For seven years he prayed for God to either take the longing away or to make a way possible for him and his family to be at University Chapel in Vancouver.
Last year, God made a way.
Michael and his family moved to Canada and he became the English congregation pastor at University Chapel.
Sometimes God’s stories take a while to unfold.
This one is no exception.
When Michael attended Regent College, he and his wife loved being a part of University Chapel and it was a hard decision to return to Singapore for family after seminary.
But this church in Vancouver stayed in their hearts.
Years later, when God finally opened all the doors, Michael joyfully stepped into the pastor role.
Michael describes University Chapel as essentially one big church family made up of three congregations.
Each congregation meets separately and worships in their own language but they all have their services at the same time in various parts of the building.
So they regularly see each other and are getting to know one another.
The children and youth from all the congregations meet together as one big group for Sunday worship.
They regularly and intentionally host joint events or have joint worship services with multi-language worship teams with a collection of songs that they can sing in all three languages.
It’s a unique leadership structure – the pastoral team is made up of four pastors and they’re figuring out what it means to work together as a team.
It’s been a bit of a reset so that each congregation has equal ownership and no one feels like a tenant.
Michael is grateful for the way they all care for their own congregation and the big church family.
Together as a leadership team, the pastoral team tries to make decisions that are good for everyone.
They trust each other and carry each other’s burdens.
They talk and pray for each other.
It’s a good story that God is writing.