Equipping Course: Presbyterian Distinctives

Synod Staff 2007

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Originally uploaded by silverthorn11

Front Row - Eld Richard Chong (Synod Executive Secretary), Rt. Rev Tan Cheng Huat (Moderator), Rev May Tan (Synod Development Executive Secretary), Pr. Kim Tan (CP Executive Secretary)

Back Row - Pr Wilson Tan (Synod Youth Executive), Ms See Siew Kee (Synod Finance & Admin Manager), Pr. Lim Chye Peng (Synod Education Executive), Miss June Phoon (Synod Development Admin Asst), Ms Lau Jen Sin (Synod Communication Executive), Ms Goh Huey Huey (Synod Admin Asst), Ms Hao Bao Hui (CP Secretary), Mr Eddy Leo Kasman (Care-taker)

Not in picture - Rev Timothy See (EP Executive Secretary)

The Impact of the Digital World on our Youths Today!

Report on the Youth Mentors' Get Together
Speaker: Dr. Liu Yi Jiang (Asia Theological Centre), in Mandarin
Date: 7th Apr 2007
Time: 7:00-9:00pm (snacks provided)
Venue: Glory PC

This year, the Synod Youth Ministry specially prepared for two sessions of Youth Mentors' Get Together (one in Apr for CP churches and another one in November for EP churches). The first one conducted on 7th Apr 2007 at Glory Presbyterian Church and it was largely attended youth leaders and some youth mentors from 4-5 CP churches. Many churches received news of this event late because there was a email communication failure which I only knew about about a week before the event. And also the date clashed with many churches' celebration of the Easter event and so many mentors were not able to come.

Nonetheless, about 30 odd people came and Dr. Liu Yi Jiang spoke passionately on, "The Impact of the Digital World on our Youths Today." Intermingled with his own life stories and interesting anecdotes, Dr. Liu shared that as mentors' or teachers in youth ministry today, there is an urgent need to engage our youths in their digital world if we want to minister to them. We also need to re-assess our old methods of doing ministry. Take for example, encouraging our youths to read the Bible during quiet time has always been a difficult task for many churches and mentors, but maybe by first encouraging them to build up a personal relationship with God through prayer might be more suitable. And when they form this closeness with God, they would eventually want to read what God says in the Bible in their quiet time.

Dr. Liu offered many practical and insightful suggestions into how we mentor our youths in the digital world. For example, firstly learning what their world is all about through enagaging in their "plugged in" activites, the iPod generation, blogging, MSN chat, online gaming. The need to stay relevant in our ever-changing culture is much stronger today but the core of our identity stays unchanged. That is, we are still called to be a disciple of Christ, even in the digital world. We must stay true to our calling and help our youths to find this identity.

In designing a game (Part 1a)

I know I have promised to submit Part 2 of my installment soon, but it will take a while more.

Meanwhile I chanced upon a website that is exactly what I endeavor to do when I design a puzzle hunt, just like the one I did for the games in Youth Leadership Camp 2006.

Enjoy, but please keep the methods to yourself so that I can get to use them when the need arises.

Synod Youth Ministry - Adventure Race

Synod Youth Games Day 2007

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Originally uploaded by silverthorn11

What a wonderful day of fellowship and games last Sat, 26 May 2007, at Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Sec. School. On paper, we have close to 280 youths from 11 churches participating in this year's Synod Youth Games Day 2007. Praise God that it all went smoothly as planned and the rain clouds came and went very quickly too. Thank you all for participation and we look forward to next year's challenge. Many thanks to Pastor Kien Seng and his team of helpers from True Way PC! You guys were simply amazing! Thank you all!

It's our third year running this friendly competition. In our first year in 2005, we did not even had a trophy and we played football and basketball. In the following year, we added two trophies for football (guys) and capt's ball (girls). This year, we divided the age group further (13-18, 19-25) for both games, soccer for boys and mixed gender for capt's ball (only girls can score though) and added two more trophies to our tally. The winners this year for the following category are:

Boys Soccer 13-18: Amazing Grace PC (first time participants!!!)
Boys Soccer 19-25: Ang Mo Kio PC (defending champs for the last three years, but count as two because first year no trophy. Next year, if they win again, they can keep the trophy)

Mixed Capt's Ball 13-18: Covenant PC (I think Covenant youths play Capt's Ball every week issit? A clean sweep of top honors for Capt's Ball)
Mixed Capt's Ball 19-25: Covenant PC (also defending champs for the last two years, as the first year we did not have capt's ball. Next year, if they win, they can keep the trophy)

The Runners' Up are:
Boys Soccer 13-18: Glory PC English
Boys Soccer 19-25: Glory PC Chinese

Mixed Capt's Ball 13-18: Glory PC English
Mixed Capt's Ball 19-25: Glory PC English

Glory PC combined English and Chinese wins the most overall runner's up prize! Amazing! Hopefully next year they can win the top honors!

See ya next year!

TTC Public Lecture: The Peace that Surpasses All Understanding: A New Testament Theological Reflection' by Dr John Yieh

Dear Alumni,

INVITATION TO A PUBLIC LECTURE

I bring you warm greetings from Trinity Theological College.

I would like to invite you to a public lecture on Wednesday 30 May at 8pm at the TTC Chapel. The speaker is Dr John Yieh. Dr Yieh is Associate Professor in New Testament at Virginia Theological Seminary and obtained his PhD from Yale University. He will speak on 'The Peace that Surpasses All Understanding: A New Testament Theological Reflection'.

Dr Yieh researched on the Dead Sea Scrolls at the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem. He also compiled a Concise Greek-Chinese Dictionary of the New Testament (1989), commissioned and published by the United Bible Societies and contributed to the drafting and editing of a study edition of the Chinese Bible.

He has published essays, articles, and reviews in the area of Gospels studies and cross-cultural hermeneutics and his most recent book is entitled "One Teacher: Jesus’ Teaching Role in Matthew’s Gospel Report ". He is now writing a book tentatively entitled: The Sermon on the Mount: a history-of-effects inquiry.

This public lecture is part of the programme of the Second International Congress of Ethnic Chinese Biblical Scholars (ECBC) to be held at TTC from 29 May – 1 June 2007, the first being held in Hong Kong's Chung Chi College in 2004. The theme for the Congress 2007 is Shalom: Biblical and Chinese Perspectives.

The public lecture is open to all and we encourage you to invite other interested persons to attend as well.

Yours in His Service,

Ngoei Foong Nghian

Principal

What is Intellectual Pride?

We are supposed to be praying against intellectual pride on 19th May. This sermon by Phillips Brooks should be of great help to us. The relevant section begins with the paragraph "I would speak again on what is called intellectual life..."

Creative Youth Ideas

Do check out this amazing youth resources website. It's absolutely free!

http://blog.creativeyouthideas.com/

Who was greater, Thomas A. Edison or his mother?

When he was a young lad his teacher sent him home with a note which said, 'Your child is dumb. We can't do anything for him.' Mrs. Edison wrote back, 'You do not understand my boy. I will teach him myself'. And she did, with results that are well known.

Hee! Hee! Quite funny!

"Bringing Significance Back Into Leadership" by Pamela Simpson

Leadership is a common word. We hear it used in business, church, politics, and everywhere else imaginable. So what? What's the big deal? Why is this word so common...and the real question is, how many times is it used with virtually no significance?

It's time to change that. "Leadership is influence...nothing more, nothing less." This phrase, used by many and coined across the globe by Dr. John C. Maxwell, really brings this word into focus. Leadership = Influence. Seems simple, right? And yet so many of us feel like we fail as leaders so often...or, even worse, feel like we've never even gotten to the point of being a leader.

But if this is true--that leadership is influence, then neither of these statements is really truth. No matter if we fail or not, we are still influencing. No matter if we have a leadership position or not, we are still influencing. Therefore, its no longer a question of success or position and this one truth becomes clear--everyone is a leader!

Everyone will influence someone in their lives and chances are that they will influence a whole lot more than that. In fact, some studies have shown that even the shyest of people will influence 10,000 people in their lifetime! Did you hear me? 10,000 PEOPLE! That's a whole lot! So, the question is no longer IF we will influence, but HOW we will influence.

I don't know about you, but I want to influence for good, not evil. I want to influence on the positive side, not the negative one. And even more than this, I want to influence those that will then influence even more...so that my 10,000 becomes not just 20,000 but multiplies into 100,000 and more! And even more than this...I want to influence the next generation of leaders, our youth, so that their influence will go beyond my lifetime. That's leadership. Let's make this word significant. Are you ready?

Pamela Simpson is the Project Coordinator for Equipping Leaders for Asia. She is currently coordinating 3 local events here in Singapore that will being the process of youth leadership training, with author and speaker of leadership, Dr. Tim Elmore. Check out the events! www.equippingleadersasia.org.

Synod Youth Games Day

Registration Form and Rules are on the right!

Date: 26 May 2007
Venue: Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Sec. School
Time: 1:30-6pm

Dateline: 12 May 2007

Each church can only send in max four teams, one for each of the four categories:

Boys only (street soccer style, boots required on the field)
- 7 aside soccer (13-18 year-olds)
- 7 aside soccer (19-25 year-olds)

Girls (min 3 girls) and Boys Mixed (only girls can score!)
- 7 aside capt's ball (13-18 year-olds)
- 7 aside capt's ball (19-25 year-olds)

Please contact Pastor Kien Seng for future enquires:
HP:
Email: kienseng@trueway.org.sg

In designing a game (Part 1)

Games and fun are part and parcel of youth ministry. I hope that I could help your church in this area by sharing about the making of "WWCD (What Would Calvin Do)" and "Who is Johnny C?".

I was given the project of handling 2 games in the Synod Youth Leadership Camp 2007. Here are some key concerns.
1. Objective - This is always the primary concern. In last year's camp, the objective is interaction between different participants of the different churches, hence a puzzle-solving game design. This year, the objective is knowledge-acquiring and interest-building in the subject matter (John Calvin). Hence, it was determined that it would be a trivia game.
2. Quality of the Participants - Quality of participants means the type of players we have. Since they are youth leaders, it is possible and necessary to have a more complex rule-set. Else, they will be bored by simplistic objectives and a "been-there, done-that" feeling. However, since it is a Calvin-trivia, and not a pop culture trivia, (it is not a game among Presbyterian pastors), a high degree of randomness is essential. This means that the game design should not be highly dependent on an extensive knowledge of Calvin. Instead, the participants just have to be good enough to make intelligent guesses. Take special note that pure randomness (like snakes and ladders) in a game is to be avoided at all cost, because participants need to feel involved, like their decisions matter. Hence the key idea: a game design that allows for good guesses.
3. Quantity of Participants - This means the number of players we have. The ideal game situation for a strategy game is 2-6 players. The higher the number of players, the higher the amount of decision-making situations needed so that all players will feel involved. In a situation of 100 players, it is necessary to form teams (unless you are playing games like Bingo). I decided on 10 teams of 10 members. 10 teams would mean that the situation will not be overly chaotic (more teams=more chaos, more chaos=strategy more meaningless). 10 members per team means every member can still be reasonably involved (more members = less responsibility, less responsibility = less involvement). It is not the ideal situation for a trivia guessing game, but it is the best that I can make do.

Until next time, I will share the Part Two of The Making of WWCD and Who is Johnny C? where I will share about the strength and weaknesses of the two games.

The Prayer of Ezra

My dear friend, Wilson Tan, finally becomes a father. he named his son, "Ezra". A powerful and godly person in the OT. Congrats to you =)

"Ezra" reminds me of a sermon i preached in the church and i would like to share with you:

The Scripture tells us that Ezra was a priest and he was a learned man in matters concerning the commands and decrees of the Lord for Israel (Ezra 7:11) He proclaimed praying and fasting just before going to Jerusalem (Ezra 8). Once, they reached Jerusalem and completed their given tasks and then sacrificed burnt offerings to God, the leaders came to Ezra with bad news. By now, the temple had already rebuilt but there was a problem. The problem was that people are not going to the temple to worship God (Ezra 9).The people of Israel have not separated themselves from the neighbouring people. He was told that the leaders including priests and Levites had broken a command of God by intermarrying with women from the neighbouring people. (9:1-2)(read) As a result, the verse says that they have mingled the holy race with the people around them. There is a decline in true religion because of intermarriage, the people of Israel have adopt their wife/husbands’ religion. Their hearts have turned cold and they have compromised their faith. They became indifferent towards worship of the True and Living God.

What did Ezra do after hearing this? Look at Ezra 9:3.That was really a usual behaviour that Ezra had demonstrated. Why behave like that? Ezra’s heart was immediately gripped by a deep concern for the people. Scripture actually says that he was utterly shocked, and horrified at the terrible sins of the people. This was indicated by his tearing his clothing and pulling his hair and beard. It was the custom of that day to express one’s grief in this way. Ezra’s heart was filled with sorrow, sadness, and depressed. Apparently Ezra had gone to the temple to express his grief and to seek the LORD. Naturally, the worshippers wanted to know what was troubling him so deeply. Soon all the faithful believers, those who feared God and trembled at His Word, joined Ezra in mourning over the sins of the people. In utter dismay, Ezra sat there in the temple until the evening sacrifice.

When it was time for the evening sacrifice, Ezra offered up his prayer of confession (9:5-15). He rose from where he had been sitting, fell to his knees, then lifted up his hands to the LORD in prayer and intercession for the people. What did he prayed about? Firstly, he recognize how far Israel had fallen by confessing their sins (2) he recognize God’s goodness and grace towards Israel (3) he recognize the need for repentant.
J. C. Ryle said, “Christ is never fully valued, until sin is clearly seen” Thus our first reaction to sin must be to see it clearly from Scriptures. Then, realizing that it put our Savior on the cross, we should mourn over it. Finally, we should confess it without excuse to the God of mercy, appropriating His cleansing for our consciences, that we might be renewed to serve Him in purity.

As we grow in godliness, like Ezra, we will react more strongly to our own sins and to the sins of God’s people. We will dwell more consistently at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ, where God’s mercy flows to repentant sinners.
So when I confess my sins to God, I will
- Acknowledge the severity of my sins so that I will not take my sins lightly.
I will
- Remember God’s grace and goodness towards me so that I will be honestly ashamed that I have sinned against my Gracious God.
I will
- Express my repentance so that I will resolved to turn from my sinful ways.

I trust that this is simple enough for us to remember how we can confess our sins and also simple enough for those of us who are parents to explain to children how they can confess their sins.

"Reflection on Presbyterian Synod Youth Leadership Camp" by Jonathan Giang (Jubilee Church)

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Originally uploaded by silverthorn11.

The 2nd Annual Presbyterian Synod Youth Ministry Leadership Camp was held on the 26th to 27th January, 2007, at Bethel Presbyterian Church. It was a significant event which brought together youth leaders from various Presbyterian churches. This year, youth leaders from 13 different Presbyterian churches participated in the event.



The camp kick started with a welcome speech from Pr. Wilson Tan and a worship session led by Chen Li Presbyterian Church worship team. It was a great sight to behold, seeing youths of all ages from different churches worshipping God together in the cosy hall. This was just a prelude to the high levels of learning and fun we experienced during the camp.



The speaker for this year’s Synod Youth Ministry Leadership Camp was Rev. Jimmy Tan Boon Chai from Bethel Presbyterian Church. The main focus of his sermons was on “The Calling of a Spiritual Leader”. The sermons were split into 3 sessions. And through these sessions, we, the youths would learn about the Christian Perspective on Leadership. We learnt that to be a Christian leader, there is a need for a calling by God, character after God followed by competencies enabled by God. Rev. Tan told us that God’s calling may be come as an internal or external calling that we as youths will experience and that we must possess Christ-like character such as humility and love. We also got to know that the virtues of Christ can be developed over time by God. Lastly, Rev. Tan also shared that we must possess competency to be able to serve with God. Through these sermons, we have a clearer picture of the requirements and functions of a youth leader, which may act as a guide to our journey as a Presbyterian youth leader. Hence, this enhances our understanding and knowledge as Christians.



Simultaneously, we also experienced fun and interaction during the course of the two-day camp from games organized by Rev. Wong Siow Hwee. Trivia games such as “Who is Johnny C?” and “WWCD?” which tested our wits and anticipation as each group racked their brains to outsmart the others. Everyone experienced much fun and laughter during the course of the games. However, most importantly, is that through these games, all of us were able to learn more about the 16th century theologian John Calvin (founder of the Presbyterian or Reformed Church) as well as his influence and ideas which are important to the modern day churches.



Last but not least, the camp wrapped up with the Grand Finale, which consisted of 5 stations of Tug of War games. Each station required all of us to display our physical prowess as well as our teamwork and support for our peers. This enabled our teams to bond together. Finally, the Grand Finale ended with a final Tug of War which pitted the boys against the girls. Subsequently, the girls won the Tug of War, landing the boys in defeat. However, the main focus is that we all managed to have fun and gel together through the games.



The 2nd Annual Presbyterian Synod Youth Ministry Leadership Camp may have just been a two-day camp. However, we have definitely benefited much through these two days as we all grew spiritually as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and gained much knowledge in the aspects of service to the church. Not to forget, barriers have been broken and new bonds have been built between youths of different churches. As a result, we have made buddies from other churches, enabling all of us to spread the love and concern for one another from one church to the other. Hopefully this camp will not only gel the youths from different churches, but will also foster closer togetherness between adjacent Presbyterian churches and act as a steeping stone for greater unity in the Singapore Presbyterian community.

- Jonathan Giang

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

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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.