Heartfelt thanks for your prayers during my August trip to Singapore. Bishop Kuan Kim Seng invited me to be the keynote speaker for the annual Missions Conference at St. Andrew’s Cathedral (pictured above). This year’s theme was “Blessed to be a Blessing,” an appropriate title as Singaporeans are celebrating 50 years of nationhood in 2015. Many see not only their prosperity, stability, and peace, but also the growth of the Singaporean Church (roughly 18% of the population) as a sign of God’s blessing upon them. As they have been blessed, they are eager to bless the nations!
In addition to speaking at the conference, preaching, and spending quality time with numerous clergy and laity, I took a trip to Indonesia to do learn about an unreached people group that AFM has been focusing on for years. Isaiah’s words ring ever true: “Darkness covers the earth, great darkness over the people.”
Two general impressions from the trip:
1. Deep thankfulness for the special partnership God has fostered between AFM and the Diocese of Singapore. God has blessed both my predecessors (Tad and Julian) with Gospel-centered partnerships with the Diocese of Singapore, and AFM workers have co-labored with this diocese over the years. My prayer is that this trip has rekindled our partnership and hopefully laid the groundwork for more fruitful Gospel ministry together.
2. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38). The Diocese of Singapore is planting six new Anglican Dioceses in the nations that surround them: Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. These lands are largely unreached for Christ, composed of hundreds of unreached people groups and millions of people. Indonesia is the largest with over 250 million people and over 200 unreached people groups!
Accordingly, let us not grow weary in doing good nor beseeching the Lord of the Harvest to send more laborers to the nations. So many are still waiting to hear the Gospel for the first time!
Thankful for your partnership in the Gospel,
Chris
