I Know Who Holds Tomorrow
By Pastor Alby Yip
This picture was taken to commemorate Zion Bishan’s completion of its first 30-year lease on 30 June 2022. We were supposed to be on a fresh 30-year lease on 1 July 2022. The delay was due to the government’s review of the pricing mechanisms for land lease. But we were offered a 3+3 year short-term rental at almost half of the estimated full renewal price, not forgetting the possible savings from the reviewed lease cost.
The rental also meant we are given extra years on top of the 30-year lease.
These are not coincidences. We see God’s hand in the entire lease renewal matters from how God provided exactly for how much we previously needed by the time when we were supposed to need the funds. God is very good to Zion Bishan. It is important hence that as an act of thanksgiving to God, in this very symbolic milestone, we travel in time to see what then, what now in order for us to see what next that we must do in response to God’s goodness.
What then? This was the ground claiming ceremony held on 23 August 1992 when we were first awarded the land. Over 200 members “uprooted” from our mother church, Zion at Serangoon Gardens, to plant here at Zion Bishan. Many of these “left” some family members behind. Many also straddled and served in both locations. Such was the missional sacrificial spirit then compelled by their love for God and their commitment to the commandments of the Lord Jesus Himself (Matthew 28:18-20). Perhaps that was why the pioneers of Zion at Bishan do not see themselves having left the mother church but were one church in two locations. All under the Lordship of Christ Jesus.
What now? This picture was taken on 28 June 2022 when the Session and BOD members together with their families gathered for thanksgiving to celebrate the completion of the first 30-year lease.
We have about 70 elected leaders and staff and almost 700 lay people serving in different ministries and capacities. Our membership has grown nine-fold from over 200 to over 1800. This was because our pioneers, many are still in our midst and actively serving and giving, together with those who came after them, gave of their best for a church they love because of the God they serve. As we witnessed time and again in Scriptures, when God’s people give of themselves truly and wholly to God, God will bless the work of their hands.
What next? We’re now on the threshold of the next 30-year lease. What must we keep and what must we do in order to remain true and whole to God? We must continue to be “A City on a Hill, a Light to the Nations; a Christ-witnessing Church with Multiple Congregations to Serve Communities” from near to afar, and even to the ends of the earth.
We started in Bishan not knowing the Zion Bishan we would become today. Similarly, we do not know what lies ahead. But we know God is good to Zion Bishan. We need only to stay truly and wholly committed to God. Let’s continue to labour together, above all, be earnest in prayer asking for God’s continued guidance. Just as the beautiful hymn reminds us, “I don’t know about tomorrow… But I know who holds tomorrow, and I know Who holds my hand.”
