My wife and I have been Christians since 1970. But it was only in August 2002, more than 30 years later, and after we came to Bethesda Cathedral that we started to deliberately and systematically plan to invite our friends to church.

We first came to Bethesda Cathedral because of an invitation by Pastor Tay. I remember Pastor inviting me to Bethesda Cathedral on a Monday afternoon in July 2002, to have a look at the new extension.

While visiting, I told Pastor that everything looked great except for the lights in the sanctuary. I thought lights with a warm white effect would better enhance the overall ambience.

About two weeks after the visit, Pastor called to ask for the cost to change the lights. I immediately volunteered and came with a friend on a Saturday morning to do the job.

After replacing the lights, my wife and I thought that we should attend the worship service the next day, to check out the effect. The friend who was with us also decided to come.

Both my wife and I were very much edified by the service. We could feel that the Lord was present at Bethesda Cathedral. However, coming to Bethesda Cathedral was but a visit, and we planned to return to our previous church the next week.

For some unknown reason, during the week immediately following that Sunday, I just had this urge to want to ask my friends and colleagues to come to Bethesda Cathedral, to experience the presence of God. So I started inviting them and three came. And since our friends were coming to BC, my wife and I had to postpone going back to our previous church.

Of the three who came, two of them, Vivien and Joseph Neo, decided to come again the next week. So again, my wife and I had to postpone going back to our previous church, at least until Vivien and Joseph settled down.

But, over the next few weeks, more and more friends accepted the invitation to come to church, and we had to continue postponing our going back to the previous church. Almost every week, a friend or a colleague would be here with us at BC.

By then, Vivien and Joseph had prayed to receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and have settled down in BC, being part of the Oikos network and also actively serving the Lord in the Young Adults’ Ministry. They had also started inviting friends to church, among whom were Karen (Joseph’s niece), and her friend Oswald. Both Karen and Oswald are also now worshipping here at BC.

In between, another of our friends, Pargash Kaur, came to one of the healing services, got slain by the Holy Spirit during the service, and accepted the Lord. She too is now regularly at BC. And she too, has started inviting her nieces to church.

As these things began to happen, my wife and I told Pastor that we felt that we belonged at Bethesda Cathedral, and asked to stay. We then transferred our membership shortly after.

But there was still a part of us left behind in the previous church - our three children. They had not wanted to move with us and had opted to stay at the previous church because they had been there since they were babies. Both my wife and I frequently agonized over this separation, and prayed constantly for the Lord to unite the family together at BC.

Well, impossible as it may have seemed at the time, the reunification came on a Sunday morning, about eight months ago. That day, I insisted that they had to move to BC, and all three surprisingly obliged. Although the faces were a bit ashen, there was no argument, no disagreement, not even tears. They came and they stayed.

Today, our two younger children, Jane and Jonathan, are in the Oikos network, and are here with us in BC. Our older son, Benjamin, joins us here occasionally for worship, as he is very much involved in the young adults’ fellowship in the previous church. However, he is a member of an Oikos in BC. We are presently praying for him to cross over to BC as well.

But there is still another story that I must share with you.

Recently, about 3 months back, I invited Ai Ling, a colleague of mine to church. Ai Ling was a pre-believer at the time. She in turn, invited her friend, Wilfred, to come along. My wife and I were so excited because somehow we knew that the Lord would be doing something for this young couple.

But as the service began and went on, both of us became anxious. First, the worship songs sung that day were somewhat unfamiliar, so the singing did not sound so exuberant. Then there was no altar call for anything, so how was God’s power going to be demonstrated? And finally, on that particular day, Pastor Tay for some reason, decided not to welcome newcomers. It looked like I would have to think of another way to tell Ai Ling and Wilfred about the good news of salvation. But it was not to be.

That day, the Lord thought me a lesson about His timing. It was a lesson I will not easily forget!

After the message that day, as the closing song was being sung, I saw from the corner of my eye that Ai Ling was crying!

“Could it be that the Lord has touched her, despite all that has not happened during the service?” I thought to myself.

Well, God had indeed touched Ai Ling, because during coffee fellowship, she said she felt so moved and then sat back and prayed to accept Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. It was unbelievable! There is no logic to it all! The service did not flow as it used to, and yet, a soul was saved.

Today, both Wilfred and Ai Ling are in Bethesda Cathedral, actively serving the Lord! How wonderful are His ways!

And imagine that all these things happened, because Pastor Tay took the trouble to invite a strange man to come look at a newly re-built church in Chai Chee. It all started because some one took the trouble to make that invitation.

Pastor Tay, when he gave me that invitation, was just like a postman. I am sure he did not imagine that things would work out the way that it did. But he was just like the postman, the guy who delivers the mail. His duty, as postman, is to ensure delivery of the mail in the most effective and efficient way possible. What happens after the mail is delivered, to the correct addressee, need not be of concern to us. How and when the recipient of the letter responds to the sender, should not bother us, the postmen, at all. When you receive a Singtel bill, does the postman call to check if you have paid it? No, because what you do is between you and the sender of the letter. But the postman, regardless of rain, hail or snow, will work hard to ensure that the letter gets delivered.

I think all of us, and not just Pastor Tay, are God’s postmen. We have to deliver God’s mail and message to the correct addresses in the best way possible. Once delivered, whatever happens next is between God and the recipient of the message.

This anecdote means a few things to me:

a. There is an address to deliver the message to. Postmen don’t deliver letters randomly. So I need to seek the Lord’s direction as to who to deliver the message to.

b. Once the address is known, I need to plan, so that the message gets delivered in the most effective and efficient manner possible.

c. And I have to do this to the best of my ability – because I have already been paid in advance to do the job. The price? Well, it is our Lord’s shedding of His blood, in order that I will have a life, and a life that is more abundant.

Thank-you.