A Spiritual Father

This week, we mourn the passing of Bishop Dr Moses Tay, one of Singapore’s spiritual fathers.

He became Bishop of Singapore in 1982. At the time, he was Director of Tan Tock Seng Hospital, a position he relinquished to serve the Church. In the wake of the spiritual renewal that swept through the Church from the 1970s onwards, he played a key leadership role in our Diocese and the wider Church.

Brilliant, disciplined, talented and godly, he was a great gift to our Diocese. He provided wisdom and leadership as a growing Diocese responded to the spiritual renewal while seeking to grow biblically, remain missional both locally and abroad, and stay faithful to our inherited Anglican distinctives and strengths.

He always had a keen eye on the development of our parishes. The Diocese then was smaller and less encumbered by other national or international responsibilities. He was present in the life of our parishes and knew many of our lay leaders and pastors personally. His inspirational leadership earned the respect and trust of a generation of lay leaders who would eventually play key roles in our parishes and Diocese.

He and his wife, Cynthia, were also an inspiration behind our Diocesan lay training, with its emphasis on Scripture and practical ministry skills. These programmes also provided an important avenue for bringing our Diocesan community together.

His experience as a doctor and hospital administrator came in handy as he guided the growing medical work of our Diocese. He also inspired the Diocese to give greater attention to our inherited missionary responsibilities in countries that would eventually become our Deaneries. Some of our clergy became among the first full-time missionaries sent out by the Diocese, serving in places as far away as Bolivia.

He worked with our Malaysian bishops towards the formation of the Province of the Anglican Church in South East Asia, which was inaugurated in 1996. He was her first Archbishop. This gave our churches greater autonomy within a worldwide Anglican Communion that was itself facing significant challenges. He played a prominent role in the 1998 Lambeth Conference in articulating the convictions represented in the Kuala Lumpur Statement on Human Sexuality. Throughout those years, he remained steadfast in his commitment to biblical orthodoxy.

He also had a big heart for the wider Church in Singapore and helped pioneer the Love Singapore movement. His influence extended beyond the Anglican Church to mission communities such as YWAM and many others.

From here, allow me to share more personally.

Bishop Tay was my first bishop after I joined the Anglican Church. He laid hands on me at my confirmation and, a few years later, would do so again at my ordination. He inspired me to greater heights in following Christ and was influential in my decision first to serve as a parish worker and later to become a clergyman.

I was privileged to serve as his chaplain when he became Archbishop of our Province. I was still a Malaysian then, and perhaps he thought I might come in useful as we visited various cities in both West and East Malaysia. On these trips, I came to know him up close and personally. There was a stature about him in the way he related to other bishops and leaders, and yet his godliness, simplicity and humility were always evident.

As I grew in my ministry responsibilities and was posted to different parishes, Bishop Tay was always at hand when I needed his support.

I remember struggling during my earlier years as Vicar of St James’ Church. The church was not growing, and one day I shared my concern with him.

He asked me, “Terry, is the church happy?” I replied that they seemed to be.

He said, “That is most important.”

I did not quite understand what he meant at the time. Later, I came to realise the wisdom of those words. When the soil of a parish is healthy and its community is united, there is a foundation upon which growth can come. And, indeed, in time it did.

On another occasion, I caught wind that I might be posted out of St James’. I struggled with the prospect because I had become deeply invested in the future of the church, which had only recently completed a major building project. I remember sitting with Bishop Tay. There were tears as we prayed together. He gave me the strength to let go—to hold the ministry entrusted to me with open hands and to be willing to go wherever my bishop might send me.

Looking back, I realise that Bishop Tay did more than teach me about ministry. He modelled something of what it meant to be a pastor and a spiritual father. There are leaders whom we remember for what they accomplished. There are others whom we remember for the way their lives shaped ours. Bishop Moses Tay was both.

In this, I know I am also speaking for many of you in MPCC.

May he rest in peace and rise in glory.