By Not Known

A song from the musicale “The King and I” goes like this:
“Getting to know you, getting to know all about you,
  Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me…”

The character from the musicale who sings this is an English teacher who has just arrived in Thailand to tutor the King’s children and desires to bridge the cultural and linguistic gaps quickly – hence the song.

Coming to serve at ORPC may perhaps not require drastic cultural or linguistic gap-jumping but I believe it is very important and necessary to get to know you as quickly as possible. Although my wife and I attended and served in ORPC, that was over 30 years ago! Many leaders and members have come and gone, and much has happened since then. Sure, some folk are familiar to us, but there are many more we have not met.  Therefore my first priority on starting ministry here, is to get to know you, to attend as many committee meetings and activities as possible which will help me understand the church’s culture and ethos. As we are a large church with many worshippers and ministries, I am giving myself 6-12 months to orientate and “settle in”.
Over the past month we have been attending the morning and evening services alternately. We also attended the church camp at Batam. I have started reading up minutes/reports, attended staff meetings and even been involved pastorally in a few instances. There is a long way to go, but we have started.

Looking ahead:

1. Let us acknowledge God’s Sovereign hand at work bringing us together to serve Him. I Cor 12:18 (NIV): “God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them just as He wanted them to be.” V23 (NASB): “God has so composed the body.”

The words “arranged” and “composed” indicate a deliberate act of God in bringing all of us together to serve Him in this time and place. It is a great honour to serve God here as Senior Pastor, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity.

2. Accept me and Swee Kheng as a brother and sister in Christ, for that is who we are first of all; not employees. We are weak and prone to sin, as are all Christians. We also bring personal convictions and ideas about spirituality which may be new – we ask for a spirit of openness, and space to be ourselves.

3. Pray for us. Together with believers worldwide, we are in a spiritual battle and   must not rely on “chariots and horses…” (Ps 20:7).

4. Encourage us by speaking the truth in love (Rom 1:12; Eph 4:15).

5. Let us partner to serve God and grow together into maturity (Eph 4:11f).

My door is always open if you need prayer or pastoral support. May all we do
as a church be to God’s honour and glory always.

Graham Ng