A fruitful visit to Singapore
I had the joy of visiting the diocese of Singapore in November, along with the national directors of SOMA South Africa and SOMA Australia, Eben and Liz. Singapore is a vast sprawling city that has been invaded by rainforest – there is green round every corner, trees inside balconies, tropical plants along the entrances of every skyscraper, botanical gardens, and a network of rivers and canals all through the island cloaking it in 90% humidity - even in November. It makes for a very distinctive city break!
The Diocese of Singapore includes not only Singapore, but also Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Nepal. The trip was fruitful beyond what we could have imagined, both professionally and personally. For SOMA International, it was really wonderful to meet with vicars, archdeacons, deans and the bishop, building new relationships and encouraging long time ones. It was exciting to hear their heart for renewal, and for mission within the diocese and the six deanery countries surrounding it.
It was also a privilege to see how many of the prayers SOMA has had for the global church are being lived out by leaders and their people in Singapore, and to discuss what mission we might be able to do together in the future supporting their work in the deanery countries.
As Missions Coordinator for SOMA UK it was really helpful for me to put faces to names and get a picture of how the different SOMA offices work across the world, as well as seeing what we might be able to do together and what different gifts each of the directors brings to the bigger picture of SOMA’s work globally – something that is generally quite hard to define!
Because SOMA works on the basis of a network of relationships there is nothing that can compare to meeting people face to face and after operating without travel for nearly three years during the pandemic it has been a real joy to be able to get on the ground again.
Personally, I was really inspired by the Christians that we met. SOMA’s vision to have the Church empowered by the Holy Spirit to reach out to the hurting parts of the body of Christ and be engaged in evangelism, mission and renewal is something that is ingrained in many parts of the church in Singapore. The believers that we met, from different churches, and both lay members and leaders all had a two-fold vision for mission and renewal – within their hometown and in a broader sense overseas.
Singapore in its geography and position is unique; it is a wealthy, small island with excellent international travel links, surrounded by a collection of countries that are more impoverished, but easily accessible. This means that many Singaporean Christians whether lay or ordained, Anglican or non-denominational, are engaged in regular short-term mission trips to, and encouragement of, these surrounding countries and their mercy ministries. All this, whilst also being involved in their home churches in Singapore, running things like the Alpha course and initiating other outreaches among their colleagues and friends.
Mission is in the very DNA of the church in Singapore and it’s a form of mission that looks around the neighbourhood and further afield. The pattern for mission set out at the very beginning, in Acts 1:8 Jesus says; “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” When the church is activated for mission in daily life through the Holy Spirit, incredible things can happen both at home and further afield - this is our prayer for the Church in the UK!
