Adventist Crossroads
July - August 1998

The Sower Bids Us Follow

1.
The Sower bids us follow to fields a-wait-ing grain.
He gives us Seed, the living Word;
His Spirit comes as Rain.
Though seeds may fall on stony ground
or where the thorns have grown;
yet if a harvest we would reap,
the Seeds must still be sown.

Chorus:
Joy. . . joy, we shall go out with joy!
Peace. . . peace, and be let forth with peace.
Pour our on us your Spir-it,
that we can sow Your Word.
Lord, plant through us your church in all the world.

2.
Ho! ev'-ry one that thirst-eth, come to the waters. . . buy!
Come pur-chase with-out mone-ey;
Come purchase without price.
Then share God's gift with ev'-ry-one;
through you let rivers flow.
My Word that goes out from My mouth
will not return alone.

1996 © Words and Music by Marti Schneider

The above lyrics come from the theme song of Seed `98, a church planting conference held at Andrews University from 15 to 18 July. Two of our pastors, Johnny Kan and Danson Ng who attended the conference had this to say of their experience:
"Seed `98 was a very inspiring conference for church workers and lay people. Faced with the challenge that the harvest is ready but the workers are few the focus is to shift from a pastor-centered movement to a laity-empowered church so that we have more trained harvesters. This radical approach will rekindle the mission movement of the Adventist Church to establish scattered small companies on this globe. To train, equip and empower are the key verbs that should be applied to all pastoral ministries.
There was a 3-day intensive course on the concept of the Cell Church. This concept has been tested in many continents and in particular, Singapore. It cited the success of the Singapore Faith Community Baptist Church as a prime example of the success of a cell church in a sophisticated city.
It seems that this is most probably the paradigm we need to examine. Our church has come to a standstill in her growth. The solution is probably not to hire pastors or to establish more institutions. The challenge is to formulate an approach as to how we can transit from our traditional church to a cell church. It has been found that success in church growth does not come without a high price. It requires a total commitment on the part of the members and pastors."
This concept is based on the New Testament church model. We want to return to the biblical model. Plans are underway to examine and develop this concept in our mission. As Russell Burrill puts it, "It will find a response from those who want fully to follow Christ and to see His power poured out in the Adventist Church as we approach the second advent."

News Snippets

Victor Lee and his wife, Maylizca, joined our team on 27 July, 1998. Previous to this Victor was with us from 1992 to 1994. During that time he served as the chaplain of the SDA School, pastor of the Youngberg Church and director of the Adventist Student Care Center. After leaving Singapore he worked in several areas as an assistant pastor, a marketing coordinator and a director of educational toys outlets. Currently, Victor is assigned to help build up the leadership at the Singapore Chinese Church youth group while assisting in other ministries like radio and community services. Welcome, Victor and Lizca!
Yan Siew Ghiang resumes full-time chaplaincy work at the San Yu Adventist School now that Victor has been assigned to the Singapore Chinese Church youth group.
For the past couple of weeks have you noticed the floor easel as you entered your church? This has been provided by the Mission to display all its posters and announcements. We hope that it will help keep you informed and remind you of coming events.
Sixteen children's ministry leaders from our local churches met in a forum held on 15 August 1998. The objective was to ascertain the children's ministry needs at the local church level. Much ideas and suggestions were given. These would form the springboard for future workshops and seminars. At the end of the meeting resource materials were made available and a good number of orders taken. .

Coming Events

Douglas Martin from the Georgia-Cumberland Conference in the Southern Union of the North American Division will present a series of revival meetings from 7 to 9 October, 1998. He will also speak at the SAM combined worship at the DBS Auditorium on 10 October, 1998. Those of you who have heard Pastor Martin before will not want to miss these events. Why not plan to attend?
Songs, new creations, living experiences, graduation, gourmet, friendship and the living Word are on the menu this Saturday, 19 September, 1998 at 4:30 pm at the Balestier Church. Bring your friends and enjoy a spiritual feasts with us!
A worship symposium is planned for 17 October, 1998 to be held in the SAUC Lecture Hall at 4:00 pm. Although this is for all pastors, worship/music leaders and elders of local churches, any church members who are particularly concerned with the kinds of worship style in our church are most welcome to attend. The objectives of the symposium are: i) to share the actual models of worships, ii) to share worship evaluation tools, and iii) to discuss the worship evaluation plans of local churches. Topics include Contemporary Worship, Traditional Worship, Eclectic Model of Worship, Evaluation Tools/ Strategy I & Strategy II.