Articles by

Gabriel Ong

Finding Purpose

The sunset that saved my life

I grew up in a household steeped in Eastern religions. Since young, I just followed whatever my parents did, worshipping idols, doing rituals, going to temples, and consulting mediums who claimed to...

Discipleship

Christian creative, don’t be afraid

Having worked as a creative for years, there honestly have been many days when creating something feels like trying to squeeze blood from a stone. There can be many reasons for this inertia, such as:...

National Service

Navigating heartbreak alongside BMT, my military faith community pulled me through

National Service (NS) was a time of growth where I got to learn new things about myself and unlearn many misconceptions I had about myself. It taught me how to relate to others, about resilience and...

Church Life

Using AI in ministry? Exercise discernment

With AI, we now have this unprecedented tool that scours human knowledge and discourse to instantly produce a dozen answers or ideas. A single prompt ploughs through a week’s work. What would have...

Discipleship

What Jesus didn’t say

Do you know the real Jesus?  Many of us carry our hurts, expectations and experiences from the world – and unknowingly let them colour the way we see God or approach Him. What you really believe...

Illness

Living through chronic illness, my whole life felt like a dark tunnel

Ever since I was a 6-month-old, I’ve suffered from global gastrointestinal dysmotility, a condition where the muscles in the digestive tract fail to contract and relax properly. Between the ages of...

Church Life

This church isn’t growing a garden… the garden is growing them

Bethany Evangelical Free Church (BEFC) isn’t just nestled within a garden. Behind the Edenesque frontage is a faith community reimagining its role as “a church in a garden”, quietly seeding a...

Movies & TV

The Chosen: 5 reasons to catch the latest season

I’m walking around in what looks like a busy marketplace. There are people selling caged birds and other livestock, and I hear the chink of coins as money changers exchange currency. Suddenly a...

Mental Health

FLOW: A 4-step framework to overcome fear with truth

One of the most useful things from my time in counselling was this phrase my friendly old counsellor would always say to me: “Would it help to apply a bit of objectivity to the situation?” Over...