Notice Regarding Adam Road Presbyterian Centre of Singapore
This is a public notice that we, Zach and Angie Harris, have broken fellowship with Adam Road Presbyterian Centre (ARPC) of Singapore because, despite our attempts to guide them back to clear Biblical truth, the leadership of ARPC continues to act in ways that deny the very core of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Desiring to keep with Matthew 18:15-17 we sought to first address this issue with the elders of ARPC in private. Regarding 1 Timothy 5:9, the elders of ARPC can serve as witnesses of their own actions --- they will admit what they have done, but deny that it is wrong. We have exhausted all Biblical means of reconciling with the leadership of ARPC in private. Therefore, we have agreed to deliver the elders and pastors of ARPC over to Satan for the destruction of the sinful nature and for the salvation of their souls (1 Cor 5:5). We pray that by God's grace they will repent of their denial of the gospel, and that we will be restored to them in fellowship as the family of God.
Some Biblical Background on Gospel Essentials
The serious sin which we believe that the elders and pastors of ARPC are guilty of is making distinctions based on race and based on the fear of man in such a way as to actively hinder the advance of the gospel to a particular group of people, namely the Malays of Singapore.
In Galatians 2 we read about a time that Peter was holding himself aloof from the Gentiles. Paul recognized that Peter's behaviour was twisting the truth of the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ is equally powerful and should be equally available for every tongue, tribe, and race. Paul had to confront Peter to his face, because Peter's actions were undermining the truth of the gospel.
Many years before the events of Galatians 2, Peter had already been taught by God that Jesus Christ would cleanse even the Gentiles (Acts 10-11). Therefore, if you had asked Peter, "Do you believe that the gospel is for Gentiles?", he almost certainly would have answered "yes." But his actions told a different story. The way in which he treated Jew and Gentile spoke a message that the gospel was NOT equally powerful to save both groups.
Likewise, the elders and pastors will say with their mouths that the gospel is for all people, but their actions speak the opposite message. Their actions say that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not for Malays in the same way that it is for Chinese and Westerners.
Adam Road Presbyterian Centre's Denial of the Gospel
In April 2005 I (Zach) became aware of a translation of the gospel of Luke in readable, modern Malay. I asked the elders for permission to distribute copies of the gospel to members of ARPC and to have an announcement made about their availability in the church service. Pastor Chia later informed me that the elders had given approval, and I proceeded to have 1,000 copies printed. However, after they were printed, I was told that the elders needed to reconsider their decision. Eventually, they told me that it was "not the right time" to distribute Malay gospels to members of the church. I suggested to Pastor Chia that if the church didn't want to make an announcement in the service, or help me distribute them, that I would at least like to pass the gospels out to church members myself, so that they could give them to Malay friends, neighbors, and co-workers. However, Pastor Chia told me that I would not be allowed to do that either. In other words, I was forbidden from distributing Malay Bibles to people after services.
Early March 2006 I emailed the elders telling them that another man had helped pay for the printing of the Luke gospels, and thus for the sake of integrity something needed to be done with them. Their response to me on March 6th, communicated by elder Kok Wah Onn, was this:
"The Session (comprising of all serving elders and ordained pastors) are unanimous in our decision that this is not the appropriate time for us to distribute Malay Bibles. For your good conscience's sake, we decided that it is to your best interest that we return the Bibles to you."
Thus the entire Session of ARPC have testified against themselves that they would rather be rid of these Malay gospels than to take hold of the blessed opportunity to get them into the hands of Malay Singaporeans.
During my three years of attendance at ARPC I tried to spur both the leadership and friends in the congregation towards not neglecting the Malays in their evangelistic efforts. Many people amongst the members, elders, and pastors of ARPC will freely admit that they have neglected reaching out to their countrymen of the Malay race. They will admit that they accepted the teaching of their society that Christians should not try to evangelize Muslims, and they will admit that this is wrong. Pastor Chia admitted that he, along with the rest of the leaders of ARPC, along with virtually all Christians in Singapore, have "blinkers" (i.e. "blindspots") in this area. I have reminded him that apathy towards things that are dear to the heart of God needs to be called sin, not merely a "blinker".
Although such apathy is sin, I never considered that apathy in this area was sufficient reason to break fellowship with ARPC. However, I believe that when the elders of ARPC forbade me from distributing Malay Bibles to church members they crossed a line from apathy to active oppostion against the gospel, for the sake of preserving their own comforts. Indeed, when I asked the elders if they would be willing to stand in solidarity with a brother from Malay background facing persecution if it might mean losing the church property, the elders testified against themselves admitting that they were not ready for such a sacrifice.
Having unsuccessfully tried to resolve the conflict between me and the elders on a personal level I requested that these grievances be brought before the congregation in line with the Matthew 18 process.
That request was denied. Believing that the matter should not be hidden from the congregation, I passed out this flier in front of ARPC. Rather than denying the truthfulness of the accusations made therein, the response of the elders was simply to seek to silence the messenger --- they called the police on me. (The police found took a copy of the flier, found me to be doing nothing wrong, and left me alone.)
We post this notice:
- As a warning to anyone who attends or is considering attending ARPC that ARPC's frequent talk of wanting to be a "gospel church" is denied by their actions. We recommend that anyone in Singapore looking for fellowship centered around the gospel of Christ not attend ARPC. Unfortunately, we don't know of any church in Singapore which does believe that the gospel is equally for all of the races of Singapore, and which acts accordingly. If anyone does know such a church, please contact us. Meanwhile, we pray for the establishment of a genuine gospel church in Singapore which affirms the gospel of Christ both in word and in deed.
- As a warning to anyone who listens to the teaching of ARPC's pastors. In particular, ARPC pastor Chris Chia sometimes speaks at conferences in Singapore and overseas. Pastor Chia has chosen to live in such a way as to deny the core Biblical truth that the gospel is equally for all peoples. This will affect his ability to accurately teach the Scriptures in many areas. For example, be warned that despite his frequent emphasis on conforming our lives to the Bible, when it comes to issues of persecution and suffering for Christ, the cost of discipleship, and Christ's commission to bring the gospel to all peoples, he will most certainly not be able to teach the Biblical message faithfully.
- To distance ourselves from ARPC's actions. Let it be known to all the Malays of Singapore and Malaysia that we want you to know the good news of Jesus Christ. We pray that you can see the glory of God in the face of Christ as we have, and experience the salvation from sin that comes only through the cross of Christ. We are deeply saddened by the racism and the fear amongst "Christians" in Singapore and Malaysia which have kept the good news of Jesus away from you for so long. Let it be known that any "Christians" who act like the leaders of ARPC do not reflect genuine Christianity.
- As an exortation and appeal to the leaders and members of ARPC, and indeed to all Singaporean Christians to repent and affirm in word and deed that: THE GOSPEL IS FOR MALAYS TOO!