History markerS

Church In Flats in the City of Faith

A Brief History of the Oikos Fellowship (1991 - 1994) by Rev. Gerard Seow

During our first church retreat in August 1991 at Yishun Country Club, we discussed establishing a network of home-based churches, initially in the North-East part of the island. Since then, we have grown in size and ministry focus. I want to highlight some of these developments. By studying our “roots,” we can gain a clearer perspective on current evangelistic needs. We should not be daunted by the task ahead but trust that the Lord, who has led us this far, will continue to guide us until the work is done.

1986

The Challenge

One of the significant challenges in gospel work is preserving the fruits of ministry, particularly in follow-up. I first faced this issue while serving in a multi-congregational church near Chinatown.

My job seemed straightforward: contacting visitors to our church services and locating and assessing those who had backslid or gone missing. I was given two shoeboxes of visitor cards filled with contacts, including records of those who had left the church or gone Missing-in-Action (MIA). My role was to contact visitors, gauge their spiritual state, bring back the lost, counsel the weak, rebuke the unruly, and most importantly, “get them to the church on time!”

In those first few months, I learned many lessons, particularly about God’s grace. I recall Bill (not his real name) and his wife. They were searching for a church to settle in. Both were devoted to the Lord and eager to serve Him meaningfully. It took a few months before I initially contacted them, but they soon became regular worshippers. Within a year, they left for mission work in Indonesia. Surprisingly, several months passed between his first visit and my call, yet he responded positively.

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1987

Robbing God’s People of Initiative

Yet something was not right. For every one that responded, many others never did and left through the church’s “big back door.” Some visitors decided not to follow Christ or refused to submit to the Word, but the high fallout rates highlighted the system’s inability to handle walk-ins. I realized this was a pastoral problem that every church needed to address, not just one for a paid worker to manage.

 

True enough, something had gone terribly wrong with the system as we knew it then. I had fallen into the trap of formalizing follow-up which should have been the responsibility of every member of the congregation but instead ended up at my desk. I was, in effect, robbing the ordinary church member of his initiative in reaching out to family and friends.

Soon, I felt spiritually dry instead of flourishing. I couldn’t sing, pray, or laugh in church; I was weary when I should have been rejoicing in the God of my salvation. When the pastor’s wife gave me a book on “Burnout,” I realized I had exhausted my own strength and began to seek answers from heaven.

1988

Fathers, Not Tutors

Toward the end of my first year, I went on a follow-up mission trip to Palawan, Philippines, to check on our brethren there. The trip was uneventful until the day before our return to Singapore. An American missionary named Norman Holmes, who had seen our banner advertising nightly gospel meetings, asked to speak with me. Though I was a stranger to him, this meeting turned out to be God’s way of teaching me an important lesson.

Norman had been on the island for some time, planting churches among the unchurched and poorer sections of the community. He introduced me to a teaching I had never seen before, concerning spiritual fatherhood: “The path you are on will make you an excellent tutor but never a spiritual father.” He then showed me from Scripture the need to support and encourage new believers as a father cares for his newborn.I immediately understood that Norman was addressing my situation. I had become a tutor in Christian religion rather than a spiritual father, and I felt helpless to fulfill this high calling.Twenty months after returning to Singapore, I received a letter from Norman. He once again challenged me to walk in the truths he had shared with me nearly two years earlier.

This coincided with my growing frustration in the follow-up ministry and a realization that I had become too comfortable with the administrative aspects of the organization. As I wrestled for answers, I wondered what good church structure was if it only displayed an unbending and stubborn attitude toward the needs of the people. What was the point of carrying on the show of liturgy, chorus, and committee meetings while pretending that nothing was seriously wrong? At that time the words of Jesus about new wine not being able to be put into old wineskins couldn’t have been more descriptive.

1990

The Search For New Wineskins

Soon after this, I came across two influential books that spoke directly to my situation. One was a classic in preaching, Wesley’s Forty-Four Sermons; the other was a contemporary guide on effective church follow-up, Ralph Neighbor’s Shepherd’s Guidebook. Despite being centuries apart, both addressed the same issue of the church’s “back-door”. Wesley tackled it through the class-band groups of early Methodism, while Neighbor approached it through the modern cell-group church growth movement.

Both books urged a reexamination of the definitions of “church” and “follow-up” and criticized the lack of accountability among church members for evangelistic efforts. These and other books, like Howard Snyder’s New Wineskins, consistently emphasized that ministries should empower ordinary church members to handle outreach, evangelism, and follow-up. This was a wake-up call, especially for churches focused on self-preservation. It opened my eyes and fundamentally changed my view of the local church’s role as an evangelistic center.

1989

The Church In Flats

These books, along with Robert Coleman’s Masterplan of Evangelism, validated my unspoken convictions. They strengthened my resolve against formalism and filled me with joy as I read global testimonies, including reports of the house church movements in China and Africa. These stories illustrated the possibility of being the church wherever we are, without the burden of maintaining expensive, underutilized buildings.

The breakthrough for me came when I read Snyder’s article, “Are Church Buildings Superfluous?” I always knew the church was more than a physical structure, but this truth liberated my heart. These authors articulated what I already believed: If we follow biblical principles of evangelism, especially those in Matthew 10 and Luke 10, the church can become an unstoppable force against which the gates of Hell cannot prevail!

"Jesus did not erect buildings,
write books, or put up monuments to Himself. What He did was to invest His life in people...
Men were His method of winning the world to God."

- Robert Coleman's "The Master Plan of Evangelism"

1989

Evangelistic Work Assignments

From that time on I began to keep a small diary of significant events, meetings with various church members or other visits relating to doing the work of the evangelist. It seemed that the pattern that developed was clearly pointing in the direction of an urban ministry right under our noses, in the housing estate and new towns. We were soon to rediscover our hometown in a new light, through the eyes of Jesus The Evangelist, par excellence – not just Singapore a city-state, but Singapore a State of Cities! 

Suddenly our eyes were opened to the possibility of seeing every high-rise estate as a mini-city (of faith) to be reached for Christ! It would be true to say that from that time onwards, that has been our passion and our desire, to see as many as possible come to know God’s love, in a fresh and exciting way.

The Lord had only to deal with our fears and remove the barriers to outreach. The major obstacle, on hindsight, those days was the feeling that the harvest was indeed plentiful and the labourers few! What a difference it was from the traditional churches in which there were not enough congregations to go around for all those under-shepherds waiting in queue to pastor!

1990

Care For New Believers

We noticed that many of us frequently contacted friends and relatives within our spheres of influence. We concluded that mapping out our relationships on paper could show the extent of our ministry outreach based on people’s receptiveness to the gospel and who should be responsible for their spiritual welfare. By combining these maps, we could visualize harvest fields and track our progress.

When someone needed to be baptized, we decided that the person nurturing and providing spiritual care should, whenever possible, be the one to baptize the new convert. This was more instinctive than strategic. We wanted new disciples to be accountable to their spiritual fathers or mothers. This sponsorship system redistributed the responsibilities of follow-up and discipleship among the core group members.

This led to our practice of BELIEVER’S BAPTISM, meaning baptism for believers, by believers. We took John 4:2, where it says Jesus did not baptize but His disciples did, as the basis for this practice. Often, we rose early for a sunrise service at the beach before leading our catechumen into the water.

Dr Daniel, who did the honors at the water baptism of Hannah and Eunice at East Coast

though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples.

- John 4:2 (NKJV)

1990

Birth Of The Family Devotions

After several months of meeting in this way, we all felt the need to meet together not only on the weekdays but also on Sunday mornings, so that our younger members could be given personal attention. When we visited another churches, although we were greatly blessed by the preaching and tremendous experience of mass evangelism and worship, we felt that we did not really “belong” and that feeling returned for a place where we could call “home”. Being few in numbers we naturally met in one another’s homes. 

These meetings were very informal usually lasting over an hour, begun in a time of free-styled worship with only the guitar or tambourine giving musical support. 

Songs that were longer or more difficult to commit to memory were typed up on sheets of paper and distributed. Only later did we compile these into our present songbook. Being as portable as possible allowed us the freedom to move about visiting one another in the homes without much encumbrance and was a welcome change from the more rigid forms of worship we had grown up in. It was almost the rule that our meetings were concluded with a fellowship meal. This tradition we have kept up to the present as space and time have permitted. We find that sharing a meal together at least once a week helps us to touch base and return to the concept of one body with many members.

We did not concentrate our efforts on bringing people in on Sunday mornings, although we did not prevent any from joining us. But we just did not at that time think of our Family devotions as a platform for evangelism, so much as a time where our core members could meet together and report back the progress in our small groups.

1991

Spending More Time With Less People

We continued to meet with one another in small groups, with no fixed configuration at first. We immediately saw the potential for reaching our friends and relatives in the small group setting although initially we did very much more sowing than reaping. If anyone had a birthday to celebrate or some other special day, we made good on the opportunity to let ourselves be known at such family gatherings. 

Our network of contacts widened with every opportunity to serve those family members around us, and we only then began to realize the immensity of the task that lay before us. But because of our smallness, we had the advantage of spending more time with one another. Spend More Time With Less People – that was a valuable lesson we learned about discipleship from Robert Coleman! Hence, everyone knew one another on a first name basis. 

If someone didn’t turn up because he was in camp or was not feeling well, everyone knew. If there was a visitor, everyone noticed. If there was an argument between members, everyone felt lousy afterwards. But we never stopped meeting because we disagreed. By the grace of God, we were able to weather the storms, and plug up the holes before the whole ship went down.

1991

An Assembly of Shepherds

Leadership in the fellowship was functional rather than official. No one was “the Pastor” but everyone agreed that they were responsible to grow up out of spiritual infancy to become shepherds in their own right. The phrase that we were “an assembly of shepherds and not sheep” was talked about and much debated. I felt at that time and still hold today that high on our agenda must be that aim to raise up quality shepherds to hear God’s voice and not merely to play to the masses who are often more interested to be entertained than to be challenged to forsake the world. In this respect, the Lord brought into our paths senior brethren. These seasoned saints were experienced in leading the Lord’s people and became role models for us. Spiritual fathers (and mothers) from very different church backgrounds reproducing themselves in us. Our desire was to be Jesus to our own people as they had been to us! We didn’t always listen to their advice but it did give us a breadth of perspective every time we came together. Those were times of refreshing that the Lord planned for us to have in order to renew our strength, overcome our weaknesses, doubts and fears.

1992

Legal Status Granted

We took a major step around the beginning of 1992 to register our church with the government and come under the Societies Act. At that time I remember several religious groups coming under government investigations for this or that reason. Some of them had to close down or were banned from meeting. We decided to trust the Lord in this matter and subject ourselves to whatever process was necessary (including the order to disband the fellowship until the green light was given) in order to declare in public our intention to start a new work under the guidance in the Lord Jesus. Having enough members to form a “quorum” under Law (10 persons) we applied and were subsequently registered as an official church on November 3rd of that same year. I remember being asked to reply to the Registrar’s question as to why we needed another church in Singapore. Our official response was that we considered all churches to be doing God’s work and reflecting his beauty. Our particular church was to be, like the roses or the orchids, one of many species within the plants and trees in God’s garden. This seemed satisfactory and we were soon to read with great joy in the government gazette of our registration under the name: “The Oikos Fellowship.”

During the period when we were required by law to disband, I remember the word that came as revelation, namely that we should continue to encourage and love one another and, “against such there is no law”! We took this to mean that although we were not allowed to move under the name of OIKOS yet we were free to serve and minister in the name of CHRIST. And this we continued to do until our permit came through.

During the period when we were required by law to disband, I remember the word that came as revelation, namely that we should continue to encourage and love one another and, “against such there is no law”! We took this to mean that although we were not allowed to move under the name of OIKOS yet we were free to serve and minister in the name of CHRIST. And this we continued to do until our permit came through.


1992

School of Hard Knocks!

Soon after the initial euphoria settled, we embarked on an ambitious (or was it “foolish”?) exercise that nearly grounded us, although the Lord used this opportunity to teach us many precious lessons about not running ahead of His plans. I thrust the church into near panic as I bullishly insisted to hold our Sunday meetings at the small group level. This meant having two meetings under the name “Aleph” and “Beth” with the pastor alternating between groups. On hindsight, that was sheer madness. We did not have the strength at that time, nor the resources to hold simultaneous meetings. 

Not only were the groups divided unevenly (no one thought to pray about which group they should attend) but also we found that the members of both groups could not adjust themselves to the change in configuration. It must be emphasized that we were not holding two “services” on Sundays with the Pastor preaching at both but we attempted to hold both meetings concurrently, with each group throwing forth their own “speakers” who were expected to come up with their own topics if they could not follow the assigned materials.

1993

Feeder Groups Set-up

After the trial period was over, we beat a quick retreat to consolidate the two groups giving up on the idea of a pure cell-based approach. The vision was, at that time simply untenable given our level of maturity and numerical strength to sustain a critical mass. Back at the drawing board we decided to resume Family Devotions on a corporate level, dissolving both cells into one composite CORE group and the idea was proposed to develop our small groups as CONTACT groups that would come under centralized leadership of the Pastor. These CONTACT groups were eventually seen as “feeder services” that would meet needs within a more personalised context. 

Like the familiar feeder bus services which facilitated movement from outlying areas to the central interchange, our CONTACT groups would help “to close distances and open hearts”. Leaders would be chosen who had already been exercising a measure of competence in areas such as prayer, counselling, and teaching. They would be “shepherds” over their respective flocks, taking the initiative in planning, organizing and caring for their young. The idea was to build up a network of committed christians who would be able to penetrate with the gospel into any given locality or housing estate. These weekly feeder groups would be established for prayer, fellowship and the nurturing of the feeble and the young, eventually preparing them to enter the main-stream church life, motivating them towards laying down their lives in christian service.

1990

Naked But Not Ashamed

It is interesting to note how we described ourselves in those early days. Without a church affiliation or any regular meeting hall or room, we sought various ways to identify ourselves to our friends and family. We were a “housechurch” plain and simple, or “the church in flats” We saw our meeting as a “gathering of christians” rather than a “christian gathering” as we do today. We were stones that God had salvaged, rejected bricks and discarded by the world, but that was the vulnerable and naked state in which God lifted us up to build this present work. Admittedly, we had a hard time explaining to others who we were, especially when asked where we met for our services. But we never felt ashamed since we knew that we were the church, and that by rotating venues for our meetings we could be at home to exchange ideas or share spontaneously from our hearts. Everything had a home-made feel to it. In particular, we made it a point to create a relaxed and warm atmosphere for others to feel welcome.No one felt it necessary to put on a tie or dress up for the occasion. The messages from the pulpit were like “home-cooked” spiritual meal, and less of the restaurant styled “5-star” high cuisine.We felt that not everyone could prepare and serve up sermons like a professional, but everyone needed to be able to serve a simple gospel diet of spiritual vegetables, soup and rice.

This made the preaching event within reach and an achievable task for the majority of members, not just a select few. Everything had a home-made feel to it. In particular, we made it a point to create a relaxed and warm atmosphere for others to feel welcome. No one felt it necessary to put on a tie or dress up for the occasion. The messages from the pulpit were like “home-cooked” spiritual meal, and less of the restaurant styled “5-star” high cuisine. We felt that not everyone could prepare and serve up sermons like a professional, but everyone needed to be able to serve a simple gospel diet of spiritual vegetables, soup and rice. This made the preaching event within reach and an achievable task for the majority of members, not just a select few.

1991

Covering the Uncovered

Occasionally, we would pack our bags and go outstation on retreats to get away from it all, and as there were not so many people we did not have to bother so much with too much organization. We took things in our stride, crossing bridges as we came to them. We were particular not to make too many plans but we were careful about how God was moving in the lives of different ones. We were especially prayerful if anyone had been going through a rough patch or was stressed out. Those days we determined to cover the uncovered, and the church umbrella was big enough to shelter everyone. We took things as they came, need by need and responded to situations as they arose. Labour was divided along the lines of giftings and resources. Some of us cooked, others arranged furniture and still others did the transport pick-ups. The cost of holding special events was on a pro-rata basis. We didn’t have a general fund because we never had to pay our hosts overheads, lights, aircon, etc. The people gave generously and cheerfully. Those days we didn’t have a “Treasurer” like we do today or a committee to decide on financial matters. We just sat around the table and discussed everything.

We kept a photo-journal of our small group activities. We opted for this manner of recording church functions and events instead of writing laborious reports as we do today. Photos were arranged by events with captions cut out from magazines to make scrap-book like albums which were passed around from group to group. This was the beginning of our present monthly church bulletin which grew out of this need to communicate news and views up and down the grape-vine.


1994

Home-grown Not Imported Leadership

Our premise was that leaders reproduce themselves in others, and so it was important that candidates for leadership be grounded in the Word and encouraged to exercise faith; opportunities to speak, pray, serve, were fully utilized to allow for optimum growth and cross-training between groups. 

The promise we received from the Scriptures was that He would raise up persons from within, or from among ourselves to shoulder the burden of evangelism and that we would not need to resort to “importing” our leadership from elsewhere. This naturally leads on to an issue that remains largely unresolved, namely, to what extent we should receive into membership those coming from other churches or, who may not share our concern for evangelism, in other words, “lukewarm” or as Gene Edwards describes as, “peripheral” christians. 

To date we have not turned anyone away from our membership but we do exercise extreme caution in the way we canvass or recruit members. We have never needed “to recruit” and though this may be practised in the world, yet we would prefer the Lord to send us the manpower we need to accomplish the task at hand. This way we could move together under the leadership of home-grown talents rather than labour under imported leaders who may not see eye to eye with the original vision of reaching the lost.

1995

Experience God’s Love and Pass it on

I believe that a new wave of God’s strength and power is mounting high, swelling up to the heavens, preparing to spend itself onwards into the next millennium, flooding many hearts and bringing in its wake tremendous joy and hope. Powers of darkness that now hold us in fearful bondage and slavery to sin will no longer be able to dominate and torment us as God’s people are filled with indescribable joy and glory – the glory of the redeemed! An increase of God’s Word will flood our cities and towns; God’s Name will be held in high esteem; the signal that the spiritual tide is turning will be when entire families and whole clans (oikos) will be significantly touched and transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then our eyes will be opened to the harvest-fields at our own door-step. From house-to-house and in public, nothing will be held back or spared to meet the needs of those around us and a unity of purpose will invade the churches that will turn hearts outwards away from petty secondary issues. Traditional boundaries that have kept us apart and ancient hostilities will recede as whole denominations seize the opportunities for open doors among the cities of Singapore, Asia and beyond.

God is raising this church to be part of His purpose for the coming generations — one that will have an impact far greater than, and in a measure disproportionate to, our size; one that will seek to nurture fathers and not only tutors; to grow people not buildings and projects; to plant churches not denominations. We are the church where we are and we shall bloom where we are planted — the church in flats moving together in miracle oneness to experience God’s love and pass it on.

2024

The Oikos Fellowship

We are the church where we are and we shall bloom where we are planted
— the church in flats moving together in miracle oneness to experience God’s love and pass it on.

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