"Pastors' Appreciation Week" is coming soon... I suddenly felt a sense of remorse for not blogging about our own pastor-shepherds earlier!! So here goes...
Our senior pastor, Rev Wong Fong Yang was once described as "a gentle evangelical"... (I wonder who's the "ferocious evangelical"? hehe...)
My first impression of him was a diligent expositor of the Scriptures. Week in, week out - the CDPC pulpit patiently interprets and applies whole chunks of the Bible, in confidence that God's word is living and active to change lives. The art of interpretation (hermeneutics) is his forte.
That means we had to deal with 'difficult passages'... no luxury to 'pick and choose'. The Bible is not meant to be used as springboards to launch us into the preacher's hobby horse.
I also admire him as a visionary and effective leader. He sees his role as empowering and equipping the congregation to be followers of Jesus, impacting the "marketplace" from Monday to Saturday. Thus he is committed to mentoring young people.
"When you do something, do it well"... Excellence should characterise our work.
With a singular passion for mission, he is active and vocal advocate for evangelism/social action in Council of World Mission and Chinese Oversea Christian Mission (COCM). I hope to see him in action, debating the pluralists one day!
While in Batu Pahat, he led Gereja Grace in creative social engagement i.e. drug addiction rehab. Works of mercy and compassion (ie orang asli ministry) provide us with the platform to preach the gospel.
Rev Wong is an avid reader. His vast collection of books probably quadrupled the size of my BatCave . He is also the author of Christian Dilemma on Eating Food Offered to Idols and Church Discipline - the Dynamics of Shame. As chairman of Issachar Sdn Bhd, he led a non-profit Christian organization that publishes contextualised educational material for Malaysian churches.
(Oh ya, before I forgot, he also does some 'deliverance ministry' without doing the 'warfare tongues' thingy...)
A founding director of Kairos, the Christian think-tank, Rev Wong sees the importance of a robust, intellectual life in believers. Without him, I doubt 'misfits' like the Agora would find the nurture and room to grow.
Here is a model of evangelical piety at its best - commited to the Word, bleeds for mission and evangelism through social engagement, intellectually strong yet gentle...(though the moustache made him look sterner!)
Our senior pastor, Rev Wong Fong Yang was once described as "a gentle evangelical"... (I wonder who's the "ferocious evangelical"? hehe...)
My first impression of him was a diligent expositor of the Scriptures. Week in, week out - the CDPC pulpit patiently interprets and applies whole chunks of the Bible, in confidence that God's word is living and active to change lives. The art of interpretation (hermeneutics) is his forte.
That means we had to deal with 'difficult passages'... no luxury to 'pick and choose'. The Bible is not meant to be used as springboards to launch us into the preacher's hobby horse.
I also admire him as a visionary and effective leader. He sees his role as empowering and equipping the congregation to be followers of Jesus, impacting the "marketplace" from Monday to Saturday. Thus he is committed to mentoring young people.
"When you do something, do it well"... Excellence should characterise our work.
With a singular passion for mission, he is active and vocal advocate for evangelism/social action in Council of World Mission and Chinese Oversea Christian Mission (COCM). I hope to see him in action, debating the pluralists one day!
While in Batu Pahat, he led Gereja Grace in creative social engagement i.e. drug addiction rehab. Works of mercy and compassion (ie orang asli ministry) provide us with the platform to preach the gospel.
Rev Wong is an avid reader. His vast collection of books probably quadrupled the size of my BatCave . He is also the author of Christian Dilemma on Eating Food Offered to Idols and Church Discipline - the Dynamics of Shame. As chairman of Issachar Sdn Bhd, he led a non-profit Christian organization that publishes contextualised educational material for Malaysian churches.
(Oh ya, before I forgot, he also does some 'deliverance ministry' without doing the 'warfare tongues' thingy...)
A founding director of Kairos, the Christian think-tank, Rev Wong sees the importance of a robust, intellectual life in believers. Without him, I doubt 'misfits' like the Agora would find the nurture and room to grow.
Here is a model of evangelical piety at its best - commited to the Word, bleeds for mission and evangelism through social engagement, intellectually strong yet gentle...(though the moustache made him look sterner!)
Comments
If anyone is the great man of Confucious, i believe Ps. Wong is. He is not afraid to provide the platform for others to excel and even become better than him. I remember him giving Leon and I the chance to share our "heretical reformed faith" to some younger Christians in the CG even though he wasn't exactly a proponent himself. At his words, "Ask them, they are the experts", my respect towards him shot up by storeys.
And encountering him changed my perspective in one very important aspect, which i will not share here. He is really a strong influence in my life.
Jack
Thank God my company is willing to sponsor my mandarin education... maybe later, i can blog in chinese! hahaha....
Btw, I happened to know who's the "ferocious evangelical"! Hehehe...