Many of you would have read or at least know of our book 3-2-1: Following Jesus in Threes. In many ways it is our signature book because it gives both the biblical rationale for why we need spiritual friends, and a simple way to practise spiritual friendship. (For those who may not know, 3-2-1 means three friends meeting two hours once a month over a meal). The book was published in 2013 and has gone through a number of reprints. To our pleasant surprise there was an upsurge of demand for the book this year. There were also new invitations to teach on the practice of 3-2-1.
Perhaps the challenges of the Covid pandemic have given folks more encouragement to reflect on what is important in life and fresh appreciation for relationships. For a long time we couldn’t meet in large groups but for some time now we could meet in micro groups. For some, it meant a fresh understanding of the power of such groups. In any case, the new interest in 3-2-1 gave us great joy and the feeling that God had raised us for such a time as this.
It was much-needed encouragement because, like many ministries and businesses, 2020 has been a tough year where we couldn’t carry out many of our usual ministries and that also impacted our income. However when circumstances change, we look afresh at our vision.
Our vision — followers of Jesus becoming fully mature in Christ.
But what would that maturity look like? I can think of three components of Christian maturity.
Spiritual Maturity — trusting and obeying Abba Father in loving communion with Him
Relational Maturity — connected to and sharing life with others in healthy community
Vocational Maturity — clarity of and faithfulness to our calling as we co-labour with God
In support of this vision, Graceworks has this mission:
Promoting Christian maturity through spiritual mentoring by teaching, training and publishing.
We also had the privilege to publish a number of key books this year, including one on discovering one’s vocation, a series of meditations on silence by our friend Rev Dr David Wong, and one on the experience of depression told through the medium of a comic book. Even now, we are working on a number of other exciting manuscripts.
Another key Graceworks ministry for 2020 has been our Generations project. This project started as an effort to understand how millennials understood their faith and how the church could minister to them in ways they understood. Many churches were losing their young adults and one of the reasons was the cultural gaps between the leaders, who often were boomers, and the millennials. But as the project progressed we realise that we needed all generations to understand the other generations. At one level we needed to minimise conflict between the generations, but we realised we couldn’t stop there. We needed to help the generations learn to better love each other and to share their strengths for the furtherance of God’s work. There have been similar projects done in the West but this is a project that focuses on the Singapore scene. We see ourselves working on this for the next few years.
So, while this has been a tough year, it has also been an exciting year where we in Graceworks feel very humbled that we are allowed to be part of God’s work in the world.
What will 2021 be like? God knows. Hence, we will be having a team planning meeting soon to hear from Him and each other. Really appreciate prayer for us to clearly hear God’s heart and mind especially where it pertains to Graceworks. We are very clear that Graceworks is His ministry and we want to be faithful servants.
We invite you to partner with us through prayer and through working with us in ministries of common concern.
You can also partner with us financially. Your sponsorships are very important to help us carry out our work. Please contact us if you need more information as to how you can support us financially.
For those who have helped us financially this year, we are deeply grateful for your generosity.
Please do let us know, too, if we can be of service of you in any way.
We are coming to the end of a challenging year. But God has been with us and He will lead us into the future. Let’s follow Christ in the company of friends.