A Nation Worships

Every year in August, a Christian in Singapore would find himself making a pilgrimage down to the Singapore Indoor Stadium for what is known as the 'FOP.'

The Festival of Praise (FOP) is a yearly celebration to commemorate what God has been doing in Singapore. Founded by Rev. Dr. Canon James Wong, the FOP has been held annually for the last 15 years, thus making it the longest running inter-church event in Singapore. For the past three years, the event was specially organized to coincide with the National Day Celebration in August.

Being named the Festival of Praise—the event lived up to its billing over the three nights of meetings. Cooperation and unity across denominations were not only visible within the organizing committee, but was also prevalent in the worship segment as well. Headed by Clement Chow and his music team, the anthology of musicians & singers led the congregation into a variety of praise and worship songs that suited every palate in God's kingdom.

Flanked by tambourine dancers and a 200-strong choir, the whole stadium was set ablaze by the loud praises of God's people. Churches of different ethnicity and cultures also presented different items as a channel of their praise to the Lord. Altogether 144 churches participated in this year's event.

However, it was not until world evangelist Rev. Peter Youngren took to the stage, that saw the Festival of Praise accomplishing its sole purpose—winning souls into the kingdom!

On the first night, he preached about saying 'yes' to Jesus before it's too late. The Holy Spirit moved powerfully and when he gave the altar call, a throng of people moved down to receive Jesus.

The second night, Reverend Peter took a different avenue as he began to preach about the family. Drawing his main text from the Bible on the genealogy of Jesus, he took everyone on a historical journey and traced some names that were of significance.

That night, the atmosphere changed as Reverend Peter shared a life-changing message about the people in the genealogy who did not have a noble beginning, but through God's hand of intervention, they played an integral role in birthing forth the Messiah. Many hearts were deeply touched, judging by the vast number of people seen responding to the altar call.

The move of the Holy Spirit did not stop there. Reverend Peter told the people that he firmly believed that on the last night, there would be many healing miracles. Almost after the preaching, many responded to the altar call for healing.

At that moment, the whole congregation was brought back and reminded of the days in the book of Acts. It was an awesome sight to see God moving so powerfully among His people.

One man was suffering from multiple sclerosis and was miraculously healed that night. Another woman, who was partially deaf, was able to hear clearly for the first time. An elderly man was seen walking towards the stage after getting up from his wheelchair. And once upstage, he began pushing his own wheelchair around the stage as Reverend Peter led him further into his miracle.

When the festival came to a close, one can only say that it was amazing to see how God moved among the people with so many souls being added into the kingdom. It serves to remind us what the Festival Of Praise is all about.

As believers in Jesus, our main purpose is not only to worship God, but also to bring people into His kingdom, because that is exactly what Jesus commanded us to do in Mark 16:15-18: to fulfill the Great Commission