Synod Youth Ministry Leadership Camp 26-27 Jan 2007 @ Bethel PC

SYM_LeadershipCamp_26-27Jan2007 414
Originally uploaded by silverthorn11.

It's finally up! check out the rest of the photos (right)! You will need a yahoo account.

FEBA Concert

聘请青年传道之计划书 Employment of a Pastor/Pastoral Worker for Holy Grace Presbyterian Church Chinese Christian Youth Ministry

We are looking for a full-time pastor or pastoral worker who has the vision to serve the Lord in the Youth Ministry. The applicant should be degree qualified in Theology or equivalent, recognized by the Presbytery and Synod. He/she should be fluent in speaking and writing Chinese and English. The successful applicant's main duties are to preach the Gospel and to exercise pastoral care to the youth of the Youth Christian Fellowship.

1. Job Specification
- Provide counselling & follow up for youth, parents & teachers, and make necessary referral when needed.

- Network and establish rapport with parents to encourage strong parental support and involvement in the emotional and spiritual care of the youth.

- Work closely with the Church Reverend, Pastors, Elders Deacons Court, church co-workers.

- Work under the supervision & direction of the Reverend and report to the Reverend.


2． 工作要求：(Job Requirements)

I. 学历：至少拥有长老宗受承认之神学院毕业证书
Qualification: Should be degree qualified in Theology or equivalent, recognized by the Presbytery and Synod.

II. 年龄：介于21岁至35岁之间
Age: Between 21 to 35 years old.

III. 具备基本的电脑知识，通晓中英文（口头与书写）；对青少年事工具有强烈的委身与热忱更佳。 Possess Computer Skills in MS, bilingual (written and spoken). We require someone who has the calling and passion for youth's work.


3． 薪金与福利：(Salary and Benefits)

I． 依据长老大会2006年议会所修正的教牧薪酬标准（参阅附件）。
Salary and Benefits is based on the Presbytery and Synod Revised Salary Scales and Benefits for Pastoral Staff 2006.


If you are interested, please apply with resume to:
Holy Grace Presbyterian Church
408B Upper East Coast Road
Singapore 466484
Tel: 6241-1154, Fax: 6443-0102
Email: hgpcs@singnet.com.sg

第二届大会青年领袖营 - 2nd Synod Youth Ministry Leadership Camp 2007

Registration Form can be downloaded from the sidebar at the right ===>

joke...

A certain someone goes to the post office to buy stamps for her Christmas cards.

She says to the clerk, "May I have 50 Christmas stamps?"

The clerk says, "What denomination?"

She says, "God help us, Has it come to this? Give me 6 Catholic, 12 Presbyterian, 10 Lutheran and 22 Baptists."

The Problem of Evil

Premise 1: If God exist, then he would eradicate evil.
Premise 2: Homework is evil.
Premise 3: I have to do homework, hence evil exist.
Conclusion: God does not exist.

If you are a reader of this blog, please send in at least 1 comment on the above argument. We look forward to an interesting discussion.

Awesome

Some things can make me cry. Some things as simple as the imagery of 4 candles. How about you?
Try out by viewing this flash animation:
4Candles

CWM News: My career - a lesson in God's care (Eld Richard Chong)

CWM deputy moderator and administrative secretary for the Presbyterian Church in Singapore Richard Chong looks back on a career in which God's grace has always been a step ahead.

While in the Singaporean army on national service, I joined an Institute of Biblical Study course conducted by the Campus Crusade for Christ. Confronted with my helplessness, my depravity and the wonderful grace of Jesus Christ, I needed no further prompting to bend my knees to ask him come into my life.

I found inexpressible joy in reaching out to the recruits at evangelistic meetings and learning from the witness of my Bible study group on weekends.

When I left the army, God used me to set up bible study groups in and outside my workplaces. I decided that there could be nothing more fulfilling in life than to serve God in the ministry of evangelising, training, and equipping people to spread the gospel. God had other plans!

I slowly learned there is a difference between being driven and being called

For 11 years, I worked in the printing industry, working hard to bring up a young family, and manage priorities at workplaces and in church. My work involved reviving a loss-making company of 50 staff and building it up to an international and profitable corporation of 300 employees.

Pride
I began to believe that there was nothing I could not achieve with commitment. I left the company to partner with a friend in a completely new business. But we soon faced setbacks after my friend had to pull a big part of his capital from the business.

So I started again with a completely new business. Again lack of capital was a constraint.

With depleted savings I went back to the printing firm I had left feeling beaten and discouraged. God revealed to me how dependant I am and how fragile and transient these businesses are!

It was also during this time that I took up eldership in the church with the view to help the church serve effectively. I was humbled at the attempt. I slowly learned there is a difference between being driven and being called; that people are more important and enduring than structures and methods.

Knowing that I needed to reflect and live my life meaningfully, I sought God for relief. I took the step of faith to invest my time in the church's service as administrative secretary for the Presbyterian Church in Singapore.

I have never been happier in my work and walk with God. He provided me the opportunity to put my administrative gifting to work with our church leaders; expanded my worldview through engagement with world mission bodies and missionaries; challenged me to take bold steps into new missions and entrepreneurial initiatives through prayer and faith.

Free visualisers!!!

Dear Pastors/Church Managers/Admin Support

A Home for the Aged in East Coast has 7 visualisers (used) to give away. Anyone interested please contact Br Ricky Seah at HP no: 97439717.

CWM News: Good shepherds to Zambian youth

Delinquency and poverty are major issues for Zambian youth found returning missionary Rev Fereti Tutuila. The church can provide direction and care for them.

Flowers laid on gravestones don't last long in Lusaka. Children scour cemeteries for flowers hoping to resell them. Others roam around looking for a chance to steal.

Day by day children are on the streets begging. They accompany blind people asking for help, getting their meals from trash bins, sleeping by the roadside with plastic bags tied round them for warmth.

Young people are in a critical state in terms of moral values. Debate is raging as to why this is so and who is responsible.

Church youth are addressing the problems their generation faces

The youth are also crying out for the kind of equality where anyone's problem is everyone's problem and where nobody is marginalised.

As CWM missionary Rev Fereti Tutuila ministered at St Andrew's Church in Lusaka he noted that elders and clergy are only minimally involved with the youth. "With our 100 per cent involvement we will know them and they will follow our direction because they recognise our voice," he says.

St Andrew's Church youth department comprises of Sunday school, youth fellowship and a Boys' Brigade and Girls' Brigade. Church youth are addressing the problems their generation faces by getting involved in a wide range of church activities such as small projects, fundraising, visitations and counselling.

Tutuila says: "Although HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and high poverty levels are hitting them, their faith is firmly anchored onto the Lord, leading to growing in mission."

Tutuila helped respond to youth problems by putting in place a social welfare committee to give whatever the church could manage to homeless children, and creating youth projects, such as a brick-making scheme.

He tried to be with families grieving over sick children, and constituted an HIV/AIDS committee to work with the church marriage guidance committee.

"I still have a passion to go back to the ministry in Africa," he says.

Rev Fereti and Sosefina Tutuila from the Congregational Christian Church in Samoa served the United Church of Zambia at St Andrew's Church in Lusaka for five years.

The Inklings' Cafe: Worship Symposium 2006 (3 - 5 Sep) - Graham Kendrick and team

The Inklings' Cafe: Worship Symposium 2006 (3 - 5 Sep) - Graham Kendrick and team

Worship Symposium 2006

Friends, not sure how manyof you have already signed up for this, but for those who hasn't, I would really encourage any worship leaders and musicians to attend this Worship Symposium. Many youth ministries struggle with balancing between using hymns and contemporary music in our worship. Struggle no more, as Graham Kendrick and his worship team will be sharing with us what blended worship is all about, and leading the various musical clinics and the worship concerts in the evening. For those who does not know who he is, you can find out more about him and his music here.

Graham Kendrick, the son of a Baptist pastor, was born in Northamptonshire in 1950. He trained as a teacher but launched out as a singer/songwriter in 1972. His songs and hymns are sung by millions of people in numerous languages around the world.

The song Shine Jesus Shine has been the UK's most popular contemporary worship song and is frequently featured in the BBC's Songs of Praise programme. He is married with four daughters and lives in South London. Graham received a Dove Award in 1995 for his international work and is listed in Who's Who. In 2000 he received an honorary doctorate in divinity from Brunel University in recognition of his contribution to the worship life of the church.

Graham is a co-founder of March for Jesus. This prayer, praise and proclamation event became global on June 25th 1994, with over 12 million people from 177 nations taking to the streets to proclaim their faith in Jesus Christ. His recent album What Grace
was the UK's number 1 best selling praise and worship album of 2001.

Simply put, he is a very well-known contemporary Christian music and song composer and worship leader. For those who cannot come for the entire symposium, i strongly encourage you to at least come for the night worship concert, which is free for all. (Sunday: 5:30-7:30pm, Monday and Tuesday: 7:30-9:30pm) Graham Kendrick will be incorporating the elements of blended worship during his Monday night worship; while on Tuesday, he will be speaking on the Prophetic aspect of worship.

Date: 3-5 September 2006 (Registration on 3 Sep, Sunday, at 1-2pm)

Main Venue: Church of the Resurrection, St. Andrew's Village, Pontong Pasir

Worship Undivided --- that is the theme of a specially organised worship symposium. The symposium hopes to bring worship teams from various churches to together to have a shared and deeper understanding of worship.

Who should attend:
Experienced and budding worship leaders, musicians, vocalists and support teams

For more information about the symposium, please visit Worship Undivided or call Priscilla on Tel: 6337 3222 ext 26 or email: bem@bible.org.sg

Testimony

A university undergraduate in Swansea, Wales, who fought with a sense of being unwanted came to faith in July, rejoices CWM missionary Molly Chua.

Undergraduate Cathleen Zhang is the only child of a well-to-do family, but she grew up feeling very rejected and unloved by her paternal grandmother especially, who was hoping for a grandson to carry on the family line.

Her grandma even suggested having someone else care for her in the countryside, thus not recognising her existence, so that her parents could try again to have a baby boy.
As I was praying I felt the pain and anguish in her heart

When she came to Swansea she came to know my husband Charles and I as a Christian family and later the Welsh church family. She felt very loved and that people do sincerely care for her. She talked to her mum about us and the happenings in Swansea almost every day. Even her non-Christian mother asked her: "When are you going to become a Christian?"

She faithfully went to church, the English corner language lessons and weekly Bible study. But all that time I sensed there was a mental block.

We continued to reach out to her with God's love and help her when she faced difficulties.

Invitation
One Sunday in July as usual she came over to my house for lunch after church. Later she asked to talk to me in private and unveiled her story.

She had come to me that Sunday because she could not carry the burdens of her heart any longer and was looking for help. She knew the Bible teachings were good for her, but felt helpless because she was not able to follow them.

We prayed together and as I was praying I felt the pain and anguish in her heart and we both wept. It was through the release of the pain in her heart that the Lord brought about healing, peace and rest. She left my house a very happy and peaceful person.

Rev Charles and Molly Chua from the Presbyterian Church in Singapore are mission enablers to the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Among their activities are Bible studies for people who are interested in Christianity, many of them students from China.

Adventure Race - 19 Aug 2006

Adventure Race - 19 Aug 2006
Originally uploaded by silverthorn11.

Praise God for another wonderful Presbyterian Youth event! From this race, we managed to raise $14,000.00 for PCS. Everyone who participated really enjoyed themselves.There was much interaction among the 11 churches who came. Thank you to all who helped raised the funds, and also for the organising comm.. and pastoral advisors. You know who you are.

To see the rest of the photos, click here. You may need a yahoo account to sign in.

You can download the photos individually, but if you want to download the entire set of photos from flickr.com, you would need to download and install FlickrDown 2.30 from here. It's fantastic!

You would need Microsoft .NET 2.0, which you can download here.

The Earliest Church in Singapore

For an amazing article on the history of early Singapore chuches, please visit verbum dei. It is still work in progress, but the section on the Presbyterian Church in Singapore is well-worthed reading as it is.

Part 2 to the "Simple Story"

Anyway, the moral of the story about the boy and girl being separated at the cinema is this: Are you living your life having 2nd-hand relationship with God?
I mean if we just listen to people teach us about God (sermons / B.S. / etc.) on Sunday, it is like having relationship with God with someone in between...
Why not build up the habit of having Quiet Time daily? You'll find yourself very intimate with God... Ha ha, that simple. All the best.

AN INTERESTING CONVERSATION - ABOUT GOD

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class
on the problem science has with God, The Almighty. He
asks one of his new students to stand and.....

Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.
Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed
to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help
others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God
good then? Hmm?
(Student is silent.)

Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again,
young fellow. Is God good?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Is Satan good?
Student: No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From... God...
Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this
world?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make
everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
Prof: So who created evil?
Student does not answer.

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness?
All these terrible things exist in the world, don't
they?
Student: Yes, sir.
Prof: So, who created them?
Student has no answer.

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to
identify and observe the world around you. Tell me,
son... Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.
Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No, sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God,
smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory
perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable
protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do
you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.
Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.
Student: No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn
of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more
heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat
or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We
can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but
we can't go any further after that. There is no such
thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe
the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is
energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just
the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such
a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the
absence of something. You can have low light, normal
light, bright light, flashing light.... But if you have
no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called
darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it
were you would be able to make darkness darker,
wouldn't you?

Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise
is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of
duality. You argue there is life and then there is
death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the
concept of God as something finite, something we can
measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It
uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen,
much less fully understood either one. To view death
as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact
that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death
is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it.
Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students
that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary
process, yes, of course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your
own eyes, sir? (The Professor shakes his head with a
smile, beginning to realize where the argument is
going.)
Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of
evolution at work and cannot even prove that this
process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching
your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a
preacher? (The class is in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever
seen the Professor's brain?
(The class breaks out into laughter.)
Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the
Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No
one appears to have done so. So, according to the
established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable
protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir.
With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your
lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the
student, his face unfathomable.)

Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Student: That is it sir... The link between man & God
is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving &
alive.

A simple story

There was once a boy who secretly admired a girl. After many months, he finally plucked up the courage to invite the girl to the movies. Guess what? She consented! They decided on the show, the cinema and the time. Everything seemed to be going smoothly for the love-struck boy. But bad-fortune finally struck! The boy realized he could not get adjoining seats to the show they planned to watch! Not wanting to give up the precious chance to meet the girl, he bought 2 seats on the same row, separated by 5 seats in between. So you could imagine how they interacted during the show. When they wanted to tell each other something, they have to pass the message through the 5 people in between. And when they wanted to share kachang puteh (Indian roasted peanuts), they too have to pass the cone through 5 people - by which time, those 5 people have also eaten their fill of the peanuts…
Want to know the moral of this story? Stay tuned...

Breaking Through the 200 Barrier (courtesy of Rev. Peter Poon)

Breaking Through the 200 Barrier
by Dan Reiland
The Pastor's Coach

It's been a long time since I've seen a "run" of conferences based on this topic. It got me thinking, is this just an old and tired idea which has long since been replaced by "emergent" language and related issues, or is there still a reality to this idea of breaking through 200 in worship attendance?

It didn't take much digging to learn that this "breakthrough" point is still alive and well. The intriguing thing is that there is no supportive research on a literal or physical barrier. This barrier is more psychological and socio-emotional. There is a sort of relational gravitational force that pulls churches trying to get through that 200 mark back under that line. This is not an imaginary force. It's real and it is strong. It need not, however, be seen as a actual barrier, meaning one that cannot be broken. It is human nature to keep things within our control. When a church is moving close to 200 it is no longer easily able to be "controlled" by one person or a small group of people.

Many years ago I served for a brief time before seminary at a church in this attendance bracket. The church averaged about 150 people give or take. The church was located in Lakeside, California and I still have fond memories of my part-time youth / associate, wet behind the ears, teeth-cutting experience. I delivered my first sermon there at Lakeside Wesleyan and I have considered going back to stand in that pulpit and say "I'm sorry, please forgive me for anything I may have said or done!" They were gracious to give me my first opportunity, and since I did use scripture, it couldn't have been all bad!

The following thoughts are not comprehensive in nature, nor are they "how to" steps and programs. They are guiding principles that if followed, over the long-haul, I'm convinced your church will make progress.

• Place vision over needs.

  If you are a seasoned pastor of a church under 200 you may have flinched as you read this first guiding principle. You, like most of us, are likely a people person and a shepherd at heart. The idea of not responding to people's needs is just wrong to you. I am with you. We are all here for people. But this is an issue of stewardship. If God would allow you to reach and meet the (spiritual) needs of 300 people instead of 150, wouldn't you want to do that? Part of the way to get there is to place the vision for people over the needs of people. Double talk? No. Keep reading.

  The difference is who is driving the agenda. If you are a needs first leader, the people are driving the agenda. If you are a vision first leader, you are driving the agenda. Actually, I wish it was that simple, but it's not. Ultimately the people drive the agenda because we serve for their good, but that is not the same as the entire congregation setting the direction, agenda and making key decisions. Serving for the people's good often means saying no to their immediate wants; for example, of a new program, staff member or a certain sermon series. Those kinds of things are the responsibility of the key leaders. If the key leaders do a good job with that, you will reach more people and ultimately meet more of people's needs. So, bottom line, invest your energy in initiating and implementing vision!

• Focus on changed lives more than attendance goals.

  We all love to see the charts show Kingdom success, but there are some things more important than numbers - for example, serving your community. And what you focus on is what you are most likely to achieve.

  In my consulting with a number of churches it is quick and easy to see which ones "go for numbers." Their approach is very different than those who are going after changed lives. From printed goals, to strategy, to how you reward people, it is all very revealing as to what you are going after.

  We all know this is not a mutually exclusive idea. No church worth its salt ignores numbers. I love talking with staff members who don't want to "mess with numbers" because "you can't box the Holy Spirit in a natural container". I say to them: "OK, tell you what, you don't have to mess with numbers and I don't either. So, when it comes to your paycheck, I'll just `go with how the Spirit leads' each week." Yea, I know, that never goes over very well, but sometimes I just can't help myself.

  So which is it, numbers or not? Yes. It's an issue of focus. If you truly focus on changed lives, the numbers nearly always take care of themselves. If you focus on numbers, you will likely sacrifice realizing changed-lives.

  In the nearly five years I have been at Crossroads we have never set an attendance goal. But we look at attendance all the time. We focus on baptisms (conversions), people serving and joining a small group. We focus on compassion, serving the community and engaging the culture. We believe that if lives are genuinely touched with the transforming power of Jesus Christ - people come back for more!

• Make your best possible choice for your first staff hire.

  We could spend hours here, in fact I have done just that in past conference environments, but I'll spare you from that in this article! Let's keep it brief for now. Staffing is mostly art, at least 51%. The art portion of staffing is comprised largely of experience, intuition, common sense, hard work, a little luck and a lot of prayer. Candidly it is more like 80% art. The remaining 20% deals with Human Resource laws and regulations, legal issues, finance and policy. I say this because if you want a cook-book formula for staffing you won't find one. Helpful "how-to's" and guiding principles are good, but they are for your guidance only, they are not law. So now that I've over set this up . . . let me share a couple thoughts with you.

  First, always go for the best person you can hire, even over the position you want to fill. For example, there are a number of good choices for your first hire; such as an administrative assistant, a children's leader, an associate pastor, a worship leader etc. Remember it's an art not a science. I would reduce the list to the top three needs and then pray for God best and highest talented person to come on your radar. Begin to put out feelers and get the word out informally. It a "God talent" doesn't surface, then choose the one position you want to go after and focus on it formally. Even then the principle stands. Hire the best candidate possible. Pay as much as you can. Staff is not the place to cut corners.

  Second, go for the greatest need of the church's ministry. (In this case you have your first staff member, but they leave.) For example, let's say you have a youth pastor, but he or she decides to move on to another church. Your immediate response is likely to hire another youth pastor. That may well be the right answer, but take enough time to make sure. Perhaps there is a lay leader who could take over and give excellent leadership to your student ministry which would free up monies to hire a much needed children's leader.

• Do not add programs, increase evangelism and compassionate outreach.

  You will be under great temptation and pressure to add more programs as your church gets larger. Don't cave in. I'm serious. Don't do it. Unless the Holy Spirit lights a bush on fire and tells you to start another program, stay lean and invest your "extra" energy in to reaching people who are not pursuing God or part of a local church.

• Invest in leadership.

  Everything rises and falls on leadership." (Maxwell) I know many Godly leaders who pray much (as we all need to) who serve in small churches that do not grow. There are many mature believers who focus on depth of discipleship which is also important, but their churches aren't growing. There are churches with long and sincere worship, but they don't grow. We need prayer, depth and worship, but without leadership (connected with the power of God's Spirit) let's be honest, the local church doesn't move forward. Again, this is not about a static size, it's about impact in your community and subsequent growth.

  Get around leaders of larger churches. Take them to lunch and ask well thought-out and written questions. Read great leadership books. Attend leadership conferences. Read the Pastor's Coach. Ask God to increase the size and scope of leadership within you. In other words, work at becoming a better leader in the same way you work at writing and delivering better sermons. But don't stop there! Take all the good leadership "stuff" you are learning and teach it to "apprentice" leaders in your church. Pass it on and teach them to pass it on to others as well!

Practice these ideas or guiding principles and, they will help you break-through 200 in attendance.

Recommended Reading: (2006 Leadership Network Publications)

The Missional Leader - Equipping Your Church to Reach A Changing World, Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk; Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint

Practicing Greatness - 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders, Reggie McNeal; Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint

Update on our beloved Boon Young

I just met him for lunch and it looks like things are progressing quite smoothly. Please continue to pray for his recovery, comfort and support. He is speaking a lot more spontaneously, and his thoughts is pretty clear. His walking is quite steady and his hand movement is continuing to improve. He can pick up a 10 cent coin, use a chopstick and do a minor tug-of-war with a piece of paper. In terms of physiotherapy, his improvements is nothing short of miraculous, though it will still take a while for full recovery.