I grew up in a missionary family. My parents were missionaries in West Asia and we used to only return to Singapore once every few years to visit our relatives. Hence, I have always thought that my life would be about reaching the nations.

After I came back to Singapore and completed National Service, there came a point where I had to decide whether to go to a university in West Asia or in Singapore.

I began praying and asking the Lord, “Where do you want me to go?” Eventually, I felt led to attend the Discipleship Training School (DTS) at YWAM in Kona, Hawaii.

Those six months there also led me onto a journey of asking God what nation He is calling me to. To my surprise, God’s answer was “Singapore”.

That actually made me feel very troubled because I didn’t understand why. Weren’t we were supposed to go out and bless the nations? So why Singapore?

As I continued to press in and seek the Lord, God showed me that Singapore is actually a very blessed nation. We have discipleship training tools and many accessible resources at our fingertips.

And the Bible tells us that for those who are blessed with much, much is also expected of them (Luke 12:48).

While Singapore is such a small country, we actually do have a certain level of influence economically and politically. This is something that we can’t take for granted.

So the question we should ask ourselves is, how can we leverage that to reach the nations?

At that time, there was also an opportunity to remain at DTS as a staff member. I was honestly quite interested because I knew that I would enjoy the role, and I was sure that my parents would understand and support my decision too.

However, I really felt like God was asking me to return to Singapore for university. That was a struggle for me because I was really keen to learn more at YWAM.

I also wanted to do it for God, so what’s wrong?

… there are five to six local universities in Singapore, and there are Christians who go to these schools. They are the key to bringing young people into the world of missions.

Through that season, God taught me that no matter how good things can look like from man’s perspective, it will not be good if it’s not within God’s plan. That helped me to surrender and die to myself, and to say: “Not my will, but Yours be done”.

As I surrendered, God also revealed more about His heart for Singapore through a vision. He showed me that there are five to six local universities in Singapore, and there are Christians who go to these schools. They are the key to bringing young people into the world of missions.

If we can light the fire in these students, they can bring the same spirit to their peers, families and local churches.

That was when I knew that I had to come back to Singapore.

Because of that, I completed my university course in Singapore and found a job here afterwards.

I am now working in a 3D printing company, and the heart behind it is that I want to explore how we can bring this technology into the mission field. It would definitely be handy when it comes to community building and disaster relief.

At the same time, I am also leading Antioch Campus together with my wife, who I first met there. Though we are both involved in missions ministry, we are still discerning how being missional looks like in our lives.

I believe that being missional is a lifestyle, and it isn’t just missions work that makes us missional.

To be missional is to be involved in God’s mission

Missions isn’t the end goal. Not even revival is the end goal. What happens after revival is our relationship with God, where we come and worship God. And the ultimate end goal is Revelation 7:9, where the nations come together to worship God.

So being missional is really understanding what it means to be open and sensitive to God, and involving Him in our everyday life.

When we do so, God can prompt us to do simple things like loving our neighbours, reaching out to our helper and so on. We don’t have to wait till we go to the nations to be missional.

While missions require us to first be prepared so that we can go to the nations, being missional simply means being involved in God’s mission to reach out to the world. And that can take many different forms.

Being missional is simply a lifestyle. And it also helps to build our foundations for missions work in the future.

That said, if you haven’t experienced any form of missions before, I would encourage you to go and see that the Church is more than just what we see in Singapore.

The Church is actually the different nations worshipping the Lord as one Body, just like the Great Multitude described in Revelation 7.

Try joining a service of a different language and see how people worship. That is certainly one way to start getting exposed. It is really about choosing to step out of your comfort zone.

… being missional simply means being involved in God’s mission to reach out to the world.

Even in my own journey, I have never thought that I would be where I am now. All I cared about was being faithful to God in every season.

At every step, I simply asked the Lord where my next step was. And I believe that He will continue to show me the next steps in the future.

There are many different ways that we can get involved in missions. But at the end of the day, it’s really not so much about what we do. 

It’s really about our relationship with God. Am I right with Him? Am I catching His heart? Am I understanding His Word?

As we put God first in our lives, our responses will flow naturally. Missional living will be an act of worship to Him more than just something we practise.