There is one thing that is as inevitable during Chinese New Year as pineapple tarts and bak kwa … those questions.

Don’t need to be pek chek (Hokkien for “exasperated”), says Faith Methodist Church. 

In a tongue-in-cheek response that has been blazing its rounds on social media, the church has come up with some Christian Comebacks to Challenging CNY Questions.

Faith Methodist Church media executive, Joash Lee, 29, told Salt&Light: “I was sharing during my small group about how I’m dreading CNY because of all the questions that will definitely be asked. At this life stage, people are expected to have checked some items off the checklist, such as getting married, getting a BTO, getting a baby and so forth.

“Then my colleagues and I realised that the questions never end! So we decided to have appropriate comebacks for believers to answer, because as pek chek as we are, we still need to reply graciously.

“Also, we wanted to highlight that some adults need to learn that small talk isn’t just asking questions (although it’s the easiest just to ask these general questions), and some questions should be asked with sensitivity because you never know when someone is struggling to have a baby, or maybe someone just broke up recently and they don’t know how to answer without being upset.”

Lee and communications executive Rachel Tham, 29, bounced ideas back and forth until they came up with appropriate Bible verses, which they cleared with their manager and their pastor-in-charge, Rev Raymond Fong.

There is a disclaimer, though, says the team: The comebacks are “best used on relatives with a sense of humour. You know who they are (and aren’t)”.

Salt&Light wishes all our readers a Happy Lunar New Year!