(Note: This letter from the Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church of Singapore was received by the Contact Committee. We are passing it along to our people, via The Standard Bearer partly because it was meant for all our people, and partly because it has to do with the help which the Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church requested from us in connection with their new building project.)

Dearly beloved brethren in the Lord,

Greetings to you in the precious and glorious Name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

We thank God for His wonderful providence in giving to us a place of worship in Singapore. The Lord willing, the Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church can move to its new premises before the end of the year. If everything goes according to our plans, we will be worshipping in our new premises by October.

We received your letter dated 6/27/88 with great joy and thanksgiving to God. Your earlier letter had informed us of your decision to bring a recommendation to Synod to make a call to the churches and people to help us in this project. Thank you for your kind consideration and hearty recommendation to Synod. Now you have informed us that Synod eagerly and willingly acceded to this request. We are filled with thanksgiving to God that this desire to help us is clearly evident even in the decision of Synod.

The surveys conducted here have been most exciting and wonderful. We have now received love gifts as well as pledges for interest-free loans from members of the CERC and FERC which will enable us to buy and renovate the property. This also we see as the wonderful providence of God. The sacrificial giving of the saints is the evidence of Gods mighty work in the hearts of His people. Thank you for your encouraging word in this regard.

With this progress, we are nevertheless most thankful that we have heard good news from you. It is not so much the money, but the evidence of your desire to help that fills us with thanksgiving. Now it will not matter how much comes to us by way of love gifts and collections; what is more important is the fact that the saints in your midst heed the call for help and willingly help their sister churches in a faraway land. This is the expression of our unity in the body of Christ. Thanks be to God!

Since half of the entire project (approximately $300,000) is being financed by free-interest loans from members of the FERC and CERC, whatever assistance from your people we receive will lighten the burden sufficiently so that the church need not be in debt for such a long time and for such a big amount. Our intention is also to borrow as little as possible from the members of the FERC (or pay them back as soon as possible) so that they can fully support their own building project when the time comes for them to get a new place of worship.

Do convey our sincere greetings to your churches and people when you send them the request for help.

The Lord has been good to us, and we trust that His grace and His blessing will continue to lead us in this difficult but exciting project.

May the Lord bless you also with every spiritual blessing from above, and may the Protestant Reformed Churches continue to be used of God for the defense of the gospel.

Let us remember to pray earnestly for each other.

Yours in His Love,

w/s Pastor J. Mahtani,

Chairman of Session

Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church