(SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE) David: After NS, my primary school classmate introduced me to Henry Tan. That was in 1975 and I was 19. He brought me to the Holland Drive house church. We used to do Bible study every Sunday morning at 8am in the Botanic Gardens before service. Later on, I brought my then-girlfriend, Happy, to the church.
Happy: It was the late Florence Aw who prayed and brought me back to the Holland house church (held in her home), after I got frightened away by a Sunday service when people started speaking in tongues and ‘crying’. I was 18 then, and I am eternally grateful for her guidance and friendship till our Lord took her home.
David: In late 1979, Canon James Wong brought the Holland house church to SAJC. We had our services in the canteen. Every Sunday we carried the chairs from the classrooms to the canteen and back again after the service. In those early days,we had less than 100 people in our congregation.
After that the congregation slowly grew, and we had soon had enough money to build a Chapel building. At first, the Chapel only had one floor (the old COR library). Apart from Sunday service, it was used as a student counselling centre. Later on, as the congregation grew, we built another floor and added the sanctuary.
The church building was completed in 1978, and opened in 1979 as COR. We got married in the church sanctuary in 1979, so this year is also our 40th wedding anniversary!
Happy: Our cell mates were the ones who put up a simple wedding reception for us in the basement of the old church building. Yoke Meng did my bridal makeup, Jimmy was our driver and photographer, while Doreen Chow was my ‘sister’.
COR is really like family to me, especially our cell group Ekklesia. Our cell are on hand whenever we were in dire need of prayers. Our three children grew up with our cell mates’ children. God also answered our prayers and provided them with godly spouses who worship with us in COR. Today, it is our cell mates with whom we share our grandparenting joys and woes! Our grandchildren will now grow up with the grandchildren of our cell mates, and thus the circle of life goes on.
David: 当完兵后，我的小学同学介绍给我Henry Tan。 那时候是1975 年我十九岁的时候。他带我去Holland Drive 家庭教会。 我们曾经每个星期天八点聚会，在植物园一起查经。过后我会带我当时的女朋友 Happy 去教会。
Happy：在我十八岁那年， 我参加过一次聚会。那时我被那些在说方言和哭泣的人吓到，过后我就没有再回教会。后来是去世的Florence Aw 为我祷告，把我又带回了Holland 家庭教会 （当时是在她家）。我永远感谢她给予我的指导和友情，直到天父带她回天家。
David：1979 年底的时候，Canon James Wong 将Holland家庭教会带到圣安德烈初级学院。 当时我们都在学校餐厅里聚会。 我们每个星期天都会把课室里的椅子搬到餐厅。聚完会后，再把椅子搬回课室。当时我们的聚会只有一百人不到。
后来，我们的聚会慢慢地发展，我们也终于存了足够的钱来盖我们的第一间教会。那时我们只有一层楼（以前复活堂的图书馆），除了当作聚会的地点外，它被用作学生辅导室。后来我们又盖了另一层楼和圣殿。
终于在1978年，我们建成了教会，1979年正式成立了复活堂。那一年，我们也在新的圣殿结婚了！所以，今年也算是我们结婚的四十周年纪念！
Happy：那时，是我们的小组成员们为我们在教会的地下室举办了一个简简单单的婚礼。Yoke Meng 帮我化妆，Jimmy 是我们的司机和摄影师，而Doreen Chow 是我的伴娘。
复活堂真的像是我的第二个家，尤其是我们的小组Ekklesia。无论遇到什么困难和苦难，我们都会为那件事祷告求上帝的帮助。我和我丈夫的三个孩子跟我们小组其他组员的孩子一起长大。天父也垂听了我们的祷告，给孩子们找到敬畏上帝、一起在复活堂崇拜的对象。今天，我们能够跟小组成员一起分享我们当爷爷奶奶的喜怒哀乐，我们的子孙会和其他组员的子孙们一起成长。生命的循环因此而不断继续着……
This article first appeared in Issue 19, April 2019 CHORUS Magazine.