Our Missions Story
Missions is in our DNA
One of the first things that were given to Pastor Yang and Pastor Daphne by the Lord when they started the church was that Cornerstone would be a missions sending church. Hence from the inception of the church, Cornerstone has actively been involved in mission through giving, sending, praying, planting and pioneering.
Early involvements in missions
One of our earliest experience in missions as a church was in Cebu, Philippines. In those early years, we would send teams on regular short-term trips up to a local church that we were working with in Cebu. Those teams consisted predominantly of young people, and constituted an opportunity to expose the members of the congregation to simple cross-cultural ministry.
These teams would conduct meetings, bible studies and visit the outreaches in the villages. 5 persons riding on a small motorcycle ascending the hills to remote villages were common place. The teams brought back many exciting stories of adventure. Teenagers, deprived of the many amenities they were so used to, returned with accounts of how they endured “missionary hardship” and in turn fired up many young souls with a passion for missions.
However, as we came into the mid-1990s, doors began to open up in various other nations. Notably, Pastor Yang and Brother Boaz Nazar went to Yangon for our maiden trip into the nation of Myanmar. We would later have a strong partnership with the church in Yangon. Unknown to us, a quiet work had also begun in Kampala, Uganda, where a pastor who had a mere 15 minutes conversation with Pastor Yang, inaugurated a Cornerstone work, which we would not discover till 10 years after that first conversation.
God was doing something in our midst, the extent of which we had not fully grasped or realized at that time.
Progressing in the vision
In 1995, we also made our first foray into China through a prayer team led by Pastor Rupert. In that same year, China Awareness was born and was later renamed China Alive Ministries, which is the prayer and preparation arm for our work in China.
Two years later, a new door opened for us to Northern Luzon, Philippines, and through a series of subsequent divine connections, we met Pastor Mark Ritchie and Pastor Alfred Abad, the pastors of our main ministries in the Philippines. It was also through this open door that we later planted our very first church in Baguio. This church would eventually be closed after several years, but the experience and the lessons that we gained from it would prove invaluable.
As the millennium drew to a close, we became better poised and more experienced in working in various nations and managing the works that were going on overseas. It was also at this time, that we came under the covering of Dr. Bailey and Zion Fellowship. The Lord had given Dr. Bailey a vision for “a Zion in every nation” and that struck a deep chord within us as well.
In the year 2001, we visited East Africa for the very first time and were completely blown away by the work that was already established there by Pastor Ezekiel and Pastor Aloysius. The church in Perth, Australia, was soon planted in partnership with Pastor Philip and Irene and the various works in the nations continued to grow. New doors continued to open in Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and many other nations.
At the last count, we are involved in 12 different nations outside of Singapore, and many others which we visit for ministry purposes.
Looking ahead
We can now see clear areas of mission work that we are involved in and these include:
- Church planting
- Bible schools
- Humanitarian and community work
- Conferences and training
We are expecting our international family to continue to grow as the Lord continues to lead. Already in the drawing board are new church plants that are being planned for India, Malaysia and Japan.
Perhaps the most exciting development lies in our own backyard here in Singapore. This year in 2009, we planted our first English congregation here in Singapore. Helming the work is Pastor Daniel Chua. This is all part of the vision of church planting and establishing multiple service centres here in Singapore.
At the same time, we see the nations being brought to our door steps, and we see our clear mandate and responsibility to reach our “Jerusalem” and “Judea” while not forgetting “Samaria” and the “uttermost parts of the world”. Currently, we have 7 different language congregations that meet every weekend and we are deeply thankful to the Lord for what He is doing in our midst.
As was enunciated by our Lord Jesus two thousand years ago, “The fields are indeed white unto harvest, but the laborers are few.” We hope this blog will be a means not just to inform but to challenge the reader to participate in the work in the nations.
