Jun 2001

Breaking Through into the Community
- ALIVE Magazine (by Jeannie Mok)

A trained magician, a self-confessed polo fanatic and a church apostle: Lawrence Khong is a colourful and, sometimes, controversial personality. But a man who does not quite fit the stereotype of a pastor hasmass appeal in a cosmopolitan, ultra-modern city like Singapore. Thus it is not surprising to find that Lawrence is senior pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church (FCBC), attended by approximately 10,000 people each week.

Lawrence's vision is to establish a church that influences the whole of Singapore, and to be a model 'cell' church. After 15 years of operation, FCBC has succeeded on both counts. Not only is his church well known for its community efforts through its TOUCH Ministries (an evangelistic ministry utilising media technology), but Lawrence is also sought after as a guest speaker all over the world. He was recently in Melbourne as a key speaker at Waverley Christian Church's Breakthrough 2001 Conference for Leaders, explaining his church structure.

Growth for FCBC has come through its cell or home groups, with its philosophy and practice of 'heart evangelism' (that is, evangelism that is relational and from the heart) and 'body ministry' (ministries that are practical and holistic to the person). Lawrence believes that the Western approach is content-oriented (the "do you know where you will go to if you were to die tonight?" approach), does not work with Asians.

"People with a Western mentality tend to dissect things rationally, whereas the Chinese mentality tends to harmonise, finding no problems with believing in predestination and freewill at the same time," he says. "The Chinese are also extremely relational - they want to be shown the way by others before they can believe that Jesus is the way." And this way of living is exemplified when cell groups meet weekly in a Christian home.

Lawrence Khong is certainly not anti-Western, having attended Dallas Theological Seminary in the US for several years. But he regards the very corporate or communal nature of Eastern societies as a strength that needs to be capitalized upon for growth. Thus FCBC's cells are community-based, as opposed to being church-based - groups where non-believers are befriended and then "sucked" into a Christian community through a "conspiracy of kindness"!

As Lawrence teaches it: "Bring into your cell group the people whom you have most influence over, in your extended family, friendship circles, sporting groups or workplace." Prospective cell members will have no objections to coming to a very friendly, very caring group that seems to be having lots of fun together. They may take a long time before they actually step into the church, but when they finally turn up on Sunday at FCBC, they will find that the party continues with good music and dynamic teaching from the pulpit.

This cell group structure has been responsible for the extraordinary growth of the church over the last few years from over 800 cells in 1999 to well over 1000 in 2001. A clearly defined system of cell pastors, zone supervisors and district supervisors exists, to ensure that best practices advocated by the church (in relation to prayer, evangelism, teaching, community work, mentoring and leadership training) are duplicated generally in all cells.

But the whole issue of cells is no longer Lawrence's dominant passion. He believes that he is moving into another season of his life, where he has to "pioneer a new thing". His vision is now fixed on taking Singapore for God, and he is concentrating on a few key strategies that will take the church directly into the marketplace.

Since Singapore is too small to embark on a church-planting program, Lawrence feels that he needs to be more strategic. He has brought many churches together for combined meetings to "love" Singapore. As they pray and intercede for others, to bring the people of the city into a relationship with Christ, Lawrence's TOUCH Ministries has been placed in key spots, where people will benefit from Christians demonstrating practical acts of kindness and compassion.

This practical, grassroots, 'salt of the earth' approach was instrumental in getting FCBC's outreach cell-based church in Taiwan to respond so brilliantly during the recent earthquakes in that nation. Other aid agencies and religious groups rushed out to help as well, but the cell-nature of the Taiwanese church enabled them to continue with their good works long after the others had left exhausted.

But Lawrence's recent foray into the media and mass communications arena is the thing that captures most attention today. As he says, "We know that there are millions of souls to be saved, but we have no real means of effectively communicating with them. The church surrendered its role long ago by isolating itself from contemporary mass media, and now the devil has the 'best' music and the most 'popular' movies. Consider the Internet - it has penetrated into the utmost parts of the world. The church needs to have an input there as well."

Hence the establishment of TOUCH Entertainment Pty Ltd, which not only produces all Lawrence's tapes, videos and powerpoint presentations but has turned its hand to making films and producing entertainment extravaganzas (Las Vegas style). Thousands of people who don't normally attend church have come to these shows, which allow Lawrence to give a Gospel message at the end. Lawrence sees himself as a missionary in this field, with his pioneering efforts at the high-tech frontier helping him to "do church in the marketplace".

Lawrence is adamant that he is also an apostle, with the vision and authority to start up new churches and provide leadership to the body of Christ globally. Thus FCBC has as part of its vision the plan to establish 50 cell group churches around the world. This means that he spends 50 per cent of his time travelling, teaching, preaching and entertaining.

At this moment, Lawrence realizes he is at a crossroad. Even as he ventures into new pastures, he asks for prayer, as he may have an exciting vision ahead of him, but it has to be truly ordained and part of God's plan. As he says, "If you are not going to be blessed by God (in God's will), you will certainly not be fulfilling his purpose!"

Jeannie Mok is a pastor at International City Church, Brisbane, and the principal of Asia Pacific Institute.