Introduction: A harmonious family breeds prosperity. The family support is of paramount importance to our performance in the workplace. However, real ‘peace’ cannot be achieved through people as we are selfish. Rather, it comes from being ‘united’ with the Spirit. This is only attained through our Christian faith.

In today’s programme, I am introducing a family to all of you. Well, you may find it strange: this is a programme on the workplace, so why am I introducing a family? It is because this family has walked through experiences in the home and at the workplace that are similar to the ones all of us have had. How should we put it?

First of all, let’s take a look at the female character in this family, Yi Yan.

Yi Yan possessed a lot of magnificent achievements: Before she went overseas, she had a PhD from Tsinghua University. After graduation, she stayed on to be an academic and became an Associate Professor. Prior to the age of 30, she obtained the first prize in the State Education and Technology Progress Award and the second prize in the State Science and Technology Progress Award. Then, she became the leading scientist and the head of Singapore Biological Engineering and Nanotechnology Research Centre. She also assumed the position of Adjunct Professor in the university. In 2011, she was named one of ten distinguished women in Singapore. In addition, the magazine ‘American Scientists’ rated one of the technologies that she had led research in as ‘one of the greatest ideas that is transforming the world.’

However, this process was not smooth sailing. The most difficult period in Yi Yan’s life was the initial period of immigration to Singapore. Although she possessed high educational qualifications, she went through tumultuous times. It was sad to look back on her past.

（Picture from the Internet）

In China, she was involved in research on water treatment. When she was in Singapore, she made a switch to the use of nanotechnology in medicine. It was an emerging research field, so she had to start from zero. She had to self-study in order to grasp such knowledge in the fastest time possible. She must identify her research area, propose the research methodology, establish the research platform and form the research team in the shortest time possible. When she engaged in scientific research at Tsinghua University, she would use Chinese, but she read overseas materials in English. In Singapore, she was required to submit a report on research developments in English every week. She also had to interact in English at her workplace. Thus, she faced tremendous challenges in her academics and in the use of the English language.

For the first six months, Yi Yan spent most of her time on work. She also spent a few hours on meals and sleep. At times, she was homesick, so she called her husband and children. By God’s grace, she met a Christian at the most difficult period of time in her life. The laboratory administrator was a fervent Singaporean Christian. She saw Yi Yan slogging away at work without a loved one or a friend by her side, so she took the initiative to enquire about Yi Yan’s well-being. She always brought some delicious local food for Yi Yan to try and reminded her to rest. She communicated with her in English and helped to improve her spoken English. She assisted Yi Yan in amending the English reports and presentation reports in her slide show that had to be submitted every week. Other than such practical help, she also brought some Christian English materials for Yi Yan to read. The written testimonies and the biblical truth were very appealing to her. This improved Yi Yan’s English skills, and it became part of her recreation time.

Yi Yan’s Christian boss was also her benefactor, who helped her through the difficult times. Her boss was strict in standards even though Yi Yan was new to the workplace. Yi Yan could not adapt to such a rigid workplace. However, she saw that her boss sincerely hoped that she could progress at a fast pace. For example, when Yi Yan started to write her English reports, she had difficulty with the required format, grammar, charts and citation. Her boss did not tell her off for the badly written work or scold her harshly to write it again. Rather, he amended her written words and sentences, and patiently explained to her the expectations and requirements of international academic papers. As a result, it raised Yi Yan’s standards of writing English papers in the field of technology. At the beginning, her thesis had lots of corrected mistakes in red. Later, there were fewer corrections. For the next 5 years, she published more than 150 research papers in many international journals. She also guided scores of research students to write excellent academic papers and gave numerous keynote speeches throughout the world.

Yi Yan said: “Without help from these Christians, I found it difficult to go through the tough times.” She respected their character and was drawn to them.

After Yi Yan had worked for half a year in Singapore, her husband, Qing Tang, brought their infant son to Singapore to reunite with her. Before this, Qing Tang owned a company in Beijing and his business was on the right track. His father and mother-in-law took care of their child. In his free time, he was obsessed with the Book of Changes, an ancient Chinese divination text, the Eight Trigrams in Taoism, and other divinations. The ‘mediums’ connected him with the demon spirits and encouraged him to set up an altar at home. They also went to his home and invited all kinds of ‘fairies’ to his place. A red cloth was also hung at the back of his office door so as to ensure their safety. Since his childhood, he believed that there were ghosts, and was petrified of them, as he always heard stories about ‘seeing ghosts’ and ‘haunting by ghosts’ in his home. After the ‘fairies’ were invited to his home, he offered incense every day for fear that he would offend them. In spite of it, he did not have peace within him.

When Qing Tang and his child came to meet his wife in Singapore, he carefully put an idol in his bag and carried it wherever he went. Once he arrived in Singapore, he entered the Christian circle of friends - his wife’s Christian friends brought him to several evangelistic rallies. Qing Tang recalled that even though the Pastors’ preaching at the evangelistic rallies was brief, he was shaken to the core by their words. Thus, he started to think about the Christian faith. He came into contact with a lot of Christians and discovered that this community of believers had characteristics that appealed to him. For example, they generally possessed love. They cared for others, and helped them unconditionally. They not only offered genuine friendships but also had lives that influenced others. They were very joyful and had a good state of well-being. Their characters drew others to them. Their families were harmonious and blessed. Their children were respectful and had achievements in life. All these prompted him to explore his desires. Why did these people have such qualities in life? When Qing Tang opened his company in China, most of his contacts were intellectuals. However, being highly qualified could not placate the restlessness in their hearts and satisfy their passion for materialism. In contrast, these typical Christians exuded the valuable essence of life and were approachable.

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Qing Tang seriously read and examined the Bible and other Christian books like the way he eagerly studied in college to gain knowledge. Through his reasoning abilities and influences in life, he gradually found the inner peace that he had not experienced before. As a person who was afraid of ghosts since childhood, he now felt an inexplicable sense of relief. Half a year later, he fully embraced the Christian faith.

In April 1999, the family of 3 were baptised and became Christians.

In March 2000, Qing Tang and Yi Yan bought their first house in Singapore. During their house-warming, the brothers and sisters in Christ brought them a plaque. On it was written: Jesus is the head of my family.

At that time, Qing Tang had just received salvation, so he did not understand much about the words on the plaque. He thought that the plaque was exquisite, and the words were beautiful. It was a suitable ornament for their home. However, he happened to gaze at the plaque one day. Thoughts raced through his mind and he was not content: “I should be the head of the family as I have to make decisions for many important and trivial issues in the family.” However, Yi Yan had different opinions. As a result, they provoked each other to anger and quarrelled. It hurt their relationship. As their child gradually grew up, he started to take charge of his life and go against his parents’ wishes.

Everyone wanted to be the head of the family, so this family had no peace and joy. Why were the other Christian families so harmonious? The couple searched the scriptures and realised that Jesus should be the head of the family. Everyone listens to Jesus, so it brings about unity and amicability.

Yi Yan discovered that if we let Jesus be the head, we would put aside our selfishness, gain wisdom, and maintain a good mind-set. Therefore, all aspects of our lives are blessed and smooth-going. For example, in the past, she used the Chinese traditional method to educate her child in Maths. When she saw that he could not even grasp simple concepts, she was furious and scolded him: “Why are you so stupid?” As a result, her child grew more rebellious, and it affected their relationship. Later, she learned much from the Christian faith. She began to use new methods to teach her child and respect him. She utilised the method that worked on him. Her child was very happy and studied diligently. He attained excellent results that were beyond their expectations in his Secondary school. On the day when he went up the stage to receive his award, he wore a special T-shirt with the words ‘I love Jesus’ printed on it. He wanted to show everyone these words.

Ever since Jesus became the head of their family, Qing Tang saw that there was a change in their family. In the past, the couple would see each other’s shortcomings and would not give way. Now, they admit their wrongs and see the good side of the other party. They are not only legally recognised as a couple and partners in their family, they also display sincerity in their communication and show unity in their lives. When Qing Tang brought this mindset into his job, the environment at his workplace was also transformed. He always got into friction with others when he handled issues because he was impetuous. Now, he is not self-centered, but resolves dynamic issues from the perspective of love, care and concern. He continues to practice this approach to life, so he is in a good mood every day, be it at home or outside.

Although Qing Tang and Yi Yan are both intellectuals, they are most concerned about their only son’s Christian faith rather than his studies. They have deeply experienced the power of Christian faith and regard it as a treasure. They believe that if their son stores this treasure in his heart, he will not be defeated in whatever situation he is in, regardless of how much difficulty he might face.

After graduation from Secondary school, their child chose to study medicine. Qing Tang seriously questioned him about his motivation. Was it because of material gains such as a good income? Or was it because of interest? He thought that a person cannot be a good doctor without a sense of responsibility. A doctor must have love and be willing to sacrifice himself for his patients and their families. By doing so, he would have sufficient inner strength to meet the various needs of the patients. Thus, it was of paramount importance to him that he strengthen his child’s foundation and growth in the Christian faith. The most important practice in his family is to establish a ‘family altar’. Besides attending the church service on Sundays, his family would spend half an hour after dinner to read ‘Our Daily Bread’, study the corresponding Scriptures, share their experiences and finally, spend time in prayer.

Qing Tang realised the ultimate meaning and value of their lives more when he grew more mature in his Christian faith and was able to live out an abundant life. He said: “Even though I received an atheistic education in China and hardly knew anything about other religions, I had been continually seeking for inner peace and was tossed about in life. Finally, Jesus conquered me. For a long time, people placed emphasis on intelligence quotient, and later, on emotional quotient, but these two things could not bring true blessings to people. Only spiritual quotient can bring success and blessing to people. Our family places importance on our Christian faith because it raises our spiritual quotient, enabling us to enjoy the abundance of life and the blessing in the family.”

Yi Yan also said: “The greatest achievement in my life is not obtaining the results of scientific research, but to possess the Christian faith. My Christian faith helps me to live out the abundant life, so I am truly blessed.”

Dear friends, a harmonious family breeds prosperity!  Family support is of paramount importance to our performance at the workplace. However, real ‘peace’ cannot be achieved through people, because we are all self-centered. Rather, it comes from being ‘united’ with the Spirit. This is only attained through our Christian faith. Today, we will finish sharing here. We hope that you have drawn some inspiration from this story. I am Angelie. See you in our next episode!

Critical Thinking Questions:

1. What do you think “Jesus is the head of my family” truly means? 

2. How is your family life affects your workplace performance? What should you do so that you can make sure that Jesus is truly the head of your family?

3. What improvements do you think you can make so that your family can be more harmonious?

（Picture from the Internet）