In last week’s editorial, Eld Chow Meng highlighted how healthy church membership begins with the Word of God and continues into visible belonging to Jesus Christ and His people. That the Christian faith, though personal, is never lived out privately. It is through the church, the body of Christ, that we hear God’s word preached and taught, and are converted. And it is to those outside of the church that we bear witness to Christ, sharing the gospel that we have heard and rec

Church membership is sometimes misunderstood. Some see it as a form, a name on a roll, or a requirement before serving. Others question whether it is necessary, since early Christians often met in homes and did not have modern membership systems. But we should not confuse the form of membership with the substance of membership. The early churches may not have had databases, transfer letters, or printed constitutions, but they had identifiable believers, recognised leaders,

The Story: A new report finds that the single biggest factor in whether children keep the faith isn’t their church, their youth group, or their peers but their parents. The more surprising finding is what works at home, and how often well-meaning Christian parents get it backward. The Background: Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations, a June 2026 report by sociologists Jesse Smith and Jane Lankes Smith, draws on several national datasets to examine American

Taming is a process by which a wild beast is subdued into adapting and submitting to human control. Which beast is the hardest to tame? Zebras? Sharks? House cats? According to Scripture, it is the human tongue. As James, the brother of Jesus, observes, “all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man” (James 3:7). Despite mankind’s success in taming the animal kingdom, there exists one wild thing, James says, we hav

This year’s church camp was a camp that filled us abundantly. Our stomachs never stop digesting – from breakfast to tea break, lunch to tea break again, then dinner and night snack. On top of that, there were plenty of ‘maggie’ noodles provided by the committee. Wow…. Upon reflection, what about our minds and our hearts? Have we filled our minds abundantly and constantly with God’s Word, and digesting it to move our hearts to transform our actions and become part of our rul

Next week in our sermon on James 2:14-26, some have felt that it pits James, who was one of the primary leaders of the early church in Jerusalem, against Apostle Paul on the issue of justification. May the following article by R.C Sproul enlighten as to the debate, that in fact they are both on the same side. Pastor Daniel Tan This question is not critical only today, but it was in the eye of the storm we call the Protestant Reformation that swept through and divided the Chri

Next week will be our bi-annual church camp. As we look forward to spending extended time together not just with our fellow Hermonites but also with our Horebian brethren and our missions partners, may this short reflection be our encouragement to look forward to the blessings and benefits we will receive through the church camp. Pastor Daniel Tan Imagine a place where laughter is abundant, lifelong friendships are forged and faith is deepened. Welcome to church camp! Church

Today, we live in a culture that excels at grading, sorting and valuing people. From the clothes we wear and the cars we drive to our academic credentials, professional titles and what we can offer to one another — and even down to our nationalities and physical appearance — human worth is constantly being calculated. Tragically, the church is not immune to this worldly mindset. Fellow brothers and sisters sometimes judge one another (and even themselves) according to these

Paul’s command in Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,” posed a significant challenge in our early days of marriage. My wife was raised in a home where this principle was practised literally—they endeavoured to resolve all conflicts before the end of the day. In contrast, my upbringing encouraged us to sleep on our anger, believing that conflicts would magically resolve themselves overnight. When my wife and I encountered disag

An Oft-Cited, Yet Challenging Book. Of all the books in the New Testament, James is perhaps the one that gives Christians the most difficulty. We simply don’t quite know what to do with it! On the one hand, James’s letter is certainly one of the most quoted books of the entire Bible. It’s filled with famous phrases that often make their way into Christian conversation: “Faith produces steadfastness.” “God cannot be tempted.” “Every good and perfect gift comes from above.”

On this Mother’s Day, I find myself reflecting deeply on my mother’s steadfast faith in the Lord. She went home to be with Him last year, and though I rejoice in her glorious homecoming, I still find myself reaching for her in the quiet, ordinary moments. The loss has left a space in my life that no one else can fill, yet in that space, there is a profound resonance of the lessons she imparted, both through her words and the silent language of her example. My mother was a s

If Hebrews 11 had been written by us, we might have written it differently. We would likely have chosen cleaner stories, safer names and figures with fewer stains on their record. We prefer heroes we can admire without complications. But Hebrews 11 is not written to flatter man’s achievement. It is written to magnify the faithfulness of God. One of the deepest comforts about this chapter is not merely who is included, but what their inclusion tells us about our God who reme

Today after Sunday Service, we gather as one Hermon family at Henderson for our 38th annual congregational meeting. It is easy to think of our ACM as a necessary formality — a review of reports, finances, budget, and plans. Yet Scripture calls us to see more. When the people of God gather, even for matters of administration, we are participating in something deeply spiritual, the visible outworking of Christ’s rule over His church. This meeting is not merely about busines

Throughout our journey in the book of Hosea, we have seen God issuing a sobering charge against Israel. From the priests to the people, there was a systemic rejection of the knowledge of God. The people of Israel pursued idolatry, foolishly choosing spiritual adultery over covenantal intimacy. Yet, because God is righteous and just, this covenantal unfaithfulness could not be ignored; judgment and discipline were the necessary consequences but also an expression of an immense

The prophet Hosea was called to minister to an unfaithful Israel, whose culture had been so corrupted by pagan worldviews and practices that nothing short of exile sufficed as a consequence. Yet, even in judgment, love persisted. Hosea knew this all too well, for he was called to “love an unfaithful wife” (3:1) as a reflection of God’s own love for his unfaithful children. It is this judgment with love; this discipline with grace, that sets God apart from the pagan deities

In our fast-paced, information-saturated world, it seems we only have time to spare for the latest headlines and soundbites, not for old stories. We’re refreshing our pages every moment for the next new update, so even the latest trend is soon replaced and forgotten, consigned to the scrapheap of history. Yet some stories need to be remembered, commemorated and celebrated. Easter is one of them. May this article 1 encourage us to never be numb towards the timeless and terr

Not a day goes by without the war in the Middle East making the headlines. If you follow it too closely like I have, it is possible for the news of the horrors of war and destruction to consume you, and you start to feel negatively affected by it. However as Christians, we know that all these happen within God’s sovereignty so we always need to re-align ourselves with God’s Word to make sense of it all. Observing Palm Sunday during this time of conflict can help us put some o

“You reap what you sow”, is an idiom present in various cultures. It cautions us that our present actions have future consequences, often corresponding to its nature. “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes” is how the current generation would put it. The fact is, we can’t avoid the law of cause and effect. So, it is important to be prudent in our actions. In Hosea 8, Israel chose to invest in a relationship with a violent, imperialistic nation – Assyria – for national securi

As the world trembles from the reverberations caused by the war in Iran, we are left wondering ‘when will these wars end’, ‘where can peace be found’, and perhaps even ‘whether God is still in sovereign control’. Such questions are needed and natural in times like these. And this article 1 helpfully reminds us that even as missiles fly, there is hopeful clarity offered to us in the Word. May it encourage our hearts as we yearn and pray for the blessed reign of Christ. Ps L

Hosea 4 does not begin with comfort. He begins with a case. “Hear the word of the Lord,” he says, because the Lord has a “controversy” with the people in the land. This brings to mind the picture of a courtroom, where a lawsuit is being heard. This is the lawsuit of convenant infidelity between God and his people. The opening statement given by the “plaintiff” in this case the Lord himself: “There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land.” A