If you could picture the ideal church community, what would it look like? Maybe that picture includes simple conveniences – a handy location, comfortable seats, good coffee. Going deeper, perhaps it includes captivating musical worship, compelling preaching, and a...

Recently, I was forced to quarantine for 21 days. It felt like being in jail—a nicer cell than prison, but nonetheless a prison. What I found that I missed the most was regular interaction with friends, sharing and praying together to encourage each other. Although...

I still remember the day when I first arrived at St Andrew’s Church 10 years ago.  My wife Keziah and I were sitting at the back of the Old Church during a Sunday service. We came every Sunday and left after the service. As we were sitting next to different people...

Maybe when you’ve started a new job or a new course of study, you’ve asked the question, ‘What am I doing here?’. Answering that question helps you to not only understand your purpose in that context, but also how to conduct yourself. To be honest, we ask ourselves...

God’s Kingdom is topsy-turvy. King Jesus gave up the glories of heaven and stooped down to serve. He washed His disciples’ feet before He went to the Cross to die for sinners like you and me. So the Christian life is one of service. Jesus says He did not come to be...

Who will catch your attention in a crowd? There is a story in the Bible about Jesus' disciples arguing over who is the greatest among themselves. Guess who Jesus noticed while teaching them on this occasion? Children!When you serve children, you become part of...

Being a Christian involves both believing in Christ and belonging to the body of Christ – the church. In a large congregation like St Andrew’s, this sense of belonging is most often developed in growth groups, where we get to know fellow believers on a more personal...

If you went to church as a kid, you’d be fairly familiar with the story of Jonah. Yet, beyond the red herring of a big fish, there is a remarkable story of a God who loves an irreligious city and a religious prophet’s disdain for it. The prophet Jonah makes many...

Sons and Daughters (S&D) is a non-profit organization in Hong Kong that seeks to help those caught in sexual exploitation to reclaim a life of love, family, and freedom. The organization's name aptly captures the vision of seeing not just the sex workers, but also...

Sometimes you meet people who are so impressive that you’re intimidated by them. It might that person’s achievements. It might be that this person is so much better at something that you think you’re quite good at. I’m intimidated by Job. Over the last month, we’ve...

I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour sometime in 1977. It was through the Assembly of God church, in a terraced house in my hometown in Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia. Looking back, I asked God how come there was no lightning, sparks, or voice from above like...

For many of us, Hong Kong is a stressful place. It’s not just the normally high pressures of work, schooling, and caring for family, it’s the added anxiety of the rapidly changing political landscape and concerns for the future. In these times, we can be so focussed...

Some of you might remember that TV show, ‘Friends’. It’s about six people in their 20s living in New York. It had that catchy theme tune, ‘I’ll be there for you’. David Schwimmer, one of the actors in the show said, ‘It’s a fantasy for a lot of people – having a group...

  Occasionally you may be confronted by instances of unexplainable tragedy. An image seared on my mind a few years ago is that of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy found washed up on the beach in Turkey, after his family tried to flee their war-torn...

  Irene and I have been attending St Andrew’s since 1985. We are grand-parents with four grown up children: two married daughters and two sons who are still single. My father passed away when I was six. I was brought up by two mums together with six siblings. We...

  When I was growing up, I used to watch re-runs of a show called ‘Cheers’. The show was named after a bar in Boston, where a diverse group of people would meet, drink, and talk about whatever was happening in life. They felt welcomed, included, and could...

  Christian community has often been described as a tapestry. Each of us are like individual threads who are carefully woven together to produce a fabric that’s not only strong and robust, but it’s incredibly beautiful. We’re given an example of this tapestry in...

  Most of us can easily imagine this situation. You find out that a friend at church has done something that you think Christians should avoid. You’re concerned, but you’re not sure what to do. You don’t want to appear judgemental, but you also think what your...

  If the past year was a product that you bought at the store, you’d probably make a complaint to the manager and demand your money back. To put it mildly, it’s been a difficult year. No travel, strict social distancing restrictions, dramatic economic downturn,...

  In our midst are an incredibly vulnerable and marginalised community. Many refugees come to Hong Kong for shelter and safety. A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence and cannot return home due...

  Reflecting on Mother's Day, my mom is not the perfect mom, but the things that matter she gets right. Her faith in everyday life matters; so does her love, trust and obedience to Jesus! Her actions also speak louder than words, pointing to Jesus.   My mom loved...

  This Sunday we’ll celebrate the Lord’s Supper. For most of us (except those who attend the 8.30am service), it will be the first time in over a year that we’ve participated in this event. It’s been one of the many parts of life affected by the pandemic. As we...

I’m an extremely introverted person. But if the pandemic lockdowns have taught me anything, it’s that human beings are social creatures… and even introverts need community. I don’t know what you’d consider yourself, but if you are reading this, then I imagine that you...

  Many of you have shared with me how encouraged you’ve been with the resumption of our Sunday services. Whilst we’ve still been able to meet, learn, and grow online, it’s much better when we’re together. Christian community is all about God’s people serving and...

  Most of us appreciate feedback. We know that we can benefit from the wisdom and advice of a trusted friend. But have you ever wondered what Jesus would say to us? What observations would he make about our situation? What advice would he give to us about the...

 Jesus rose from the dead. On this, Christians stake everything. We believe it to be a real event in the past, which shapes our present lives, and guarantees our eternal future. As we remember and celebrate Easter this week, here are some reflections on why the...

  I don’t know how your prayer life has been recently, but let me tell you, mine has been amazing. I’m not saying this to brag. If anything, I’m actually quite ashamed that it’s taken a global pandemic to shake me out of complacency and help me see how...

  When I was growing up, my friends and I had a particular way of sharing chocolate bars: one person divides the chocolate bar, the other person chooses which side he wants. It was a way of ensuring equality; that neither person was disadvantaged, and we could...

  I used to have a rugby coach who repeated a mantra in training, “There is no ‘I’ in ‘TEAM’”. He did this to get across the idea that we weren’t playing an individual sport, independent of one another. Rather, we’re dependent upon one another’s effort, skills,...

  Every so often, you may say to yourself, ‘I don’t think I have enough to get by. I’m not sure God understands my needs.’ How do you deal with that murmur of doubt when it enters your mind? John Wesley’s father was an Anglican minister with nine children, who...

  Over the last year I’ve seen more beautiful parts of Hong Kong than I ever have before. Like many people, the restrictions against travel and group gatherings have meant that I’ve hiked a lot. COVID has brought innumerable challenges that have been easy to see,...

  Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, a time that Christians have used over the years to prepare for Easter. Lent is not kept by all Christians. That’s okay. There’s nowhere in the Bible that specifically forbids it or that promotes it. Whether or not...

  Maybe like me, you have hopes that the coming Lunar Year will be better than the last one. If this last year was like a product that you bought at a shop, you’d return it wanting your money back. This raises a question, how do we judge the success of any...

  One of the things this sermon series in John's Gospel has taught me is how significant it is that Jesus prepares a perfect home for us. Our earthly homes reflect a spiritual reality and longing for our perfect home in heaven. It also shows why homelessness is...

  It’s always sad to say goodbye to someone you really care about, especially if you are not sure when you will see them again. We have been especially aware of this during COVID-19. Saying goodbye can feel overwhelming, even crushing. But although separation can...

  I have selective hearing. When my wife says things that are pleasant to me, I’ll listen attentively. But when she says things that I don’t like, all of a sudden, I cannot hear. When she reminds me afterward of something she told me, my inevitable response is,...

  It happens to all of us. We get down. The gloom can arrive for all sorts of reasons. Perhaps a project that hasn’t worked out or someone’s giving you a hard time. Maybe it’s the continued grind of life online (whether it’s work, or the kids’ school, or church)...

  In this Sunday’s sermon, we’ll see that God asks Joshua to do something that seems strange. God wants the people to build a pile of stones. The reasoning was simple. The stones were to be a reminder of what God had done in helping the Israelites to cross the...

  With a new year comes hopes for the year to come. Often at this time of year people make resolutions. We say to ourselves, “This is the year — the year that I’m going to actually achieve what I’ve been putting off for so long. I’m going to run that marathon,...

  Christmas Day is an occasion for unwrapping gifts. I can’t think of any more needful or comforting gift than the first Christmas gift, our Lord Jesus. God speaks into the brokenness of our world, not just through his words, but by sending his Son. Through...

  Most of us have our favourite Christmas carols - maybe you’ve been quietly singing them to yourself over the past few weeks. My favourite, by a long way, is ‘O Holy Night’. Its lyrics and music are captivating. There’s a fascinating history behind this carol....

  In many cultures, the names that are given to children carry particular meaning. For instance, the name ‘Hannah’ comes from the Hebrew word for grace, or the name ‘Sophia’ from the Greek word for wisdom. Often, the names given express something of the hopes of...

  This Christmas will be different than normal. It’s Christmas in a world with COVID. For us, that means social distancing, reduced gatherings, less people together, not the usual holiday travel, and the likelihood of Christmas services online. Let’s face it,...

  There’s no hiding the fact: it’s been a tough year. Politics and pandemic have made for a year that most of us would like to put behind us. Advent begins this Sunday, the traditional period before Christmas of reflection and preparation. It’s an opportunity in...

  We all love stories. Great stories work across culture and time. They don’t simply engage and entertain; they also communicate a significant message and make an impact. Over the next month, we’ll be looking at some of Jesus’ parables, perhaps some of the most...

  We’re excited that our children’s, youth, and groups ministries can now resume meeting in person. On Sundays over the past month, it’s been such a pleasure seeing familiar faces and meeting new people. After having online church for so long, it’s much better...

  I was born in a non-Christian family, but studying in a Christian school gave me the opportunity to learn about God. Nevertheless, God was nothing more than a wish granter to me; I only prayed to Him for good grades before exams. It wasn’t until Form 3 in...

  Worldwide, 385 million children live in extreme poverty. Poverty robs children of their basic rights to learn, play, and grow. In its ugliest form, poverty can lead to exploitation, child labour, and even death. At St Andrew’s we think it's unacceptable. That's...

  We’re fascinated with love stories. Whether you get your fix through Korean soap operas or Hollywood rom-coms, Shakespeare or Emily Dickinson, we can’t help but be captivated by them. Perhaps it’s the drama that intrigues us, the hope which leads either to...

  Two months ago, I left London to join the staff team at St Andrew's as a “Pastoral worker”. It’s been interesting trying to explain what exactly it is I do here! On paper, I help to look after the 20s-30s women by supporting the Bible study leaders and general...

  We’re delighted that our Sunday services can resume this week. After sixteen weeks of online church, then another twelve weeks, we’ve spent a lot of time apart this year. Whilst we’re appreciative of being able to do church online, it doesn’t match being...

  One of the often-repeated principles in the bible is humility. We meet it again this Sunday in James 4: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’ (v. 6), ‘Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up’ (v.10). However, the difficulty...

  Perhaps you’ve heard of that saying, ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me’. It’s a common saying in school playgrounds. Whilst it’s memorable, it’s not accurate. The saying should go, ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but...

  I washed my hands ten times yesterday, why? Because we are afraid that the invisible virus might adhere to people and things around us and cause us to be infected. From the air to breathe, the banknotes we handle, the public areas we once enjoyed, all are...

  This past year has been tough; a gloomy and persistent reminder that this world is not how it ought to be. Lately, I’ve been reflecting on this observation by the American writer Randy Alcorn, ‘For Christians, this present life is the closest they will come to...

  Normally, September is an incredibly busy time for our church. It’s the start of the new school year and lots of our ministries resume after the summer break. We welcome many new people to our church, and we talk a lot about what being involved in Christian...

 One of the things that the pandemic has highlighted, amongst many things, is that we are created to be social creatures – spending too much time in isolation is not healthy. At St Andrew’s we are committed to the diverse community God has made in Christ. We see that...

  Humans are creatures built for relationship. We normally don’t thrive isolated from one another. That’s one of the reasons why many of us find the social distancing restrictions difficult. So, during these times, how can we care for one another at a distance?...

  Your normal holiday plans have been shelved. The kids will be doing school online again. The project at work is cancelled because there’s no funding for it. Yes, you love your family, but all the extra time at home with one another can be exhausting....

  Social distancing restrictions can wear you down. Compare the optimism that many of us had months ago to what you might feel like now. February: ‘Start running. Try new workouts at home’. August: ‘Walk to restaurant to get takeaway lunch. Walk home.’ February:...

  It feels strange to conduct our Annual Church Meeting like this. This is the type of occasion when we should be together, not distant, watching online. But this has been a strange and difficult year, when we’ve become accustomed to being apart and meeting...

  Maybe, like me, you’re feeling disappointed. It’s not just that it’s been a tough year. It’s also that it doesn’t look like getting easier anytime soon. Strict social distancing restrictions are back in place. Taking much needed holidays abroad aren’t possible....

  When Jesus’ disciples asked him for help with prayer, he gave them the beautifully simple and wonderfully comprehensive words known to us as ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. Amongst everything that has been taught in human history, there is good reason to consider this...

One of the incredible images that the bible uses to describe Christian community is the human body. It’s a picture of our dependence on one another. Just as the whole body is dependent on the heart for blood and the lungs for oxygen, so Christians need one another and...

  Perhaps you’ve been confronted more recently by injustice. George Floyd and the scourge of racism, political and social unrest in Hong Kong, the list goes on. When we see injustice, we feel compelled to do something about it: maybe take to the streets, post...

  One of the classic Western nursery rhymes is ‘Humpty Dumpty’. Humpty Dumpty is a humanised egg, who falls off a wall and breaks. I’m reminded of him because his story seems to sum up our situation at the moment. There is this collective sense that the Humpty...

  One of the characteristics of the early church was to show incredible practical care for people in need. We read in Acts 2, ‘All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need’. This...

  We are so delighted that we can resume our Sunday services this week. There’s that old saying, ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’. That’s certainly the case for so many of us. After sixteen weeks of online church, we’ve missed being able to see one another...

  Given that our Sunday services are resuming on the 7th of June, we’ve decided to extend our ‘Tough Questions’ series for one more week. This Sunday we’ll be thinking about perhaps the most difficult question, ‘How could a loving God send anyone to hell?’. Such...

  This Sunday, we’re finishing our series in ‘Tough Questions’ by thinking about the question, ‘Why bother with church?’. If I’m honest, this is more a question for believers than unbelievers, because almost every Christian at some stage will find church to be...

Growing up I always asked deeper questions about life, such as what is the meaning of life? Why do I exist? Who am I and what am I supposed to do? But, In my early 20s I had a Nihilistic view on life. I thought that life, our lives here on earth, were meaningless,...

This Sunday is Mother’s Day. It’s a day that has historic roots from medieval times in ‘Mothering Sunday’ when people in the UK returned to their ‘mother church’. Its modern version emerged about 100 years ago, founded by Anna Jarvis in the US. Of course, giving...

  One of the great tragedies of all crises is that it is the poor and marginalized that feel the burden and the cost the most. One partner shared with me recently that “50% of our community have lost their jobs in the food and beverage industries…many families...

Maybe you’ve been reminded recently that you’re not in control. The coronavirus has confronted us in a variety of ways with a sense of our own vulnerability and helplessness. Yet, the scriptures continually teach us that God’s people have an incredibly powerful...

We are living in extraordinary times. It seems like COVID-19 has affected almost everything in life, creating the greatest global crisis since the last world war. In tough times, people ask tough questions about life. When our normal routines are disrupted and the...

Navigating life during a pandemic tells us some things about ourselves.   Panic buying tells us that we want things to last. Whether it’s masks, sanitizer, toilet rolls, or whatever, the well-stocked shelves at home give us a sense of self-sufficiency, and order, and...

 It’s hard to avoid spending a few hours online each day trawling through the news about COVID-19, bingeing on commentary, and discussing with other possible outcomes. This information overload is part of dealing with the anxiety of our times. COVID-19 is arguably the...

  A few weeks ago many of us would have had hopes that the threat of COVID-19 was almost over. Maybe you thought, “The infection rate in HK is low. Things appear to be under control. The precautions will soon be lifted.” How circumstances have quickly changed....

  A friend recently shared, “It feels weird to love people by distancing oneself from them physically”. The precautions against COVID-19 are necessary, but our physical disconnection can make it seem more difficult to love people. In particular, it may feel more...

  For most of us, the coronavirus has changed how we do life. Maybe you’re working from home. We keep physical distance from people – no handshakes, no hugs. Wearing masks means we don’t see each other smile. You’re not going out as much to restaurants or malls....

  I have some very old coins at home, some denarii and some lepta. A denarius was worth roughly a day’s wage and a lepton (known also as the widow’s mite) was worth a few minute’s works. Both of these types of coins were in circulation in Judea during Jesus’...

You may be feeling unsettled at the moment. That’s understandable. So many of our normal routines that gives our lives a sense of rhythm and certainty are out of order. Maybe you’re working from home; projects are being delayed; schools and universities are suspended;...

  The coronavirus gives a sense of helplessness. We try to do particular things to make ourselves feel more secure: sanitize hands, wear masks, stockpile toilet paper, avoid contact with people, get the opinions of qualified people, seek an accurate prognosis...

  Living in Hong Kong recently has not been easy. The coronavirus has brought an additional sense of emotional, spiritual and physical tension. If you’re feeling stressed at this time, you’re not alone. However, in God and in one another, we can find support and...

‘Put knowledge in practical use’ – was a soliloquy in which I first heard of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in a campus gathering. This was in 1993/4 while I was still undergoing my postgraduate studies in air transport management in the UK. It was also the year I...

  With a new lunar year comes the opportunity for optimism, the thoughts of fresh possibilities in the year to come. If you stop to think about it, you cannot help but nurture hopes and maybe even make resolutions for the time ahead. This is the year — the year I take...

One of my favourite bible passages is this: ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich’ (2 Cor 8:9). The Apostle Paul uses this incredible summary of...

  Hong Kong is a stressful place to live – long work hours, small apartments, busy streets, a high cost of living and a 24/7 culture. These things take their toll on us, but it can be difficult to share our struggles – we don’t want to be a burden to others and...

There are few emotions more powerful than hope. It’s a spark inside you that brings a smile to your lips; a light that shows on your face; a feeling that lifts your head and pulls you forward. Hope is what keeps us alive. But these days it often feels hard to come by....