Minutes before the historic landing on the moon in 1969, the mission was almost aborted when a computer alarm surprised the astronauts. They had never encountered it in their training.

Jeff Garman, who was working in the backroom at NASA, was approached.

Having made a list of all of the computer alarms, he knew this particular one warned of a temporary overload of the guidance computer. The landing could continue. 

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made history that day.  

Jeff Garman was 25 when he made the pivotal call during the intense descent of the Apollo 11. The average age of the staff in the control centre during this historic mission was 27.

“Unburdened by old ideas and old ways, the young see things in a fresh way and are ready to solve new problems with new ideas and new methodologies. 

“If this was true when it came to the moon mission, how much more should we empower the young for God’s great commission?” asked Ps Jeff Chong, in his inaugural address as Chairman of Love Singapore.

He officially took over the reins from Ps Lawrence Khong on January 9, the first day of the annual Pastors’ Summit 2023.

The Senior Pastor of Hope Singapore outlined his three-pronged vision for LoveSingapore to more than 380 pastors and leaders from 108 churches and para-church organisations during the Summit. The approach included Turning Singapore Godward – and outward – by Blessing the Nations. 

The unity movement of Love Singapore was founded in 1995 and is made up of a network of churches passionate about interceding for Singapore. 

Ps Lawrence Khong poured oil over Ps Jeff Chong’s head in a symbolic act of anointing during the handover ceremony of the Chairmanship of LoveSingapore.

Below is an edited version of the three things Ps Jeff believes that God wants to do through LoveSingapore and “every single one of us – from the charismatic to the non-charismatic, from the larger to the smaller churches, from the east to the west, from the north to the south”.

1. Turning Singapore Godward

Let me begin by sharing some numbers of the growth of Christians over the decades in Singapore, according to the census of population.

The percentage of Christian growth over the decades:

1970–1980: 7.8% to 10.1% (up 2.3%)

1980–1990: 10.1% to 12.7% (up 2.6%)

1990–2000: 12.7% to 14.6% (up 1.9%)

2000–2010: 14.6% to 18.3% (up 3.7%)

 2010–2020: 18.3% to 18.9% (up 0.6%)

(Note the drastic drop in growth between 2010 and 2020, compared to previous decades – Editor)

These figures include Catholics as well as those who only attend church during Christmas and Easter. 

As pastors, these numbers should keep us up at night. 

I don’t want to be a doomsday prophet, but if you don’t do anything about it, my guess is that the 2030 number will not be big. Perhaps for the first time in Singapore history, the percentage of Christians may actually shrink – under our watch – since the Singapore census recorded these figures.

I believe that through these numbers, God is speaking to all of us that He wants us to capture His heart for the lost. God wants us to capture His heart for a harvest. 

God tells us in Luke 19:10: Jesus said: “For the Son of Man (describing himself) came to seek and to save the lost.” 

2 Peter 3:9. says: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise.”

What is that promise? His promise of coming back for the second time, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you – not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. God wants us to catch His heart.

When God commands us to make disciples of all nations, it surely includes helping those who are not yet Christ-followers to come to a place where they are able to name Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour, and also helping those who are already in the Church to become more like Christ.

It is not outreach or discipleship. It is both outreach and discipleship.

Even though we may be more gifted in discipleship or outreach, God’s desire is still for us to do both, Ps Jeff reminded.

In Christendom, there is a false dichotomy between outreach and discipleship. That is why we hear comments such as: “This girl is a discipleship person. She loves Hebrew and Greek and likes to learn things in context. Or “This church is very strong in outreach. They are very relevant. They are very cool.” 

But my question for us is: Since when did Jesus ask us to make a distinction? Did He say: “Choose. If you want to be disciples, take your Bible tools and go and study the Bible. And those of you who want to be relevant, don’t bother about being deep.” 

Granted, there are some among us who may be better in outreach or discipleship. Some of our churches are wired that way. 

But even though we may be more gifted in one area, God’s desire is still for us to do both. 

The truth is, many churches in Singapore are good at helping people grow in Christ. And as I’ve alluded to earlier, surely part of helping people becoming more like Christ must then include reaching out to people who are far from Christ.

Because from my very limited experience in church leadership, I’ve discovered that reaching out to pre-believers is most unnatural.

If we say Hillsong is coming to my church, not only people from my church will come. But people from most churches in Singapore will want to come and worship and sing.

But when there’s an outreach event like over Christmas or Easter and we say: “Come, and bring someone”, we get the same remarks: “We know Christmas, it’s about the birth of Jesus. Easter is when He died and resurrected.” 

It’s not about you. It is about bringing people to the Lord.

The point I am making is: There must be a disproportionate effort put in to reach the unreached to turn the tide as seen by the figures in the census. 

If we don’t care about people who are far away from God, we should ask ourselves: What is the purpose of doing Church? Just keeping the saints saved? If we don’t preach the Gospel, what are we doing? It is not one or the other. It is both. 

2. Winning the youth

Growing old is natural, reaching the young has to be intentional.

When my team and I started leading Hope Singapore, we were in our 30s. We realised the nature of our conversations in those days was quite different: We talked about buffets, about going for holidays.

Now, some 10, 20 years down the road, very naturally we talk about cholesterol pills, knee pain, vitamins, and have you bought adult diapers yet … 

That’s why in this Summit, we have asked senior pastors to be intentional about inviting the younger pastors to be with us. 

I’m quite intentional about not saying we are going to win “the next generation”.

One, “the next generation” is subjective. Because Pastor Lawrence just passed his leadership (of Love Singapore) to the next generation – a 50-something year old. I passed my leadership to the next generation. He’s very young: 60 years old.

Two, “next” gives us the feeling akan datang (Malay for “coming soon”). That is, they are not ready yet; stand aside.

We need to win the youth. We need to engage the youth today and give them a platform to serve and to lead today.

Allow me to say: We should reach every generation. For example, don’t just post about little Johnny playing the drums. Let’s also post about Uncle Johnny, 75 years old, who has arthritis, also playing the drums. But what I’m saying is: I’m asking us to pay attention to win the youth. We do not want to be a sunset industry. We want to be a sunrise industry.

When Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 1969, it was a mission that many thought was impossible.

Not many of us may know that the average age of the control center staff was 27. Most of them started as interns five years earlier, at age 22. Their job was to give tours of NASA, which forced them to know the precise function of each department. These young people said that their internships enabled them to succeed as they had firsthand exposure to the workings of NASA.

Those associated with the project revealed that Apollo 11 was successful because young people were placed in key leadership roles. The fact that they did not know what they did not know helped them to push ahead when veterans would have probably pulled the plug.

Just minutes before the landing, they almost aborted the mission. Twenty-five year old Jeff Garman played a significant role in those vital minutes that kept them from aborting the mission. 

Jack Garman receives an award from Chris Kraft, director of flight operations in Mission Control, for his role in the Apollo 11 mission. Photo credit: NASA.

Unburdened by old ideas and old ways, the young see things in a fresh way and are ready to solve new problems with new ideas and new methodologies.

If this is true when it came to the moon mission, how much more should we empower the young for God’s great commission?

And just as Paul said to his young prodigy, Timothy, we should say to the younger people in our church: “Don’t let anyone, including myself, look down on you because you’re young. But set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in unity.” (1 Timothy 4:12)

3. Blessing the nations 

Some believe Singapore was prophesied to be the Antioch of Asia. The late Pastor Rick Seaward took it a step further when he described Singapore as the Antioch of Antiochs – to plant churches that will plant churches that will plant more churches.

In my opinion, Singapore is the Antioch of not just Asia but the entire world.

Over all these years, Singapore has consistently punched above our weight, as US President Joe Biden said to Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2022.

Matthew 28:19-20 says: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Bible tells us in no uncertain terms: Make disciples of all nations – not just in Singapore, not just in Asia. God desires us to be a blessing to the nations.

Some of us perhaps are light years ahead in missions. Perhaps some of us are noobs (newbies). Wherever we may be on this continuum, I want to encourage you to take the next step. I want to encourage you to pray for the nations. If you’re only reaching out to your own neighbourhood, pray for another nation.

Or if you’re new, maybe you can encourage your church to go on a short-term missions trip. 

God is calling us to make a difference.

I want to ask you: Is what I’ve just presented to you a God thing or is it a Jeff thing?

If it is a Jeff thing, you’ll just listen, move on and do your own thing.

If it is a God thing, as I believe it is, I want to invite you to invest your time, talent and treasure to do what God wants us to do as churches in Singapore.

I want to encourage you to give your very best to the One who has only ever given us His very best. 

I want to encourage all of us, pastors and leaders in Singapore, to be invested in this, to get out of the spectator stands and move into the playing fields. Let’s all be involved together. 

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