When Work Spills over into the Singaporean Church

While we focus a lot in the church on how faith impacts our work positively, we often fail to look out for how work might be impacting our faith negatively. I’m talking not about a personal, individual level, such as how work priorities might overshadow ministry priorities. I am speaking about a corporate, churchwide level: how we are organised, how we see ourselves, how we measure success.

Sometimes it is a function of our corporatised, capitalistic society that our churches run more like commercial entities than families; that it is easier for us to wrap our minds around business objectives than to stay attuned to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us.

While this worries me, I’m coming to rest in the revelation that the external forces shaping how we “do church” are ones that God had taken into account when He inspired the letters to the early church that now come to constitute our Bible.

The New Testament differs from the Old Testament in that the principles it lays down allow room for adaptation to cultural realities and societal norms; the proliferation of ways in which the Church understands ministry and authority are not only natural but worth celebrating.

We are called to be salt and light in the workplace, bringing God’s values into the world, rather than bringing the world’s values into the Church – Which I think is prevalent unfortunately.

Government and How We are Regulated

Many administrative roles have arisen in churches which are tightly regulated by their governments We must note that regulation is not to be confused with persecution; regulation is healthy and to be expected, while persecution is discriminatory and unjust.

Since church-based work is a proper vocation, with people getting paid and “public” funds being activated, many states understandably relate to churches as corporations. This definitely impacts the way our roles are then organised, and what it means for a person to serve the church “full-time”. This also perpetuates some of the more hierarchical structures that we see today. Some churches in other places might feel more egalitarian and decentralised (like the Chinese underground Church movement), because of the relationship they have chosen to have with the governments they are under.

Some churches also have less issues fulfilling the great commission through a congregation of mostly volunteers, while others deal with more concerns over unpaid labour. I think such divides in the way we approach “full-time” ministry in church are alright to have, and are often a natural function of how the church is positioned vis-a-vis other parts of society.

Globalisation and How We Measure Success

We live in a world that is more globalised than ever before, which means that the potential for one church to influence the style and theology of another, thousands and thousands of miles away, is probably at an all-time high. Layer on the countless denominations that we have, sprung from a basic desire to practice Biblical teachings with as much integrity as possible, and you get differences along very strange and seemingly arbitrary lines across the world.

I thank God for the way He has used technology to connect people around the world: virtual Bible studies, unceasing flow of resources, the ability to disciple aross national boundaries. At the same time, there is a need to caution against over-importing cultural instincts at the expense of another nation finding its own expression of worship to Jesus.

“There is a need to caution against over-importing cultural instincts at the expense of another nation finding its own expression of worship to Jesus. ”

Some churches that have amassed significant resources view themselves more as an international conglomerate than a blessing to the Body. We often unthinkingly hold churches in other parts of the world to our own KPIs and agendas, disregarding how God sees them and wishes to nurture them: even the parts of their practices and behaviours that we despise and see as backward.

The rise of the “megachurch” model, which tends to concentrate visibility on a few key figures while leaving the rest of its congregation largely anonyous, is a prime example. While there was a place for “stadium Christianity”, one culture’s instincts to see this model as the most effective model for expansion might just have bled unhealthily into others whom God was nudging away from using size as a measure of success.

The megachurch model stands in direct contrast to highly decentralised and networked underground movements in parts of the world where Christians are persecuted and are forced to be discipled in small clandestine settings.

There are times and seasons for every family of believers but sometimes these will not intersect with those of other groups around the world; it is neither in their best interest nor is it the will of God for us to carelessly impose our styles – of leadership, of worship, of teaching – onto them, with the assumption that we are more effective simply because we are bigger, richer, or more established. In fact, treating one’s church as a “brand” to be replicated, rather than learning from one another with humility and awe of what God is doing worldwide, might be one of the most dangerous things we can veer towards.

“Treating one’s church as a “brand” to be replicated, rather than learning from one another with humility and awe of what God is doing worldwide, might be one of the most dangerous things we can veer towards. ”

Generosity and How We are Conditioned to See Ourselves

The church in Singapore is a generous one. I think all of us know this anecdotally, but it’s also evident from the strong emphasis on humanitarian aid and investment of finances. This isn’t unique to the church; I see it in plenty of pre-believers around Singapore. Despite how much we have been taught scarcity from a young age, it is incredible how many altruistic people there are in Singapore!

But my broader point is that money is a really, really big deal in Singapore. We care a lot (and get very upset) about where money goes, how it is utilised, whether it is used well, and whether it is accounted for. We care so much about it that it is sometimes the driving force behind our Biblical narratives, without us even realising. We allow the language of commerce and systems of money-making in this world to creep into how we disciple people; we start to look at concepts like “promotion” and “vision” a certain way, and imbibe words like “strategy” and “marketing” into our prayers and sermons.

“We care so much about it that it is sometimes the driving force behind our Biblical narratives, without us even realising.”

I think we need to be careful of what Jesus speaks of in Matthew 6:24, which is that: “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” Devotion or enslavement to money is not about wanting to make money (which we should, and thereafter steward well) or thinking it is important (which it is, and Jesus had no reservations highlighting this through his parables).

Devotion or enslavement to money means that being adept at making money has started to anchor and undergird every part of our lives, rather than pleasing God. It means beginning to despise what doesn’t make economic sense even though it may be God’s direction. It means being tactical in cutting cost and pursuing numbers, at the expense of being intimate with God and connected to others.

“Devotion or enslavement to money means that being adept at making money has started to anchor and undergird every part of our lives, rather than pleasing God.”

Closing Thoughts

There are some ways of “doing church” which are natural extensions of ‘Government’ and ‘Globalisation’. But I would argue that the porosity of sacred and secular is not meant to be so bi-directional. Our conversations, gatherings, and roles in the family of God should continue to be divinely inspired rather than overshadowed by professional techniques. The moment this line is crossed is the moment the workplace has a greater grasp on faith than faith on the workplace.

By Charis Tan, a mentor in our marketplace programme.