Local Alumna serving at Toa Payoh Methodist Church: Agnes Goh

EAST News caught up with local alumna Agnes Goh who graduated in 2018 with a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies through a series of short interview questions. She is currently a pastoral staff with Toa Payoh Methodist Church, often conducting ministry through zoom meetings and voice calls, with the current social restrictions tightening up again due to higher cases of Covid-19. Below is the short interview and some of her prayer requests.

1. How has life been for you since your graduation from EAST?

God has continued to lead, guide and bless me and my family in different ways. Since graduating from EAST, I have also graduated into parenting teenagers which has been wonderful (contrary to popular belief), as I get to talk and discuss a lot more common things of interest with my teenagers. It’s also very heartfelt and satisfying when they share with me their thoughts and feelings about issues they are grappling. I try to help them see how God is at work in their lives. After graduation, I still did not know where I was to serve, but God led me patiently and clearly.

2. What are the joys and challenges of being a pastoral staff?

I am currently the pastoral staff for discipleship and small group ministry (we call it Connect Groups), and look into various equipping and teaching. The joy is to be able to see people grow in the Lord and also getting to know the church congregation more. I am thankful that they trust me to share their challenges and prayer requests to journey with them. I also enjoy doing a lot of content development. The challenge especially in the covid situation is not being able to meet physically. Although there are online platforms and tools to leverage on, it is still not the same as fellowshipping face to face – having that handshake, a hug, a pat on the back. Covid has made people busier overall plus we do not get to physically interact with them as much now, so it has also been a challenge to raise new leaders and volunteers. As my church is an intergenerational church with a wide age range, the needs and modes of discipleship also vary vastly, and with the changing environment, I am mindful to balance providing the familiar but also trying new things.

3. Could you share about how your family has cope with living with Covid in SG so far? Has it affected WFH (Working from Home), HBL (Home-Based Learning) and children’s studies?

My husband has been extremely busier with work while working from home, but I am thankful we now get to have more home-cooked lunches and dinners together. We have all settled into our different corners and spaces in the house for work or studies. The children are independent enough to manage their studies on their own and I just need to check in to make sure they are not spending too much time on social media or gaming. Being teens, they want to hangout with friends, so it has been very frustrating for them to be stuck at home. Where the numbers allow, we have been having their friends come over to our house instead and I get to know their friends better as well.

4. How has time at EAST equipped for life and ministry? Words of encouragement for potential students?

The various modules have helped me understand the Word of God and theology better, not just information and knowledge, but also the discourse process has helped to sharpen my thinking. Bible Study Methods and Preaching modules, the theology assignments, the language studies have definitely given me practical handles for my ministry role. But it was the mentorship in MG (Mentoring Group), the help and care from the lecturers, the interactions with the student body life that was enriching. I especially like how international the cohort was. In fact I was the rare minority Singaporean mother. The whole time at EAST was about spiritual formation for me.

3 prayer requests:

• Pray for my children Sean and Nicole, that they will grow to be a man and woman after God’s heart, and for my husband to have physical and spiritual rest and refreshment.
• Pray for wisdom in how to lead, build up and encourage the church’s small group leaders, as they disciple and shepherd their group members over this lengthy covid period.
• Pray for Christians in Singapore to press on in faith and fellowship despite covid and that the infection numbers will take a miraculous turn to start going down.