Ask, and He Gives Without Finding Fault

Gail Lien was thirty-four when the inheritance came. It was more money than she and her husband Phillip Wang had ever handled, and it arrived at a point in their lives when they were already adjusting to a great deal: they had moved to Singapore with their children, and the ordinary work of settling a family in a new place was still underway. Gail began volunteering with local charities. But alongside the volunteering ran a quieter, harder question. What was the money actually for? She did not have an answer. Phillip did not have one either, at first. Later he joined a climate and environmental workshop run through the Asian Philanthropy Circle. Reading, and then conversations with Peter Harris, the founder of A Rocha, did something that a lecture could not have done. They helped him connect what he already believed as a Christian with care for creation, not as a hobby interest bolted on to his faith, but as something the faith itself required. From there the couple worked alongside others. They organised Bible studies. They formed a working group that put together plans for a Singapore branch of A Rocha, the international Christian conservation network. In 2025, A Rocha Singapore was formally recognised as the twenty-third nationally registered member of that network, with Phillip and Gail among its founders. Its first flagship project was a garden at The Helping Hand, a Christian halfway house. The choice was deliberate: conservation that also gave residents a place to work outdoors and to develop skills. Not a project done for people, but one that made room for them. When Phillip and Gail were asked to explain why any of this belonged to the church's business, they did not reach for a slogan about being good stewards of the planet. They said that caring for creation is part of Christian responsibility, and they put it plainly: creation does not exist just for us; it exists for God's pleasure. Nothing about the beginning was obvious. A woman with an inheritance she did not know how to spend, and a man who needed a conversation before he could see what he already had. They asked. That was where it started. SOURCE: “Creation doesn’t exist just for us; it exists for God’s pleasure”: The divine way this couple was led to co-found Christian conservation non-profit A Rocha Singapore (Theresa Tan, Salt&Light, 2026) / https://saltandlight.sg/faith/creation-doesnt-exist-just-for-us-it-exists-for-gods-pleasure-the-divine-way-this-couple-was-led-to-co-found-christian-conservation-charity-a-rocha-singapore/