Antioch in Singapore

For several years Singapore has been known as the modern Antioch. (For those of you who don't have instant recall of Acts 13, Antioch had a dazzlingly diverse leadership from which they sent out Paul and Barnabas as the church's first missionaries.)

Singapore is strategically situated, as was Antioch. In fact the Anglican Church here has "deaneries" - like our dioceses or districts - in Cambodia, Nepal, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Thailand, and one other up there somewhere. There are no mission agencies under the church here because the entire diocese is constantly in a missionary mode.

Yesterday afternoon Archbishop John Chew stopped in our meeting. I remarked on Singapore as Antioch and referred to our meeting. We were from China, India, Britain, US, Nigeria, and one other somewhere. A dazzing diversity. Furthermore we numbered no more than the list of leaders in Acts 13. I noted that out of this meeting the spirit of Antioch will go forth from Singapore to the ends of the earth.

I thought it was a pretty perceptive comment. He laughed and said something about "convenience" being the mark of the church's strategic location rather than mission. He is a very humble man.