Recap of Members' Meeting (12 January 2025)
We started our new year with our first Members’ Meeting on 12 January 2025. We welcomed new members and also heard of updates in our church life. A key item that was shared by the elders was regarding our plans to begin the process of planting a church.
Elder Gerald chaired the meeting and opened with a prayer committing the meeting to God. It was encouraging to see a full Fellowship Hall and many members participating in the meeting.
Membership Matters
Pastor Jeremy walked us through a number of membership matters. We began by voting to affirm and welcome new members who seek to join GBC. Being a member simply involves believing the gospel and walking faithfully with Jesus. When we affirm someone as a member, we are saying that they confess the true gospel and are a true gospel confessor, living in a way that is consistent with the gospel. One indication of our continued trust in and obedience to Christ is that we gather regularly with God’s people in a local church for corporate worship (Heb. 10:24-25). Thus we seek to practice meaningful membership by trusting and obeying Christ by meeting and gathering regularly with other members at GBC, this local church, for worship, fellowship, and encouragement.
Elders who interviewed potential candidates came up to share how each candidate was converted, and how they have demonstrated that they believe and confess and live and accordance with the gospel.. Members could also ask any questions they had, and if there were none, members voted to affirm and welcome them into the membership. 1 candidate joined us by baptism – Grace Lee – and 2 by transfer – Fides and David Andrada.
Pastor Jeremy led members to affirm that these brothers and sisters have, along with us, repented of their sins and believed in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. With the new members, we recited the Members’ Covenant together, as we all commit to walking in Christ-like love and unity, for our mutual encouragement and for building up the body of Christ.
Pastor Jeremy also updated the church about members who were transferring out including their reason for their transfer, as well as the church they were transferred to. Members then voted to affirm their transfer. As our Members’ Covenant states, “when we move from this place, join another Gospel-preaching church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God’s Word”.
Finally, Pastor Jeremy also shared a list of members that have not been attending for the past year or so. This was the same list shared at the past two meetings. He urged members to reach out to them if they knew them and to update the elders if they had any information on their well-being. Members may reach out to any elder or write to the church office (info@gracebaptistchurch.sg) for this list. Let us also continue to pray for our non-attending members that God will grant us opportunities to do spiritual good to them.
Church Plant
Next, Pastor Eugene came up to explain more about our desire to plant a church in the coming years.
Why plant? Pastor Eugene shared two main reasons. Firstly we want to grow the gospel. The Great Commission calls us to make disciples and the gospel grows through the multiplication of biblical churches. We also recognise that the work of the gospel is bigger than one church, and we do with to grow the network of like-minded churches in Singapore.
Secondly, we want to grow gospel workers. We desire to foster mission-mindedness and stretch our faith. We want to train, equip, affirm and send faithful men and women. (To find out more, check out this article, “Why Plant Churches?”.)
Pastor Eugene then addressed the alternatives to church planting. On the issue of expanding our space, Pastor Eugene shared that we are looking for ways to increase our capacity and improve or intensify how we use our present space.
Secondly, members have asked about us strengthening other churches. Indeed, we do desire to do so, and continue to actively seek out such opportunities. Pastor Eugene encouraged us to pray for the provision of people.
What about starting multiple services or congregations? Pastor Eugene shared that the elders hold to the view that a church should be one assembly. The biblical word for church: “ekklesia” means assembly. By definition, what makes a group of Christians a church is that they gather regularly. For this reason, most uses of the word “ekklesia” in the New Testament refer to distinct assemblies of believers in different locations, i.e. local churches. It is through the church that we can obey the Bible’s “one-another” commands in a committed relationship with fellow members. This presupposes knowing one another, and there is a need to gather regularly. Having multiple services or congregations makes this difficult for us to do so. (For a more detailed explanation, we commend this article, “Why Plant and Not…?”.)
Pastor Eugene gave some time for members to ask questions. He also encouraged members to continue to dialogue with the elders. Members can also write to the elders via plant@gracebaptistchurch.sg.
Members were also given a time to pray for all that has been shared. As a church, we are seeking God’s direction and leading as Psalm 127: 1 teaches us, “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”
Looking Ahead
Pastor Oliver then shared some of the plans for the next few months. As we seek to grow in the word, we will spend a large part of the year in the Gospel of John. Titled, “Behold the Son”, this series aims to help us to know Jesus as God’s glorious Son in whom we have eternal life.
Regarding our church calendar, firstly, there is a new cadence for monthly meetings. On the second Sunday of every month, we will either hold our Members’ Meeting (i.e. in January, March, May, July, September or November) or Prayer Meeting (i.e. in February, April, June, August, October). The elders have heard members’ suggestions and have streamlined the meetings to facilitate time for fellowship after church. We hope that you will save the dates and set aside the time to gather with fellow members monthly.
In this new year, there will also be new EQUIP classes. EQUIP seeks to help members grow in handling God’s Word and also applying it our lives. There will be 2 new series starting on 26 January – “Walking with One Another” and “Missions”.
There will be a team heading up to Kathy’s Home in Pua for a Mission Trip on 6-10 March. We are thankful to God that we are able to continue this regularly, quarterly visit to Pua. Read more about past trips here.
We wil also be holding our Annual General Meeting in March. Members, look out for an email that will be sent out closer to the date. If you wish to update your email addresses, or check what email address is in our database, please write to the Church Office at info@gracebaptistchurch.sg. We seek your cooperation to ensure that your contact information is regularly updated.
Finally, our church camp registration will begin on 16 February 2025. As mentioned at previous meetings, this Camp will be from 4 to 7 June 2025, at Le Grandeur Palm Resort, Johor. The theme will be “Go: A Community on Mission” with an external speaker, Ian Buntain, speaking at this camp. Some members will be familiar with Ian, who was our pastor from 2017 to 2021. Ian also has years of experience as a missionary and also teaching in seminaries, so we are excited to hear him teach God’s word and help us to apply it. Stay tuned for how we can register for this camp.
Closing Prayer
Pastor Andrew closed the meeting in prayer. There were many things covered and shared, and ultimately we know and believe that unless the Lord builds this church, His church, all our labours are in vain. We continue to humbly lift up our plans to God, and also seek HIs direction for us as a church.
Members, let us continue to keep these plans in prayer. As always, if you have any questions about any part of the meeting, feel free to speak to any of our elders! If you have specific questions regarding the plans for a church plant, you can also write to the elders at plant@gracebaptistchurch.sg.