise to God. How can I not praise the Lord every day for His sustaining grace in my ministry? Yes, His grace is sufficient for me, indeed! (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Looking back with a thankful heart
Come December 2024 and it will be my 47th year in Grace church. Not many pastors have had the privilege of a long pastorate in a single church. I thank the Lord for that privilege. Serving the Lord has always been a joy, not that the ministry is without trouble. The church on earth is a troubled church. The apostle Paul pointed to the church in Corinth as carnal, and worldly. “For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” (1 Corinthians 3:3 KJV). Putting aside the thought of an imperfect church, I want to take this time to praise God for sustaining me. I am always reminded that without Jesus I can do nothing (John 15:3).
Let me firstly give thanks to the Lord for calling me into His service. It was a clear call from a passage in Jeremiah 1:4-10, which the Lord impressed upon me after my return from a year of ministry with Operation Mobilisation (OM). I spent the first six months living on the missionary ship, Logos and evangelising many countries around South-East Asia. The next six months were spent in India, travelling with the land team to many states in India. It was a life changing experience for me. I was only 24 years old when I embarked on this missionary journey.
Secondly, that one year of practical Christian living in missions with OM revolutionised my Christian life. It prepared me for the pastoral work. I have experienced the reality of God in my life on the field. I know I serve a risen Saviour, and He is real. I could recount the countless experiences I had with my Lord in the pastorate.
Thirdly, When I knew the Lord’s calling, my first desire was to equip myself for His service. Thank God for the first three years of my studies in the Far Eastern Bible College (FEBC), and subsequently my time of Seminary studies as well. These studies prepared me well to pastor a church, although I do not have the experience of doing so. God has His plans.
Fourthly, I thank the Lord for a wonderful group of fellow pastors who journeyed with me at the beginning of my pastoral service in Grace Church. They were my contemporaries in Bible College. We journeyed through tough times in the pastorate as we do not have a senior pastor to mentor us. But we managed it by His grace. We were there for each other. The wonderful thing about this group was that we were all Ordained a few years apart. I was ordained in 1981, and so was Rev Bob Phee (1981), Rev Anthony Tan (1981), Rev Tan Choon Seng, Rev Yap Beng Shin, Rev Ian Heng, and Rev Burt Subramaniam. All of us from this group are the third generation B-P pastors to be ordained by the B-P Synod.
Fifthly, I want to thank the Lord that when I took on the baton from the Late Rev Patrick Tan to pastor Grace church, I was only 31 years old. I mentioned this because I am grateful to the first Session of Grace Church which welcomed me into the Session and encouraged me in my task of being the moderator. All of them were older than I me, and they were professionals in their careers. Yet these people were humble to call me their pastor. I never had problems with them through the many years of service.
This is a good reminder to our candidates for election to Session that you must be humble always. Remember, you are a servant of the Lord and to His people.
“He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30)
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