Valerie Chan, our lead teacher, and her son, Hsien Riong in a training class.
I recently received an e mail from a good friend who knows of my love for the Singaporean people. God enabled me to travel to Singapore some30 times over the past 12 years. I met some of the most dedicated, prayer filled people in the world in Singapore and hope to see them all again before we meet in Heaven. These on the right are some students I had in my classes at Singapore Management University.
The e mail I received mentioned the need to pray for Singaporeans to come to faith in Christ. It is one of the most culturally diverse populations I know. That very small island at the tip of Malaysia and just across from Indonesia has some three million citizens. However, it counts another million as foreign workers plus several million as tourists and visitors who shop or transit to another Asian country.
About 75% of the population is Chinese with 15% Malay and 8% Indian. This leaves only 2% as Anglos and assorted others. Despite the very agressive and concentrated evangelistic outreaches of the Christians in Singapore, few Muslims convert to Christ.
On one of my earliest trips I was blessed to meet a Malay woman who headed a Muslim lay counseling group. It was not long before she discovered that I had some experience in training both lay and professional counselors and we became friends. As a result, I was able to help them set up a great training program for parents and couples.
God was honored and they learned that we Christians cared enough to give our very best to them. God's love was not lost on her or her bosses. The most effective way to "witness" to people is through loving action. This is especially true for those who do not trust us.
During my last visit to the headquarters of the Association of Muslim Professionals, one of the support groups for divorced women wept as they told me of their thanks for how we had led them to find love, support and freedom. Let us pray that God will now open their eyes to His love and freedom.
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