2021 marks the 41st year of the Singapore Centre for Global Missions’ (SCGM). Since its inception in 1980 by a team of local pastors and missions leaders, SCGM has played a key role in coordinating missions efforts among Singapore churches and promoting partnerships in various missions endeavours.
One of its keynote events is the SCGM Annual Lecture. Now in its 10th edition, the Annual Lectures feature speakers who share spiritual insights on the challenges and issues that missionaries may face in the field.
Bishop Dr Gordon Wong was invited to speak at this year’s Annual Lecture, which took place on 16 Sep evening at Toa Payoh Methodist Church. The lecture, “Blessed are the Peacemakers”, was based on James 3:13–18.
Sowing in peace
Bishop Dr Gordon Wong began by highlighting what Christians should not exhibit when they go about making peace. The apostle James lists two qualities that come up tops in derailing the process of peace-making: zeal and ambition. While these two traits may sometimes be desirable when doing Kingdom work, James warned specifically against zeal (or “jealousy” in some Bible translations) and ambitions that produce bitterness rather than peace.
Bishop Dr Wong explained that we should watch how we conduct ourselves when facing opposition in our work for Christ. Very often in moments of conflict where both sides see their points of view as the only truth, the situation degenerates quickly into partisanship that creates rivalry and strife.
When this happens, even if we might see ourselves as defenders of God’s truth, we are in fact, acting otherwise. “Human anger does not produce the kind of righteousness which God desires,” said Bishop Dr Wong.
In conflict management, the apostle James called on believers to rein in the impulse to use worldly wisdom and instead employ “wisdom that comes down from above” (v17). God’s peacemakers are called to “sow in peace [to] reap a harvest of righteousness”.
“The apostle James writes that heavenly wisdom or ‘the wisdom that comes down from above’ is displayed when we engage others in a peaceable tone, when we are gentle in our approach, when we show an interest in what the other side is trying to say and when we come across as compassionate and sympathetic,” explained Bishop Dr Wong.
“Have you ever been a part of a church or company, or family that has had to deal with a serious disagreement in opinion over what is the best thing to do? Would you describe the manner or tone of the discussions or letters or email that circulated over the disagreement as ‘serene, soft-spoken, sensible, sympathetic’?”
Bishop Dr Wong also emphasised the importance of how the people who the Church is trying to reach perceive our handling of disagreement and conflict. Do they see us as truly sowing in peace?
“I suspect the apostle James would prefer that we do not use the phrase, ‘to fight for God’s truth and righteousness’, instead he would perhaps prefer ‘to sow seeds for God’s righteousness’”, mused Bishop Dr Wong.
“If our mission aim is to reap a harvest of God’s righteousness and truth in the world, then let us be peacemakers who sow in peace. Blessed and wise are peacemakers who sow in peace.”
Scan the QR code below to view the entire SCGM Annual Lecture 2021: Blessed are the Peacemakers.
Jason Woo is Communications Executive at MCS Comms. / Photos courtesy of the Singapore Centre for Global Missions