My Changing Relationship with Singapore and the Church

I still remember my friends giving birth to SG50 babies, and in a blink, ten years have passed to SG60 this year, the number that people start to associate with ageing. There’s now a change in leadership, and it seems that the country is moving into a new era, adapting to the many rapid changes around the world as well.

There’s a Chinese proverb, “创业容易，守业难”, which translates to “It is easy to start a business, but hard to maintain it.” Singapore has been a success story, but will it continue? Are cracks showing?

At the same time, the churches around the world were growing successfully until God pulled the carpet away and revealed the hidden decay and rot underneath. In Singapore, I wonder if the churches are like Nokia when it was one of the biggest phone companies. Comfortable and successful like Nokia once was, churches may struggle and fail when they continue tried-and-tested ways of doing things and do not adapt quickly to changes in the global environment.

Over the decade, my relationship with Singapore has also been changing. Like a young child who thinks their parents are invincible and always right, I feel that the government knows what it is doing and is doing it well without a doubt. Its success supported my trust in it. I was the obedient and law-abiding citizen who didn’t question. The first test came when I didn’t quite agree with certain restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, I saw how my opinions diverged from some of their messaging. I understand their point of view and respect the good work they are doing, but I don’t necessarily agree with everything, especially regarding childhood education. I am like a child coming of age and forming my own opinions now, and this is the same for my relationship with the church.

I had been a ‘blind’ follower of authorities (be it in secular or in church), ascribing them great authority over my life. Then came an incident that made me question my trust in earthly authorities and to position my trust wholly on God instead. I always believe the authorities are there to protect me as well. This belief was shattered during my first police report when I saw how institutions and law authorities protect those in power. At that moment, I saw the relevance of this verse:

Defend the poor and fatherless;
Do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Deliver the poor and needy;
Free them from the hand of the wicked.

Psalm 82:3-4 (NKJV)

Even the educated, middle-class me felt brushed off or oppressed. But how about those who don’t know their rights or are too busy and tired from multiple jobs to fight for their case? Then, in recent years, I saw the reports of how churches cover up abuse in church, even sexual abuse, silencing the victims while forgiving the perpetrators with little accountability. I felt hurt when (secular) authorities let me down; how much more hurt these victims must have felt when churches, their supposedly safe place and people to find protection, were the ones wounding them.

I was speaking to my therapist and couldn’t decide who I am – a conformist or a rebel. I conform to rules and authority, and yet there’s a secret rebel in me that challenges the status quo. Then, I got a revelation. People are rarely black and white but often fall into the grey zone and consist of many parts. In therapeutic contexts of psychology, connecting different parts of oneself is often referred to as “parts work” or Internal Family Systems (IFS), which involves understanding and integrating various aspects of one’s personality to achieve inner harmony and healing.

Even in the Bible, we read about supposed contradictions on what to do, yet these differences can be reconciled in godly wisdom. 

There’s the bible passage for believers to submit to the government:

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

Romans 13:1-2 (NKJV)

However, wisdom is also needed to know when to submit and when to resist:

So at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, in symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.“

Daniel 3:7, 16-18

In the New Testament, there’s also a bible passage where Jesus challenged the “religious authorities” of that time and pointed out the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:1-36. Thus, people ought not to blindly worship and/or follow these leaders.

Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.

For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”

Matthew 23:1-5, 13 (NKJV)

Recently, I have been reading this book, “Right Kind of Wrong”, and I quote:

“Make it psychologically safe to be honest about small things before it snowballs into a larger failure. Too many of the large organisational failures I’ve studied could have been prevented if people had felt able to speak up earlier with their tentative concerns.”

Raising concerns doesn’t always mean nitpicking and being difficult; it sometimes arises out of concern for the country and the church. For some time now, I sense the old wineskin of the church struggling to contain the new wine. New wine, which is still fermenting, expands and creates pressure on old wineskins that are stiff and brittle, causing them to burst. Thus, new ideas and approaches cannot be forced into old and rigid structures or ways of thinking, as it leads to resistance and frustration, but require appropriate structures and mindsets to flourish.

As we stepped into the new era as a country, is the church also entering a new era of revival and metamorphosis?

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