Rev. Herbert Tong, where art thou?
It has been a month since the Bishop Commissary and Mediator/Facilitator were announced to members of the Anglican Diocese of Sabah. While Bishop Moses Tay and his wife Cynthia have been worshipping at All Saints Cathedral, shared meals and meet with people including former Bishops, key individuals amongst the complainants and delegates, Rev. Herbert Tong was nowhere to be seen. Certainly he had not worshipped in any Anglican churches in KK since his appointment as Bishop Commissary a month ago.
We should not be too harsh and quick to judge. Perhaps he had prior commitments he had to attend to. It would be strange to accept the appointment but travel out of Sabah during the first month of his appointment. Perhaps he was worshipping in rural Anglican churches? Fair enough. It is still very strange he has not set foot on any of the last four Sundays at the epic center of this crisis. It is not unreasonable to expect the leader of ADOS to worship with the members of ADOS if he is in the Diocese. How do you lead the people if you do not know the people? How do you take care of the sheep if you are not even there with the sheep?
Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” Rev. Herbert Tong do you know us? Do we know you? Let’s start by worship God together.
UPDATED 27 FEB Rev. Herbert Tong was preaching at D-Stream last Sunday according to a commentator.
The Truth 
Blog master,while you asked us not to judge HT,he has already judged us by accusing us that we are the trouble makers,creating problems for the church as overheard by a member! By not making his presence felt,isn’t he like AV always in hiding?
How credible is what you overheard? What about the context of the conversation?
Please ask ‘listen’.He posted his remarks about HT on Feb 19 2013 at 10.57am in Blog Bishop AV goes international.
For the information of all Anglicans & part of context of conversation as follows,
a/.HT said, 7.30 am English Parishioners were trouble makers & very judgemental.
b/.HT said, BAV didn’t not take a single cent from ASC & ADOS.
( HT, where did the cash money came from on the Sulaiman Mansion cash purchased ?
were those money came from all the love gifts engagements overseas & in particular
from the rich Indoinesian lady ? ).
c/.HT said, Priests don’t have to be poor & why questioned the 2nd. Condo purchased ?
( Were BAV not abusing & plundering God’s money for 2nd. Condo purchased done
registered under his personal name without seeking Standing Comm. approval ).
d/.HT said, attendance throughout ADOS is growing & ASC 7,30’s congregation was only a very
portion of the Diocese.
( HT, were all these figures on attandance been grossly inflated to shows growth &
were the Celrgy not cheating God ? ).
The above was said by HT during the 3rd. day of a CNY gathering of over 50 family members & HT was
wearing a grey long sleve shirt. A group photo was taken & HT was standing on 2nd.last roll on the right.
To all my friends at ASC, I leave it to you to assess whether HT has been too bias & impartial . Does he
still has the moral & creditability to preach in our pulpits ?
Yes indeed it is of great concern as to how HT is going to help to bring reconciliation if he doesn’t mix with the congregation. Has he already judged us and ignored us? Has the feeling of the pass still haunts him ? Can he handle this and meet the congregation face to face? Does he want to listen to the cries of the sheep?
If he doesn’t appear in the next few Sundays in our church service (esp 7:30 am English service), I rekon, he has no intention of reconciliation at all, but follow AV’s mindset and ignore the congregation. We will then be like sheep without good shepherd! Very sad indeed ! Are the top leaders serving the people of God or AV or SENDIRI ? (sad to say!)
Bros. & Sisters in Christ,
It is very clear and plain to all that HT’s appointment from the very outset was a wrong.Being someone who has left the Anglican Church for quite sometime already,his credentials and past baggages does not qualify him at all to take up the appointment. Any normal person would have rightly refuse the appointment unless he has a secret Agenda for doing so. In the personnel management context when we want to recruit new personnel or appoint or promote someone, who is appropriate and suitable, we put “round pegs in round holes and square pegs in square holes”. Looks like in his case, he is neither a round peg nor a square one!
It is phenomenal that there was no record of Jesus using the amphitheatre or colosseum to turn the world upside down, even though he did use the synagogues from time to time. While mass-communication has a place in the modern world, personal communication may still be vital to effective shepherding and outreach. Besides a few outdoor preachings, Jesus appeared to have spent much time on the personal level e.g. built friendship, enjoyed partying and drinking (at a wedding), entertained theological discussion, connected with the down-and-out, women included, healed, prayed for and comforted people, fed the hungry, walked a bit on water, took on a fair amount of Calvin Klein equivalent, washed some Hong Kong feet perhaps, restored some people, and still loved “fai-lowship” (BBQ fish and bread) with His friends. To have turned the world upside down, and for that matter if ADOS and ASC were to be turned upside down for His glory, would personal communication and personal touch aformentioned still be valid? In your opinion, which one is more effective: A person who appears on the big screen on Sunday and preaches/talks volume, or one who reaches out with a hand-shake and “fai-lowships” with you? You may answer, “Both”?
Rev. Herbert Tong was preaching at D-Stream last Sunday.
Peter,
What did HT preached there?
I was at Dstream when HT was the guest speaker & preacher.
HT preachings like the old days as Dean of ASC were very boring, beating around
the bush & not much substance in most of his sermons.
That was why HT loves to serve in the interior.
FYI, Rev. Ka Seng of ASC can preached so much better then HT. Most parishioners at Dstream
was fishing within 10 minutes of his preaching.
Broken shape indeed!!!.
For what my thoughts are worth, I do not think we should be expecting so much from Herbert Tong. He is only Bishop Commisary. If I am not wrong, his task is merely to carry out the administration functions for the Bishop, not the pastoral or general ministry functions. He has already left the Anglican Church for some years, so I don’t think he can be expected to merely carry on as an Anglican.
This problem has been going on for a long time so we cannot expect the Facilitator or Commissary sort everything out overnight in the same manner as BAV. I believe they need to be made fully clear of the picture so that together we may make a way forward. Out of all the mess, I believe the Anglican Church may be able to reach the place of setting a tremendous example to other churches, especially as we learn to seek God for repairing damage that seems impossible to man.
Dr.Barrow,
Very well said n written thoughts. From what was also written by Listen on Herbet Tong’s CNY conversation, it sum up the characters of both Herbert & Albert.
Herbet from my experiences during his Deanship in ASC has always been a very weak leader & a leader with no vision & leadership skills. He was just a like a passenger or an office boy leadership skill.
We need more leaders with great wisdom & who speak without fear or favor like you in ASC, Dr.Barrow, you certainly have my vote for PCC membership council.
God Bless.
I agree with what Dr.Barrow said regarding HT. MT and HT have no power like AV and they are sent to ADOS/ASC just to hold fort for him.Has HT made himself known to the parishioners like MT? A lot of them don’t even know who is HT except some old ones who are still alive.They knew him when he was the Dean of ASC. HOB has not spelt out the specific duties of these two and should I dare say,once again the members are deceived? They are here to keep the parishioners quiet for the time being while AV goes on sabbatical leave with his family?AV can still be in charged with TV conferencing,etc e.g he was ‘there’ in the ATI graduation ceremony-long distance!
This has been recycled, concede it is not as good as the original: A person has been been complaining/praying about his cobweb of problems week after week at his church prayer meeting. Perhaps the pastor had too much of it, and felt that he needed to step in. So he prayed for the man, “Lord, please remove the spider for him!” In practice, removal may not guarantee a TACKLING and RESOLUTION of the web of problems, like what The Truth has been uncovering, in a nutshell, the mess appears to be fundamentally and inherently procedural and administrative. Unlike cobwebs, the ball should start and continue rolling here.
Who is this Rev Sim Ka sing? Where is he from?
Is BAV fit to preach about ‘spiritual fitness’?????