One night, Jason Wong’s daughter was having a fever. Over the night, Jason kept himself awake, through the night. He sponged her, and tried to bring her fever down. Eventually the fever broke in the morning.
It was a Sunday, and it was time for Jason’s weekly prison volunteering. Since his young daughter was well and sound asleep, he felt it would be alright to leave her in her mother’s care, and for him to go serve in the prison. When he returned home in the early afternoon, his daughter came to him, and instead of being happy to see dad home, his daughter complained that he did not seem to care about her and left to care for other people.
Jason paused. He knew what he had done the previous night, not sleeping, just so that he could bring her fever down. He turns to me and asks,
“Do you think our residents know that our Father cares for them?”
I’m not sure how to answer. Logically, I know the answer is ‘no’, but emotionally, I think the answer should be ‘yes’. Especially if we look at how hard we’ve worked over the months and years to provide for their needs, to minister to them, often without much thanks.
Bringing God’s care into the prison
Jason continues,
“So when I was in the prison, I prayed that God would help me to bring Him into the prisons, so that they know how much God cares.”
We often look at the highlight of Jason’s work in prisons with what he’s achieved by working together with his then colleagues to transform prison officers into Captains of Lives, and the Yellow Ribbon Project, a second chance movement, but we often miss the hard work that was needed to get there.
None of it was easy, and that was what I was initially interested about. 22 years from the day Yellow Ribbon started in 2004, how do we bring across a similar revitalisation of that Yellow Ribbon movement to set prisoners free from the “second prison” they now find themselves in, in society?
When Jason first started his work in prison, he became curious about finding likeminded people in Christ. He found other Christian colleagues, and slowly began to know them. As they prayed and ministered to these prisoners, he began to see that a prison revival could not just happen because of one man.
It had to take a community of people who really cared and loved these prisoners, the way God loves. Prison officers, volunteers from Prison Fellowship Singapore, halfway houses, employers and many more had to each play their part to make the work possible.
Building up individual, and societal restoration
He picks up the bottle of water on the table and says, “We know the Father’s heart for these prisoners. But do others know of the Father’s heart for these prisoners?” Individual restoration for these prisoners was not enough. Societal restoration was also needed.
Jason acknowledges that when he first started, the number of employers and jobs were few. But today, if one looks at the Yellow Ribbon jobs portal, there are hundreds of employers, all keen to give a second chance.
That is why 20 years after that fateful incident in October 2006, when Jason washed the feet of 42 prisoners, the prison ministry ecosystem partners came together again at Bethesda Bedok Tampines Church, for the “Darkness to Light” event.
It is this mature ecosystem in prison that Jason saw could be shared within other domains, and where he also began to see parallels within the wider Singapore society.
As more began to share their heart for various issues in Singapore, Jason found himself almost like Nehemiah, where he was going around the wall, assessing where the breakages were, and how to best marshal resources to fix it in a targeted manner.
Issues like low Total Fertility Rate was not something that could be quickly fixed by a singular entity like Government, but one which required a Whole of Society effort.
Building up a stronger wall
In 2024, Jason began to hear God saying,
“Go higher.”
But what exactly did that mean? He had impacted individual lives, people, and even systems, but how could he go higher than that?
As he began to discern God’s will, he began to see what was on God’s heart for Singapore. Many Christians believe that when Billy Graham came to Singapore in 1978, he released a word for Singapore, prophesying that it would be known as the
“Antioch of Asia”.
But then the question came: how do Christians working and serving in the various spheres of society bring about positive change to that part of society and rebuild that part of the “broken wall”? If every Christian is truly “Light and Salt” wherever God has placed them, and work together in unity, then Singapore can fulfil God’s vision for her to become the Antioch of Asia.
Jason conceptualized the “Father’s House”, to gather His sons and daughters to do the Father’s Business. Built upon the 3 foundations of Sonship-revealed, Spirit-led and Scripture-based, and the 3 pillars of Evangelism 2.0, Missions 2.0, and Marketplace 2.0, he brought together people who were keen on fixing problems they saw in society.
One example has been the Migrant Domestic Worker (MDW) cause. Singapore has 300,000 MDWs, but we’ve not systematically looked at how we can share God’s love with them and lead them to bring the message of Christ back to their homes, when they eventually return.
On 12th March 2026, Jason gathered about 30 church leaders, and volunteers, to share about how they could better serve this group of people, so that when they went back, they could be a blessing to their communities too.
Whilst Jason has continued to serve in different ways, I’m reminded of the early story he shared in the interview. Sharing God’s word, ministering to his people, giving up everything for God, might seem difficult. But if one starts from a position of humility, nothing is too difficult.
Early in his career, Jason was a prison officer, observing the chapel service, and noted a few of the Christian inmates lifting up their hands during worship.
Suddenly, the inmate next to Jason turned to him and asked,
“Sir, outside you’all raise hands too right?”
Jason replied,
“Yes, some do.”
The inmate then continued,
“Do you know it is not so easy for me to raise my hands?”
“How so?”
Jason asked.
The reply from the inmate humbled Jason.
He said,
“Sir, if I raise my hands to worship Jesus, that means I have decided to renounce my gang and my past. Everyone here will notice when I raise my hands, and the word will spread to the whole of the prison and to my gang outside. For me to raise my hands, that means I am serious about following Jesus.”
That man was a gang leader. Outside, he was known for being strong, not someone who would humble himself to raise his hands, in surrender to God.
Often in our work within the prisons ministry, we’re never too sure what exactly changes in the lives of these ex-offenders. Outwardly, nothing seems to change. Ex-offenders get recalled, they fall back to their old ways.
But again, as this story shows, all that’s required is a position of humility, to trust that God is doing the work, and not us.
“Father’s House is curating various projects at the moment, and building eco-systems to reach and support those in the marketplaces, the youths, in national service, the seniors, the migrant domestic workers, and fathers. If you feel led to serve in any of these kingdom projects, you may email to oneforjesus.sg@gmail.com.”