“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” The words of Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV) remind us that to be a Christian is to acknowledge our temporality; to be awakened to the way history inhabits us and is inhabited by us. We work to discern the spiritual repercussions of a history that precedes us, lives in us and shapes the future to which we are called.

With such a revered cognisance of the weight of history, delegates of the 49th Session of the Chinese Annual Conference (CAC) gathered at Charis Methodist Church from 11 to 14 November 2024. The outgoing President, Rev Dr Gregory Goh, had served for two quadrennia and was ineligible for re-election due to age. Rev Lek Yong Teck, who was Pastor-in-Charge of Bukit Panjang Methodist Church, was elected as CAC President.

In his final President’s Address, Rev Goh shared with the delegates some reflections from his eight years in office. In sum, they are:

Guarding and passing on the pure gospel of faith

Rev Goh reflected on challenges to orthodoxy and Christian morality, especially in the area of sexuality. He had observed first-hand the United Methodist Church’s decisions to change the definition of marriage and to ordain LGBTQ pastors. Noting that these challenges are not simply outside our shores, but are at our doorstep, he urged CAC churches to continue to grow in the right use of our voice, especially concerning matters of morality. Using the repeal of Section 377A as an example, he reminded the delegates to continue to engage the authorities wisely and winsomely for the sake of the common good.

Furthering the disciple-making movement among our local churches

Rev Goh also highlighted the need to continue the good work CAC has done in focusing on disciple-making. Referring to statistics released in the Lausanne Movement’s State of the Great Commission report last year, Rev Goh pointed out how researchers think that there are 100+ million professing disciples due to disciple-making movements worldwide. In addition, they estimate that over 9 million churches have emerged from church planting movements. Rev Goh surmised that the Wesleyan distinctives of social holiness and entire sanctification, and the methodical way in which the Wesleyans’ organised church life can also be considered a kind of disciple-making movement—insofar as those methods inspired more than just unthinking programmatic repetition, but an ethos of discipleship. It was not the system that made disciples, but their commitment to make disciples that led to a systemic approach.

Encouraged by CAC’s progress, but eager for the work to continue, Rev Goh urged delegates to “press on until disciple-making becomes habitual and instinctive until it is synonymous with our nature”. Part of that is making a “kingdom impact in every sphere of society”. To further this movement of whole-life discipleship, CAC will continue to flesh out and publish its own Illumine Christian worldview curriculum.

The need for intentional leadership development and succession

Turning his attention to intentional leadership succession, Rev Goh encouraged resources to be allocated at every level of CAC life, from the local church to the Annual Conference.

In order to exemplify the kind of intergenerational ministry needed to make this happen, Rev Goh shared that, as President, he intentionally scheduled regular meetings with the District Superintendents (DS) and the Board of Ministry (BOM) Chairperson. These meetings gave him the opportunity to make decisions collaboratively. He also led a yearly retreat with them, to foster friendship and ministry planning. DS “interns” were also introduced for intentional leadership grooming. In this way, leadership and succession become a shared commitment and responsibility rather than being driven purely by one individual’s personality.

At the World Federation of Chinese Methodist Churches last year, he also began a biennial fellowship of DSes, BOM chairpersons and Presidents for Malaysia Chinese Annual Conferences (West Malaysia, Sarawak, Sabah) and CAC to learn and connect the younger leaders.

Quoting the poet, T S Eliot, “Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?”, Rev Goh cautioned CAC not to fall to the false choice of choosing between the young or the old. “We all have a shared mission,” he said, “and age should not be a barrier to either receiving or sharing the manifold gifts of the Holy Spirit given to the communion of saints formed by his power.”

In the spirit of reception, therefore, Rev Goh shared with the delegates that ⁠the recently-concluded 13th Session of the General Conference of The Methodist Church in Singapore has approved CAC’s petition on Retirement Age for Election of Episcopacy and Presidencies, and will amend the Book of Discipline with respect to its provisions on retirement age for the election of Episcopacy and Presidencies, to allow for elders who have not exceeded retirement age in the year of election to be eligible for election. These amendments will take effect from the regular session of the 14th Session of the General Conference.

Continue to celebrate the distinct charisms of the Chinese Annual Conference

History once again took centre stage, as Rev Goh reminded delegates that “the story of CAC is a rich and textured history of Chinese culture, dialects and people groups, which continues to the present day.” In particular, “the history of CAC helps us to locate ourselves within the mission of God amongst a particular strand of the breathless expanse of peoples, nations and tongues of the earth”. He drew the origins of this gift to Pentecost, where the various tongues were not erased. Each disciple could hear and understand each other in their native language.

Further explicating his point, Rev Goh shared that our ability to situate ourselves in God’s story in Singapore was augmented by the discovery of the 100-year-old time capsule at Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church. This has given us a precious glimpse of our forebears in the faith from 1924. The precious artefacts, like the Chinese translation of the 1784 Book of Discipline, connect us back to our forefathers and remind us that we are recipients of a legacy of faith dating back long before we were on God’s earth and that, if we remain faithful to God, will continue long after we are gone.

A continued commitment to central pooling

The history of CAC contains many milestones worth celebrating, and Rev Goh brought a recent one to mind in his closing address: central pooling. This is CAC’s 6th year after a historic vote for central pooling in the 43rd Session in 2018. Taking the opportunity to thank all CAC churches for their sacrifices, contributions, and remarkable commitment to the body of Christ in building up one another, Rev Goh shared about the many benefits central pooling has made possible in CAC.

For example, leadership succession and pastoral appointments can now be discussed and confirmed much earlier. Conference projects, such as the CAC counselling ministry and Illumine, were also funded from the central pool. A salary scale revision was completed, resulting in better benefits for CAC pastors. This encourages younger applicants with growing families to join the pastoral ministry in confidence that the Conference cares for their needs.

Most of all, after central pooling, the appointment system ensures that local churches can now have pastors appointed to them that better reflect their needs, and not just their balance sheet. Rev Goh rightly concluded that, “We can all agree that an appointment system where pastors are no longer appointed based on finances is a laudable development.”

The requirement for sensitive and courageous responses to the needs of society

Rev Goh’s final exhortation was for CAC to respond to societal needs boldly. He mentioned the ministry to special needs families, which has already taken shape under the CAC Board of Family Life (BOFL), and which will find particular expression in a special needs school and church in Tengah. He also announced an inaugural Special Needs Ministry Conference on 31 May 2025 at Bukit Panjang Methodist Church, jointly organised by the BOFL and Koinonia Inclusion Network.

Other societal needs that CAC has responded to under Rev Goh’s presidency are: a renewed commitment to chaplaincy and ministry in schools, the mental health crisis and the need for counselling, and creation care. Rev Goh highlighted some initiatives, such as partnering with the creation care organisation, Our Father’s World (formerly Creation Care Sg), to understand CAC’s carbon emissions inventory through electricity usage.

At the closing service of the 49th Session, CAC witnessed the ordination of a deacon, Rev Michael Lee, an elder, Rev Shawn Koh, as well as the retirement of four pastors: Rev Nathanael Chew, Rev Jacqueline Ho, Rev Lui Yuan Tze, and Rev Dr Niam Kai Huey. We also celebrated the installation of CAC’s new President, Rev Lek Yong Teck. In all this, we are reminded of the truth that “God makes everything suitable for its time.” God, who has redeemed time, does not undo, efface, or erase our personal histories but gathers them all up, taking up what time has wrought. The unknown future beckons. Yet we need not know every detail in advance. We need only trust that our histories sail into an eternal future with God who will make all things new, an eternity that will bear the marks of our now.