Never underestimate the impact that fathers can make, not just on their own children and families, but on entire nations and generations.

This was the message that rang loud and clear at Fan the Fire, a national fathering event organised by the Elijah7000 movement, which strengthens families by reaching out to fathers.

Held on June 24, the event saw some 350 dads across Singapore being challenged afresh with the call found in Malachi 4:5-6: To see the hearts of fathers turned to their children, and the hearts of children turned to their fathers across the nation.

Looking to God the Father

Opening the event as its venue host, Pastor Reuben Ng, Lead Pastor of Faith Methodist Church, urged fathers to move from having a low view of God to having a high view of Him as a great and loving Father who has the ultimate answer to all our needs.

Like Amnon with Tamar (2 Samuel 13), or David with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11), we can choose to take matters into our own hands and meet our needs and desires our way. Or, as AW Tozer exhorts, we can “see God as a solution to 10,000 temporal problems”, he said.

Building on Pastor Reuben’s message, Jason Wong, founder of Elijah7000, asked the audience: “Do we turn first to Netflix and our K-dramas?”

He shared a personal rebuke he once received from God, who had said to him: “Jason, you look at things of the world and you don’t come to Me.”

He added: “When our children don’t turn to us, our hearts are saddened. When we choose not to turn to the Father but to other things in place of Him, His heart is grieved too.”

Inspiring one-minute testimonies

To demonstrate the impact that looking to God the Father can have, a panel of Elijah7000 fathers shared one-minute testimonies about personal transformation and family restoration.

Fathers receiving a fresh fire and renewed blessings for their family.

Andrew Wu shared how, as a task-oriented person, he previously would only show his acceptance for his children based on their performance. However, he was challenged to stop this habit.

Today, his children no longer need to tick boxes to be accepted and loved by him. This has helped them to learn that they are unconditionally loved, not just by him, but by their heavenly Father too.

Sharing from his own experience, David Tham also advised fathers to go beyond responding to their children’s needs and instead listen for their hearts. “Touch their hand and feel the pulse so that you know what your child is going through”, he said.

Genesis of a movement

Filling in the newcomers, Jason shared how he was moved to start a fathers movement 15 years ago while on a visit to Israel.

In a powerful trance-like encounter, God told him that families were under attack. This came as no surprise to Jason, then a civil servant who worked with people experiencing child abuse and family violence.

God revealed to him that when the lever of family shifts back to godly order, all the downstream issues would be resolved.

When Jason returned to Singapore, he had conversations with senior Government leaders about his desire to launch a fathers movement. He also pointed to a wealth of evidence-based research showing that children benefitted from having active and involved fathers.

On November 19, 2009, which marked International Men’s Day that year, the local fathers movement was officially launched, carrying a double call of restoring fatherhood and godly manhood.

The children are waiting

While the fathering movement is anchored in local community, Malachi 4:5-6 is a Kingdom call that extends to all peoples and nations.

Over the last 15 years, fathers from Elijah7000 have journeyed with people from different nations to seed and support the mobilisation of various fathering movements.

Representatives from some of these nations shared their testimonies at the event.

Jason Wong leading fathers to pray for their families and for each other.

One of them was Brother Ganbaa from Mongolia, who witnessed his father beat his mother to death. In 2013, while in Singapore, he learnt about fathering movement Dads for Life. This inspired him to launch a similar movement in his country to break the cycle of violence and alcoholism among fathers.

Leaders from fathering movement, Better Dads Malaysia, also shared how the fire in Singapore “spilled over” to their country about four years ago. They now have a digital reach of over three million and are about to embark on a Lutheran fathers movement called the Legacy Project.

Further up on the peninsula, a group of pastors in northern Thailand has also moved to launch a fathers movement in Chiang Mai.

“One day we will have a regional conference in Singapore,” Jason declared before recounting a prophetic word he heard in 2008 at a Christian symposium in Kiev, Ukraine.

During the event, the spirit of God fell on many in the Singapore delegation. A brother, choking under the weight of the anointing, turned to Jason and said: “Asia is waiting, Asia is waiting …”

“Waiting for what?” Jason asked.

“Asia is waiting for Singapore,” came the reply.

“And what is Singapore waiting for?” Jason wondered.

“The children. Singapore is waiting for the children to be sent to the nations.”

“And what are the children waiting for?” asked Jason.

The answer was heavy with meaning: “The children are waiting for fathers to arise.”

Our children need fathers who will rise up to raise them in the ways of God and release them in the call of God, Jason pointed out.

A commitment to raise a godly generation

As the event came to a close, the fathers in attendance were led in a pledge of commitment to pray for their wives and children, as well as to be part of a fathers group in the local church community.

If there was none in their church, they were challenged to prayerfully anchor one. Praying groups of fathers had been formed 10 years prior to the launch of Dads for Life in 2009, and were a vital starting point for mobilising fathers in the national movement.

Fathers making a pledge of commitment to godly fatherhood.

Albert Lim, chairman of Family Foundations Singapore, came on stage and released a special blessing for fathers and families, affirming the identity of “each son as a man of God filled with virtue, wisdom and integrity”.

The event closed in worship, declaring “7,000 hallelujahs” as fathers sang the song, “Raise A Hallelujah”. Then came the final proclamation of Malachi 4:5-6, before the fathers embraced each other in big fathers hug.

Will you join the fathers of Elijah7000 to make a commitment to raise a godly generation?

Each of us has work to do as we unite in speaking the truth of God’s word to a confused and fearful world. We may have lived as cautious Christians, hiding our talents in the ground.

But it is now time for fathers to take a stand for the future of our families and children.

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