Dear Friends
Happy New Year!
Have you ever wondered about God’s plan and purpose for you at your workplace, or place in life now? How can we view our work through the lens of our faith?
After bidding farewell to 2023, the beginning of a brand new year is an opportunity for us to take stock of the places we are called to love and serve Christ and others in 2024.
As our church theme this year focuses on the Workplace, we have put together a series of short Q&A interviews with ordinary Wesleyans, like you and me, to hear about how they live out their faith in their vocations. In the Everyday Christianity: Faith@Work series, our brothers and sisters-in-Christ will share about how their objectives, decision making and interactions at work can be shaped by the gospel.
Through this series, we pray that you might be given a glimpse on how you can see your work as a ministry and part of your discipleship journey, how He can use your work for His glory.
May you be encouraged to be a salt and light for Him, wherever you are, in whatever you do.
In Christ,
Wesley TIDINGS team
For more information on the church theme this year, please go to:
https://tidings.wesleymc.org/feature/from-our-pastor/directions-2024-discipleship-in-the-workplace
In this second issue of Everyday Christianity: Faith@Work, we find out how God is viewed and experienced through the lens and life of an engineer. For fourth-generation Christian Vincent Hong, the importance of living a sanctified life was instilled from a very young age. Now in his early 40s, Vincent sees the power of God’s Word in guiding and directing him and enabling him to serve others in all areas of his life including at his workplace. Vincent is currently serving as the Chairperson of the Mandarin Ministry in the Wesley Methodist Church LCEC (Local Church Executive Committee). He has been worshipping in Wesley for 18 years.
Tell us about yourself, Vincent.
I grew up in Perak in Malaysia. My family and I worshipped at the Wesley Methodist Church in my hometown Sitiawan. My grandmother worshipped at the Simpang Ampat Chinese Methodist Church (CAC). My great-grandparents were already Christians when they were still living in China, before their immigration to Malaysia. I moved to Singapore in 2001 and I’ve been based here since. My wife, Khai Yin, is also an engineer. We met when we were Electrical & Electronics engineering undergraduates in NTU (Nanyang Technological University). We have a pair of 9-year-old twin boys and a 7-year-old girl. I have been working in a semiconductor manufacturing company since I graduated in 2007.
Why did you choose engineering?
I chose to pursue engineering because I have always wanted to create something out of nothing, combining both aspects of software and hardware. As an engineer who does alot of programming and coding, I know how difficult it is to write perfect and bug-free codes. Debugging code can be a highly time consuming process that requires immense patience and attention to detail. All it takes is a tiny error, a small bug in the code, and we could spend hours to weeks just debugging and fixing it. To me, God is the master programmer and engineer of the universe, if all of us were digitalised into a series of binary codes in the form of digital 1s and 0s. Our God is the only engineer who can integrate all these imperfect buggy codes and transform them into beautiful software solutions.
Thank you for sharing with us an interesting way of looking at our omnipotent God. Could you please tell us more about your engineering job responsibilities?
I lead various teams of data and machine learning engineers focused on high-volume manufacturing initiatives. We work in technical teams to design and build custom software and smart applications. With my team, I develop, deploy and apply analytics using machine learning and artificial intelligence.
How do you live out your faith in your working life?
I do my best to look at things, resolve issues and treat others from a Christian perspective. I also share my experiences and lessons from my faith with my peers and team members whenever the opportunities arise. With colleagues who share the same faith, we encourage and motivate each other with God’s word at the workplace. I recently also started a series of leadership workshops with the managers in my team where I have adapted or used resources from the Global Leadership Summit (GLS), the largest Christian-based leadership community in the world. Most of their resources are based on biblical truths, and I love how they are applicable to leaders across different fields and industries. I pray that this leadership workshop will plant seeds in my team and nurture their growth.
What are some of your challenges at work?
As a manager, I find it difficult to be entirely open and direct with my feedback. I seek to balance my criticisms, no matter how constructive I think they are, with wisdom and sensitivity. Sometimes when it comes to delivering bad news, I wonder how much I should sugar-coat content for damage control and morale. In the corporate world, there is a notion that you have to adjust and adapt to who you talk to, even if it means not being authentic. Striking this balance can be tough for me. I constantly lean on God’s Word to guide me to do and say the things He wants me to.
What are some of the other challenges you face as a Christian in general?
I have some fears around rejection when I talk to others about my faith. I once tried to comfort a non-believer who was in deep depression. After a long conversation, I was told that there was no way I could ever understand what the person went through, because I seem “so perfect and blessed”. I have concerns about being regarded as a stereotypical Christian, appearing overly judgmental and self righteous. So I try to be mindful in the way I share my faith.
How do you organise your time around your family, work, Church ministry, and personal life?
I have been serving in the Mandarin Ministry for 11 years. I started as a guitarist in the worship team and am now serving as a worship leader. I typically try my best to complete my work on weeknights and keep my Saturdays entirely free to spend quality time with my family, bringing them out for outings and activities. And of course, we attend Church together on Sundays.
Do you have a regular rhythm for Sabbath?
I don’t practise Sabbath as regularly as I hope to, especially with the increasing responsibilities and commitments in the family, church and workplace. In this new year, I hope to give more priority to the practice of Sabbath. In terms of spending time with God, I try to be more committed by attending courses such as Disciple and Companions-in-Christ, so that I keep to the discipline of spending time with God on a regular basis. In addition to the homework and assignments, the group setting allows course mates to keep each other accountable. When journeying alone, it can be hard to set time aside just for God.
Where do you find God in the mundane and ordinary?
I like communing with God in my daily commute, especially when I’m driving to work alone. I enjoy listening and singing along to worship songs, they make me feel at ease and encouraged.
How do your beliefs and life as a Christian help you to live a life that is worthy of His calling, enriching and meaningful?
Growing up, I was a timid and reserved boy who held back from expressing myself. But now, I have the courage and confidence to stand in front of a congregation to lead worship, and to serve Him with all I’ve got. I thank God for the opportunities, talents and resources He has given me to make a difference in His Kingdom, in whatever small ways I can. My faith journey in the Methodist Youth Fellowship has shaped me into who I am today, including the support from my friends in Christ and the youth council, who believed in my potential before I could see it myself.
What is success to you?
I am deeply inspired by a late Hong Kong actor, Roy Chiao Hung (乔宏) who was a devout Christian. In his later years, he became involved in missionary work and was the founder of “Artists’ Home,” a Christian Fellowship for actors in Hong Kong. He died of heart disease in 1999 at the age of 72, and I was invited to attend his Memorial Thanksgiving Service hosted by a local Chinese Church in Malaysia. The verse quoted at the end of his memorial tribute video was from 2 Timothy 4:7-8: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge, will award unto me on that day”. This verse left a strong impression on me. I pray that when I get to meet Jesus Christ after death, I can cite this verse too, with my head held high. This is what success means to me.
How have you seen God working in your life so far?
I have lost count of the occasions and moments that the Lord has proven to me over and over again that He takes great care of me. One of the biggest milestones in my life was my move to Singapore to further my education when I was 19. My father could not have afforded to send me here for my studies if not for the fact that I could stay with my uncle in Singapore. My uncle had come to Singapore because of a job opportunity 23 years before my move to Singapore. It is a beautiful testament of God’s plan for me. God has helped me overcome trials and has blessed me abundantly from the time I grew up in Perak till my time now as an engineer in Singapore. He has also given me my beautiful family. Through all the trials and blessings, I have come to know He is real in my life.
Photos courtesy of Vincent Hong
Read also: ‘He can weave a beautiful life tapestry out of our sorrows and brokenness’: An Interview with Jody Koh, Dressmaker; Directions 2024 – Discipleship in the Workplace; Working From A Place of Rest
