In Memory of Rev.Amin Tjung

Rev.Amin Tjung passed away this morning, after battling with cancer since December 2005. He is a dedicated and beloved pastor of GRII Singapore (Indonesian Reformed Evangelical Church in Singapore).

My first encounter with him was during my first meeting at GRII young adult fellowship in January 2006. That day, he grabbed a young adult to the front and shot him with critical questions regarding the Scripture’s authority, which I found to be quite a unique way of teaching. It was more like a Q&A sessions, but the essence of the teaching greatly helped in consolidating my understanding of the Scripture, and I decided to make a summary of that session. Only after that meeting, I was told that he might not have more than 3 months to live. I had no idea that he was already battling with terminal cancer at that time because he talked and joked like a normal healthy man.

In this blog entry, I would like to put into remembrance different things I have learnt from him. What I write will fall short of describing what he is like because I have very limited correspondence with him and I know too little of the sufferings he went through daily and how he overcame them. Neverthelesss, within this short 1.5 year, through his teaching, his life example and our brief conversations he has condensed important principles that would make lasting impact in my life.

If I can summarize the concerns he always had, that is the preaching of the gospel and discipleship for the young generation. Over and over again, he always told us how he yearned to see us consolidating our faith foundation and learning to carry life burdens and struggling honestly before God since our youth.

He is a very interesting character. He took God very seriously but took himself, and obviously, his illness and personal struggles, very lightly. He could speak with a lot of humor while integrating important doctrines and principles inside. I still remember his words early last year, “When people hear that I am sick, I have so many people calling me from different parts of the world. News of sickness seems to spread faster than the gospel.” He did not focus much on his personal struggle. Coming bald one day due chemotheraphy, he cracked a joke at the pulpit, “Today a monk is preaching to you.”

He never once complained about his illness, instead he kept apologizing for his weaknesses and loss of voice that affect his ability to serve. That deep longing and urgency to keep serving while he still had the chance, was something everyone around him could testify. One consistent message of his life example is that that ministry is a privilege, that we are all unworthy and should be thankful if we are ever given the opportunities to serve God.

I asked him once whether he was ready if God were to take him away that day. He said, “Just try to finish what you have to do for today. If we keep this attitude consistently, all our days will be accounted for. At least I can say, I have finished my work for today.”

I have the privilege to hear his preaching in church, his teaching in young adult fellowship and his lectures in Reformed Institute. Before starting his sharing on any topic, he had the habit of recommending relevant books for us to read. He would give us ideas about the books, about the position and values of those books. He introduced not only reformed books, but also those that are different, whether slightly or a lot, from the stand adopted by GRIIS. He strongly encouraged us to do our own comparison study.

He always focused on giving the overall framework and then threw us with questions to ponder, references and books to read further, rather than feeding us with detailed content. After every lecture, I always felt the realm of the unknown growing wider and wider and I had a lot, a lot, to catch up.

His fight with cancer did not deter him from advancing as he always said that the work of God would not be hindered because of men. All the time I see his undying fire and sense of urgency to provide avenue to build solid foundation in the lives of young people to lead the future generations.

During GRIIS retreat in May last year, Rev.Stephen Tong said, “Rev.Amin Tjung asked me a question today that felt like a lightning to me. Reformed Intitute had just been inaugurated in Jakarta. He asked when we would build one in Singapore.”

Rev.Tong took his question very seriously because there are many Indonesian students in Singapore who are bonded to work for a few years after their study, so they could not leave and he believed they should be given opportunities to take their theology course. In less than a year, already the Reformed Institute Extension in Singapore was founded in February this year because of Rev.Amin Tjung’s initiation.

I have the privilege to be a student of Reformed Institute for its first term, and we learnt under the environment where the resources were squeezed to the maximum. Reformed Institute in Singapore started with a very humble beginning. We only have two lecturers for our first term. One is Rev.Amin Tjung himself who was battling with cancer but relentlessly kept teaching us, and the other lecturer was Ev.Hendra Widjaja, who has to travel to and fro between Indonesia and Singapore fortnightly because of the lack of fulltime ministers in GRII. The road ahead is still very rough and rocky, but what is started with the right spirit and foundation will prevail.

On shepherding, he has a very partoral heart. He prayed regularly for every single person he was pastoring. He made effort to remember all their names. Since our first encounter, he remembered me immediately, and I could subtly sense he kept track of my progress, both in my theological development and in ministry. I know that many other youths and young adults have also received his encouragement, correction and inspiration.

From what I can see, he has long prepared his wife and his kids for his departure. The whole family has submitted this matter to God all along. We are all sad because he has left us, but it is a day of thanksgiving as we see that it is a day of glory for him. He has taught his family and his congregation well. He is a very good reformed pastor.

We thank God that in this dark and lost generation, He has been so gracious to give us such a good pastor to be a light and example to us. In his frailty, we see the sufficiency of God and the power of Christ made perfect in weakness.

Rev.Tong was asked before why he was so cruel to let Rev.Amin Tjung who was already so sick to be pastoring GRIIS on his own, and why he did not send more pastors to Singapore. He replied this way, “Do you think I am a pastor factory? That I can produce a pastor whenever I like? If you have a burden, study hard and train yourself hard, so that you can surrender yourself to the Lord and be a fulltime minister to meet the needs of the church.”

May his spirit of service lives on in our hearts that we too, might imitate his example to serve our Lord Jesus Christ with wholeheartedness, gratitude and humility.

And finally, for his death, he requested for this verse to be engraved on his tombstone, “We are unworthy servants, we have only done our duty.” (Luke 17:10b)