Charis Methodist Church

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:5-15

Introduction:

I started serving in the Working Committee of the English Congregation of Geylang Methodist Chinese Church when I was 19 years old in 1970. This was my first year of medical school. By 20 years old, I was Vice-Chairman to Goh Say Hong and in 1979 at 28 years old; I took over as Chairman of the Working Committee later to become the Local Church Executive Committee (LCEC) of Charis Methodist Church. In 1999, I stepped down, after 20 years, almost continuous leadership, as Chairman of this congregation and church. In 2001, I stepped down from the LCEC after 31 years of service as a church leader.

All of us who served in the early years of Charis Methodist Church have been entrusted into these positions at very young ages. I do not think that this was necessarily the best form of leadership but we had no choice at that time as there was no one else. This was probably a norm in the English work committees of many a Chinese Annual Conference (CAC) church. We started a young church without any older folks to neither look up to nor model after. Everything had to be started from scratch, the Worship Services, the Methodist Youth Fellowship, the Sunday school, the LCEC, missions and social concerns ministry; yes everything. By 2001, the challenge for those who were pioneers then was how to let go and provide for leadership renewal.

Principles of Church Leadership

I believe that for leadership in church to be meaningful it has to be long, persevering and faithful because there is a burden to bear. Upon the shoulders of a few which the Master has called, He has placed a cross. Those who have chosen to bear the cross will have to bear this patiently, faithfully and with a humility that can last through difficulties, criticisms and opposition from within and without the congregation. This effort can be akin to same kind of servant-leadership described in Nehemiah’s vision of re-building the walls of Jerusalem where some worked and others stood guard. Like Nehemiah, church leaders will face opposition from without and within and it was the criticism from within that hurt the most or represented the greatest threat to the project.

What then are the principles that had allowed us to serve for so long and against odds?

The work is shared – Covenant Leadership 1 Cor 3:5-9

There was a group comprising the immediate pioneers of the congregation and others who joined soon after, who took it upon themselves to take the pole position. For this pioneering group, at Charis, there was an instinctive and uncanny understanding among us. There was unwritten covenant made between us about leading the church through thick and thin. We instinctively trusted each other. Some who may not have felt as similarly interwoven or similarly yoked, will try a short time in the church leadership, but their service can be described as transitory. We stayed on. This shared and covenanted leadership was a key factor to, if not success then at least the faithfulness of service. It brought stability to a young and growing congregation.

Although I had to take the position as Chairman, each of the Charis leaders brought a complementary set of capabilities; some for administration, finances, teaching, ministry, prayer warriors, policy making, organizational capabilities and so forth. Charis never had to experience leadership in-fighting. That is not to say there was no disagreement but where we disagreed, it was never over who was the better leader for us, as the scripture stated, never the need for debate over whether Paul or Apollo’s leadership was better. We all believed that we needed to complement one another, so that God will bless this covenant and He will give the increase.

Once there was a Rumanian farmer who chanced upon a turnip in his garden. He held on to the stump and gave it a tug only to discover that it was enormous and he had no strength to pull it out. He called his wife and together they tugged with all their might. But it was no use. They called in the son; still the turnip was too big. Summoned the daughter, called the cow, asked the dog, recruited the cat and they all pull and pull but they could not pull the turnip out of the ground. Finally the rat joined. They put their hearts and souls into the task and in the end, the turnip gave way and popped out of the ground. They had a good dinner afterwards with lots to spare. The lesson for us about leadership is

• No Job is too big that we cannot do it together
• We all must pull in the same direction; we need one common mission and shared vision
• Everyone is important, even the lowly rat.

This shared leadership was crucial to meet the challenges of pioneering congregations. How to stabilise the church? How to evolve more opportunities for service within the church? How to expand the scope of the church’s services? How to raise funds? What are the priorities? We had to work as a team – a mutually self-respecting team.

The Work is Ongoing – a Church under Construction 1 Cor 3:9-10

The second factor is the understanding that we are a church still under construction and the building is not yet finished. There is a church in Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia, which has not been completed to date. It started in 1894 under the illustrious architect Antonin Gaudi and is still under construction. When Pat, Debbie and I visited it in Apr 2001, it still lacked a roof. Gaudi replied, when asked why it has taken so long, with the classic, “The patron of this project is not in a hurry.”

Don’t you think that it is unrealistic for imperfect Christians to expect their church to be perfect and the church community to be a utopian society? We are sinners saved by grace. If the church is made up of people such as us, then it is naive not to expect any problems. So why are Christians often intolerant of their local church? How often have we broken away from the congregation to move on to seemingly better churches, where there was to be better worship, better fellowship, better teaching, better pastors, better leaders, better ministries only to find after a few months in the new church that same old “church” problems resurfaced in different angles and dimensions. It is the same problem of an imperfect community trying to become perfect and never quite reaching there.

Sometimes we are led to believe that the New Testament church was a perfect congregation but we have the New Testament letters precisely because these churches were imperfect and required some corrections and rebuke. The Galatians were wrong on a basic point of doctrine. The Philippians were suffering from disunity. The Colossian church was suffering from a group within the church who regarded themselves as better than everybody else. Corinth had a variety of problems, problems of immorality, of factionalism and unsound doctrine. Martin Luther once said; “The face of the church is the face of the sinner.”

It would help us to stop church hunting for the perfect church if we realise that the church is a building still under construction. Most buildings under construction look a terrible mess until the last stage is reached. The dust and dirt, chaos and confusion make it hard to believe that this will become the temple of God.

This fact of our imperfections should be clearly recognised and accepted. We would be foolish to expect to find anywhere, and certainly not in Charis, a perfected congregation at any stage. So instead of trying to find a better church let us unite with one another to improve the church because it is also equally clear that in the long run, it is God’s aim to finish the construction and to perfect it. We are called to be co-labourers in Christ to build a church on firm foundations. Then let us be grateful for God’s patience with us, ‘our patron who is not in a hurry.’

Now, I believe that most members mentally know this to be true but some remain intolerant of our church and our leaders. The understanding is not put to practice. This criticism from within and the unrealistic expectations, was the hardest obstacle to bear. I thank God that majority of our leaders and members of the congregation were mature enough to patiently stick by us. As a leader I had made many mistakes and also omitted to do many good things. They represented God’s grace and mercy towards me

Rev Tony Tan told this anecdote in one of his sermons to us. “There are trees in Australia call the Yarra trees. There at the Australian outback; they grow strong and healthy. And these trees are much sought after because the wood is very strong and yet flexible and good for building houses. Some years ago, an African agricultural delegation arrived in Australia to see what good Australian crops would grow well in their country. The African country is positioned about the same latitude north as Australia was south. The climate in these two countries is quite similar. So they thought what will grow well in Australia would do likewise in their own country. They exported the Yarra tree seeds back and planted them there. True enough, they did grow fast and tall.

Then they found out when they used the wood to build the houses that in no time the wood would crack. The wood did not have the same tensile strength as those grown in Australia and would crack under pressure. That was puzzling. There is the same genetic strain of trees and the temperature and rainfall patterns are similar. They finally discovered that there was one difference. It is very windy in the Australian outback whilst in Africa the place where they planted the trees was in the valley and protected by two mountains. There were no strong gales. The Australian Yarra when growing from seedlings had to withstand and bend under the strong winds. The samplings are constantly buffeted by these storms and they had to grow under pressure. And it is this constant friction and bending that made the Australian wood strong and resilient. Not so the African Yarra which grew quickly and easily but they lack the tensile strength.

So it is with church leadership it takes time to build and in the various stages of construction the unfinished business is always messy. I believe the principle of the Yarra trees will apply to church leadership. The tension, the storms of life and the difficulties our church leaders have to put up with will in turn strengthen them, their resolve, build up their ethos and make the team strong and resilient.

The work will continue – accountability and renewal 1 Cor 3:10-15

The third principle is that leadership has responsibilities and accountabilities not to be taken lightly. Paul says “each one should be careful how he builds.” Those who are pioneers work to build a good and strong foundation. This need for achieving that stability and foundation was probably the reasons many of us spend so long a time in leadership. One of the fears I faced as a Chairman, is some of us are very sensitive and thin-skinned. With the slightest of criticism; we will resign and leave the leadership. Those who do, always feel that as “volunteers” they are entitled to come and go with impunity. This attitude is very regrettable. The Bible tells us that those of us who are called to be builders should be careful about the quality and responsibility of our work. This is because we build upon the foundation of others and as we peel off these layers eventually we must realise that the first foundation is really the one laid by Christ. The church eventually belongs to Christ, so when we serve it is not like we can do this with a transitory notion of just being volunteers Instead we could consider it a privilege to be equally yoked to Christ.

Then after a respectable long enough period of service, part of the accountability is the realisation that there must come a time, as Paul wrote, for another man to take over the building project. It will be very sad when we fail to recognise this time to let go and overstay our usefulness. Some of us do not know how to let go. We got into our comfort zones and enjoy the “trappings” of leadership. But God has ordained a cycle of life and a season for change. ‘A time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend. A time to plant and a time to uproot. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them together.’ This is the danger of stagnation and stale leadership. The church will need something fresh, and it is the time to move on and to let go and to allow renewal to take its place. How to do it? There is no magic formula but a leader must prepare for it. One has to lead a next generation into a new and fresh covenantal relationship with each other. There is nothing special just that it will take some time.

There is a famous Chinese tale of the Old Man and the Mountain. This old man decided one day that a mountain was in his way and decided that it should be removed. He gathered his sons, told them of his intentions and they started digging away at the foot of the mountain. When his neighbours saw what he was doing, they jeered and laughed at him. They told him that he was absurd and there was no way he would be able to shift the mountain out of his way. The old man replied that he may not live to finish the task, but after him his sons would continue the job. After his sons, his sons’ sons would continue. And after his grandsons, his great grandsons would persevere. It may take many generations, but the job will reach completion one day.

This story illustrates the value of tenacity and determination. We must recognise that building a church in Charis is God’s work and it is monumental. It is too big for a man and too big for one team. But if we persistently work at it and plan for continuity the job will be done. God had entrusted His work in Charis Methodist Church to us. It was God’s investment that He had given to a motley band of short-panted and mini-skirted teenagers this work. But you know, God is no debtors of persons. As we have served Him so has He rewarded us in ways, tangible and intangible and richly too. I am happy to have had the privilege to serve God in Charis. A second and third generation is well in place and a fourth generation of leaders is being built. Their task will not be any easier. We need to pray for them always.