Ministers may come and ministers may go, but friends remain forever.

Our keynote speaker is a friend of mine. Our friendship dates back over thirty years ago, in the early 1980’s, when we both found ourselves in the vortex of spiritual renewal in the Anglican Church of Singapore. The Rev Canon Soh Chye Ann became the chair of the Commission on Evangelism and Mission of St. Andrew’s Cathedral while I became the priest-in-charge of Cathedral’s extension centers. In one of the largest evangelistic rallies in Singapore (the Reinhard Bonke Mission), Chye Ann headed the administration while I chaired its prayer commission.

In 1986, my wife Angela and I left Singapore to go to the United States while Chye Ann and his wife, Helen left the Cathedral to pastor the largest parish in Singapore, St. John’s and St. Margaret. There he established an ‘evangelism-friendly’ church and imparted a mission vision to the congregation.  That local church had since trained many missionaries who are serving in various parts of Asia and the world.

In 1992, Chye Ann responded to a call from South Africa and brought his family where they served for 7 years through the turbulent period of transition from Apartheid to Non-racial rule.  He was instrumental in calling a whole nation to prayer at a time of national crises and violence and bloodshed.  That prayer initiative helped brought about an end to conflict and enabled a peaceful transition, saving tens of thousands of lives.

After Africa, Chye Ann moved to London in 1999 to become the Asia Director of the Church Mission Society, one of Britain’s largest and oldest mission agencies, with an annual budget of 7 million pounds and partners in over 60 countries world-wide. Chye Ann’s experience in world mission and his knowledge about issues of poverty, social injustice and inequality in Africa, has given CMS new insights on doing mission in the 21st century. Recently, he founded “Magi Enterprises”,  a non-profit mission venture that seeks to respond to the new way of doing church  in the 21st century.

I would add that since I left Singapore in 1986 and since Chye Ann left for Africa and England, we never saw each other again for 30 years, until two years ago when we met in Hong Kong for the consecration of Archbishop Paul Kwong. Instantly, we rekindled our friendship and began to re-open new visions for partnership in evangelism and mission in this era of globalization. As friends, there is nothing that I would not do for him; and I believe, there is nothing that he would not do for me. Since then, we have not done anything for each other---until today.

So I introduce to you, my dear friend and colleague in the work of mission and evangelism---The Rev. Canon Soh Chye Ann!