by Nathan Punithen
The Leaders’ Working and Planning Retreat, LPWR, as everyone calls it, began on a Friday morning at Christ Evangelical Reformed Church. A few departments started early with setup and preparation work, while most leaders arrived later, after their regular jobs. By evening, the meeting room was full of laptops, half-drunk coffees, and people planning.
Leaders of CERC
“It’s not a camp or a catch-up session. LPWR is where we test whether our plans actually serve the gospel,” said John Miller, the newly appointed Head of Department for Logistics.
The agenda was simple: look back at what had been done, figure out what needed fixing, and plan for the months ahead. Each department, e.g., Press, Sunday School, Music, and others had its own table, its own stack of notes, its own conversations. Everyone knew there was real work to be done.
Lucas Tan, a Church Ministers’ Apprentice, leading the discussion
Department heads and their assistants went up to Pastor Robin freely to ask questions, confirm details, or float ideas. He answered, clarified, and proposed, then let them get back to it.
Pastor Robin, understandably distracted by baby Roseveare while answering questions
Between working sessions, Pastor Robin spoke to everyone to clarify broader goals and set the frame for the discussions. His briefings weren’t about specific departments but about the bigger questions: what the church was trying to achieve, how each team’s plans fitted into that, and what faithfulness should look like in the work. After each round, leaders returned to their own tables to continue planning, adjusting, and debating the next steps.
Li Yin, a leader responsible for church spaces, sharing her views
CERC has grown steadily since its early days as a small group of about a dozen people. Now a community of roughly five hundred, the church is preparing to move into a new building to make room for continued growth. That scale brings its own challenges. Each ministry runs with a fair amount of independence, which makes coordination both necessary and time-consuming. The retreat made that plain. Some leaders reported clear progress; others admitted plans that hadn’t worked or goals that needed rethinking.
“Every LPWR reminds me that we’re all learning together. Seeing everyone serve faithfully, even when plans don’t go perfectly, encourages me to trust God and keep pressing on,” said Rachel Lim.
She also added that “there really is a lot we have to learn because we aren’t professionals, we’re just regular people trying to figure out the best ways to serve our Lord! Something key that I learnt as a leader is that growth is also much more complicated than it seems – it’s not just about growing in numbers, but more importantly, it’s about doing what’s necessary to help others grow in maturity and love for Jesus.”
Jonathan Chin having a light-hearted moment in midst of planning
Some imagine the CERC as a tightly controlled environment. Instead, LPWR showed leaders figuring things out as they went, helping each other when needed, and keeping their focus on serving God together.
LPWR wasn’t about perfection. It was about learning, adjusting, and trusting that faithful work, done together, would bear fruit in God’s time. The weekend was full of reminders that ministry isn’t just a list of tasks, but people, growing, serving, and depending on God. It ended with a shared hope that the year ahead would bring both new opportunities and deeper joy in serving Christ.
