Author: Soon-Hock Lim

More Than Just Expediency

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To date nine churches and groups have printed about 400 copies of my Bible study More Than Just Position for use in their small groups. These are studies based on the lives of selected kings of Israel. The lessons include matters of leadership (political and spiritual), influence (good & bad), principles and practices.

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One of the studies in More Than Just Position is about Jeroboam, the first king of the Northern Kingdom. It’s titled: More Than Just Expediency. But I can just hear Jeroboam scream, Hey stupid. What get things done is expediency, not principles.

In order to keep his people from going over to the South he erected golden calf idols as their gods; one each in Bethel and Dan. And he then told his people, Why bother to go down to Jerusalem when you can worship your god right here. He did this despite the fact that he knew it was a direct violation of God’s laws and which would lead his people into idolatry. But never you mind about this; it was the expedient thing to do.

As I was pondering on the current affairs of our country, I could not help but see parallels between the two nations (Israel and Malaysia) and the two times (10th-6th BCE and today). The adage “There’s nothing new under the sun” is so true.

Johor DAP chief Liew Chin Tong made a statement today (reported in the Malaysian Insider, 10 Aug 2015). He said that Johor DAP was willing to cooperate with Johor UMNO to fight corruption and free Malaysia from racial politics, “but the cooperation must be based on principles, and not expediency.”

That’s how it should be; whether it pertains to the religious, political or commercial spheres. Principles cannot be sacrificed at the altar of expediency. Principles must always have first and final say, above expediency.

Malaysia today needs courageous and principled leaders.

Please email empoweringchurches.my@gmail.com if you interested in receiving a sample of the Bible study, More Than Just Position.

Health Check

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I could have died long before I reached three-score years and ten. Worse, I could have become a vegetable lying in bed waiting to die. A health check showed that I had two arteries blocked at 90%. I had no symptoms of heart problems, and if not for my wife’s insistence for a health test when I turned 50, I would have just ignorantly carried on until it was too late.

stethoscope_and_heartshapedChurches, like individuals, also need to have a health check. A church that is not doing well might be oblivious of it. There may not be any clear indicative symptoms. Maybe the leaders are blind to them, or in denial. Perhaps they are too close to the situation to see the problems, or their vested interests prevent them from doing so.

Over a span of 30 years in the pastoral ministry, I have observed that most of our churches are not healthy. Furthermore, pastors and church leaders do not do a health check to determine the condition of their church. Most have never thought of it. Some don’t want to. They may not say it, but they don’t want to “face the brutal facts”.

(An excerpt from Before ER: A Call to Church Health by Lim Soon Hock)

Church Health

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All healthy living things grow automatically. You don’t have to do a lot more than to keep them healthy. The reverse is just as true; unhealthy ones won’t. Ill health depletes energy, stunts growth, and may even cause fatality.

Healthy-Church 2Similarly with the church; because the church is a living thing (the Body of Christ). Hence, church health is strategic to church development. The question then, is: What must we do to ensure that our church is in good condition?

The church must work on its health. If it is not healthy, whatever we try to do will fail. At best we may experience transient euphoria but without long-term results. However, if we work on the health of the church, especially in the critical areas, we will see lasting results and growth.

In the study of church development, church health is not a new concept. Megachurch pastors like Rick Warren (Saddleback, Purpose Driven Church [PDC]), church consultants like Christian Schwarz (Natural Church Development), and church growth proponents like Peter Wagner have long been advocates of church health. However, it has not been taken very seriously by Malaysian churches. It is not well understood and has hardly been incorporated into our churches’ DNA, structure and strategies.

A church may have adopted the PDC model with its five purposes including its development process from Membership to Missions and its strategy to take people from Community to Core. However, it fails to realise that the underlying concept of PDC is about being a healthy church. It may incorporate one or more of PDC components. But the objective is to add or replace existing programmes, and not because the leaders think that it will contribute to the wellbeing of the church. There must be a paradigm shift. We must first think “church health”. Then, we look at what we need to do to improve the condition of the church.

(An excerpt from Before ER: A Call to Church Health by Lim Soon Hock)