Missionaries' Sharing: Yap Kim Meng and Goh Beow Kheng
At our May prayer meeting, Yap Kim Meng shared about his and his wife, Goh Beow Kheng's work with the Navigators.
We have been serving full-time for the last 38 years and GBC has been in partnership and supporting us for 36 of those years. I had an 11-year long career in the SAF and was made a Captain in active service and made a Major while doing my reservist training.
The Lord led me into full time service with the Navigators after having 15 years of training with the Navigators as a volunteer in both the student ministry, and then in the military. We started off when my eldest, Joshua was 2 years old. Since then, the LORD has blessed us with 3 more children. All of us are members of GBC and each belongs to a different care group. My wife and I are also happy that they are serving in the church -- Joshua helps with the sound system, Caleb is an elder in charge of care groups, Deborah helps out in Sunday School and Gideon serves in the nursery.
Leading and handing over
Indeed I have had a long career in the Navigators and it is not over yet. We are grateful that I was given the privilege to cover many portfolios and we thoroughly enjoyed our journey with the Navigators. It has been an adventure and a blast. We saw the Lord working on our behalf time and time again.
I am thankful for my last role as the National Director of the Navigators Singapore National Director from 2017-2022. During that period, I was eyeing a younger man with a young family to take on this role. I told him then, "I will hold the fort and wait for your kids to grow up -- at least until primary one." This was because the job requires a fair amount of travel during the pre-pandemic period. God blessed me greatly and I was able to hand over to 41-year old Dr Viloane Ko, with his wife Pat.
Continuing work with the Navigators
This year, we are entrusted with a key role under the ND Network and at the same time, we continue with our own personal GrassRoots Ministry. We are privileged to be part of this ND network consisting of 3 former ND couples. This network does come with a great reservoir of experiences and resources. We seek to support and mentor the new younger ND with his leadership team.
The work at the Navigators is known to be rooted in our claiming of God's promises. As we celebrate our 60th anniversary, the national leadership is claiming Isaiah 54:1-3. Isaiah 54:2 says "Enlarge the place of your tents, and let the curtains of your inhabitants be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes."
Thus, our team in Singapore is asking God to enlarge our tents. We are trusting God to enlarge our faith, our ministry, and in so doing, enlarge ourselves.
Under the SINGNAV 2030 banner, the National leadership team is boldly trusting God to enlarge our work specifically in the campuses, community and global missions in the next 10 years. This is where the ND Network can step in to help with our Bible teaching, to share our ministry experiences, missions expertise, to coach and mentor the new ND and his Leadership Team. There is so much that we as senior staff can contribute and walk alongside our leaders to help them succeed in their roles.
Missions was one of my key focuses and the current team is continuing the work in global missions, even in sensitive and restricted areas. I have seen God at work and stir the heart of His people, even this young man that I met that was keen to reach bring the gospel to the Jews. He wanted to have a good grasp of the Hebrew language and God enabled him to succeed in enrolling into a university in Jerusalem. He spent a year there and was then held back by the pandemic. During this time, he got married and now with a year-old son, him and his family will be heading back to resume his course.
Personal grassroots ministry
We also thank the Lord for giving us a strong personal grassroots ministry. This has been a life-long journey of walking alongside a network of older labourers. We continue to meet up with different people face-to-face and over Zoom for Bible study and for a personal time of sharing and mentoring.
Here in GBC, we are also part of a care group led by Jonathan and Kiyoko. A new Older Men's Session (OMS) has been added on my plate too.
Beow Kheng and I are grateful to the Lord for the privilege of investing our time one-on-one with the different individuals and groups of people that the Lord had brought into our lives. One family that has been an encouragement, joy and blessing to me is Alex Matthew and his family. Originally from Kerala, India, Alex is now a PR here with his wife and three kids. I was a total stranger to them when Alex first contacted the Navigators office to be trained in discipleship.
My time spent with Alex is reflected in the lives of the wife and kids. He passed on what he learned to his family and I saw how the children grew in their intake of the Word. The Gospel impacted not only Alex himself and his family but also his clan back in Kerala. When he returned to his homeland for a visit, he was given the honor to share the Word over the pulpit. He shared from Psalm 16 the same psalm that we prayed through together.
Ministry is always about relationships & friendship. Family grows & develops with its ups & downs. For me to be counted as a family friend now is a great privilege.
Prayer requests
Below are 3 verses you can use to pray for Beow Kheng and me as we trust the Lord for another season of our lives :
1) Colossians 1:10, that we may ".. walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God".
2) Isaiah 50:4, which states, "The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught."
3) Acts 20:24, which states, "But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God."
Thank you for standing by with us in Gospel partnership all these years through your prayers, your giving and many expressions of love and encouragement.