You will receive a lovingly baked and packed cookie as you leave the Worship Service today. Well, it is not for personal consumption! In line with Evangelism Sunday, each cookie is meant to be given to a relative, friend, neighbor or colleague. In the packet, besides the cookie there is a book mark with inspiring verses and also a short write up on the Alpha course. Please pray and ask God to reveal who you should give the cookie to. Use it as a conversation opener to share with them about church, and ultimately, the gospel.

You could introduce it in this way: “I went to church today and was told to give this cookie to bless someone, and I thought of you! Do you happen to attend church too? ……”. Use the conversation to invite this person to church or ask if you can invite him or her to future events held in church such as Alpha, Christmas, Easter etc. It may be useful to prepare a short sharing of your faith and testimony. Continue to pray for this person and let God surprise you!

Please share this experience with your cell group when you next meet. You can then encourage each other and build up your confidence in sharing the gospel.

Evangelism committee is always open to ideas on pre-evangelism and evangelism events held in a non-threatening environment. Do contribute your ideas and more importantly, give your cookies to your pre-believing friends and bring them along to church!

The Evangelism Committee is grateful to all the bakers and helpers who have sacrificed their time amidst their busy schedules to lovingly bake and pack the cookies. May God bless you all as you serve Him!

Note: The cookies have no preservatives and should not be kept for more than 5 days.

How Can You Serve?

1) COS to the Boys’ Brigade
Date/Time: 27th August 2011 (Sat), 9am - 12pm
Venue: Jun Yuan Primary School
Helpers for Games Stations and to befriend the boys

2) COS @ Sunday School, Children’s Day Party
Date/Time: 25th September 2011 (Sun), 9am - 11am
Venue: Charis MC, Social Hall
To invite parents with primary age children to join the Children’s Day program.

3) Alpha 11
Discussion leaders, assistant discussion leaders and helpers

4) Tuition to Students
If you have a passion for teaching and a desire to impact young lives, please step forward as a tuition teacher.

5) Pre-Evangelism
Share your hobbies like photography, scrap booking, jewelry making, flower arrangement etc.

For more details, please contact the following persons:
COS – Percy Low: percylow@charismc.ogr.sg
Alpha – Edwin Seow: edwinseow@gmail.com
Tuition – Ivy Chiang: ichiang@charismc.org.com
Pre-Evangelism – Gladys Han: smileasy77@gmail.com

PURPOSE OF THE MINISTRY:
The Sunday School aims to nurture and grow our children to be Christ-like and to share God’s love with others.
“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God” [Colossians 1:10]

Previously on Church School Sunday (12th September 2010), we had 2 JXS Secondary 3 teens to share their testimony with us. Their testimonies are published herein for those who may have missed their sharing. We appeal to you to consider stepping forward to serve in the Sunday School. There are different aspects to serve and you may find them suitable.

POSITIONS AVAILABLE:
We welcome anyone who has care and concern for children and youths and want to see them nurtured as Christians.

1) WORSHIP COORDINATOR to plan weekly worship sessions

2) WORSHIP LEADERS for weekly worship sessions

3) MUSICIANS for weekly worship sessions

4) LOGISTIC AND ADMIN SUPPORT LEADERS for special events

5) TEACHERS for Children Ministry & JXS

6) TEACHER ASSISTANTS

7) LARGE GROUP TEACHERS / FACILITATORS for Primary and JXS

8) COORDINATORS for Special Events

CONTACT PERSONS:

~ Richard Goh (email: richsnben@gmail.com)

~ Percy Low (email: percylow@yahoo.com)

~ Teo Hong Lim (email: honglim@yahoo.com)

~ Alex Lim (email: alexlim@charismc.org.sg)

Please feel free to contact any of the persons mentioned above if you would like to know more, or would simply like to come on board!

TESTIMONY by Lim Jia En

Once upon a time, there was a ‘guai’ (mandarin for ‘obedient’) little girl. She would follow her parents to church and attend Sunday School each time it was held. Gradually, as she grew, she found the content of Sunday School uninteresting. However, when she was about to take her PSLE she became drawn to God, praying to Him every now and then, she even began to have interest in analyzing His Word. Slowly, her desire to know more led her to reading up more about Him from Bible helps like “The Daily Bread” and an autobiography of King David.

She began taking the Bible very seriously and would always try to understand what God was trying to tell her from a certain passage that she had read for the day. She have great ambitions, she aims to be the apple of His eye. She has learnt in Sunday School that the fruit of the Spirit is a very important component to becoming more like Him. So she began on her journey towards Him this year by first volunteering to be a Sunday School assistant teacher together with her dear sister!

TESTIMONY by Jermaine Tan

In my opinion, Sunday School is a bridging place between God and us. The teachers are messengers from God, telling us more about His Word and how to live life that is godly. We all have been attending Sunday School since young. In nursery, we hear about stories from the Bible which help us to understand what Christianity is about. In primary school level, we do some handicraft and in-depth thinking which helps us to further understand and mature ourselves as a Christian. Lastly in secondary school level, we would study the Word in detail, which will once again, help all of us mature further in our walk with God. 

I have been attending Sunday School since young, and there were many lessons learnt. For me, the most important lesson that I have learnt is to trust in God and pray, because life can get really tough – with all the school homework and problems that we face in our everyday lives. It becomes relying on His strength to get you through the problems. 

I am currently involved in Sunday School as a teacher assistant. This experience has taught me to see things from the perspective of those who are much younger than me. I am not saying that I am old, but sometimes the things that are spoken by my younger brothers and sisters in Christ would surprise me.

BARNABAS SIM. What a blast! YMLC2010 was a really good experience, in learning, encountering and also getting to know more Methodist leaders from all across the country. The various messages delivered by different pastors helped to bring forth the idea of a revolutionary-leader shepherd and some of the key points in being that kind of a leader. The importance of integrity, skilful hands and humility was expounded by Bishop Solomon in the opening message, and also calling us all at the conference to be sold out and to have an “undivided heart” for God. This definitely set the tone for the rest of YMLC2010 to come.

 “Hey Barney, today’s the last day of the conference…”

Other messages like the one on Methodism was good too, in particular, I remembered Rev Malcolm telling all of us that if being a Methodist helps us be a better Christian, then be one; otherwise, by all means not be a Methodist.  That, of course, was not a call to treat Methodism lightly or insignificantly (or start searching for another church), but it was a challenge to me to treat where I’m at (in a Methodist church) and my walk with God even more seriously, and to reflect (with thanksgiving) on how God might have used Methodism to impact and mould me over the years; – and most importantly to love God and others regardless of denomination.

God certainly used YMLC2010 to speak to me (and to the rest of those from Charis), reaching out to me as He impressed upon my heart strongly the need to know that someone rather than something (this came out in one of the other messages), in everything that I did, both in my personal walk as well as in ministry.  How all the plans and programs must ultimately enable people to know that someone (Jesus Christ) rather than head knowledge of facts alone, which can save not, but a personal encounter with and response to Jesus Christ.

The evening sessions were particularly ministering, and just being with other 250 plus youths and young adults was both exciting and encouraging. Seeing a whole bunch of people so passionately in love and worship to God (besides having a great time sharing with other Methodists) was definitely memorable.  Moreover, learning and listening to one another’s struggles and triumphs made me feel that God was moving us closer in greater unity and no difference in style of worship or methods of doing things can ever, and should ever, stand in the way of unity in the body of Christ and love for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. It makes me want to love even if it may be contrary to my preferences.

Finally, it was certainly great to be able to spend 4 days with those from Charis as well, just having fun and enjoying the good company of each of them, away from Singapore!

TAN SI EN. YMLC 2010 was, most of all, an eye-opening experience. It was an honor to learn from varied wise speakers (which included Bishop Robert Solomon and the 3 Annual Conference Presidents), who spoke on what it meant to be a revolutionary leader-shepherd. The examples of biblical leaders given – such as Nehemiah and Jesus – were useful and helped to make the concepts more real. Another thing that really struck me was how Rev Malcolm Tan started his message on Methodism – that whatever denomination we are in, what matters most is that it helps us to love Jesus more.

It was also eye-opening in the sense that I got to see how God works in different youth leaders from different Methodist churches – each facing different circumstances, but all striving to please God. It was also encouraging to hear the open sharing about personal struggles each leader faced, and how they’ve overcome or are trying and asking for prayers. My group shared prayer requests at the end of the conference, and we intend to meet up in order to keep each other accountable. We also discussed various topics close to youths’ hearts – relationships, worship, cell group amongst others – and the sharing of experiences was helpful and has given me a fresh perspective on these areas.

It was also a privilege to engage in dialogue with the Bishop and the Presidents in a forum. An interesting question was what doctrine the panelists felt needed to be taught to youth today. The CAC President’s answer – holiness – struck a chord with me because it was something that had been on my mind since studying the Pentateuch last year.

YMLC was a great time of being “forcibly” isolated and spending time with God and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Sometimes, it is really necessary to wrench ourselves out of our daily routines and intentionally spend time meditating on the things of God – and YMLC was a great opportunity to do so. I would encourage any young leader looking to broaden his or her horizons to go for it, to gain new insights from both the experienced speakers and fellow youths who are struggling with the same circumstances.

SANDRA LIM. Going for YMLC 2010 was a real eye-opener. Seeing that this is the first time CAC and ETAC being invited to a TRAC annual event, everyone did not know what to expect. A few days before the trip, I was even hesitating about going for it because firstly, I didn’t know anyone there in my group as we were all grouped according to our ages. Secondly, I also had to room with someone I didn’t even know and thirdly, I would have just finished my semester exams on the morning of the departure and I wanted some time to rest before rushing off to do something else. Thus you could imagine all the doubts and reluctance forming in my head…

But boy am I glad that I went in the end because God spoke to me in this trip in a very different way, by placing people I do not even know to give me guidance and advice. There were 3 instances that really unforgettable.

1. My room-mate, whom I didn’t know, turned up to be a really sweet person. We prayed for each other in the morning. In one of the prayer meetings, she prayed over a specific issue in my life which I’ve been thinking about recently. On hindsight, I didn’t even mention a single thing or given her any clue, but she just hit the jackpot and prayed for me. It must be God…right?

2. All the participants were grouped according to our age. Prior to the conference, our mentors were given the name list with our names and contact details. Most mentors wouldn’t know their group members unless they’ve been to previous conferences. All the more my mentor did not know me (nor any group members) this being CAC’s first time participating in YMLC. Nevertheless, all mentors were given our names so as to pray for us individually besides being instructed to write words of encouragement to us. Eventually, in the conference, my mentor gave me this slip of paper that read: “Dear Sandra, Your hands are beautiful. Use it for His glory”. Gosh, I thought he was fooling around with me because he couldn’t possibly know that I was a musician (or someone using her hands for something) prior to the camp as we were knew to each other! But when I asked him further, my mentor told me that when he was praying for me, God gave him a vision of me playing the keyboard. WOW. A VISION OF ME playing the keyboard when he virtually knows NOTHING about my musical background! Spooky yet amazing right!

3. On the last day, everyone in the group prayed for each other, and my group member praying for me received another vision of me playing the keyboard. She quoted me the verse John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that bears fruit He prunes so that it will become even more fruitful.” In her vision, the branches (that were my hands) were playing the keyboard. Another WOW moment! Thus I took it that these branches were my hands which God wants to ‘prune’ them so that it will become even more fruitful.

These 3 incidences totally renewed my faith in God at this point in my life where I was questioning God where am I supposed to go and what He wants me to do with my life. Is He really there for me? Especially, I have been learning music for more than 12 years now. Sometimes I doubted if this was really what God wanted me to venture into. Sometimes, I get discouraged when other priorities in life start to take precedence and when I get tired of practicing music for the sake of practicing.

My experience in YMLC was not directly linked to its main purpose (to teach us how to be Revolutionary Leaders), but more of God reaffirming areas in my life that I was unsure which is even more amazing. I did also learn how to be a better leader but I’d leave the rest of the other Charisians to fill in the gaps! God is a God full of love for His children and I’m just so glad I’m His daughter.

KEITH OH. My very first YMLC was an invigorating and enlightening experience for me. Being joined by over two hundred God-loving and God-fearing individuals in praising, worshipping and studying His word was very refreshing and inspiring. As young Methodist leaders, we are faced with similar challenges of all young Christians having to reconcile our beliefs with our daily commitments. At the same time, we are called by God to step out beyond our comfort zone and be a shepherd to His flock – our flock. In our mentor groups, as we shared our personal aspirations and difficulties, I experienced a spiritual connection with the wider Methodist leaders. They were going through the same issues as us! I am extremely grateful to have been able to meet these fellow leaders and draw strength and encouragement from their sharing.

Each day at the conference also opened my spiritual eyes to God’s calling as each individual speaker led us to study the different revolutionary leader-shepherds in the Bible – from Moses to Jesus, Jonah to Elijah. They spoke with great wisdom and anointing and personally I increasingly felt convicted of God’s call on my life. I was personally very encouraged by Bishop Solomon’s personal sharing on how God called him and how he face the same test of faith when God did not seem to reply his question. He also shared about how all our past experiences do not go to waste in God’s ministry. I believe many were similarly convicted through the messages and many will rise up to be such revolutionary leader-shepherds in His time. All glory to God!

BB CARES
by LCP Thng Zong Qing

On 24th July 2010, it was BB CARES. This was the time of the year where we could serve the community as one body of The Boys’ Brigade, spreading happiness to the less fortunate in a fun and meaningful way. It was my first BB CARES and I was excited to interact with my Company’s beneficiary, Dreams @ Kolam Ayer, who were Malay children and teenagers.

Initially, I was assigned carpark duties and to look out for the Guest-of-Honor to guide her to the stage. After I had completed my duties, I was privileged to be one of the fortunate few from my Company to go onto the flyer together with the beneficiary. Even though I had acrophobia, I enjoyed myself thoroughly on the Singapore Flyer. I hope that our beneficiary had enjoyed themselves as much as I did too.

When I had finished my lunch, it was time for the beneficiary to go. While they were leaving, I saw the smiles on their faces. It was an indication that they had enjoyed BB CARES. I am proud to be part of this event which brought a smile to others. At this event, I also saw many other beneficiaries and suddenly realized that I was very blessed. Some of the elderly were abandoned by their own children whom they used to care for. As for me, I have a loving family who would care for each other and be there for one another. Hence, this made me want to give back to society with what I have received from my family.

I hope to be part of BB CARES again so that I can contribute back to society. I am certain that the next BB CARES will be as memorable as this year’s event.

First of all, the leadership team of XS & JXS would like take this opportunity to thank you for your support and understanding of JXS combined events with XS.

In the JXS, in general, the youths have been learning about various spiritual disciplines and gifts. Moreover, they have also been taught on Lordship of Christ besides counting the cost of following Him.

In addition, the JXS leadership team together with the respective teachers is planning to have a meet-the-parent session. We will keep you posted and hope to see you then.

At XS level, I thank the Lord for the desires of our youth to be more Word and Christ-centered. We have two combined cell meetings on the first two Saturdays of the month to foster closer bonds and fellowship. The XS leadership seeks to instill in youths their identity in Christ and in the process build their esteem and character. 

By the way, if you have relatives or neighbors who belong to any of these age categories: P6 to Sec 3 for JXS, Sec 4 and above for XS, feel free to invite them. It is our desire to see these young people grow to be more like Christ and be a people after God’s heart.

Finally, let’s pray together for our youths that they will continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ – to be God-fearing men and women who love the Lord and desire to offer Him their faithful service.

(For more information on recent activities, please refer our bi-monthly publication ‘XScalate’.)

~ Alex Lim, Youth Ministry Staff