Ever wonder if your simple efforts to share the gospel ever make any impact? Here is a story of how a small seed sown in a child can withstand the test of time, and even the pull of the dark side, to bear fruit.

After a church service where her husband had preached as guest speaker, Jenny heard someone call her name. She turned and saw a mother with two young children. “Do you remember me? I was your neighbour a long time ago.” Jenny was pleasantly surprised. Casting her mind back some 30 years, she tried to recall.

Of course, the lady standing before her was Joan. She was only five when the Wongs moved into their rental flat at Prince Charles Crescent. Her family was not Christian, and her mother told Joan that a church pastor had become their neighbour with his front door directly facing theirs.

The two families soon became acquainted and Joan dropped by the home of the Wongs from time to time. When their baby girl came along, Joan became an older sister to her. Years later they even took part in a fancy dress contest together.

"Living in an estate with children running around, Jenny wondered how she could reach out to them."

 While Jenny’s husband, David, pastored a church meeting in a shophouse at Lengkok Bahru, Jenny worked as a kindergarten teacher at another church in Jurong. “I have always worked with children. I started as an assistant teacher, took a course in preschool education and became a teacher,” she explained.

“Even when my husband was studying in England, I worked in a day nursery for children of postgraduate students. We were newly married then, and I was already taking care of seven kids!”

Living in an estate with children running around, Jenny wondered how she could reach out to them. She remembered how she herself came to know about Jesus. “I was living in Redhill. Our family was large. We were eight children. Our parents didn’t have much time with us, and I was free to roam and play around our area.”

One day she learned about a place where she could sing songs, listen to stories, play games and get free sweets. All this took place in a flat not far from where she lived. She went and there for the first time she heard about Jesus. Could this be the way for her to share about Jesus to the children in her neighbourhood?



When Child Evangelism Fellowship offered their “Good News Club” the Wongs jumped at the opportunity. Their home became a club during the school holidays. Leaflets went out to nearby blocks inviting children to come. For five days, they gathered, sang, played games, listened to Bible stories and enjoyed refreshments.

One of the teachers, Jennifer, recalled, “My partner and I went to the blocks of flats, climbing up and down stairs, knocking on doors, handing out leaflets, inviting every child we met.”

She herself was a child of ten when she came to know Jesus. At eight, she lost her mother, someone she loved and adored. She still remembers the smell of the hospital where her mother passed on, and the sight of her body lowered into the grave. Knowing Jesus brought peace and comfort. Jennifer wished for all children to find what she found.

One of such children who came to the Good News Club was Joan. “My mother didn’t object. But she was not keen for me to mix with children from the nearby one-room flats,” she remembered. “The teachers were really kind and loving.” A song they taught stuck in Joan’s young mind:

“My God is so big,

so strong and so mighty

There's nothing my God cannot do....”

"What I thought was a game became a trap. I wanted to leave but could not because of threats against me."

 As Joan grew, she was drawn to another “club” in the neighbourhood. “I was introduced to rituals that were noisy and weird. These slightly older kids were playing with black magic and the spirit world. One of them would run around like a monkey. Another would prowl around like a leopard or tiger. We were told that our area was haunted and we should not come out on certain nights.”

Joan was roped in and became involved. “It was driven more by fear than anything else. We were into candles, chants, calling on spirits, and offering of sacrifices. What I thought was a game became a trap. I wanted to leave but could not because of threats against me.” The song about the big, strong and mighty God kept coming back to her.

Thankfully, after a year, the group disbanded. “We went our separate ways. None of us wanted to talk about what happened. In fact we stopped talking to each other and became strangers.”

Some time after, a friend invited Joan to go to church with her. There she found peace and felt loved. It brought back memories of the “Good News Club” at the Wongs’ home. One day, alone in her room, she prayed, “If you are the real God, show me.”

“Something happened,” Joan recalled. “I heard someone calling my name, saying, ‘What have you done to me?’ I fell down on my knees, feeling guilty and crying. I knew then it was God speaking.” Soon after, she attended the Luis Palau Mission at the National Stadium, and there accepted Jesus into her heart and life.

“Thank you for planting the first spiritual seed in me,” Joan wrote in the guest book after a recent visit to the Wongs’ home. Meanwhile, the Good News Club teacher Jennifer, now living in New Zealand, could only marvel on hearing what happened, seeing the fulfilment of God’s promise in Isaiah 55.11, NIV: “... so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”