preface

Many years ago, I traveled with three pastors to Hong Kong's Grace Church to investigate how, under the leadership of Pastor Su Yingzhi, Grace Church had grown from a church of a hundred to several thousand (currently over five thousand) in just 15 years through a strategy of fellowship groups. Under the enthusiastic and wise guidance of Grace Church's Vice Pastor Zheng Jincheng, after six days of visits, experiences, consultations, and discussions, we were not only deeply impressed by the operation of Grace Church's fellowship groups, but also gained considerable inspiration for our future pastoral and evangelistic models.

Upon returning to Singapore, I immediately put the vision of small group fellowship into practice and began planning training for group leaders. Just as a fellowship cannot begin without a mentor, small groups cannot begin without group leaders. Therefore, I simultaneously trained and compiled training materials. However, the most crucial aspect of equipping group leaders was not technical skills, but rather their values system and commitment to service. Thus, I compiled the first training material—"The Axiology of Christians Today"—which helps ones examine past traumas from the perspective of faith, explore how to build a healthy self-image, and use correct worldview, to view money, work, suffering, marriage and family, service, leadership, and missionary work, to counteract seemingly plausible ideologies from the world.

On the other hand, after the groups began operating, we found that many Christians and seekers still had a vague or incomplete understanding of the basic gospel faith. Therefore, I wrote a second training material—"Good News for This Generation". In addition to exploring the issue of God's existence in the first lesson, it approaches the gospel from seven angles to help people gain a comprehensive understanding of the gospel faith, including: the gospel of revelation, the gospel of forgiveness, the gospel of redemption, the gospel of reconciliation, the gospel of regeneration, the gospel of victory, and the gospel of resurrection.

However, understanding the Gospel is only the initial stage of faith. To enable believers to truly understand, as Paul said, "I know with certainty whom I have believed," I have also begun writing "The Faith of Christians Today", allowing participants in these courses to establish a solid foundation for their faith. The course content is designed not only to increase believers' intellectual knowledge but also to require them to respond to or put their understanding into practice. For example, in the first lesson on understanding the Triune God, it is learned that God is the Creator, and that we should respond to Him with worship. The second lesson is about recognizing the Son as the Redeemer, and that we should commit ourselves to Him. The third lesson is about recognizing the Holy Spirit as the Lord who is present in our lives, and that we should experience Him through obedience. Recently, I also began writing “The Start of the New Hearts”, which helps believers understand the relationships between God and humanity, between people, between people and things, and between people and the church.

The four foundational courses mentioned above are not only suitable as Bible study materials for small groups, but are also used as pre-baptismal courses for seekers. In order, they are: “The Start of the New Hearts”, "Good News for This Generation", "The Faith of Christians Today", and "The Axiology of Christians Today". The course will last for over a year, after which participants are baptized and join the church. May God use these four foundational courses as a blessing to the church, effectively building up believers and bringing glory to God!

Finally, I would like to thank Sister Qiu Yufang for her hard work in drafting the manuscript; my wife Aiyue for proofreading the manuscript; Pastor Chen Lecai for the cover design; and the Christian Communications Singapore (CCL Publications Pte Ltd) for assisting in the publication, so that these four basic series courses could be successfully published.

Introduction – The faith of modern believers