Zion Bishan Bulletin 19 July 2020 English Services

19 July 2020
English Services & 10.30 am Livestream

Call to Worship

Meditative Hymn: Take My Life And Let It Be

Scripture Reading:Romans 8:17-25 ESV

Message: The Risky Business

Response Hymn: How Beautiful

Corporate Life & Prayer

Offering

Benediction

Announcements

Note: Holy Communion will be served at all in-person services

We are pleased to welcome you to worship with us! If you are new to Zion Bishan, do drop us a note on our contact form and our hospitality team will get in touch with you in the coming week. Please use the same contact form if you want to find out more about our faith, or about our activities and programmes.
http://www.zionbishan.org.sg/about/contact-us/response-form/

Our Sunday services at a glance

Speaker: Pastor Dev Menon
Worship Leader: Elder Sonny & Elder David
AV: Goh Han Teck, Melissa Leong, Steven Tan, Soh Kok Hong & James Kok.
Pianist: Paul Liew, Lee Ping Lin

Songs for personal worship and reflection:
www.zionbishan.org.sg/songs-for-reflection

English Services: Hope & Peace Cluster
Pastor: Pastor Zheng Haoren
Elders: Elder David & Elder Sonny
Deacons: Dns Siew Choo, Dns Cerintha,
Dn Chew Meng, Dn Joseph
Staff: Sharon, Tze Ming & June

Speaker: Pastor Dev Menon

The Risky Business
Romans 8:17-39

Intro: The Church at Rome

Suffering:

Is Inevitable

Is Transformative

Is For God’s Glory

Conclusion: Sacrifice Yourself

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

1. What do you remember from the passage or sermon?
2. Why do Christians resist God’s call to go?
3. How does Paul encourage the church at Rome to go?
4. Where is God leading Zion Bishan to go?

Our Church

BPCIS Webinar – The BPCIS held a webinar for pastors and ministry leaders on 13 July. Thank God for the opportunity for our BP churches to come together and to hear from Bishop Robert Solomon who shared thoughts on what the church should be focused on in a post-pandemic world (see WIS for Ps Dev’s reflections).

Missions Month – Monday prayer circles, one Wednesday webinar, YD lessons and interviews with mission partners have been conducted over the last few weeks. Pray for the many more opportunities to learn about frontier people groups still to come, and may the Spirit move our hearts and hands to respond in seeking His kingdom firs

Food Aid Distribution – Praise God for the opportunities to get to know the various households we deliver meals to. Many have expressed gratefulness for our meals and the chance for a short friendly conversation at the door. We continue to pray that God will minister His grace and love to each household that we deliver meals to.

Our People

Children’s Ministry Leaders – Pray for Dns Cassandra, ministry staff June, Ruth and apprentice Li Hui to have a clear and biblical vision for the Children’s Ministry. May our Lord guide them as they make plans to continue the important work of discipling the children in our church.
Thank God also for all our CD leaders who have been working hard at engaging with the children via teleconferencing and providing resources for parents and children to engage with faith at home.

Our World

Lebanon – In May, we prayed for and supported from the CV19 MRF fund, part of our ministry partner’s “hot meals” programme for needy refugee and church families. Since then, the economic situation has continued to spiral out of control. Our ministry partner reports that Lebanon is bankrupt. Inflation, poverty and starvation is knocking at every door. Not only are refugee families affected, but the middle class and above are now facing food shortage, insecurity and poverty. Pray for God to bring about economic recovery and crisis aid on a nationwide scale in order to avert famine and loss of life.

Indonesia – We praise God for opportunities to encourage and point people to Him in the midst of the challenges faced there. Though COVID has hit many families hard, there are also opportunities to show love and share about God’s goodness to various individuals where our ministry partners are. Pray God’s Word will continue to work in the hearts of people in every opportunity the Good News is shared. And pray for the Spirit to give strength and wisdom to these ministry partners.

1. Condolences to Samuel, Susan, Joshua, Joel and Julia Lee on the homegoing of Susan’s mother, Mdm Lum Soon Lin, aged 92, on 11 July 2020. She was a member of the Cantonese service.
2. Vernon will be on paternity leave until 22 Jul.
3. Ruth will be on maternity leave until 19 Oct.
4. Ps Haoren is preaching at the ME service today.

1. Condolences to Samuel, Susan, Joshua, Joel and Julia Lee on the homegoing of Susan’s mother, Mdm Lum Soon Lin, aged 92, on 11 July 2020. She was a member of the Cantonese service.
2. Vernon will be on paternity leave until 22 Jul.
3. Ruth will be on maternity leave until 19 Oct.
4. Ps Haoren is preaching at the ME service today.

Virtual Church?

Written by Ps Dev Menon

Last Tuesday, around 80 leaders from BP Churches had a ‘virtual retreat’. Instead of the annual 2-day event in Malaysia, it became a 2-hour session in Zoom to dialogue with Bishop Robert Solomon about the “Post-Pandemic World and Church”.

One point that resonated, was the fact that he did not think that virtual church - meeting in digital space - was as impactful as the gathered church. He compared our situation to the ancient problem of Gnosticism – where there were some who thought that simply gaining knowledge was sufficient for spiritual growth. I suspect the apostle Paul dealt with similar issues (1 Cor 8:1).

The early church fathers fought hard against this heresy, insisting that because of the fleshly incarnation and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ (together with the institution of sacraments like Holy Communion and Baptism), that we as human beings are made for physical interaction. Coming together as embodied beings is essential to spiritual growth.

Bishop Solomon implied that sanctification (growing in holiness) largely takes place when brothers and sisters come together. When we watch online services, or even when we meet virtually, we find ourselves easily distracted. Let’s be honest, how many times have you caught someone (or yourself) liking a Facebook post or replying a WhatsApp message while they are supposed to be present in a Zoom meeting?

When we are physically present with one another, we must deal with one another – there is no distraction, there is no switching screen, there is no turning off the camera. When I am fully engaged with you – this is how I learn to love you – all of you. This is where the dozens of New Testament ‘one another’ commands become reality. Foot washing requires intimate contact…

During this COVID season, many physical norms have been taken away. We can’t help that. But as we get comfortable with the digital space, will we recognize its pitfalls and limitations? Can we utilize technology without getting enamoured by it? And as our forefathers once did in churches long ago, will we remember to keep fighting for the physical?

Missions Month: “Final Frontiers”

www.zionbishan.org.sg/missions-month

Webinar #2
“The Final Frontier in our World”
22 Jul, Wednesday, 8.00-9.30pm
The harvest is also WORLDWIDE!
We've invited 3 Mission Agencies to come share with us the nature of the gospel work at the frontiers. Come hear stories and about how God is reaching out to these unreached communities.

Friday Prayer and Praise
with Mission Focus, register at: zionbishan.org.sg/friday-prayer-meeting

Men’s Ministry Meeting
25 July, Saturday, 7.30-9.00am

Ps Kirk Tan, from Covenant EFC, will be speaking (via video) on “Becoming God’s Man: The Call of Man as Love Giver”.

Having a wife for man is God’s good idea (Gen 2:18). God treats this covenantal relationship very seriously. Come join fellow brothers to reflect and respond to the call of man to be love-giver.

MM is a safe place for Christian brothers to journey through life together.

Register with Chye Ann (9843 1361), Sean (9622 6973) or online at https://forms.gle/nrfgSE2fNMgEwAr88

Christianity Explored
29 July, Wednesday, 7.45pm

CE begins soon! This run will be entirely on Zoom. Send out our e-invite to your friends and family and attend together!
E-invite: www.zionbishan.org.sg/ce
Register with vernon@zionbishan.org.sg

ZB CV-19 Mission Relief Fund
For The Relief of The Saints

We have already processed and disbursed relief funds for a number of ZB members. If you wish to apply for relief through this fund for yourself or for your household, please submit the online application here: http://tiny.cc/ZBrelief.

This is for members or regular attendees only. We will process each application on a case by case basis.

Contact your Cluster leader or email care@zionbishan.org.sg for inquiries.

Reaching out to our Foreign Domestic Helpers

We want our foreign domestic helpers to know that our church remembers and cares for them.

We will soon be distributing care packs and Bibles to helpers of Zion Bishan members or regular attendees (including via livestream in Singapore).

If your helper is not already attending our Domestic Helpers' Fellowship, we would be grateful if you could please help us by submitting the form at www.zionbishan.org.sg/dhf or emailing us your contact details at ziondhf@gmail.com.

Resumption of In-Person Sunday Services in July

Please register by Friday and choose from the 4 available time slots:

Sun 26 Jul (Mercy / Grace Clusters):
https://zb-mercy-grace-26jul.eventbrite.sg

Please note that each Service time-slot is subject to a cap of 50 worshippers only.

Communion will be served at all services.