Opinion – ‘Righteousness exalts a Nation’; Faith in Europe and Asia

I’ve experienced two striking contrasts of the impact of Christianity on a nation in the past fortnight as a result of travelling to Wales (on holiday) and then on to Singapore (for business).  Proverbs 14:34 says; ‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people’ or as The Message rather bluntly puts it; ‘God-devotion makes a country strong; God-avoidance leaves people weak’.

As we toured Wales, it was hard to avoid the towering bulk of the usually grey-coloured Chapels in so many communities. These cavernous edifices often dwarfed the other buildings in the villages. They seemed to particularly dominant the landscape in the valleys of south Wales. These chapels, probably built by the sacrificial giving on the part of the faithful, are now either derelict or have been turned into homes. In the middle of Brecon, the Bethel Square chapel (1852) has been ‘converted’ into a Boots the Chemists shop complete with commercial signage and a glass frontage. I observed only a handful of chapels that remain open as places of worship.

Most of these chapels appeared to have been built in the period from 1860 onwards and, as we know, a major spiritual revival swept across Wales during 1904.  I well remember as a boy in the 1960’s being taken to many a Welsh chapel whilst on holiday with my parents. However, life has moved on and now the 1904 Revival is remembered only as an historical event and is totally meaningless in our present culture. As an aside, it was interesting to visit the Christian-run Helwick Lightship, Goleulong 2000 – with its resident chaplaincy – moored in Cardiff Bay, close to the Norwegian Church arts centre and the Welsh Assembly building; www.lightship2000.co.uk.

How different things are in Singapore!  This City State has almost 5 million people, living on an island the size of the Isle of Wight, and is home to some of the largest Christian churches anywhere in the world, certainly in Asia. As well as all the traditional denominations, there are two mega-churches; City Harvest Church led by Pastor Kong Hee with 32,000 members, www.chc.org.sg and New Creation Church led by Pastor Joseph Prince with 19,000 members, www.newcreation.org.sg

I felt privileged to attend one of the CHC weekend services and was forcibly struck by the vibrancy, devotion and spiritual intensity of its vast congregation. I felt decidedly old as the average age of the church must be somewhere in the 25–30 age range? I suppose this is not too surprising as Singapore itself strikes one as a very young nation. CHC has four services each weekend held in two locations; two on Saturday afternoon and two on Sunday. The Singapore Expo Centre service which I attended had an estimated Saturday evening congregation of approx 5,500 people!  Mind-blowing numbers for those of us from a European background!  

The complexities of the logistics in dealing with this number of people is simply awe-inspiring, the technology was as high level as you would find in any mainstream secular production, the worship was stunning and heartfelt, the corporate prayer deafening but above all a very real sense that here were people wanting to both meet with God and to affect their nation and the wider world. In 2011 City Harvest Church, in order to continue to accommodate its ongoing growth, plans a major move to the Suntec Convention Centre in the centre of the city of Singapore.

So I guess that with this background it is not surprising that CHC, together with David Yonggi Cho’s Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea, is the host for the Church Growth International 2010 Asia Conference from 26–30 May 2010; www.asiaconference.org.sg. The speaker line-up includes Kong Hee (Singapore), David Yonggi Cho (South Korea), Rienhard Boonke (Germany) and Phil Pringle (Australia). Crowds of up to 20,000 are expected to attend this 5-day international event at the Singapore Expo Centre, situated close to Changi airport, another huge logistical challenge for the church!

It is hard to escape the fact that God is moving across Asia and that the nations in this part of the world are very, very serious about their role in spreading the Gospel. Christianity has moved east; the spiritual torch has quite clearly passed from West to East. I look back on what God did in history in the nations of Europe – including the likes of Wales – and simply note that God is continuing to move mightily today in other national contexts. God is not dead, the Gospel continues to change lives around the world and we should take heart and realise that as stated in Habakkuk 2:14; ‘the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea’.  

The problems that we face in the UK seem to me to be the result of a rather cynical nation turning its back on God and against the Gospel. We would do well to ponder the Biblical proverb as quoted above; ‘God-devotion makes a country strong; God-avoidance leaves people weak’.