How to use your wealth to further God’s work: N5 Conference 2026  

Melissa Kwee tells a story that many growing up in 1970s Singapore will recognise.

“My grandfather was in the manufacturing and sales business. So we had a lot of cardboard boxes around the house. My mum would say, ‘Go make your own toys.’

“And our toys were just to cut up a bunch of cardboard boxes and tape them together with like other stuff. It wasn’t always the latest, greatest, flashiest kind of thing,” said the 52-year-old philanthropist, social activist and corporate leader who is the former CEO of the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC).

“I credit my Mum in a lot of ways for having a very sensible, down-to-earth kind of attitude.”

That Melissa is the third generation of the Kwee family makes her childhood tale that much more interesting. Her family owns the Pontiac Land Group, a property and hospitality company that develops, owns, and operates luxury real estate and hotels.

“I credit my Mum in a lot of ways for having a very sensible, down-to-earth kind of attitude and for being really wise,” she said.

Melissa was a panellist at the recent N5 Stewardship Conference (September 23-24). This year’s Conference focus was on stewarding wealth and leaving a lasting legacy according to God’s Word, motivated by love.

The panel discussed the topic of “Using Wealth to Advance God’s Kingdom Purposes”. Each panellist was someone who uses their wealth – inherited or created – for God’s work.

Melissa led Singapore’s City of Good vision and launched Giving.sg. The former CEO of the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre is also passionate about stewarding leadership, influence, and efforts to serve others and advance a common good.

Venture capitalist, entrepreneur and ordained minister Tjoa Thian Song is dedicated to social impact. As Founder and Managing Director of Clarion New Life Capital, his investments have empowered marginalised Asian communities. This is achieved by expanding access to education, housing, healthcare, and sustainable jobs. Thian Song also works closely with networks like TBN Asia to integrate faith and finance.

Ng Hock Ching is a businessman and investor in the manufacturing and electronics industries. He has served in a Methodist church in missions in the Philippines and Timor Leste.

What is wealth?

Moderator and Venture Partner (APAC Regional Lead) for Praxis Lim Wen Li started off the discussion with the question: “As a believer, how do you see wealth?”

Wealth as power

For Melissa, wealth is power which can be a blessing or a curse, depending on how it is managed. She cited the example of her maternal grandfather. He sold two of his three businesses, ensured his family was provided for and then used the rest of his money to set up a trust to give back to the Japanese American community of which he was a part.

“When money is not your master, it is a blessing.”

“Wealth management is either blessing management or curse management,” she said.

“For some people, wealth is a great blessing. When money is not your master, it is a blessing and you have the rest of your life to enjoy being a blessing.”

She added: “Or you can fight over it, feel like it’s always not enough, and it’s a curse.”

Wealth as resources

Thian Song broadened the definition of wealth to include “our time, talents, treasures and also our opportunities and networks – all that God has entrusted to us”.

This understanding was the result of his having been in the marketplace creating wealth as a venture capitalist and then giving it all up to be a missionary in Myanmar.

“I wanted to do something with more eternal value,” said Thian Song.

His opportunity came when Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar in 2008 with winds of up to 215kmh, killing some 140,000 people and racking up damages of an estimated US$10 billion.

“How do you share the Gospel with someone who has nothing to eat, with their roofs blown off, and with nothing to live for?” Thian Song asked.  “There was hopelessness.”

“My understanding of missions had been too narrow.”

He went on: “I became very unsettled, and the words of James (James 2:15-16) became very real to me. What good is it when you see your sister or brother without food and clothing, and you just say, ‘Oh, get well, be blessed’, or maybe even say a prayer for them?”

It made him realise his work as a wealth creator need not be separate from his faith: “Our work can be our worship of God”. That was how he ended up using his venture capitalist experience to create wealth that can make the lives of the marginalised better.

“My understanding of missions had been too narrow,” he said.

Wealth as opportunities to return to God

Hock Ching defined wealth as something to be created not for self but for God. He shared an incident that happened while he was fishing on board his boat.

“One day, the storm came in the high seas and I was very frightened. I panicked and cried out to the Lord. As I was praying, I saw Jesus sitting in a boat, and I asked Him, ‘Lord, can You calm the storm?’ I don’t think I’m the first one ever to ask that, right?”

Instead of replying him, Jesus quizzed Hock Ching: Did he intend to carry on fishing when the waters turn calm? So what if he caught tons of fish?

“Lord, can You calm the storm?”

“And He said, ‘The additional fish may sink your boat and bring you down together with it. And what good is it for Me?’”

Then Jesus challenged Hock Ching to let Him “show you another form of fishing”.

Since then, Hock Ching has devoted his time to being a fisher of men instead, serving at Arrows College with Ps Benny Ho, the Methodist Missions Society (MMS), with his church and through his network.

How to use wealth

1. Invest in God’s business

One way that Thian Song combines the secular with the sacred is to invest in work that furthers God’s Kingdom and cares for those in need. This turns the usual of model of help from charity to something more sustainable.

“Our idea is to be able to provide for marginalised communities.”

“As Christian investors, God wants us to take risks. That is the key point of the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). But it’s not mindless risk, it’s a risk that is embedded in our relationship with God. That relationship with Jesus is what leads us to obedience.

“And taking risk requires a measure of courage. It takes a bit of boldness and that’s where faith is.”

That was how Thian Song started Clarion New Life Capital, a social impact company. Clarion invests in and partners with sustainable enterprises to meet the needs of the poor in Asia in areas like education, employment, healthcare and housing.

One such effort is Juru Hills Project in Penang. Through Clarion’s investment, 1,200 affordable apartments were built to serve the bottom 40% of Malaysia’s population. Within the complex is a vocational school and an eldercare centre that provides nursing for the aged.

“Our idea is to be able to provide for marginalised communities and maybe even specifically for refugees, where they can learn to become nurses in the vocational school, among other things.

“From that, they can work in the eldercare centre and earn a kind of income that will allow them to then rent or even buy apartments that we have built. In this way, it offers a holistic way of providing help to those who are otherwise forgotten.”

2. Create relational capital

Instead of letting wealth isolate her, Melissa has used it to build bonds.

Said Melissa: “My big ‘aha’ came during COVID when I was CEO of NVPC. We saw that all the things that we were doing to mobilise capital – network with businesses and connect with charities – have a limit if at the last mile you cannot connect with people.

“I realised the people who did the best during COVID were those who had good relationships, whether it’s with their family or the people around them. And the people who had tragic and devastating experiences during COVID were the ones who were isolated and who had poor relationships,” she said.

In an effort to have greater access to the people around her, Melissa moved into an HDB estate. She deliberately designed her home “so that people can feel welcome and connected”.

“What is in our hands? And what are we called to do with it?”

“Then God sent an artist from the neighbourhood, Barry Yeow, who had met the Lord in prison. He created a mural around the house themed ‘hope’ and we engaged the community to be part of the designing to make them feel connected to the space.”

The project gave Melissa her first opportunity to meet her neighbours, including those in the three rental blocks across her home. She also took to sweeping the leaves off the common walkway outside of her home and inviting people over to “bring the whole community together”. Through her connections, CEOs and the everyman all have a seat at the table.

At one such meal, writer-playwright-lawyer Amanda Chong realised she shared a birthday with one of Melissa’s neighbours. They decided to have a joint celebration.

“Around the table, we are one. And the believers are actually the incarnate of Jesus’ love and welcome. Imagine what Jesus would do to reach out and connect with them?

“It’s about using what is in our hands. God has entrusted us with something that we can serve those around us with. What is in our hands? And what are we called to do with it?”

3. Be present in practical ways

When Hong Ching visited the slums of Philippines, he was confronted by poverty so heartbreaking.

“They don’t have food, they don’t have water.”

It made him determined to immerse himself in that society in order to better help them. Today, he has a ministry among “the poorest of the poor” in Manila that includes four churches and a free learning centre.

“We have seen amazing transformation as the children graduate. One of them came back to be a teacher in our centre,” said Hock Ching.

“Every person, every team, every church that has visited the place has never failed to be touched. They cannot stop talking about it.”

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