Building God's Church
For the month of June, we will be featuring guest writers from GBC who will share how God has been faithfully working in our midst across generations. This is in line with our current Generations of Grace series. In this first article of the series, Lee Chung Cheong, known to many of us as "CC Lee", shares how God has built up GBC through the years.
I started to attend Grace Baptist Church in 1966 during my undergraduate days. The church was just a HDB shophouse occupying a few hundred square feet, located at Kampong Silat. I was invited to the church by a classmate, whose family had been visited by our pioneer members who sought to invite their neighbours to visit GBC. I was warmly welcomed by my older church brothers—Jimmy Chan, Chan Kong Wah, Fock Siew Wah, William Lenn, Leong Kuan Yui, and others. I felt very much at home and I stayed on since then, for some 56 years! I heard the gospel preached weekly and eventually I was baptised in 1967 by our late Pastor Emeritus Dr EN Poulson. Kat and I were married in April 1970 and since then, God has blessed us with two children and four teenaged grandkids.
God’s faithfulness through the years
Back then, in the 1970s, we had about 160 in our congregation. This comprised of both English and Chinese language speaking folks. We worshipped in a cramped shophouse space. Sunday School classes were held in curtain-partitioned classrooms after the worship service and the children’s programme was held outdoors, under a few large trees. A few older members opened their homes for the adult Bible classes. GBC then was truly a “family” church and everyone knew one another. Our leaders were primarily young people in their early twenties, guided by our then Church Counsellor, Dr EN Poulson.
As our shophouse space was returned to the authorities for redevelopment in late 1978, we had no space of our own. We were like nomads for a period of about four years and had to adjust the way we do things, including shifting to late afternoon services. Despite these inconveniences and the heat during the afternoon services, God provided for and blessed us and our membership grew.
Seok Eng then and now.
In 1980, God led us to purchase a piece of land at our current location. I was one of two deacons (the other was Pastor Tan Lay Tock from our Chinese congregation) requested by our Board of Deacons to look for a piece of land to build the church. Before this, GBC had been scouting for a suitable plot of land but with no success. This whole episode of purchasing the land and building our first church building, was indeed a miracle from God. Many of us that were involved in the project are still in awe to this day. This building was completed in 1982, and was in use until 2015. Our faithful God provided us with another group of leaders and the resources to complete our second building in mid-2017, which is the building we are currently enjoying.
A couple of high points on our initial building project made a deep impression on many of us, as we experienced God’s grace, faithfulness and work in our midst. Firstly, the land that we bought was gazetted as freehold. We did not understand the significance then, but this is precious today as most land for religious buildings are available on a 30-year lease, and it is presently costly to renew this. God added other blessings to us by having the new Downtown Line Mattar Station 200m from GBC, which improved the accessibility of our church! In addition, there is also the new Bidadari Housing Estate nearby, which is a relatively large housing development, and therefore increases the potential for community outreach for us. All these projects were unknown to us in 1980, but known to our God Almighty!
Secondly, God provided the funds for every step of the building process. The land purchase depleted all our building fund and the church had no funds for the actual construction. Many in the congregation were also new in the workforce and had limited resources. God granted us favour with the contractors. We were able to establish a mutual agreement with the main contractor and our consultants that if we were not able to pay the progress payments, building work would stop until we had accumulated new cash to restart building. This payment took place on a fortnightly basis and I was the person in charge of handing the cheque over.
By God’s grace, I was able to hand over a cheque to the contractors every single time. God stirred the hearts of our members and led them to contribute whatever they could. Many of our members offered their year end bonuses, sale of their jewellery and shares investments, personal savings, etc. Each time it was time to pay the main contractor, our treasurer was able to hand me a cheque the Sunday before with enough to pay the next Tuesday! I had the chance to witness God’s provision a second time, through the rebuilding project in 2015.
Thirdly, by faith, we believed that God will provide the money and resources if we are truly doing God’s will and work. Our leaders made it a policy not to take a bank loan for both the first and the second building projects, and God provided for us every step of the way.
Building God’s church through the years
I see the physical building as a heritage for generations to come after us to carry out the work of the Lord. God has also blessed GBC with faithful teachers of His Word and has enabled us to grow in His Word.
I was involved in the literal building of the church, but also in a figurative sense. Over the years, I have also been involved in different ministries and ways to serve the church. I have served in Sunday School and the Adult Bible Class and was on the Board of Deacon. I was also given several other opportunities to serve during the past years in the Care Group Ministry, Pastoral Search (early 2000 to 2017), Member Care Ministry and one-to-one men’s lunch fellowship.
I have seen how God has always provided people who are equipped to finish His work. While working on the building, God provided faithful brothers who were professionals in the field of construction—an architect, a quantity surveyor, a structural engineer, a well respected designer amongst others to serve together on a cohesive building committee.
Looking back at all these years of serving at GBC, by God’s grace, I do not think I faced any major challenges. Despite the busy schedules all of us had, we managed our priorities and God gave us the strength to complete the tasks at hand. Of course, while working in groups and teams, a lack of communication can sometimes cause inefficiencies and conflict. However, with God’s help and the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we were able to overcome these challenges.
God has also graciously given me the chance to witness those I worked with grow in the Lord and gradually be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding (Col 1:9). These are little joys and graces that I treasure. It has also been encouraging to see how God unites people, especially when we are so different, and in doing so, reflect the unity of our God (c.f. John 17:11b). I am thankful also for how the Lord has given us good growth with many young people, young families and children especially in the last three years. I am truly in awe as I see how God continues to work among us at GBC.
Trusting God for the future
At my age, I have seen God at work in the past and am confident that He will continue to work in the future. I am also encouraged to trust Him in the present. l have sought to make myself available where He leads, be it in the care group, Senior Men’s ministry, Member Care ministry, or other areas.
I continue to seek to follow Him faithfully and obediently, trusting that with His help, I can do my part to build His church. I also pray that God will allow me to finish well, like many saints of GBC, who are now in glory with Him. I pray that I will continue to be led by His Word, to be willing and faithful and use the gifts the Lord has provided me. You can keep me in prayer for these, and pray that I will be able to hear Him speak and discern His will, especially in ministry.