Alvin Tan has served as the Chairperson of Methodist Missions Society for two quadrennia and will step down at the end of 2024.
Another quadrennium of The Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS) will end at the close of this year. The leadership at the General Conference, along with those of its councils and agencies, will change.
As an MCS agency, the Methodist Missions Society (MMS) will also see changes in the substantive members of its Executive Committee (ExCo), which comprises two nominees (one lay and one clergy) from each of the three Annual Conferences. For the upcoming quadrennium, I shall relinquish my position as ExCo Chairman to Collin Tan, who may co-opt other substantive members.
The ExCo composition prescribed by the Book of Discipline ensures a structured succession of people into positions, which addresses one of the key issues associated with leadership change.
A more nebulous issue is the continuity of strategic and cultural emphases from one set of leaders to the next. These may include continuing to consider new initiatives and project proposals in the context of the strategic roadmap, in resource allocation, in engagement and collaboration with the wider community in order to be the missions agency of choice
A potential strategic and governance risk arising from leadership change is misalignment of ministries and initiatives away from MMS’ mandate and strategic objectives. This could lead to conflict and confusion in the decision-making process, or worse, reputational loss among partners and supporters and wastage of agency resources.
However, continuity can be preserved at both the ExCo and Home Office levels. For the ExCo, this may be achieved by ensuring substantive members have longstanding involvement with, and intimate knowledge of, MMS’ ministry. At the Home Office level, the same applies to the incoming Executive Director and key position holders.
When each new quadrennium starts, a necessary risk mitigation action is a programme to familiarise all new ExCo substantive members and key position holders at the Home Office with MMS’ mandate, goals and objectives; field ministries; field development roadmap; governance framework; etc. Much of these have been documented in the Missions Manual.
A loss of momentum is perhaps inevitable with leadership change at every new quadrennium. The transition could, however, be quickened not only by ensuring that there are people to pass the baton to but also by preparing them to run the race well.
Col (Ret) Quek Koh Eng has served in MMS as Regional Director (East Asia/Laos/Thailand/Timor-Leste). He will step down at the end of 2024 after 20 years of service.
But first, pray
We live in a world that is in a hurry, a world fascinated with speed rather than reflection. The late Christian philosopher, Dallas Willard, said, “Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” When we are in a hurry with no time for the spiritual discipline of learning to wait, pray and reflect before God, we tend to run ahead of him.
In MMS, we meet every week to commit and pray for God’s direction and empowerment. Our national pastors and lay leaders gather to pray once or twice a month, enabled by the internet. We seek to have a strong sense of our dependence on God in everything we do collectively. I personally believe and have experienced God’s divine intervention whenever we present and submit our ministries and projects to his Lordship in prayer.
I personally believe and have experienced God’s divine intervention whenever we present and submit our ministries and projects to his Lordship in prayer.
An instance was when a few of us were worshipping in a mud hut in Phulbari, Nepal with a dozen Nepali pastors and leaders in 2006. After very vibrant worship, we went into deep prayer and felt the presence of God. Then, I heard his distinct voice: “Upon this rock I will build my church.” After I released these words to those present, a brother immediately announced he would donate funds to build a church at the site. The Phulbari Methodist Church was built in 2008 at this site overlooking the Himalayan ridge.
I have also seen how God brings people together for his Kingdom work. Pastor Daniel and Sharon Loo from Melbourne contacted me in early 2011 after joining Mettakij Church Association (MCA) as missionaries in Phrao, Chiangmai. Pastor Daniel shared his journey and work in obedience to God’s calling to start the Little Candles nursery and kindergarten in 2010. They saw the enormous impact of providing excellent education and Christan values to the young children. He realised that it would be a waste if the children had to continue their primary education in a different environment.
After extended prayer sessions and several discussions to finalise the processes and governance issues, we caught God’s vision to build and start a primary school. This was unanimously supported by the LCS School Board of Management chaired by Emeritus Prof Lionel Lee. The primary school was completed and dedicated to the glory of God on 20 March 2024 by Bishop Dr Gordon Wong. It was a very successful building project supported by like-minded Christians.
Another major direction resulting from prayer was the amicable decision to leave the Pelican group in building a Methodist school at the potential site allocated in Dili, Timor-Leste. After waiting seven years, the Lord revealed his grand plan and impressed on us to look for an alternative site to lease for building our own school. The process was meticulously executed with the marvellous support of our Methodist churches and the community. St Paul Methodist School would not have gotten off the ground if not for our persistent prayers and God’s instruction to take a bold and courageous decision to strike out on our own.
There were also instances when God answered the prayers of our missionaries and their families when they encountered various challenges and calamities. Pastor Daniel’s eldest daughter had to undergo two operations in Thailand and Singapore to address her brain seizures over two years. Our missionary in Timor- Leste, Joseph Mannar, escaped serious injury when the vehicle he was driving had a head-on collision on the way from Dili to Gleno, Ermera District.
Through prayer, God’s spiritual covering and protection are constantly manifested for those who serve and love him, and we have seen this for ourselves in MMS.
Photos courtesy of Methodist Missions Society