The Church needs to change its mindset and focus with more urgency and passion on what will last forever – that was the key theme in the opening address by Archbishop Moon Hing to the Diocese of Singapore’s Mission Consultation Roundtable. “When I talk about church planting, I’m not talking about buildings, I’m talking about people,” he said. “The cathedral will not last forever – the people in the cathedral will last forever.”
Speaking on the first full day of the conference, Archbishop Moon Hing said discipleship had to be intentional – there needed to be planning and training and passion, or it would not succeed. He warned that mission always had times of discouragement and disappointments and suggested that these would be keenly felt in an era when the Church had become more results-orientated.
The Archbishop stressed that making disciples was the best way to counter extremism and terrorism and the best way to “stay above the water” in an atmosphere of secularism, atheism and capitalism. He said there would be enough money for mission if people were more prepared to let God have a share in their extra income.
More than 120 delegates from over 20 countries have gathered at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Singapore for the conference entitled “None Should Perish”. It is the fifth Missions Consultation Roundtable staged by the diocese and the biggest so far.
The conference also heard about growth in the church across the Province of South East Asia. The Diocese of Singapore’s director for mission, the Bishop Kuan Kim Seng, explained how people were coming to faith in Indonesia, Laos and Thailand. He said the English language had been a “phenomenal tool” in evangelism. But he said the key to future growth was the indigenisation of church leadership in the Province.
Over the three days of the conference, delegates are attending workshops focusing on the church in the nine countries in the province of South East Asia; and hearing from various agencies working in the region.
