By Stephanie Loh
For Pastor Mok Kim Terng, 83, every additional day is a gift from God — a gift to be received with gratitude and a gift to be shared through a life of service.
What began as a birthday trip to Wuhan with his wife, Doreen and family members unexpectedly became a life-threatening journey. During the trip in March 2026, Pastor Kim Terng began experiencing increasing breathlessness. He lost his appetite, his legs became swollen, and his body began retaining a dangerous amount of fluid. When he returned to Singapore, he went directly to his cardiologist.
“Mr Mok, do you know that you have suffered a heart failure?” the cardiologist asked. “This problem is not new. I’m surprised that it went undetected all these years. Despite your condition, you managed to fly back to Singapore. It’s a miracle!”
He was immediately admitted to hospital. Doctors removed the excess fluid from his body and discovered serious damage to his heart valves.
“At my age, I honestly thought this might be the end of my journey on earth,” he recalled. “I wondered if I would make it through.”
The Shepherd in the Valley
Major heart surgery followed. One valve was replaced, another was repaired, and his enlarged heart was surgically reduced. As he was wheeled into the operating theatre, one Scripture came strongly to mind:
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”
— Psalm 23:4
These familiar words suddenly became deeply personal. “I was entering a valley that I could not walk through on my own,” he said. “But I knew I was not alone.”
He remained in hospital for 18 days and recovered faster than the doctors had expected. “God did more than heal my heart,” he said. “He renewed my hope and gave me a new lease of life!” In fact, he joked that he could walk better than before.
For Pastor Kim Terng, this is not simply about having more years; it is about what he can do with the time God has given him. To understand this perspective, however, we need to go back almost 40 years.
The Love They First Received
Doreen and Kim Terng did not grow up as Christians. In 1985, a friend persistently invited Doreen to a home cell. At first, she resisted because she was “too busy”. When she eventually went, she was struck by the care, warmth and thoughtfulness of the people she met — especially the way they prayed for and supported one another.
Soon afterwards, Kim Terng’s brother-in-law was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. Christians came alongside the family, visiting, praying and offering practical and emotional support. Eventually, his brother-in-law put his faith in Christ. Kim Terng, then a successful businessman who regarded himself as a “self-made man”, was deeply moved by what he witnessed.
“I saw and experienced the love of the Christians who surrounded and supported our family during this crisis,” he said. “I surrendered my life to the Lord at the age of 43.”
The love, prayer and care that the Moks had first received from others gradually became the pattern of their own lives. They had experienced what it meant to be loved, cared for and prayed for. In turn, they learned to extend that same love to others.
Faithful with What Was Entrusted
Over the decades, Pastor Kim Terng has served in many areas of ministry — including the Welcoming Committee, as a Cell Leader, in the PCC, the Establishment Committee, as a Lay Reader, in the Healing Service, Intercession, Home Visitation and pastoral ministry as a Zone Pastor. Yet he does not see these years of service as an impressive record.
“All that I did was to avail myself to be used by Him as His vessel,” he said. “Age is only a figure. We are never too old to serve the Lord.”
One relationship in particular illustrates what faithful stewardship meant to him. Pastor Kim Terng met a secondary school teacher, Victor Lee, about 20 years ago through St John’s–St Margaret’s Church. When Victor died at the age of 70 three years ago, Pastor Kim Terng, together with another family friend, was entrusted with carrying out the responsibilities of executor of his will.
He helped fulfil Victor’s wishes, which included gifts totalling $3.5 million to the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund, the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University. Victor had wanted his estate to support education and help students in need.
The amount is significant, but for Pastor Kim Terng, stewardship is about much more than money. It is about being faithful with whatever God places in our hands — whether a person, responsibility, ability, opportunity or time — and using it for His purposes through the empowerment of His love.
A Marriage of 59 Years, Shaped by Love
The same love has also been evident in the Moks’ 59-year marriage. During Pastor Kim Terng’s 18 days in hospital, Doreen spent every day by his side. After his discharge, she became his main caregiver, helping him through the nights for 10 consecutive nights.
Two days before his surgery, Doreen was involved in a car accident. Thankfully, she was unharmed and continued caring for him that very same evening. With other family pressures mounting, there were moments when Doreen felt that she might collapse under the strain. She wondered whether she had the strength to carry on.
Yet, through this difficult season, she came to know God’s sustaining power — not merely as something she had heard about in other people’s testimonies, but as a reality she experienced personally.
“Lord, When Did We See You?”
One Bible text that has guided Pastor Kim Terng for many years is Matthew 25:35–40. In this passage, Jesus speaks of those who are hungry being fed, strangers being welcomed, the sick being cared for and prisoners being visited.
Those who served Him asked, “Lord, when did we see You?” Jesus answered that whatever they did for one of the least of His brothers and sisters, they did for Him.
These words give deeper meaning to the ordinary acts of caring for others: it may be a visit, a prayer, a promise kept, sitting beside a hospital bed, helping someone through the night; however, in a very real sense, they are acts of love offered to Him.
And the beauty of serving God in ordinary ways is that they have come to know God more deeply — His faithfulness, His compassion and what it means to live as His children and stewards.
Therefore, even after coming so close to death, Pastor Kim Terng, once recovered, has gamely resumed serving as a zone pastor, lay reader, in the healing service, visitation and intercession ministries.
“I will continue to serve as long as the Lord allows me,” he said with a smile.
