What My Ordination Means To Me
Rev. Ray Soh Jwee Hua
On 28 June 2025, I was ordained as a minister in the Lutheran Church in Singapore. It was a joyous occasion and it ranked up there along with many other important days I have had in my life, such as my college graduation day, my marriage and the birth of my children. Ordination is very important to me – and to any pastor – in that it affirms God’s call on me to be a minister of His precious Word and life-giving Sacraments. The faithful God let himself be heard and continues to speak through the congregations I was with throughout the entire journey. I did not have to rely on trying to hear God from within me, which is a tricky and unreliable way of ascertaining God’s call to ministry. This is especially helpful for someone like me who always has doubts about God’s call.
I have no doubt that it was God who planted the desire in my heart to want to serve him. Jesus’ words to Peter come to mind. “If you love me, feed my sheep.” These words kept ringing in my mind when I was still a full-time teacher. Yet it was not enough for me to give up on my career. The desire that God had planted was just a spark that gets the engine of a car started. It was not enough for the engine to keep running. For that to happen, fuel had to be provided. God has to continue to call. And I have to continue to hear.
Thanks be to God, I did not have to rely on my inner voice, or try hard to remember the initial call. Truth to be told, I have forgotten how the initial spark felt like. My call to study full-time theology came from my home church BLC, who recommended me to pursue a three-year study at TTC. This was a mighty call of an entire congregation, sustaining and spurring me on whenever I felt like I could not make it to the end of my divinity studies.
After graduation, I had to continue to hear the call. This time the call had to come from LCOR where I started serving as a preacher. They first had to confirm me as a preacher and then recommend me as a candidate suitable for ordination. Besides, there were additional courses to complete and a thesis to write, before I could be recommended by LCS to be an ordained minister. These were formidable hurdles, yet they were in total an affirmation of God’s call for me to be a pastor. What seemed like obstacles to ordination were in fact God’s concrete call for me to the ministry.
I know that God’s concrete call – ordination – will remain very important to me as I start a new chapter of my ministry as an ordained pastor. It will help me surmount any difficulty I might face, and overcome any self-doubt that threatens to derail me in my ministry.
With confidence that comes from ordination, I will be able to bring God’s comfort, mercy, forgiveness, love and everlasting life to all he puts under my care.
My lovely family
My church family