Terroir (Tear-Wah) : A French term, interpreted in many ways, but a basic definition is “the coming together of the climate, the soil and the landscape”. Concerning a particular vineyard, terroir comprises the local factors that enable the growing of the best fruit and which makes its wine distinctive

It is probably an under-statement that 2003 was an eventful year for the Choo’s. By now you should know that we are responding by faith to what we believe is a call of God. Before the dust settled from the move to our home in Tanah Merah in December 2002, we had begun the work of cultivating a Vineyard at Terroir Tanamera. (Vineyard Tanamera is the name, which we have given our house church).

In February 2003 Lye Heng spoke to the people in the small group, which he had led for several years about his leaving to be a part of Vineyard Singapore. Most were puzzled about what the change entailed. Understandably none was ready to make a commitment to come with us. However, everyone was keen to visit. These circumstances did not deter us, and we immediately took steps to start our new house church meetings.

Having everyone else who attended our house church as visitors was one thing. But a more critical issue was the fact that Susan was still undergoing a personal struggle.

The pain and burden of leaving our old church and going to plant a new, was all too evident. Worse, she dreaded becoming that object of scrutiny and pity, called a pastor’s wife. Thankfully, at the time she was blissfully unaware of the Vineyard ideal of a husband-wife team ministering together.

The result was that we were often at each other like cats and dogs whenever the subject of Vineyard was raised. Lye Heng has shared about a moment of disunity, conflict and anger in the car, when he felt an urging to end it all by driving into a tree.

But God showed us his hand again. We believe that in a dream He spoke to a relative of Susan, Eugene, who is the pastor of the Church of Joy. On waking, Eugene felt an urgent need to speak to Susan and allay her concerns. We had shared with Eugene our fears and sought his advice about church planting several times before. He was always encouraging. When Eugene came to see us late one evening, Lye Heng recalls being frustrated, tired, at the end of his ropes so to speak.

We cannot recall all that was said that evening. But what is memorable for us is Susan’s brave acceptance at the conclusion, when in sincerity she said, “Do what must be done”.

Many of you have witnessed the change in her resolve, among other things.

We are now preparing for pastoral ministry, and are serving as Intern Pastors with the Vineyard church plant led by Stuart Gurnea. (Vineyard is a diverse group of churches that partner together to advance the Kingdom of God by communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed, and the movement was founded by John Wimber).

The church plant has outgrown its meeting place for its celebration services held on Saturday evenings. The first place was comfortable for 20 and the present at the YMCA Orchard is all right for up to 50. Now we need a venue that will seat between 80 to 100.

While the growth in numbers is encouraging, we are still very much a small group (house church) oriented fellowship. That’s where our focus lies because we are convinced that house churches are the best, and perhaps only, way to reach and disciple people for Jesus effectively. Presently Susan and I lead 2 small groups. We have a simple view of our role, which is to love and shepherd the people whom God brings to our care.

We are also quite involved in offering personal prayer ministry and counseling on family life, for individuals in our church plant.

Our house church had adopted the Master Life Discipleship program, and we began a class for a number of people in August 2003. Master Life is a proven tool for starting us on a life long personal discipleship walk with Christ. Deepening our relationship with Him. Transforming character into Christ-likeness. Giving Kingdom values, and purpose. The program comprises 4 parts, each taking 6 weeks to complete.

On outreach, the church plant aspires to be a beachhead for Vineyard missions to South East Asia. While we are relatively young, a number of mission teams have been organized. Members from Singapore and Vineyard churches in Australia and the USA have already made their way to Pattaya, Thailand!

We are waiting on God to see if we should start Alpha Courses in our house church. (Alpha has a solid track record for attracting non-churchgoers and reaching the lost for Christ.) We have been speaking consistently to our people about growth through wining souls for Christ, and with Alpha everyone can get involved in one way or another.

We will be posting regular updates to share more about our being “fools for Christ”. If you wish to keep abreast on what’s happening with us, please drop in here from time to time.