Brandon Raeburn: Building the Kingdom at Work

Hi everyone, I'm Brandon. I'm currently pursuing a Communication Studies degree in the Wee Kim Wee School in NTU and I intend to specialise in journalism after I graduate.

For the longest time, I thought that the only way I could serve God was by joining a publication like Impact. This changed when I was doing an internship with The New Paper, a well-known local publication, in 2015.

In the weeks leading up to National Day that year, I was tasked with interviewing three reformed drug offenders — one of whom had narrowly escaped the death penalty — as part of a National Day feature story. These three men were among the Singaporeans who had been selected to record a special SG50 rendition of the song 'Home'.

While working on the assignment, I found out that the men were volunteering at the Christian halfway house called Breakthrough Missions — the same one that they had recovered in.

During the interview, they spoke about how God had transformed their lives and mended their broken relationships. Mr Tan, who had narrowly escaped the gallows, told me: "During the filming, I felt grateful. It was by God's grace that a group of unworthy drug addicts like us got to be part of this video."

It was at that moment that I realised that I was no longer just a journalist for The New Paper. I was someone who was responsible for helping these three men share their amazing testimonies with the rest of Singapore. I was someone who could use the platform I had to glorify God.

I kept this in mind when I was writing the article back in the office and editing its accompanying video.

On National Day that year, thousands of Singaporeans read the completed article, which was featured on The New Paper's digital site as well as in its print edition.

This experience was a huge turning point for me as it showed me that God works through us when we least expect it. It was also a reminder that God is very much present in every area of our lives, even if we're unable to see Him.

During my pursuit of a career in journalism, I've also encountered a number of challenges, one of them being taking a stand for God at the workplace. This is something that I find particularly difficult to do as the world around us is becoming more accepting of values and views that contradict God's teachings.

But one thing I have learnt through my experiences is that God will honour those who honour Him.

Here is an example. During my most recent internship at a music publication called Bandwagon Asia, I was tasked with doing a feature story on an openly satanic band. I felt uncomfortable as I knew that everything that the band stood for went against the very foundation of my faith.

After giving it some thought, I concluded that the article was not one that I could take on. I spoke to my editor about it and even offered to swap assignments with one of my colleagues. To my surprise, my editor was very understanding and told me that I did not have to take on the article if I wasn't comfortable doing it.

On the last day of my internship, she brought up the incident in her farewell message to me and said that what I did was "admirable" because "it's not easy to say that [you are not comfortable doing an assignment because of your religious beliefs] to an immediate superior". I could have been persecuted for taking a stand for God at my workplace but instead, God honoured me for standing firm in my faith. All glory to Him!