Our beloved brother and pastor John Ting has passed unto eternal glory.

We in ARPC – join countless believers and churches around the world – in giving thanks for pastor John’s love, life and ministry.

We were especially blessed to have John as part of ARPC in what turned out to be the final lap of his pastoral ministry before he returned to retire in Sydney with his family.

Pastor John would recall and retell his joining our ARPC pastoral team in his own humorous way.

He would say he came to “beg” me for a job in ARPC after his retirement as the faithful Dean of Discipleship Training Centre (DTC).

“Beg” would be last thing I would ever wish upon my brother John!

You see, it was pastor John Ting who opened up his heart and home at DTC for me to stay when I first arrived to work in Singapore in the 1980s.

There is nothing like the power of the warm embrace of Christian hospitality for lonely foreigners in a new land.

So, it is I who would forever owe a debt of love to John and Frances for sheltering me – by sharing their modest DTC abode which was already crowded – as it housed their three young children then.

It was also John who brought me to worship at Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church (PSPC). And from PSPC, in God’s time, came the birth and growth of ARPC.

Unknown to John and myself, under Jesus’ loving sovereignty, we would be used by God to provide each other brotherly shelter in the fledgling beginning and faithful ending of our respective ministries.

From his small act of love, pastor John steadied my heart to stay and we both grew as partners and witnesses of God’s gracious work in and through ARPC and beyond.

In his ministry, John’s three decades of theological education – stretching from being a student, to a lecturer to being Dean of DTC – has impacted hundreds across the world.

I witnessed John’s contagious love for prisons and drug rehab ministry and got “infected”.

It was him who introduced me to The Helping Hand, which I later led ARPC to partner over the past three decades. And, by God’s grace, it’s still going strong.

John also had a special heart for those with mental health challenges. He was a lifelong pilgrim and steadfast encourager of those suffering depression.

In his preaching and writing, John would be known and appreciated for his earthy, disarming and heart warming illustrations which made his sermons speak across class and age barriers.

Some would unkindly accuse John of preaching and practising a “pragmatic” gospel.

Many of us in evangelical circles have to humbly learn the difference being good-hearted critiques vs judgmental accusers.

In all honesty under God, many of us perhaps suffer a greater flaw.

We simplistically presume ourselves to be good listeners when we are, in reality, supremely bad doers of God’s word in our calling to love.

In his life, John had his share of loves and hates. He loved ice cream, ox tail soup and young children. Not sure in which order though!

If there was a cardinal sin he despised, it was unpunctuality! God help you if you triggered him with tardy time keeping.

Through it all, we all look to and trust in Jesus our Saviour to love, forgive and redeem us. That was John’s confidence and joy.

We are honored to have known and loved John as we worship and follow Jesus our Saviour and Lord.

He will forever be known dearly to us in ARPC as Revd John Ting.

I will forever be grateful to him as a father figure, spiritual mentor and dear brother. Mona and I will miss him dearly.

Let us pray for Frances and the family (David, Rhonda and Michelle) to be comforted and strengthened with living hope in our Risen Lord Jesus.

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” – Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬-‭23