Ministries of True Life BPC
An extract of the Clerk of Session’s report for the year ended 31 December 2011 presented to True Life BPC at its ACM on 29 April 2012
The Church was blessed by the Lord with steady attendance in its worship services as well as prayer meetings, Sunday School and fellowship groups. Average attendance at each Lord’s Day for worship service was about 390, including children.
Worship Service
The Church holds its worship service every Lord’s Day, 10.30 am at the Regional Language Centre (RELC), 30 Orange Grove Road, Singapore 258352. The pulpit is jealously guarded, with only preachers of the same doctrinal persuasion, i.e. of the reformed faith, taking a stand for biblical separation and standing squarely on the perfect inspiration and perfect preservation of Scripture, are invited to preach the Word. Our preachers include: Rev Koa Keng Woo, Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew, Rev Dr Prabhudas Koshy, Rev Tan Kian Sing, Rev Stephen Khoo, Dr Tow Siang Hwa, Rev Errol Stone, Rev Nguyen Gia Hien, Rev Dennis Kwok, Dr Paul Ferguson, Pastor Jeffrey Khoo, Dr Phil Stringer, Pr Dennis Kabingue and Pr Joshua Yong.
Chinese Worship Service
The Chinese worship service holds its service on every Lord’s Day, at 10.30 am at Tanglin 1, RELC. Bro Lin Yang (FEBC student) preaches serially from the Gospel of John and translates Rev Dr Timothy Tow’s commentary on the Gospel of John into Chinese which is published in the Chinese weekly part by part. Pastor Jeffrey Khoo preaches every first week of the month and administers the Lord’s Supper. Rev Dennis Kwok was invited to preach to our Chinese congregation twice in 2011 and to help administer the Lord’s Supper when Pastor was away.
Korean Worship Service
The Korean worship service at True Life B-P Church conducts a service every Lord’s Day at 10.30 am at the Chancery Room (#503), RELC. The pastor of the Korean Worship is Rev Park Seung Kyu. The Korean Worship has regular worshippers of about forty.
Children’s Ministry
The children are ministered to each Lord’s Day through the Children’s Ministry. They go to the 6th floor for the Children’s Worship Hour around 11 am after joining the Church worship service with the adults at 10.30 am until the offering time.
Prayer Meeting
Prayer meetings are held every Friday evening at the RELC, and for the first Friday of each month, Family Worship cum Prayer Meeting is held at the homes of True Lifers.
In keeping with the format of John Sung revival meetings, the study of God’s Word is led by Pastor Jeffrey Khoo and followed by a season of thanksgiving and testimonies, whereby the faith of members are fortified by hearing how the Lord has been good to the brethren. Prayer meeting has a regular attendance of about 90, with a good number of parents bringing their children with them to pray and seek the Lord’s blessing.
Sunday School
The Adults’ Sunday School is an important teaching ministry that seeks to ground believers in the Word of God. It is held each Lord’s Day from 9.15 am to 10.15 am. In 2011, Eld J T Joseph taught from the book of Job. A distinctive feature of each lesson was the concluding session on “Lessons for Life”, these being applications derived from the chapter covered on that occasion. On average, the attendance numbered eighty, with a good mix of older and younger adults.
Chinese Sunday School is held each Lord’s Day from 9.15 am to 10.15 am at Tanglin 1, RELC. Bro Lin Yang completed the lessons on the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith and is now teaching the Book of Isaiah to the Mandarin-speaking brethren.
Catechism class is held once a year for 12 weeks (January to March) for those who wish to be baptised, reaffirm their faith or join the church as members. Basic doctrines of the Christian faith and of the Bible-Presbyterian Church are taught. In 2011, the catechism class was conducted by Pastor Jeffrey Khoo (English Service).
The Children’s Sunday School is led by Mrs Jemima Khoo, and ably assisted by a committed team of teachers and helpers.
Evangelism
Door to door HDB flats evangelism at Bukit Panjang was completed in 2011 and the E- band moved on to evangelise at Toa Payoh every last Lord’s Day of the month, with close to 30 (including children) coming each time to share the good news of salvation.
Missions and Outreaches
The Church supports missions in Australia (Rev Nguyen Gia Hien and Brisbane B-P Church, and Rev Errol Stone and Faith Presbyterian Church, Perth), Malaysia (Dr Wee Tiong Soon and Kemaman Life B-P Church), Myanmar (Amos Go in Chin State, and Thang No and New Life Orphanage in Yangon), Palestine/Bethlehem (Rev Danny Awad and Baraka Bible Presbyterian Church), and Africa (Missionaries Bai Eun Young and Joshua Yong, and Bible College of East Africa in Kenya and in Tanzania).
Choir Ministry
The Choir ministers to the congregation through music. The Choir Ministry consists of the Church Choir and the Youth Choir. The Church Choir is led by Mr Tay Bee Heng and the choir committee. They sing every first Lord’s Day of the month as well as on special occasions. The Youth Choir is under Mr and Mrs Herbert Goh and they render a song item every quarter. Choir practices are held every Sunday after worship service.
Bible Study Groups
The Church has two foreign language Bible Study groups meeting on the Lord’s Day. The Indonesian and the Filipino Bible Study groups are led by FEBC students as part of their ministry practicum.
Fellowship Groups
Adults Fellowship
The Fellowship meets monthly on the 3rd Saturday at the home of Mr and Mrs William Teo. The group has completed the study of the Book of Acts with Pastor Jeffrey Khoo. Since October 2011, Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew has been teaching the 10 Commandments. The children are being ministered to by Mrs Jenny Kan who teaches them bible lessons. The Fellowship celebrated their 6th Anniversary on February 12, 2011 and Pastor Jeffrey Khoo was the speaker. Another highlight was the Christmas carolling on December 26, 2011 which saw the group visiting the homes of Ms Ow Kuan Tai, Mr and Mrs Marcus Hong and Mr Jason Yeo (Mrs Wendy Wan’s brother) to bring the gospel to the unsaved loves ones and to minister to the brethren’s families.
Chinese Fellowship
The Chinese Fellowship meets bi-monthly on the 2nd Saturday at 4.30 pm in the homes of members. The old folks from the St John’s Home also join this fellowship. Pastor Jeffrey Khoo is the regular speaker with Bro Lin Yang interpreting into Chinese. The Fellowship held their 1st Anniversary on November 12, 2011 at the home of Dn and Mrs Tai Mern Yee and the Lord’s messenger was Pastor Jeffrey Khoo.
Family Bible Fellowship
The group seeks to build up godly families. It meets on the last Saturday of every month at the homes of various members to listen to God’s Word and followed by fellowship over dinner brought by members. The group was privileged to have Dr Jose Lagapa, Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew and Dr Paul Ferguson for the 1st half of 2011 who spoke on the theme, “Christian Living” and Rev Dr Prabhudas Koshy for the 2nd half of the year on “Eschatology”. The children are ministered by mothers who teach the Children Sunday School. On January 29, 2011, FBF held their 6th Anniversary at RELC and the speaker was Pastor Jeffrey Khoo. The FBF Outing was held at HortPark on May 28, 2011. On July 30, 2011, the FBF and LF had a combined meeting and fellowship where Rev Tan Kian Sing spoke on “Patience and Affliction”.
Ladies Fellowship
The Ladies Fellowship meets every 1st Wednesday evening of the month at 7.45 pm at the RELC and is open to all True Lifers, and not just the ladies of the Church. The group was blessed to have Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew who spoke to them on a series of messages on “The Fruit of the Spirit”. On February 9, 2011, the ladies commemorated their 7th Anniversary and the Lord’s messenger was Pastor Jeffrey Khoo.
Young People’s Fellowship
The Young People’s Fellowship ministers to all the young people ranging from primary school to young adults. It meets every Saturday at Berean BPC. The youths adopted the theme “Christ, Our Foundation” taken from Ephesians 2:20 for 2011. The objectives were (1) Knowing God’s Word deeply, (2) Holding to God’s Word firmly, and (3) Living out God’s Word completely. Besides studying God’s Word, the youths have activities like combined Bible Study with brethren of Berean BPC on the last week of the month, cottage meetings at the homes of Church members, combined meetings and youth conferences with the YF of other like-minded churches. The 7th Anniversary was held on February 19, 2011 at RELC, speaker was Pastor Jeffrey Khoo who spoke on “Christ, our Foundation”. The YPF Camp was held at Calvary Pandan BPC for 5 days, December 26-30, 2011. Pastor Jeffrey Khoo was the theme speaker and Bro Joshua Yong, the night speaker and they spoke on the theme: “Is God First in My Life?”
SPECIAL SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES
The special services on the church calendar included the Good Friday Service, April 22, 2011,
8 pm; Easter Sunrise Baptismal Service at Labrador Park, April 24, 2011, 7 am; Christmas
Eve Service, December 24, 2011, 8 pm;
Watchnight Service, December 31, 2011, 10.45 pm.
A music workshop was conducted by Dr Paul Ferguson at RELC on April 2, 2011.
The 7th Annual Congregational Meeting cum Elections was held at RELC on April 17, 2011 at 9 am.
The 1st Anniversary Thanksgiving of the Chinese Service was held at RELC on May 1, 2011. Pastor Jeffrey Khoo was the Lord’s messenger.
The Sunday School Teachers’ Training Seminar was held at RELC on May 17, 2011 and was conducted by Ms Judy Lee.
FEBC’s 1st Bible Lands Pilgrimage, May 21- 31, 2011 was led by Pastor and Mrs Jeffrey Khoo. There were a total of 46 pilgrims.
The 4th Vacation Bible School (VBS) was held from June 1-3, 2011 at the Boys’ Brigade Campus at 105, Ganges Avenue. The theme was “Heroes of Faith”. There were 58 volunteers and 82 children signed up for the activities.
The 8th Church Camp, June 13-17, 2011 was held at Hotel Equatorial Bangi, Putrajaya, Malaysia with 205 campers. Speakers were Pastor Jeffrey Khoo (English Service) and Rev Lee Kim Shong (Chinese Service) who spoke on the theme, “Pressing on for Christ” based on the Book of Philippians.
A Gospel Meeting conducted by the Filipino Bible Study was held on July 3, 2011 at RELC and Pastor Jeffrey Khoo spoke on “Only Jesus Saves!”
The 16th Holy Land Pilgrimage in conjunction with Baraka BPC’s 60th Anniversary, September 2-11, 2011 was led by Pastor and Mrs Jeffrey Khoo. There were a total of 40 pilgrims.
A total of 376 (including children) attended the 8th Anniversary Thanksgiving lunch on September 25, 2011 at the Tang Court Restaurant, RELC, after the Thanksgiving Service.
In thanksgiving to God for the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible on Reformation Sunday, October 30, 2011, True Life BPC Choir and the choirs from 6 other B-P Churches and FEBC rendered to God an evening of worship and praise, singing to the theme of “Earnestly Contend for the Word” at the Sunset Gospel Hour. The message “God’s Word Protected, Proclaimed and Practised” was delivered by Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew. In commemoration of this event, the Bible Resource DVD “Forever Infallible & Inerrant” published by FEBC was distributed. Also, in commemoration of the 400th Anniversary of the KJV, the book—“The Authorised Version: A Wonderful and Unfinished History” published by the Trinitarian Bible Society was given free to True Lifers on April 17, 2011.
The Christmas Gospel Meeting was held on December 17, 2011 at RELC and Pastor Jeffrey Khoo spoke on “Jesus Born of a Virgin”.
There were a number of Christmas carolling sessions organised by the various fellowship groups to spread the good news of salvation in Christ.
