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I Have Found the Way Back Gaby Buijs
I come from a Christian family, attended Christian schools and went to Sunday school. However, I was never baptised. My husband comes from a conservative Reformed Christian family. They attended church and after every meal his father would read from the Bible.
In 1976 my husband and I were sent to Singapore to set up a new representative office. The running of a company was something completely new to us and absorbed much of our time. We did not attend church in Singapore, but we do pray daily and also before and after our meals. I thought that trying to be a “decent” human being who could tell right from wrong was sufficient.
In 2000 I was confronted with skeletons which I thought I had buried a long time ago. I could not cope with the grief it brought back to me. It was then that I started praying and asking our Lord Jesus Christ to help me. Feeling the impact it had on me, I decided for myself that I should “invest” more time in my spiritual life.
I started listening to live sermons from a Church in Dordrecht in Holland on the internet every Sunday and also started reading the Bible (a Dutch Bible that my brother received when he left primary school in 1955). However, I found that after some time, I was less focused, till 2004 when my father was terminally ill and I had to rush back to Holland. Surprisingly the last night my father was alive, I had a very long and intense talk with my father’s caregiver who was a Christian. This talk really developed because I asked him the meaning of Romans 8:28 (which, in turn, I was asked to explain to a young friend). This caregiver, who was a total stranger to me, then told me that the fact we had this talk was no coincidence but the workings of the Lord. I had to repent. We prayed for my father and early in the morning my father passed away.
I again made a resolution to myself to change, but again, sadly enough, after some time, yet again, I started to get less focused. In February 2009 my husband fell seriously ill. He needed an urgent operation. In the surgeon’s waiting room I noticed a sign “May God Bless You” and there were Gideon Bibles and other Christian literature on display. I had never seen that before in a doctor’s waiting room in Singapore and I felt that this was the Lord’s working to lead me back to His fold. (For me it was the third “warning” since the year 2000). During the surgeon’s daily hospital visits after the operation, he always prayed with us, thanking the Lord for leading his hands during the operation and asking the Lord to heal my husband but that everything was in His hands. I then felt strongly that I had to attend church. But where to go to?
My sister-in-law, a Reformed Christian, who lives in Holland, many years ago mentioned to me True Life Bible-Presbyterian Church as it was similar to the Dutch Reformed Church. She read about it in a Dutch Christian magazine Terdege and it seemed that pastor Timothy Tow had even written various articles for the Reformatorisch Dagblad which is a Dutch newspaper.
After the operation my husband had to undergo a PET scan in March. We were very afraid and I then felt very strongly that I had to pray in the Lord’s house and so I remembered what my sister-in-law told me and went to True Life B-P Church. The very first time I went I was introduced to Pastor Timothy Tow. I was very grateful for that. Whenever I am in Singapore I attend True Life B-P Church. I always leave church with a serene heart.
On our regular trips to Perth (which are recommended by my husband’s doctor as it is good for his health) I worship at Faith Presbyterian Church where I have found in Pastor Errol Stone a truly caring and loving leader of his small congregation.
I am very happy to have found the way back to our Lord Jesus Christ through True Life B-P Church and truly would like to be baptised.
So Safe and So Secure Gina So Yuk Yung
Before I knew Christ, I always believed that I have learnt relatively enough to deal with day-to-day matters and people around me. I used to believe in myself and believed “we are what we think”, “when there is a will, there is a way”. I was confident that I could achieve what I wanted myself to be.
I recall my five years of secondary education in Hong Kong with a Christian School. I studied the Bible for all those years without understanding and remembering what was really in the Bible other than the Ten Commandments. I worked hard to pass my examination in this subject. Once my examination was over, I was only too happy to leave this book behind and to pursue my dream.
Back to our day-to-day life, before knowing Christ, it seemed really normal for a group of us to get together and gossip about others or to criticise our friends, colleagues who did not share the same values or thinking with us. As people would say, this is office politics; we did not feel guilty or that it was our fault to talk about others.
After my marriage with my husband, Beng Keng in Singapore, I got to know my brother-in-law, Beng Lee, but I did not really know him other than the fact that he goes to church every Sunday with his wife Chew Ying and their children. Chew Ying invited me with my daughter, Amberlyn, to attend church at RELC sometime in 2006.
Since I have been attending church with Amberlyn at her toddler’s class from the start, I got to know more Bible stories. I used to think these stories were just stories without historical basis. As time went by, I felt myself like a little child starting to believe in these stories. I started to read the Children’s Bible with Amberlyn, I began to believe there must be a Creator of mankind, of the universe, of heaven and earth etc, that God exists. I realised how much I had underestimated the Holy Bible all these years.
I remember, it was on 13 April 2008, we were singing a song at RELC during our Sunday church service, I was so touched by it that my tears kept flowing down non-stop. I have never felt so safe and so secure in church, I have no worries of everything. Chew Ying knew that I had received God’s calling, she was next to me and prayed with me.
Moving forward, thank God Chew Ying has been around all the time to help me start studying the Bible. She guided me in choosing the right Bible, joining a weekly Bible Study meeting at Hong Lim Centre (until I moved my office), attending morning church classes etc. Gradually, I desired to be baptised.
We also started to pray everyday at home. We try not to get angry with others, avoid gossips, learn to love all the people around us, and learn to pray for others. Even by doing all these, I still found I have not done enough and that there is so much more to learn.
My husband does not come to church with me and Amberlyn. I pray that God will touch his heart, and that he can join me in church in the near future.
A Doctrinally Sound and Sincere Church Gerald Teo
The Lord led me to True Life Bible-Presbyterian Church in 2005 just after I got back from a posting in the United States. I was originally from Sharon Bible-Presbyterian Church but I was looking to attend another church as I wanted to attend the Sunset Gospel Bible Fellowship (SGBF) but the timing of Sharon’s service clashed with SGBF. Also, I had come to love starting and ending the day with the Lord in corporate fellowship, something that I was doing when I was in Australia for my basic flying training. I wanted to continue doing the same in Singapore.
When I expressed a desire to find a suitable church to attend for the morning service, my godmother, Mrs Irene Tan, suggested True Life B-P Church. I was doubly interested when she told me that Rev Timothy Tow had started it. Rev Tow was one of those who led me to the Lord when I was younger. The split in Life Church happened when I was away on training but I was familiar with the issues at hand. There was no doubt in my mind that Rev Tow and the members of True Life had taken a stand for truth and for God, and I knew I would be worshipping in a doctrinally sound and sincere church.
In the years since I first attended True Life I have been through many spiritual ups and downs, but the Lord has always been faithful and led me back to Him. Last year I finally began to get acquainted with the other younger members of the church. I realised that the onus was on me to get more involved in the church and I started attending YPF (Young People’s Fellowship) as well as the weekly prayer meetings. After talking to some friends who had also transferred out of Sharon, I finally decided it was time to transfer my membership over to True Life. There was no point in retaining membership in a church that I had not worshipped in for many years. I thank the Lord for leading me to True Life B-P Church, it truly has been a blessing for me, and I pray that over time I would become more involved in His service if He wills it.
Perfect Book and Perfect Saviour Cheong Kok Hong
Before I became a Christian, I thought I can gain salvation through good works and by refraining from sin. I realise that this is not possible after studying the Bible through classes in church and in camps conducted by the late Dr Timothy Tow.
He taught us that the Bible is a PERFECT BOOK inspired and preserved without error. He also told us that JESUS CHRIST is a Perfect Saviour, fully God and fully Man who died on the cross for our sins, was buried and rose from the grave on the third day.
When he started True Life B-P Church we followed him.
Verse for the Week:
Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? Prov 20:6
*****
True Life Chinese Service. Inaugural service will be held on May 2 at 10.30 am. All Chinese-speaking worshippers welcome.
True Life BPC 6th Annual Congregational Meeting (ACM) will be held on April 25 at 9.15 am. It is your duty as a member to attend. Please be punctual.
Adults Fellowship Meeting this Sat, Apr 17 at Mr and Mrs William Teo’s home, Blk 835 Woodlands St 83 #12-113, 3.30 pm. Program: Bible Study on Acts by Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo. Contact William Teo at 91831150 for details.
Young People’s Fellowship Meeting this Sat, Apr 17 at 3.30 pm. Message: “The Holy Trinity” by Rev Dennis Kwok. Venue: Berean BPC, 48A Foch Road. For transport, please meet at FEBC at 2.50 pm or at Lavender MRT at 3.10 pm. Contact Herbert at 94377715 for details.
FCM Camp 2010 will be held from Mon-Sat, May 17-22 at Calvary Pandan BPC. Theme: “Parables for Children of God’s Kingdom” by 13 Pastors/Preachers/Elders. Registration forms obtainable from Student Coordinators. Closing Date: 17 Apr. For more info, contact Jason Liew at 90178213.
Training for Sunday School and VBS teachers and teacher assistants will be held on May 1 in RELC Room 602, 9 am-1 pm. Speaker: Mrs Jemima Khoo.
Daily Vacation Bible College course on “Harmony of the Gospels” will be held from May 3-8, 8.30 am-12 pm at the Far Eastern Bible College, 9A Gilstead Road.
Vacation Bible School 2010 (June 2-4). Serve in the VBS! Application forms available at the VBS Booth. Contact Timothy Tan at 97664802 for details.
Sabbatical Jubilee Camp (June 14-18, 2010) at Tioman Island, Malaysia. Theme: “Glorifying and Enjoying God Forever.” Speaker: Dr Paul Ferguson. Please register early. Availability of rooms will be on a first-come-first-served basis. Closing Date: Apr 18. Contact Dn Charles Kan at 98310468 for details.
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