Isaac reopened the water wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them.
Genesis 26:18
God has a story of revival that He has been and is continuing to write in our nation of Singapore. I firmly believe that much of that will come through the activation of believers in the marketplace because there is a well of revival that we are called to reopen, specifically represented by the Raffles Place / Tanjong Pagar business district.
Genesis 26 tells us the story of Isaac and how he went about reopening the wells that his father Abraham opened. Revival is a call to intergenerational ministry and responsibility. And from 1935 to 1939, a well of revival was opened through the ministry of Dr John Sung, the great Asian revivalist who was once called the “John Wesley of the East”. There is a revival well in the Raffles Place / Tanjong Pager area because of this work that was centred at the Telok Ayer Methodist Church.
An Inheritance of Gathering
There aren’t as many books that capture the revival story of Singapore as there should be. But one book, “John Sung My Teacher” by Timothy Tow, records the story of John Sung’s ministry in Singapore during that period. He wrote:
“As the revival meetings progressed and more and more where born again, the auditorium of Telok Ayer Church was transformed into a power house.” (Tow, 1985)
It is no wonder then why there are so many gatherings and office fellowships that meet in this area. There have even been bible study fellowships that started in this area that grew into churches! There are many wonderful groups in the marketplace that have organised evangelistic events in this area. I pray that they tap into this inheritance and we see “power houses” being raised up through their work! There is a flow and connection to this spiritual heritage that we can continue in!
An Inheritance of Prayer
There is also a strong heritage of prayer in this area as well:
As people gathered around the word preached by Dr Sung, prayer was a natural extension of these kingdom gatherings. If it happened before, we can ask it to manifest again in our days.
An Inheritance of Evangelism
I believe that with prayer changing the spiritual atmosphere of the marketplace, we will see believers rise up in bringing the Gospel into the streets and offices once again as it happened so many years ago.
Can you imagine the scene all those years ago? So many believers going out in small groups, filling the streets, going from shophouse to shophouse with the invitation to hear the gospel? I worked many years in this year, going for lunch in many of these shophouses without ever realising the wonderful work that took place more than 80 years ago!
A Destiny for Revival
Believers gathering, fervent prayer, disciples sharing the gospel – if we see all these again, the end result can only be revival! Just as it was 80 years ago. In fact, what happened in those days was simply amazing – bibles were sold out!
Can you imagine this happening again in our days? New believers so hungry for the Word that Bibles are sold out throughout our nation? If it happened before – it can happen again!
The “Signs” of Revival
Interesting, even the names of the streets in the Raffles Place area remind us of what God is doing again in our days.
What do you notice about the names of the streets? Three of them stand out: Cross Street, Market Street and Church Street!
When the Church connects to the Marketplace to bring the Cross, there will be revival!
Literally, the “signs” of revival are already in place!
Our heartbeat is to continue to sow into this work that began many years ago as we meet each month to pray into the revival that is to come for this nation, through a revival of believers in the marketplace that will win the lost in the marketplace for Christ and transform the culture and focus of businesses throughout this land to be kingdom-centred and God-glorifying. We pray this glimpse into our history encourages you to press on in the work that you are doing for the Lord!
Marketplace Awakening 