The Light 2008 Volume 7

7th Edition/2008

Godly Character―Requires Transformation

Our Community Services Reaching Out

contents 7th Edition/2008

6 explanation

The Destination that Count:

Developing Godly Character

By Eric Henry

4 regular Godly Character

will not Come through Imitation, it requires Transformation …

By Brian Cox

16 profile

Sekolah Lentera Harapan

18 student achievements 19 pag

11 examples Godly Character

has a Price and a Cost

By Edwin Sebastian Elia

COVER: Surya Hadi & Alexandra Yasa (Grade 12−Student Council Leaders) LOCATION: SPH Lippo Karawaci PHOTOGRAPHER: Ugeng Agus, Hariyanto

Editorial Team PUBLISHER Yayasan Pendidikan Pelita Harapan ADVISOR Brian Cox, Aileen H. Riady MANAGING DIRECTOR Hannah Achmadi EDITOR & TRANSLATOR Budi Alto, Anita Purwanti, Maureen Cox GRAPHIC DESIGNER Iwan Werlin PHOTOGRAPHER Ugeng Agus, Hariyanto

Address 2500 Bulevar Palem Raya, Lippo Karawaci Tangerang 15811, Banten Phone: (021) 546 0232-33 Fax: (021) 546 9663 www.sph.edu

32 what’s on

Youth made by Youth Gala Dinner

26 special report Our Community Services

4

regular

Godly Character

will not Come through Imitation, it requires Transformation …

Brian Cox

Head of School Pelita Harapan Karawaci Coordinator of Pelita Harapan Schools

This edition of “The Light” is focused upon the third aspect of our vision statement “Godly Character”.

I

N the Gospels it appears that Jesus is harshly critical of the Pharisees, the way they lived life and the legalistic expectations they had for others. At various times they are called: • hypocrites, • vipers, • traditionalists, • people who do not practice what they preach, • blind guides, • neglecters of love, justice, mercy and faithfulness, • greedy and self indulgent, • full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Not the sort of statements that you would especially want in your Curriculum Vitae!

The really sad thing is that this group of people was trying so hard to behave in the way that they thought was right but without having the righteousness of Jesus Christ. There is a major danger for parents and teachers that we will set good behaviour expectations for our children to which they might respond, but in reality the description of the Pharisees may fit them also.

You see the problem of character development without Christ is that we simply look for good external behaviour. We establish our own righteousness and we measure the goodness of our character by judging the

relative badness of others. And of course, we’re never quite as bad as someone else!

Our self-righteous good character can make us arrogant, judgmental and double-minded.

Whilst making sure that our behaviour is publicly acceptable; we can often drift into different standards in private.

What we are talking about is the difference between “conforming” which leads to behavioral outcomes; and “transforming” which arises from a heart and head understanding of the nature of God and leads to living in a renewed way. As parents and educators, we actually have to do both things, but we must be careful not to confuse them.

In the family, the classroom and the wider school community there have to be expected and enforced behavioral standards.

Most families and communities have an appropriate expectation of courtesy, respect, integrity–in fact all of those things that we would identify as good “values”. Therefore we structure our families, classrooms and school community to encourage these values to be present. We go further than this, we develop our discipline expectations such that these values will be present and growing, and we actively discourage opposition or indifference to those values. Every community must have clearly understood and expressed expectations and boundaries to operate effectively. However a neat and orderly family or community is not the final goal. It simply provides the context and environment in which the bigger goals might be achieved.

Our goal is much, much bigger. Our goal is

that we, and our children, understand the very nature of God as we see him through Jesus, and that we become like Jesus in all of our relationships and living. This is not some human attempt to imitate the person of Jesus, rather it is recognition that He dwells within us and changes us from the inside out.

Paul’s letter to the Colossians is very helpful here. He spends the first two chapters of this letter reminding us of the centrality of Jesus Christ and repeats many times that our sins have been dealt with by Jesus Christ. We have died with Him and been raised with Him and our lives are now in Christ … THEREFORE we can have victory over immorality, impurity, evil desires, covetousness, anger, and obscenity–our old selves. As a consequence of our being in Christ and Him in us … out of our lives will flow compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness, love, peace and harmony. We are to do and say everything “in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” This is so much more than trying to reach a behavioral standard; this is being transformed by the Spirit of Jesus.

So how do we achieve this? We need to recognize that our major responsibility is to disciple young people, not simply to conform them. Our desire must be to lead them to the transforming grace of Jesus Christ. So let’s make sure that our families, classrooms and schools are orderly places, but let us also see that that is simply a means of providing a healthy, secure and harmonious environment for dynamic spiritual growth in Jesus Christ.

Then, and only then, will we see genuine Godly character flowing out of lives that are totally dependent upon Him. Blessings, Brian Cox

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Kesalehan tidak datang dari sekedar meniru, melainkan butuh perubahan …

Edisi ‘The Light’ kali ini berfokus pada aspek ketiga dari pernyataan visi kami “Godly Character”.

D

ALAM Injil diketahui bahwa Yesus mengkritik orang-orang Farisi secara tajam karena kehidupan mereka dan tudingan legalistik yang diarahkan kepada orang lain. Beberapa kali mereka disebutkan sebagai munafik, ular beludak, tradisionalis, orang yang tidak melakukan apa yang dikatakannya, penunjuk jalan yang buta, menolak akan kasih, keadilan, belas kasihan, dan kesetiaan; serakah, memperhatikan diri sendiri, penuh kemunafikan dan kejahatan. Tidak ada dari kata-kata ini yang akan dimasukkan dalam Daftar Riwayat Hidup kita!

Hal yang sungguh menyedihkan adalah kelompok ini selalu berusaha keras berperilaku mengikuti apa yang mereka pikir benar, tetapi tanpa kebenaran Yesus Kristus. Adalah bahaya besar bagi orang tua dan guru apabila mereka menetapkan harapan akan perilaku yang baik dari anak-anak kita, tetapi dalam kenyataannya justru gambaran dari orang-orang Farisi di atas yang terjadi dalam diri mereka.

Kita melihat masalah pengembangan karakter tanpa Kristus adalah kita hanya melihat tingkahlaku yang baik yang tampak dari luar saja. Kita membangun kebenaran kita sendiri dan mengukur kebaikan perilaku kita dengan menghakimi keburukan relatif dari orang lain. Dan tentu saja kita tidak pernah seburuk orang lain! Perilaku pembenaran diri sendiri ini dapat membuat kita sombong, suka menghakimi, dan berpikiran ganda.

Ketika memastikan perilaku kita diterima oleh umum, seringkali menimbulkan standar pribadi yang berbeda.

Apa yang kita bahas adalah perbedaan antara ‘konfirmasi’ yang mengarah pada hasil perilaku; dan ‘transformasi’ yang timbul dari dalam hati dan memimpin kepada pengertian akan diri Allah dan memimpin kepada kehidupan yang diperbaharui.

The curvature of the moral spine is an affliction which only the Great Physician can cure.

-Anonymous

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Sebagai orang tua dan pendidik, kita seringkali harus melakukan kedua hal tersebut tetapi hati-hati jangan membuat mereka bingung.

Dalam keluarga, kelas dan komunitas sekolah secara luas, ada yang diharapkan dan ditetapkan standar perilaku. Banyak keluarga dan komunitas memiliki harapan yang wajar berkenaan dengan kesopanan, hormat, integritas–yang secara nyata hal-hal tersebut kita identifikasikan sebagai ‘nilainilai’ yang baik. Oleh sebab itu, kita membentuk keluarga, kelas dan komunitas sekolah untuk menghadirkan nilai-nilai ini. Lebih jauh, kita mengembangkan harapan akan kedisiplinan sehingga nilai-nilai ini akan terjadi dan bertumbuh serta secara aktif mencegah nilai-nilai yang tidak baik. Setiap komunitas harus memiliki pengertian dan ekspresi dari pengharapan secara jelas dan batas-batas penerapannya secara efektif. Tetapi kerapihan dan keteraturan keluarga ataupun komunitas bukanlah tujuan akhir, melainkan hanya menyajikan konteks dan lingkungan dimana tujuantujuan yang lebih besar dapat dicapai. Tujuan kita jauh lebih besar. Tujuan kita adalah baik kita maupun anak-anak kita mengerti akan keberadaan Tuhan seperti yang kita lihat melalui Kristus, serta menjadi seperti Yesus dalam semua hubungan dan kehidupan yang terjadi. Hal ini bukanlah semata usaha manusia untuk meniru pribadi Yesus, tetapi lebih pada pengenalan akan Dia yang berdiam dalam diri kita dan merubah dari dalam ke luar.

Surat Paulus kepada jemaat di Kolose menolong kita di sini. Dia menghabiskan dua pasal pertama dalam suratnya tersebut untuk mengingatkan kita akan keutamaan Kristus dan mengulangnya berkalikali bahwa dosa-dosa kita telah diselesaikan oleh Yesus Kristus. Kita telah mati bersama dengan Dia dan telah dibangkitkan dengan dia dan hidup kita sekarang ada di dalam Kristus … Oleh sebab itu kita dapat memperoleh kemenangan atas imoralitas, kenajisan, keinginan jahat, keserakahan, kemarahan, percabulan–diri kita yang lama. Konsekuensi dari

keberadaan kita dalam Kristus dan Dia di dalam kita … akan mengalir keluar dari kehidupan kita, belas kasihan, kebaikan, kemurahan, kelemahlembutan, kesabaran, pengampunan, kasih, damai dan keselarasan. Kita melakukan dan mengatakan segalanya ‘di dalam nama Tuhan Yesus, mengucap syukur kepada Allah Bapa melalui Dia’. Ini lebih daripada usaha untuk mencapai standar perilaku; ini merupakan perubahan oleh Roh Kristus.

Maka bagaimana kita mencapai hal ini? Kita perlu menyadari tanggung jawab utama kita adalah mendisiplinkan orang-orang muda, tidak hanya mengikuti mereka. Keinginan kita haruslah untuk memimpin mereka kepada anugrah Yesus yang memberikan perubahan. Maka biarlah kita tidak hanya memastikan kalau keluarga kita, kelas dan sekolah merupakan tempat yang teratur tetapi juga menyediakan lingkungan yang sehat, aman dan harmonis untuk dinamika pertumbuhan kerohanian di dalam Yesus Kristus. Kemudian kita akan melihat kesalehan yang murni mengalir keluar dari kehidupan kita sebagai hasil dari kebergantungan penuh kepada Tuhan.

SPH Sentul City, Youth Camp (14-15 November 2007)

6

explanation

The Destination that Counts: Developing Godly Character

By Eric Henry (Teacher of Economic and Theory of Knowledge (TOK) in the Diploma Programme at SPH Karawaci) This is my sixteenth year of teaching, and as you can imagine it has been an interesting journey professionally, intellectually, culturally, and spiritually.

The days of being a fresh young teacher are gone, and left along the way are many old, once cherished ideas that have since been replaced by newer understandings.

I

once wanted to be a great teacher. I wanted to hone the craft of teaching so that every student who passed through the doors would gain a mastery over the ideas and concepts to whatever curriculum I was assigned. I have not left that quest behind, in fact to do so would be to turn my back on the vocation God has called me, but it has lost its priority. As I reflect honestly on life I realize that many of the people that I admire the most are, by many standards, poorly educated and that many of the people who I thought were not fit for civil society were actually highly educated.

I certainly value education and the freedoms and opportunities that it brings.

Universal basic education, especially for girls, has proven a powerful force for breaking poverty, oppressions, and injustices around the world. It is just that I have come to value character more.

To me, who the students are as people, is more important than what they do. Character is more important than achievement. I would rather see the students become an honest manager of a company than a CEO whose rise to the top is by misusing, or abusing, others; a caring doctor rather than a renowned expert; a man who values family over success and wealth.

father usually finished the day with a beer.[ii] The example proved far more powerful than the words. The Biblical injunction to train up a child is given to parents, not the school.[iii] Nevertheless, character can be taught, and in societies where the moral fabrics seem to be tearing apart it is a responsibility of the school to help develop it. So how do we go about this?

In my experience, simply putting a list of character traits in a learner profile somewhere after the vision and mission statement, accomplishes nothing. This may seem obvious, but in the busy world of education, that is usually what actually happens.

This is not a new, award winning idea. In fact it is becoming rare to find a school syllabus that does not include a set of character objectives. Usually these are largely similar and entirely consistent with a Christian worldview which calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves. The IB. itself claims “the values and attitudes of the school community that underpin the culture and ethos of a school are significant in shaping the future of its young people.”[i] One major aim is to develop students who are principled, caring thinkers.

Schools need to be explicit in stating their goals. Years ago, in a different school, students were caught breaking into an office and stealing semester exams. They were expelled, and it fell to the Head of School to explain the situation to the students. He explained the policy, the punishment, and the need for the school to uphold policies. What I longed to hear, however, was for him to declare that the school valued a high standard of honesty and integrity in the students and therefore would not permit that standard to be compromised.

If character is important how do we develop it in the students, and what differentiates character from Godly character?

However, developing character has far more to do with relationship than it does with rules. Punishment can enforce discipline, but it cannot create the transformation within our children that we are looking for.

Most of our own experiences will tell us that strict rules usually serve only to produce a spirit of rebelliousness. Yet having no rules and guidelines creates confusion. Research has shown that the higher the degree of relationship, the more likely one is to change their behavior following the advice of another. I heard of one SPH student recently who complained when disciplined, “Aren’t we supposed to handle this relationally?” His

Firstly, the primary role of parents must be acknowledged. It takes little reflection to realize that who we are is shaped predominantly by our families, and the school setting comes in a distant second. Fred Stoeker writes that when he was beginning high school his father promised him a hundred dollars if he never smoked or drank. He never did smoke, but he did begin to drink in college. Why the difference? His father had given up smoking and never smoked again. However, the same

explanation idea was that relational discipline would be kind and forget the consequences when the actual reason for relational discipline is to create a genuine desire for change within the students themselves.

So, yes, I need to be explicit with students about values. When teaching unemployment in Economics for example I need to emphasize that explaining unemployment in terms of statistics and diagrams is not enough. The unemployed and poor are real people, and all of us, must care if people are hurting and in need. True worship, which God accepts as blameless, is to look after the orphans and widows in their distress.[iv] Godly character is a function of relationship, but cannot be taught. Love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self control[v] are fruit of the Spirit of God. Fruit is the natural flowering of a healthy tree.

Godly character is the natural outworking of a life rightly related to its Creator. We do not choose to love, we choose to humble ourselves before God and allow Him access to our lives. When His Spirit fills us His character will find its way out.

The role of a Christian school then is not to impose a religious component on top of the curriculum but to consistently point students to Christ. Of course we will tax ourselves to the utmost to provide the best possible education for the students that we love, but we must always keep in mind that when our lives have come to an end, God is not going to ask us our IB scores, but rather did you love Me, and did you love others, and that is the score that counts.

Ini adalah tahun keenambelas saya mengajar, dan seperti yang dapat dibayangkan hal ini adalah perjalanan yang menarik secara profesional, intelektual, budaya, dan spiritual. Harihari saat menjadi seorang guru muda dengan ide-ide segar digantikan oleh perjalanan waktu menuju pengertian yang baru.

S

AYA pernah ingin menjadi guru yang hebat. Saya ingin mengasah keterampilan mengajar sehingga setiap siswa mendapatkan keuntungan akan penguasaan ide dan konsep dari kurikulum yang saya rancang. Jika menempatkan hal ini di belakang maka akan kehilangan prioritas seperti membalikkan diri dari panggilan Tuhan. Secara jujur dalam kehidupan ini saya menyadari banyak orang yang saya kagumi ternyata kurang terdidik, sebaliknya banyak orang yang saya

pikir tidak sesuai dengan kedudukan mereka dalam masyarakat, sebetulnya adalah orang-orang yang terdidik dengan baik.

Tentunya saya menghargai nilai akan pendidikan dan kebebasan serta kesempatan-kesempatan yang diberikannya. Nilai dasar pendidikan secara universal, khususnya untuk perempuan, telah membuktikan akan timbulnya kekuatan untuk mematahkan kemiskinan, penindasan, dan ketidakadilan di seluruh dunia. Oleh sebab itu saya akan memberikan penilaian lebih terhadap karakter.

Bagi saya, siswa pada dirinya sendiri, lebih penting dari apa yang mereka lakukan. Karakter lebih penting dari pencapaian tujuan. Saya lebih memilih melihat para siswa menjadi seorang manajer yang jujur daripada seorang pimpinan puncak yang mencapai kedudukannya dengan penyalahgunaan atau kejahatan; hal lain adalah seorang dokter yang penuh perhatian daripada seorang ahli yang terkenal; juga seorang yang menghargai keluarga di atas kesuksesan dan kekayaan.

Ini bukanlah sesuatu ide yang baru yang memenangkan penghargaan. Sesungguhnya adalah sesuatu hal yang langka untuk menemukan kurikulum sekolah yang tidak menyertakan serangkaian tujuan pembentukan karakter. Hal ini sama dan secara keseluruhan konsisten dengan cara pandang kekristenan dimana memanggil kita untuk mengasihi sesama seperti diri sendiri. Program IB sendiri menyatakan “Nilai dan perilaku komunitas sekolah yang menopang kebudayaan dan etos dari suatu sekolah adalah penting dalam membentuk masa depan orangorang muda” (IB Learner Profile Booklet, March 2006, P2).

Salah satu tujuan penting adalah mengembangkan para siswa yang berprinsip menjadi pemikir-pemikir yang penuh perhatian.

Jika karakter sedemikian penting, bagaimana kita mengembangkan hal tersebut terhadap para siswa, dan apa yang membedakan karakter dari kesalehan?

Pertama, peran utama dari orangtua haruslah disadari. Kita menyadari jikalau kita dibentuk lebih banyak oleh keluarga dan berikutnya barulah sekolah.

Fred Stoeker menulis bahwa ayahnya menjanjikannya seratus dollar, jika tidak menyentuh rokok atau minuman keras ketika dia masuk sekolah menengah atas. Dia tidak merokok tetapi mulai minum saat di perguruan tinggi.

Apa yang menjadi perbedaannya? Ternyata ayahnya telah berhasil untuk tidak merokok dan tidak pernah merokok lagi. Tetapi ayah yang sama pula seringkali menghabiskan harinya dengan minuman keras (Fred Stoeker, Every Man’s Battle, Waterbrook Press, 2000, P. 100). Teladan terbukti lebih kuat dari sekedar kata-kata.

Perintah Alkitab adalah kepada orang tua untuk mengajar anaknya, bukan kepada sekolah (Amsal 22:6) Walaupun demikian, karakter dapatlah diajarkan dan dalam masyarakat dimana struktur moral telah rusak, adalah menjadi tanggung jawab sekolah untuk membantu membangun hal ini. Maka bagaimana kita melakukannya?

Dalam pengalaman saya, hanya menempatkan serangkaian daftar ciri-ciri karakter dalam profil pembelajar setelah pernyataan visi dan misi, tidaklah membawa dampak apa-apa. Hal ini terlihat jelas tetapi dalam kesibukan akan pendidikan, hal ini seringkali terjadi.

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Sekolah perlu untuk secara jelas menyatakan tujuan-tujuannya. Beberapa tahun lalu, dalam suatu sekolah yang lain, beberapa siswa tertangkap karena pencurian soal-soal ujian semester. Mereka kemudian diusir dan kepala sekolah menjelaskan keadaan tersebut kepada para siswa. Dia menjelaskan kebijakan, hukuman dan perlunya pihak sekolah untuk menegakkan peraturan. Apa yang sebenarnya saya ingin dengar dari dia adalah bahwa sekolah menilai standar kejujuran yang tinggi dan integritas dalam diri para siswa serta kemudian tidak mengizinkan standar tersebut dikompromikan.

Bagaimanapun juga, pengembangan karakter lebih berkaitan dengan hubungan daripada peraturan.

Hukuman dapat menegakkan disiplin tetapi tidak dapat menciptakan transformasi di dalam diri anak-anak kita yang kita harapkan. Dari pengalaman membuktikan jika peraturan yang keras seringkali menyebabkan semangat untuk memberontak. Tetapi tidak memiliki peraturan dan petunjuk dapat menyebabkan kebingungan. Riset menunjukkan bahwa derajat suatu relasi yang lebih tinggi terjadi jika seseorang mengubah perilakunya mengikuti saran dari yang lain. Saya pernah mendengar dari seorang siswa SPH baru baru ini dimana dia mengajukan protes ketika didisiplin,”Apakah kita tidak menyelesaikan hal ini secara relasional?” Pemikirannya adalah disiplin secara relasional adalah bersifat ‘baik’ dan melupakan konsekuensi dari suatu disiplin relasi adalah menciptakan keinginan yang murni untuk mengubah diri para siswa tersebut.

Maka, saya perlu untuk secara jelas berkenaan dengan nilai-nilai kepada para siswa. Ketika mengajarkan tentang pengangguran dalam ilmu ekonomi contohnya, saya perlu menekankan bahwa penjelasan berkenaan pengangguran dalam bentuk statistik dan diagram tidaklah cukup. Tuna karya dan orang miskin adalah manusia, yang kita sebagai siswa SPH, harus memperhatikan mereka ketika orang-orang itu terluka dan dalam kebutuhan. Ibadah yang murni dan yang tidak bercacat di hadapan Allah, Bapa kita ialah mengunjungi yatim piatu dan janda-janda dalam kesusahan mereka (Yakobus 1:27).

Kesalehan adalah suatu fungsi dari relasi tetapi tidaklah dapat diajarkan. Kasih, sukacita, damai sejahtera, kebaikan, kemurahan, kesetiaan, kelemahlembutan, penguasaan diri (Galatia 5:22) adalah buah dari Roh. Buah adalah hasil alamiah dari pohon yang sehat.

Kesalehan adalah hasil alamiah dari suatu kehidupan berelasi secara benar dengan Sang Pencipta. Kita tidak memilih untuk mengasihi, kita memilih untuk merendahkan diri di hadapan Tuhan dan mengizinkanNya memasuki hidup kita. Ketika RohNya mengisi diri kita, karakterNya akan keluar dengan sendirinya.

Peran dari sekolah Kristen kemudian tidaklah membebankan komponen keagamaan pada kurikulum sebagai hal utama tetapi secara konsisten lebih mengarahkan para siswa kepada Kristus. Tentunya kita harus membebankan dengan sangat pada diri kita sendiri untuk menyediakan kemungkinankemungkinan terbaik dari pendidikan untuk anak didik yang kita kasihi, di samping harus selalu mengingat ketika kehidupan ini berakhir, Tuhan tidaklah akan menanyakan nilai-nilai IB, tetapi lebih kepada apakah kamu mengasihi Tuhan dan apakah kamu mengasihi sesama, nilai inilah yang akan diperhitungkan.

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examples

By Alexander Yasa (Grade 12, Sekolah Pelita Harapan Karawaci) At our recent Grade 12 retreat at Anyer, I was asked to share about “Integrity in

Leadership”. At first I was unsure how to talk about integrity with me only being a leader of a “small” school committee. Usually people relate “integrity in leadership” with big organizations; the need to avoid corruption, to live a life of wholeness in and out of the office and so on. But for me, as only a co-leader of the Fund Raising committee it seemed hard to talk about it since I did not have to face such “big” dilemmas. However, I’ve learned that integrity doesn’t always have to relate to specific areas; as a matter of fact struggles regarding our integrity mostly happen within our own character as a leader.

T

O me, integrity is simply doing the right thing no matter what the circumstances. I have learnt so much from being the co-leader of a committee.

To begin with, Cindy and I simply just relied on each other and gave no responsibility to any of our members. An example of this happened during our first project, selling brownies. Cindy and I did all the buying and cooking while the others were just selling and doing the easy parts. It wasn’t their fault that they were so uninvolved; it’s just that I as a leader didn’t delegate jobs properly.

without a heavy heart because I still had the fear and worry in me that they would fail.

When I thought about it, one of the main reasons I didn’t delegate the tasks is that I was afraid that other people might not do the jobs properly, and therefore bring about a not-so-pleasing result from the project. The second reason was perhaps that it would save time by not having to hold meetings and make arrangements to assign tasks to everyone.

I learned that by sacrificing my ego and self-centeredness, I actually helped my committee to function better. People without meaningful jobs are less motivated to work.

As a leader, I’ve also learned that I should never underestimate my own people because through trials and challenges, we improve and become more solid as a team.

However, Cindy and I, especially me for sure, found it not worth while making all the effort while the others basically did simple and non-challenging tasks. Mr. Chris talked to me and he suggested that I should delegate jobs more proportionately. So, although at that time I started to delegate jobs, it was not

As time went by, it turned out that not only did the projects run better, but I discovered new talents. For example, I discovered that Swedian was good with graphic designs, Jessica could do pretty much anything, Nico and Stephen had lots of energy that was very useful, William and Andrew had good networks of people that we used and Diva contributed a lot of ideas and fun to the team.

Underestimating and not allowing people to do their jobs is similar to negative thinking. You will never know what you’re going to get if you never try. In my case if I had never delegated jobs I would have had a one hundred percent chance that I would not improve, and therefore achieve barely satisfactory results. But if I did delegate,

though sometimes it could possibly be risky, I had a good chance of improving the team as long as I believed in them and motivated them well.

So how does delegating jobs have anything to do with the integrity of a leader?

In this case, the circumstances I am fighting are not in the form of external issues such as people, places or culture, but internal issues regarding my pride, state of mind, security and ego as a leader.

Let me explain what I mean by an external issue. For example, the Student Council recently ran an event called the Junior Unity Cup. We invited a number of local schools to take part in a soccer competition at our PH sports facility. We planned to build some upgraded sports facilities for the winning team. All the schools, and the students, were financially poor. I had to choose whether we would sell or giveaway food at this event. Of course there were advantages and disadvantages to either choice. If I chose to sell, I might not be ethically and morally right since the guests are poor people who are meant to be helped, rather than benefited from. But on the other hand, if I give food for free, I would have to sacrifice some Student Council money that was earned

examples by my committee. Through self-reflection and consultation with some of my friends, I decided to give the food for free since one of the Student Council’s goals is to help other people, plus I didn’t think they could afford to buy our food anyway.

External issues relate to someone or something that can influence our integrity because their well-being is at stake. In this simple example above, my integrity lies in doing what is right, giving the food for free, although I have another choice that seems to be rationally and logically right; to raise funds.

As a result of my choice, maybe some finance and a bit of pride is sacrificed, but it is heavily offset by the fact that perhaps our school can have a better reputation of being a gracious giver instead of just a bunch of rich kids doing their own thing.

Back to my first example of internal issues I had to face. I had to sacrifice my ego as a leader in order to stay true to myself; being a man of integrity. I had to choose whether to do jobs by myself or to share them with others. When I do things myself, I know my own capabilities and limits, thus I do not have to worry or be anxious about others spoiling the project. On the other hand, if I share tasks with others, I do not know how they’ll do their tasks since their skills aren’t tested yet. When trusting others, I sacrifice my ego and security by letting in a bit of worry and anxiety. Believe me; delegating jobs isn’t as easy as it sounds as worrying about something can be very distressing!! But … think about how God trusts us with tasks that He could achieve to a much higher standard without involving us. His plan however, is to develop our characters.

of delegating jobs and offering free food gave a positive impact to not only my committee, but the school and the wider community.

God is fair and gracious enough to let those who are righteous in His eyes have their rewards even though they are often going against the human perspective and not always achieving what they want. God’s plan, is always better than ours because He and we are very different. While we only see a piece of the puzzle, God can see the whole picture.

He’s not only interested in the outcomes; He’s investing in our character.

Karakter dan Kepemimpinan Baru-baru ini Grade 12 mengadakan retret di Anyer, saya diminta berbagi cerita mengenai ‘Integrity in Leadership’. Awalnya saya tidak yakin bagaimana berbicara tentang integritas yang terjadi pada diri saya ketika hanya menjadi seorang pemimpin di sebuah panitia

sekolah yang ‘kecil’. Biasanya orang-orang mengaitkan ‘integrity in leadership’ pada suatu organisasi yang besar; kebutuhan untuk menghindari korupsi, menjalani kehidupan yang utuh baik di dalam maupun di luar kantor, dan sebagainya. Tetapi bagi saya, yang hanya menjadi pemimpin dari panitia penggalangan dana, terlihat sulit untuk membicarakan hal ini, karena saya tidak menghadapi dilema-dilema yang sedemikian besar. Tapi saya belajar kalau integritas tidak selalu berkaitan dengan areaarea tersebut; nyatanya pergumulan berkenaan integritas diri kita lebih banyak terjadi di dalam karakter diri sendiri sebagai seorang pemimpin.

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AGI saya, integritas adalah melakukan hal yang benar dalam segala keadaan. Saya telah belajar banyak dari pengalaman menjadi ketua panitia. Awalnya, Cindy dan saya hanya bergantung satu sama lain dan tidak memberikan tanggung jawab kepada anggota panitia yang lain. Contohnya adalah proyek pertama kami, saat menjual kue brownies. Cindy dan saya membeli dan memasak ketika yang lain hanya menjual dan melakukan hal-hal yang

As it is written in Philippians 2:3-4; 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. In the beginning, I, as a leader underestimated the ability of my members and was only concerned about the Fund Raising Committee’s own interests.

In conclusion, having integrity in your leadership doesn’t mean getting bad results.

From the two examples above, the end result Junior Unity Cup, January 2008−Giving the food for free.

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mudah. Bukanlah kesalahan mereka jikalau mereka tidak terlibat; hal ini terjadi karena saya sebagai seorang pemimpin tidak mendelegasikan pekerjaan-pekerjaan tersebut.

Ketika saya berpikir tentang hal ini, alasan utama saya tidak mendelegasikan tugas adalah saya kuatir jika orang-orang tidak melakukan pekerjaannya secara tepat dan hasil dari proyek tersebut tidak menggembirakan. Alasan kedua adalah mungkin dapat menghemat waktu dengan tidak mengadakan rapat-rapat untuk mendelegasikan tugas-tugas tersebut kepada yang lain.

Tetapi Cindy dan saya, khususnya diri saya melihat hal ini tidak baik, jika kami yang mengerjakan semua hal ini, sedangkan yang lain hanya mengerjakan bagian yang mudah dan tanpa tantangan. Mr. Chris berbicara kepada saya dan mengusulkan jika saya harus mendelegasikan pekerjaan secara proporsional. Saat itu, saya mulai mendelegasikan pekerjaan dengan hati yang berat karena saya masih memiliki ketakutan dan kekuatiran kalau mereka akan gagal.

Seiring berjalannya waktu, bukan hanya proyek tersebut berlangsung dengan baik, tetapi saya menemukan talenta-talenta baru.

Contohnya, Saya menemukan kalau Swedian itu dapat mengerjakan desain grafis secara baik, Jessica dapat mengerjakan banyak hal, Nico dan Stephen memiliki kemampuan yang banyak dan sangat berguna, William dan Andrew memiliki hubungan yang baik dengan orang-orang serta Diva berkontribusi banyak dalam ide-ide dan menggembirakan tim kerja kami.

Saya belajar kalau mengorbankan ego dan kepentingan diri sendiri, sesungguhnya justru saya membantu panitia untuk dapat berfungsi dengan lebih baik. Orang-orang tanpa pekerjaan yang berarti kurang termotivasi untuk bekerja.

Sebagai seorang pemimpin, saya juga belajar untuk tidak memandang rendah teman-teman saya sendiri karena justru melalui ujian dan tantangan, kita dapat maju dan menjadi lebih kompak sebagai satu tim kerja.

Memandang rendah dan tidak mengizinkan untuk melakukan pekerjaan mereka adalah sama dengan memiliki pemikiran yang negatif.

Kita tidak pernah tahu apa yang akan kita dapat sebelum mencobanya. Dalam kasus saya, jika saya tidak pernah mendelegasikan pekerjaan, kemungkinan saya tidak berkembang seratus persen meskipun hasil akhirnya memuaskan.

Tetapi jika saya mendelegasikannya meskipun tampaknya beresiko, saya memiliki kesempatan untuk mengembangkan tim kerja sepanjang saya mempercayai dan memotivasi mereka.

Maka bagaimana pekerjaan mendelegasikan tersebut berhubungan dengan integritas sebagai seorang pemimpin? Dalam kasus ini, saya bergumul tidak pada hal-hal di luar atau eksternal seperti orang-orang, tempat, atau budaya, tetapi lebih pada hal-hal yang di dalam/ internal, berkenaan dengan kesombongan, cara berpikir, keamanan diri serta ego sebagai seorang pemimpin.

Biarlah saya menjelaskan apa yang saya maksudkan dengan hal-hal eksternal tersebut.

Contohnya, Student Council baru-baru ini menyelenggarakan acara yang dinamakan Junior Unity Cup. Kami mengundang sejumlah sekolah lokal untuk berpartisipasi pada kompetisi sepak bola di fasilitas PH Sport kami. Kami merencanakan untuk memperbaiki fasilitas olahraga bagi tim yang menjadi pemenang. Sekolah-sekolah dan para siswa tersebut secara keuangan perlu untuk dibantu. Saya harus memilih apakah kita akan menjual atau membagikan makanan pada acara tersebut. Tentu saja ada hal-hal yang positif dan negatif pada pilihan-pilihan tersebut. Jika saya memilih untuk menjual, secara etis dan moral mungkin tidak tepat karena para tamu adalah orang-orang yang miskin yang perlu untuk dibantu. Tetapi pada sisi yang lain, jikalau saya memberikan makanan tersebut secara gratis, saya akan mengorbankan keuangan dari Student Council yang telah didapat oleh panitia. Melalui refleksi pribadi dan konsultasi dengan beberapa teman, saya memutuskan untuk membagikan makanan tersebut secara gratis karena salah satu tujuan dari Student Council adalah untuk membantu orang lain, juga saya merasa mereka tidak punya biaya untuk membeli makanan yang kami jual tersebut.

Hal-hal eksternal yang berkenaan dengan seseorang atau sesuatu yang dapat mempengaruhi integritas kita dikarenakan keberadaan mereka menjadi taruhannya. Dalam contoh sederhana di atas, integritas saya tergantung pada melakukan apa yang benar, membagikan makanan secara gratis, meskipun saya memiliki pilihan lain yang tampaknya rasional dan logis, menggalang dana.

Sebagai hasil dari pilihan saya, kemungkinan keuangan dan sedikit kebanggaan dikorbankan tetapi hal ini dapat tereliminasi oleh fakta bahwa kemungkinan sekolah kami akan mendapatkan reputasi yang lebih baik dengan menjadi berkat bagi yang lain daripada sekumpulan anak-anak berkecukupan yang mengerjakan pekerjaan mereka sendiri.

Kembali kepada contoh pertama akan hal internal yang saya hadapi. Saya harus mengorbankan ego pribadi sebagai pemimpin dalam upaya untuk menjadi seorang yang memiliki integritas. Saya harus memilih apakah akan menger-

jakan pekerjaan sendiri atau membagikannya kepada yang lain. Ketika mengerjakannya sendiri, saya tahu akan kemampuan dan keterbatasan diri, karena itu saya tidak perlu merasa kuatir ada orang lain yang merusak proyek tersebut. Di sisi lain, kalau saya membagikannya dengan yang lain, saya tidak tahu bagaimana mereka mengerjakan tugas-tugas itu karena keterampilan mereka belum diuji. Ketika mempercayai yang lain, saya mengorbankan ego dan keamanan pribadi serta mengizinkan sedikit kekuatiran terjadi. Percayalah, mendelegasikan pekerjaan tidaklah mudah karena kekuatiran akan sesuatu merupakan suatu tekanan yang mengganggu! Tetapi ... pikirkanlah bagaimana Tuhan mempercayai kita dengan tugas-tugas yang Dia berikan meskipun dia dapat mencapai standar yang lebih tinggi tanpa melibatkan diri kita. Tetapi rencanyaNya adalah untuk mengembangkan karakter-karakter diri kita.

Seperti yang tertulis dalam Filipi 2:3-4; 3dengan tidak mencari kepentingan sendiri atau puji-pujian yang sia-sia. Sebaliknya hendaklah dengan rendah hati yang seorang menganggap yang lain lebih utama daripada dirinya sendiri; 4dan janganlah tiaptiap orang hanya memperhatikan kepentingannya sendiri, tetapi kepentingan orang lain juga. Awalnya, saya, sebagai seorang pemimpin meragukan kemampuan anggota-anggota saya dan hanya memperhatikan kepentingan dari panitia penggalangan dana sendiri saja.

Sebagai kesimpulan, memiliki integritas dalam kepemimpinan kita tidaklah berarti mendapatkan hasil yang buruk. Dari dua contoh di atas, hasil dari mendelegasikan pekerjaan dan menawarkan makanan secara gratis memberikan dampak yang positif tidak hanya untuk panitia saja tetapi juga bagi sekolah dan komunitas yang lebih luas. Tuhan adalah adil dan berkatNya cukup untuk melihat siapa yang benar di mataNya untuk mendapatkan imbalan meskipun seringkali berlawanan dengan pandangan manusia dan tidak selalu mendapatkan apa yang mereka inginkan. Rencana Tuhan selalu lebih baik dari kita karena Dia dan kita sangatlah berbeda. Ketika kita hanya mampu melihat suatu potongan dari gambar, Tuhan dapat melihat keseluruhannya. Dia tidak hanya tertarik dengan hasil; Dia sedang berinvestasi dalam karakter diri kita.

Character is not made in a crisis–it is only exhibited.

-Anonymous

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Godly Character

has a Price and a Cost

By Edwin Sebastian Elia (Grade 12, Sekolah Pelita Harapan Karawaci) 2 Timothy 2:13−if we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.

We all remember the story of a man who came to Jesus asking what he should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus answered him that he should “obey the commandments” and the man said that he already kept each of them. Then Jesus went on to say that he lacked only one thing.

He must go and sell all his belongings and give to the poor, then come back to follow Jesus. Unfortunately the man was so sad because he was so wealthy and he was disappointed to hear what Jesus said.

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OW many times do we reject Jesus’ invitation to become his true follower because we have to give up something? Instead, how many times have we cursed God because of the misfortune we are suffering? What many people do not realize is that Jesus came to this world, abandoning the riches and wealth in the Kingdom of Heaven.

In coming to this condemned world He chose to give up His life so that our lives might be redeemed. What a price to pay. Even so, still the very same beings that He had come to save would turn their backs on Him. Many of us think that by becoming Christians we will receive a lot of good fortune. That is true, but the time is not now.

The Christian life is like piece of gold. It has to go through intense heat to be purified.

Becoming a Christian actually means that we live through challenges and temptations.

After all, why would Satan bother recruiting those who are already following him?

Look at the Apostle Paul, he was stoned and beaten, was frequently in and out of prison because he was preaching the Good News. But if we look closely at the story of Paul, we will find that he feels joy even though he is being imprisoned. He sings praises to God in prison. As weird as it may sound, it is true. We might be suffering because of our devotion to God, but we will find joy in our heart.

My oldest sister is a graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the best school in the world for Engineering. She graduated with an outstanding GPA, and was able to get an excellent job and earn a high salary. But instead, she chose to be a missionary; living quite a simple life, selling books from door to door. Some people might not understand why she has chosen that, but what is important is that she felt joy doing it that cannot be replaced by anything else. It is absolutely pure joy.

perseverance will help us become mature and complete.

So are we ready to follow God who knows what is best for us? Will we trust God like we trust our parents? Here is a challenge for all of us. 2 Timothy 2:13 says that God will remain faithful even if we are not. Are we willing to turn it around? Even though God will never be faithless, but we might think He is because we are suffering. Are we willing to remain faithful to Him although we are facing many kinds of trials?

Meanwhile people are asking, why would we serve God that will not keep us safe, but instead lets us suffer in agony?

What will produce Godly Character?

Obedience to Him despite our circumstances.

More than that, realizing that whatever our circumstances–God is being faithful.

Parents let their children go to school every day, knowing that their children will face problems with their friends, struggling to keep up with the school work and many other things. Knowing this, parents still send their children to school. If you ask them why they would let their children suffer, they will simply answer because they love them. They know what is best for their children, about their future and everything else. They need to face those troubles and develop through them, to grow up and become mature.

Is it not the same with God? He knows what is best for us; therefore He lets troubles come to us. James 1:3-4 says that the testing of our faith will develop perseverance and

It is strange that while praying, we seldom ask for a change of character, but always a change of circumstances.

-Anonymous

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Ada Harga yang harus Dibayar untuk Kesalehan 2 Timotius 2:13−jika kita tidak setia, Dia tetap setia, karena Dia tidak dapat menyangkal diriNya. Kita semua mengingat cerita akan seseorang yang datang kepada Yesus bertanya mengenai apa yang harus dilakukan untuk mendapatkan hidup yang kekal. Yesus menjawabnya kalau dia harus “mentaati hukum� dan orang tersebut berkata kalau hal ini telah dilakukannya. Kemudian Yesus berkata bahwa orang ini kekurangan satu hal yang penting. Dia harus pergi dan menjual semua miliknya dan memberikannya kepada orang-orang miskin kemudian datang kembali untuk mengikuti Yesus. Orang tersebut menjadi sedih karena dia sangat kaya dan kecewa mendengar apa yang dikatakan oleh Yesus.

Berapa kali kita menolak undangan dari Yesus untuk menjadi pengikutnya yang sejati karena kita harus menyerahkan sesuatu?

Sebaliknya berapa kali kita menyalahkan Tuhan karena ketidakberuntungan yang kita alami? Berapa banyak yang menyadari kalau Yesus datang ke dunia, meninggalkan kekayaan dan kemakmuran Kerajaan Sorga. Datang ke dunia untuk dihukum, Dia menyerahkan nyawaNya untuk menebus hidup kita. Betapa tinggi harga yang harus dibayar. Lebih dari semua itu, orang-orang tersebut, yang untuk mereka Dia datang untuk menyelamatkan, masih menolakNya. Banyak dari kita berpikir jikalau menjadi orang-orang Kristen akan menerima banyak keberuntungan. Hal ini benar tetapi bukan saat ini. Kehidupan orang-orang Kristen adalah seperti potongan emas. Harus dimurnikan melalui api secara terus menerus.

Menjadi orang-orang Kristen sesungguhnya memiliki arti bahwa kita akan melewati berbagai tantangan dan pencobaan.Mengapa setan akan mengganggu mereka yang telah mengikuti Dia? Lihatlah Rasul Paulus, dia dilempari batu dan dipukuli, seringkali masuk keluar penjara karena mengabarkan Kabar Baik. Tetapi jika melihat lebih jauh cerita Paulus, kita akan menemukan bahwa dia tetap bersukacita meskipun dia dipenjara.

Dia menyanyikan pujian untuk Tuhan dalam penjara.

Memang aneh tapi hal ini adalah benar. Kita mungkin menderita dikarenakan ibadah kita kepada Tuhan, tetapi akan menemukan sukacita dalam hati.

Kakak tertua saya adalah lulusan Massachusetts Institute of Technology, sekolah tehnik terbaik di dunia. Dia lulus dengan nilai yang baik sekali dan mampu untuk mendapatkan pekerjaan yang baik dan menghasilkan gaji yang besar. Tetapi

sebaliknya dia memilih menjadi misionaris; hidup sederhana, menjual buku dari rumah ke rumah. Beberapa orang mungkin tidak mengerti mengapa dia memilih jalan seperti ini, tetapi yang penting adalah dia merasa bersukacita mengerjakan hal tersebut; yang tidak dapat digantikan oleh apapun juga. Hal ini adalah suatu sukacita yang murni.

Sementara itu, orang bertanya-tanya, mengapa melayani Tuhan tidak membuat kita aman tenteram tetapi justru sebaliknya menjadikan kita menderita?

Orangtua membiarkan anak-anaknya pergi ke sekolah setiap hari, mereka mengetahui bahwa anak-anak mereka akan menjumpai berbagai masalah dengan temannya, bergumul dengan pekerjaan-pekerjaan sekolah dan banyak hal lain. Mengetahui hal ini, para orang tua tetap mengirimkan anakanak mereka ke sekolah. Jika kita tanyakan mengapa mereka membiarkan anak-anaknya menderita, akan dijawab karena mereka mengasihi mereka. Mereka tahu apa yang terbaik untuk anak mereka, masa depan mereka dan hal-hal lainnya. Anak-anak perlu untuk menghadapi kesulitan-kesulitan ini dan berkembang untuk menjadi dewasa.

Tidakkah hal ini sama dengan yang dikerjakan Tuhan? Dia mengetahui apa yang terbaik untuk kita, karena itu Dia membiarkan kesulitan-kesulitan datang kepada kita.

Yakobus 1:3-4 berkata ujian terhadap iman kita akan menghasilkan ketekunan dan ketekunan akan membantu kita menjadi dewasa dan utuh.

Maka apakah kita siap mengikuti Tuhan yang mengetahui apa yang terbaik untuk diri kita? Akankah kita percaya kepada Tuhan seperti kita mempercayai orang tua kita ?

Ini adalah tantangan untuk kita semua. 2 Timotius 2:13 berkata bahwa Tuhan akan tetap setia bahkan ketika kita tidak setia.

Apakah kita akan berpaling? Bahkan ketika Tuhan tetap setia, kita mungkin berpikir kalau Dia yang menyebabkan kita menderita.

Apakah kita tetap setia kepadaNya meskipun menghadapi berbagai-bagai pencobaan?

Hal apa yang menghasilkan karakter yang saleh? Taat kepada Dia dalam berbagai hal apapun. Lebih dari itu, kita harus menyadari bahwa dalam keadaan apapun−Tuhan tetaplah setia.

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Uniting the World through Christ

By Nicolaus Wahjoepramono (Grade 12 Sekolah Pelita Harapan Karawaci) Christians today face a serious issue with their faith. It may seem subtle, but believe me, we cannot deny its significance. I am talking about action. One of the most important aspects of Christianity is action. If you ask me why there are wars, corruption, and hatred in the world, I will say it is because the world lacks unity. And what’s more, a lack of unity through Christ. So what can we as Christians do? We can help. Let me show you how.

All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. (Matthew 25:32-33 NIV).

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HE chapter then goes on to say that the sheep on the right will take their inheritance, the kingdom prepared for them since the creation of the world.

So basically, those on the right will be just peachy. However, those on the left will “go away to eternal punishment.” We as Christians like to think of ourselves as the sheep on the right, and hardly pay attention to what happens to the goats on the left. However, we must remember that those going into eternal punishment are real people, and some of them we already know and love. At that time when we see them condemned, we will all ask ourselves, “Why didn’t we influence them more?” We sometimes delay the thought, thinking, “Oh, someone will do it eventually” or “God will send someone,” when he already has…. He sent us. He ordered us to reach out and to grab those lost on the way of life, and bring them to Christ.

Then Jesus came to them and said,“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV).

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Jesus gave us instructions, and it’s up to us to follow them. People, however, have the tendency to detest the word ‘go’. We sigh at seeing it, and are reluctant to follow it. The verse states “all authority in heaven and on earth” is given to Him. When the boss of the company tells us to do something, we’ll do it. But... this is the God of all creation, the creator of the earth, the sun, the universe, and all things, telling us to do something. Yes, it would be smart if we follow his commands.

The word of God did not say “stay and make disciples of all nations…” No, it said ‘go’. In verse 20, it says that He is with us always, to the very end of the age. Again, the God of all creation, the creator of the earth, the sun, the universe, and all things is “with us always”; then no other power anywhere can stop us.

But what does it mean to go? It does not mean that we all have to become missionaries in the jungles of Africa.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 NIV)

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Let’s make sure that whatever we do, we do for Christ. If you are the CEO of a company, be the best CEO you can be, for Christ. If you are a chef, be the best chef you can be, for Christ. Portray the qualities of a good Christian in all that you do, so much so that people will start asking, “What makes you do things the way you do?” It is then that we can share about our God. Remember that when Christ wants us to do something,

it means that He has made us ready to do it. He will never ask us to do what He has not equipped us to do. When people start asking, we must be ready to answer them.

However, just because by doing your best for Christ, we become lazy. We cannot deny the significance of ‘best’. We cannot stay in our comfortable lives, reaching out to those in range. We must be proactive, go, and reach to the ends of the earth, if indeed that is our best.

We Christians today have a misconception about the whole reaching out issue.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” (John 21:15 NIV).

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There is a reason that Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him before he said, “Feed my lambs”.

Why didn’t He just say “Feed my lambs”?

Christians today think that because they love God, they have to go and testify to the ends of the earth. However, this is not the case.

When we love him, we will want to serve him. Serving the Lord is an honor, not an obligation. All we need is a willingness to be used by Him, and we can see that He will use us in our lives.

This is the God that is, has always been, and always will be. His word has power, and his commands are absolute. Nothing happens without His permission, and nothing happens without His purpose. We are

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weak. By acknowledging that we cannot do anything without Him, He can then use us.

Everything that we are is because of Him. All we need is a willingness to serve Him, and He will ensure that we become the change we want to see. And surely, The Lord is with us every second of our lives. I can sum this whole thing up in six words.

“We can do this. Let’s go.”

Mempersatukan Dunia melalui Kristus Saat ini Kekristenan menjumpai masalah yang serius berkenaan dengan iman. Mungkin tidak terasa tetapi percayalah, kita tidak dapat menyangkal akan pentingnya hal ini. Saya sedang berbicara tentang tindakan. Salah satu dari aspek terpenting dalam Kekristenan adalah tentang tindakan. Jikalau kita bertanya mengapa ada peperangan, korupsi, dan kebencian dalam dunia ini, saya akan berkata kalau itu semua dikarenakan dunia ini kekurangan akan persatuan. Lebih jauh lagi, suatu kekurangan akan persatuan melalui Kristus. Sebagai orang-orang Kristen, apa yang dapat kita perbuat? Saya akan menunjukkan bagaimana caranya.

Lalu semua bangsa akan dikumpulkan di hadapanNya dan Ia akan memisahkan mereka seorang daripada seorang, sama seperti gembala memisahkan domba dari kambing, dan Ia akan menempatkan domba-domba di sebelah kananNya dan kambingkambing di sebelah kiriNya. (Matius 25:32-33).

P

ASAL di atas kemudian berkata bahwa domba yang di sebelah kanan akan menerima kerajaan yang telah dipersiapkan untuk mereka sejak dunia dijadikan. Maka pada dasarnya yang di sebelah kanan memiliki masa depan yang baik. Sebaliknya mereka yang di sebelah kiri akan ‘pergi ke hukuman yang kekal’.

Kita sebagai orang-orang Kristen tentunya berpikir kalau kita termasuk golongan domba yang di sebelah kanan dan kurang memperhatikan apa yang terjadi pada kambing-kambing di sebelah kiri. Tetapi kita harus mengingat bahwa mereka yang pergi ke penghukuman kekal adalah juga orang-orang yang sama dengan kita, yang mungkin telah kita kenal dan kasihi. Pada saat melihat mereka dihukum, kita akan bertanya pada diri kita sendiri, ’Mengapa kita tidak memberi pengaruh kepada mereka secara lebih?’ Kita seringkali menunda pikiran ini, dengan,”Oh seseorang akan mengerjakan hal tersebut” atau “Tuhan akan mengirimkan seseorang”. Tetapi Dia mengirim kita semua. Dia memerintahkan kita

untuk menjangkau dan merengkuh yang terhilang dalam kehidupan ini dan membawa mereka kepada Kristus.

Yesus mendekati mereka dan berkata: ”KepadaKu telah diberikan segala kuasa di sorga dan di bumi.

Karena itu pergilah, jadikanlah semua bangsa muridKu dan baptislah mereka dalam nama Bapa dan Anak dan Roh Kudus, dan ajarlah mereka melakukan segala sesuatu yang telah Kuperintahkan kepadamu.

Dan ketahuilah, Aku menyertai kamu senantiasa sampai kepada akhir zaman.” (Matius 29:18-20).

Yesus memberi kita instruksi-instruksi dan adalah keputusan kita untuk mengikutinya.

Orang-orang bertendensi kurang suka akan kata ‘pergi’. Menarik napas ketika melihatnya dan enggan untuk menjalankannya. Dalam ayat di atas disebutkan kalau segala kuasa di sorga dan di bumi telah diberikan kepada Dia. Ketika atasan di kantor menyuruh kita melakukan sesuatu, tentunya kita akan melakukannya.

Tetapi ini adalah Tuhan sang pencipta, yang menciptakan bumi, matahari, alam semesta dan segala sesuatunya. Adalah bijak kalau kita mengikuti perintah-perintahNya. Firman Tuhan tidak berkata,”berdiamlah dan jadikanlah semua bangsa menjadi murid ...” Tidak, Dia berkata ‘pergi’. Kemudian di ayat 20, dikatakan bahwa dia senantiasa beserta dengan kita sampai akhir jaman. Sekali lagi, Tuhan Sang Pencipta tersebut bersama dengan kita–selalu; maka tidak ada kekuatan lain di mana pun jua yang dapat memberhentikan kita.

Tetapi apa yang menjadi arti dari ‘pergi’ tersebut? Hal ini tidak berarti kalau kita semua harus pergi menjadi misionaris ke hutan-hutan di Afrika.

Demikianlah hendaknya terangmu bercahaya di depan orang, supaya mereka melihat perbuatanmu yang baik dan memuliakan Bapamu yang di sorga.

(Matius 5:16).

Marilah kita memastikan apa yang kita perbuat, kita melakukannya untuk Kristus. Jikalau kamu adalah CEO dari suatu perusahaan, jadilah CEO terbaik yang dapat kamu lakukan, untuk Kristus. Kalau kamu adalah seorang koki, jadilah koki terbaik untuk Kristus. Menunjukkan kualitas sebagai seorang Kristen yang baik dalam apa yang kita lakukan, sedemikian sehingga orang-orang akan mulai bertanya,”Apa yang membuat kamu dapat melakukan hal-hal seperti ini?” Saat itu kita dapat menceritakan akan Tuhan kita. Ingatlah ketika Tuhan ingin kita melakukan sesuatu, berarti Dia akan membuat kita siap untuk hal tersebut.

Dia tidak akan pernah meminta kita melakukan apa yang Dia belum perlengkapi. Ketika orangorang bertanya, kita harus siap untuk memberi jawab kepada mereka. Tetapi bukan mengerjakan hal terbaik untuk Kristus, kita sebaliknya menjadi malas. Kita tidak dapat menyangkal pentingnya

untuk menjadi “terbaik”. Kita tidak dapat hanya berdiam di lingkungan nyaman, hanya menjangkau mereka di lingkungan kita saja. Kita harus proaktif, pergi, dan menjangkau sampai ke ujung dunia, jikalau hal ini menjadi apa yang terbaik untuk diri kita.

Kita sebagai orang-orang Kristen saat ini memiliki konsep yang salah tentang hal penjangkauan ini.

Sesudah sarapan Yesus berkata kepada Simon Petrus: ”Simon, anak Yohanes, apakah engkau mengasihi Aku lebih daripada mereka ini?”

Jawab Petrus kepadaNya: ”Benar Tuhan, Engkau tahu bahwa aku mengasihi Engkau.” Kata Yesus kepadanya: ”Gembalakan domba-dombaKu.” (Yohanes 21:15).

Adalah suatu alasan bahwa Yesus bertanya Petrus kalau Dia mengasihi Dia sebelum berkata,”Gembalakan domba-dombaKu”. Kenapa tidak sekedar Dia katakan,”Gembalakan dombadombaKu” saja? Kekristenan saat ini berpikir bahwa karena mereka mengasihi Tuhan, maka mereka harus pergi bersaksi sampai ke ujung dunia. Tetapi ini bukanlah permasalahannya. Ketika kita mengasihi Dia, kita akan mau melayani Dia. Melayani Tuhan adalah suatu kehormatan, bukan suatu kewajiban. Semua yang kita perlukan adalah keinginan untuk dipakai Dia, dan kita akan melihat Dia memakai kita dalam kehidupan ini.

Ini adalah Tuhan yang selalu ada dan selalu akan ada. FirmanNya memiliki kuasa dan perintahperintahnya bersifat absolut. Tidak ada yang terjadi tanpa izin dariNya dan tidak ada yang terjadi tanpa tujuanNya. Kita adalah orang-orang yang lemah. Dan dengan mengakui bahwa kita tidak dapat melakukan sesuatu tanpa Dia, Ia akan menggunakan kita. Keberadaan kita adalah karena Dia. Semua yang kita perlukan adalah keinginan untuk melayani Dia dan Dia akan memastikan perubahan-perubahan yang kita inginkan akan terjadi. Serta secara pasti, Tuhan beserta dengan kehidupan kita. Saya dapat menyimpulkan seluruh artikel ini dalam enam kata.

“Kita dapat melakukan ini. Marilah pergi.”

alumni

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HARLES WONSONO graduated from SPH Karawaci in 2004 with an IB Diploma and is now studying History-Art at La Trobe University, Australia. We had this short interview with him on January 2008, which took place whilst Charles was helping in our Open House.

Hi Charles! It’s nice to see you again. We heard that you are studying History-Arts; why did you choose this major?

I do have a strong interest in the Arts and believe it is a part of God’s plan for me, coupled with my passion. I also strongly believe that I will be able to contribute to society, especially in Indonesia, through the arts.

Could you tell us, what is the greatest challenge in your study time?

Trying to think and critically analyze the huge amount of material from different sources and transfer it cognitively on to paper.

Do you think that SPH has given enough foundation for you to take your further steps on your study?

SPH has definitely given me a strong foundation for my further studies. The school curriculum, including the IB Diploma Program, enabled me to think critically and analytically. Teachers also prepared me mentally and spiritually for the challenges to come after SPH. Through the Arts, do you think we will be able to serve our Lord?

Charles Wonsono

(Alumni from Sekolah Pelita Harapan Karawaci)

Of Course. When I was in SPH, I learned about Christianity and how to grow my faith in our Lord. From there, I was more sensitive to the idea that God has a purpose for each one of us, including myself. Arts are a form of God’s cultural mandate to be carried out and it has a tremendous impact on society. I believe by learning History-Art, I will be able to take part in God’s plan.

SPH Pluit–Tr

y to Do My B

SPH Pluit–Learning

SPH Pluit–Learning

Seriously

is Fun

est

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profile

Education and national development are inseparable. Quality of education for children is essential to improve a developing nation.

Statistics from Departemen Pendidikan Nasional indicates

“To provide a high quality education for needy people�

that approximately 5.300.000 children do not have an opportunity for adequate education.

Currently, there are six SLH established in Lampung and Nias, with 177 kindergarten students, 445 primary students, 560 junior high students and 786 senior high students.

We are committed to keep developing and see SLH established all over Indonesia.

It was a joy to accompany other members of the PH foundation to Nias recently to be a part of the official opening of the new Lentera School. In the next few months there will be two more Lentera Schools around Jakarta.

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James Riady and Budi Yuwono (Lentera Schools Coordinator) with teachers at the opening of Lentera School in Nias.

Brian Cox (Coordinator of PH Schools) with students from Lentera School Nias.

For further information, please contact: Sekolah Lentera Harapan Head Office: UPH Tower, 6th Floor Lippo Karawaci, Tangerang 15811 Phone : (021) 546 0901-05 Fax : (021) 546 1059 SMS Center : 0817 0113 853 e-mail : lentera@uph.edu Account No. : Lippobank 678-3080098-1

On behalf of Yayasan Pendidikan Pelita Harapan

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student achievements Lomba Matematika Tingkat SMP & SMU Se-Jakarta February 28th - March 1st 2008 at SMAK Ipeka Sunter II, Jakarta The Result

2nd Winner: SMU Team (Albert Ateng, Ariel, Malvin)

2nd Winner: SMU Team (Albert Ateng, Ariel, Malvin)

English Debate Senior High Competition Jabodetabek Area February 28th - March 1st 2008 at SMAK Ipeka Sunter II, Jakarta The Result

2 Runner Up: Team A (Hari Effendi, Claudia Natasia, Elizabeth Ho) 1st Runner Up: Team B (Kennie Angesti, Cindy Miharja, Ji Hye Bae)

Best Speaker: Kennie Angesti nd

2nd Runner Up: Team A (Hari Effendi, Claudia Natasia, Elizabeth Ho)

Best Speaker: Kennie Angesti

1st Runner Up: Team B (Kennie Angesti, Cindy Miharja, Ji Hye Bae)

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What are the dreams, hopes and wishes of parents for their children?

Succeed in school, succeed in their career, live happy and satisfactory lives are answers that quickly come to mind.

W

E have sent our children to SPH because we believe that the school will provide a solid foundation for our children. We often come to school events where Mr. John, our Junior School Principal, constantly reminds us about the school vision, “KFC”. As the acronym happens to be the same as the popular Kentucky Fried Chicken, it certainly makes it easy to recall what the school is trying to achieve, i.e.

True Knowledge, Faith in Christ and Godly Character.

Let’s talk a bit about the last one, Godly character. Wow that sounds like a tough job doesn’t it? How can our children acquire Godly character? But first things first, what do we mean by Godly character? As Christians, we believe that God wants us to be like Him, and we can learn from how Jesus has set examples for us. Learning from Jesus’ life, what sort of character do you think can be nurtured in our children? Here are some thoughts. How about the ability to be empathetic, and to understand the needs of others? The willingness to demonstrate compassion? The capacity to see oneself as a contributing member of the family and of society?

In their book ‘Raising Resilient Children’, Prof. Brooks and Goldstein mention that children possess an inborn need or drive to help and to make a positive difference in the lives of others. I believe this is true. It was one of my most memorable times when my son approached me in the kitchen and asked if he could help. So I gave him a simple job that he could cope with. I asked him to prepare garlic and then we cooked together. He was so proud that he could contribute to the family cooking that day. I like to share with my children when I have problems. When I had a miscarriage recently, my son prayed for me in his nightly prayer and it really touched my heart.

I believe that we as parents will run into many examples where our children show their enthusiasm to help. However, this inborn

Raising Children with

Godly Character capacity could fade if it is not nurtured amid the everyday activities that keep us busy. Parents with teenagers often grumble that their children care more for their own problems, and the idea of contributing to the family and certainly to the community seems to be well down their list of priorities. Thus it is best to nurture the act of contributing as a habit from a young age.

In addition to the home, school can have a big impact on nurturing this spirit of generous compassion. Psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner observed that part of every student’s curriculum at school should be a “curriculum for caring” in which youngsters are taught ways to take care of others.

Our school has a program called Christian Service Project (CSP). Does it ring a bell?

While some parents might have a concern that CSP might take a lot of students’ time away from studying the academic curriculum, I believe that the CSP has great potential to nurture the values of understanding the

needs of others’; provide opportunities for students to demonstrate compassion and help in their capacity, and most of all to get children into an early habit while they are young to make a positive difference. This not only will enhance their self esteem but also their sense of responsibility. We feel good about ourselves when we have done good works for others and mostly to glorify God through our actions.

I was very touched when I attended an event in my child’s Grade 3 CSP where we celebrated Christmas together with children from ‘Beriku Hati’. The strong character of the ‘Ibu’ could be felt in her presence. She has given her life to take care of children who do not have parents, and be ‘mom’ to 23 kids.

Why are there people out there who live such a simple life, willing to sacrifice their entire lives for others and yet they are still happy?

This can then be a topic for discussion with our children because they might not be able see these things without our help. Teaching our children to use their eyes to see what

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cannot be seen on the outside, but can only be discerned by our hearts is a very important job.

I am talking about role modeling. Actions speak louder than words. It does not matter how many thousand words we have taught our kids about values, our children are perceptive beings. When they see action, a role model that they are so proud of, this kind of education goes very effectively to the depth of childrens’ hearts.

I believe that there are two main role models in a child’s life. One comes from school and the other from home. How much can the school provide these role models? Teachers are those who have constant interaction with students. Thus, how important is it that teachers serve as role models? Yes, very crucial indeed. They

Membesarkan Anak-anak yang

Takut akan Tuhan Apa harapan orang tua akan anak-anak mereka? Keberhasilan di sekolah, berhasil di karir, hidup senang dan kepuasan hidup adalah jawaban yang langsung muncul di benak kita.

K

ITA mengirim anak-anak ke SPH karena percaya bahwa sekolah akan menyediakan dasar yang kuat bagi mereka. Kita sering menghadiri acara-acara sekolah dimana Mr. John, Junior School Principal, berulang kali mengingatkan tentang visi dari sekolah, “KFC”.

Suatu akronim yang sama dengan kepopuleran Kentucky Fried Chicken, tentunya membuatnya mudah untuk mengingat apa yang menjadi tujuan sekolah, yaitu True Knowledge, Faith in Christ, dan Godly Character.

Mari kita membicarakan aspek yang ketiga, Karakter takut akan Tuhan (kesalehan).

Terdengar seperti suatu pekerjaan yang sulit bukan? Bagaimana anak-anak kita mendapatkan karakter tersebut? Tetapi pertama-tama, apa yang dimaksud dengan Karakter takut akan Tuhan?

Sebagai orang-orang Kristen, kita percaya bahwa Tuhan menginginkan kita untuk menjadi seperti Dia, dan dapat belajar dari bagaimana Kristus telah memberikan contoh-contoh bagi kita. Belajar dari kehidupan Yesus, bentuk karakter seperti apa yang kita pikir dapat dikembangkan dalam diri anak kita? Di sini ada beberapa pemikiran. Bagaimana tentang kemampuan untuk berempati dan mengerti kebutuhan orang lain? Keinginan untuk

are the ones who are in the fertile ground to instill values, in the way they teach, not just the academics, but also how teachers value the children, the confidence that their eyes portray in the children, how they react to children’s mistakes, how they motivate children to excel, and how they can use the right moments to teach Christian values that these children will develop for the rest of their lives.

We believe that SPH takes very careful steps in choosing the right teachers. Teachers are ‘pahlawan tanpa tanda jasa’ (Heroes without medals). They shape children’s lives.

They are not there for the money. We believe that the money that we pay for our children’s education in school is well allocated for teachers, so they can focus on true education.

I think I would like to close this by a

berbelas kasihan? Kemampuan untuk melihat diri sebagai seseorang yang memberikan sumbangsih bagi keluarga dan masyarakat?

Dalam buku ‘Raising Resilient Children’, Prof. Brooks dan Goldstein mengungkapkan bahwa anak-anak memiliki suatu kebutuhan atau dorongan sejak lahir untuk membantu dan membuat perbedaan positif dalam kehidupan orang lain. Saya percaya bahwa hal ini benar.

Adalah suatu kenangan yang paling saya ingat, ketika anak laki-laki saya mendekati saya di dapur dan bertanya jikalau ada sesuatu yang dapat dia bantu. Maka saya memberikan kepadanya suatu pekerjaan yang mudah yang dapat ia kerjakan.

Saya memintanya untuk menyiapkan bawang putih dan kemudian kita memasak bersama.

Dia sangat bangga ketika dapat ambil bagian menyiapkan masakan bagi keluarga hari itu. Saya suka menceritakan masalah bersama anak-anak.

Ketika saya mengalami keguguran baru-baru ini, anak laki-laki saya berdoa untuk saya dalam doa malamnya dan hal ini sungguh menyentuh hati.

Saya percaya bahwa sebagai orang tua, kita akan menemukan banyak contoh dimana anak-anak menunjukkan antusias mereka untuk membantu. Bagaimanapun juga kemampuan yang dibawa seorang anak sejak lahir ini dapat pudar jika tidak dikembangkan dalam aktivitas sehari-hari. Orang tua yang memiliki anak remaja sering berkeluh kesah kalau anak-anak mereka lebih memperhatikan masalah mereka sendiri sehingga ide untuk ambil bagian dalam keluarga dan masyarakat terabaikan dalam daftar prioritas mereka. Karena itu waktu terbaik untuk pengembangan perilaku mau ambil bagian adalah

conclusion that it takes both school and home to educate childrens’ hearts to have the kind of Godly character that we desire.

How much of role modeling have we parents and teachers given to our children? Have we provided them with the opportunities to contribute? It will certainly take a long process and perhaps it takes our whole life for us to find our true calling. But as long as we have tried our best. Let us confidently put our children’s lives in God’s hands because He loves them most and knows what is best for them. May our children bloom in a beautiful way in God’s hands and timing, through our influence whom God has gracefully blessed to be able to sew the red thread of our children’s lives.

Jakarta, 21 February 2008

By Ibu Fendelina Suryadi

sejak masa kanak-kanak.

Berdampingan dengan keluarga, sekolah berperan besar dalam pengembangan semangat untuk berbelas kasihan ini. Psikolog Urie Bronfenbrenner melihat bahwa kurikulum sekolah seharusnya merupakan suatu ‘kurikulum yang memperhatikan’, dimana anak-anak diajar bagaimana cara memperhatikan orang lain.

Sekolah kita memiliki program Christian Service Project (CSP). Apakah Anda ingat? Ketika banyak orang tua mungkin berpikir kalau CSP mengambil

Ibu Fendelina Suryadi

pag banyak waktu dari kurikulum akademis, saya justru percaya kalau CSP memiliki potensi yang besar dalam mengembangkan nilai-nilai untuk mengerti kebutuhan orang lain, menyediakan kesempatan bagi para siswa untuk menunjukkan belas kasihan dan membantu dalam kapasitas mereka, serta yang terlebih utama adalah membentuk mereka memiliki kebiasaan untuk membuat perbedaan yang positif. Hal ini tidak hanya akan mengembangkan kepercayaan diri mereka tapi juga rasa tanggungjawab. Kita merasa baik berkenaan dengan diri kita ketika mengerjakan sesuatu pekerjaan yang berguna bagi sesama dan terutama untuk memuliakan Tuhan melalui tindakan yang kita lakukan.

Saya sangat tersentuh ketika menghadiri acara anak saya ketika Grade 3 CSP merayakan Natal bersama dengan anak-anak dari ‘Beriku Hati’. Karakter kuat dari si ‘Ibu’ dapat terasa saat kehadirannya. Dia memberikan hidupnya untuk merawat anak-anak yang tidak memiliki orang tua, dan menjadi ‘ibu’ bagi ke-23 anak-anaknya.

Mengapa ada orang-orang di luar sana yang memiliki kehidupan sederhana, berkeinginan mengorbankan seluruh hidupnya bagi orang lain tetapi masih juga tetap bahagia? Ini dapat menjadi suatu topik diskusi dengan anak-anak karena mereka mungkin tidak memiliki kemampuan untuk melihat hal-hal seperti ini tanpa bantuan kita. Mengajar anak-anak untuk melihat hal-hal yang tidak tampak dari luar, tetapi hanya dapat dilihat melalui hati adalah pekerjaan yang penting.

Mereka ada bukan karena uang. Kita percaya bahwa uang yang kita bayarkan untuk pendidikan anak-anak kita di sekolah dialokasikan dengan baik kepada guru-guru sehingga mereka dapat fokus pada pendidikan yang benar.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To these I commit my day. If I succeed, I will give thanks.

If I fail, I will seek his grace. And then when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest.

-Max Lucado

Saya akan menutup tulisan ini dengan kesimpulan bahwa baik sekolah maupun keluarga memiliki peranan dalam mendidik hati anak-anak untuk memiliki karakter yang takut akan Tuhan.

Berapa banyak teladan yang telah diberikan oleh orang tua dan guru kepada anak-anak kita?

Sudahkah kita memberikan kesempatan kepada mereka untuk ambil bagian? Tentunya merupakan proses yang panjang dan mungkin seumur hidup kita terus berupaya menemukan panggilan sejati. Tetapi kita harus mencobanya dengan segenap kemampuan yang terbaik. Marilah kita menyerahkan kehidupan anak-anak kita dalam tangan Tuhan karena Dia yang paling mengasihi dan tahu apa yang terbaik untuk mereka. Biarlah anak-anak kita mengembangkan kehidupan yang indah dalam tangan dan waktu Tuhan melalui pengaruh diri kita, yang merupakan berkat Tuhan sehingga kita dapat menjahitkan benang merah dalam kehidupan anak-anak kita.

Saya sedang berbicara tentang peran sebagai teladan. ‘Tindakan’ berbicara lebih kuat dari sekedar kata-kata. Ketika anak-anak melihat tindakan kita, suatu teladan yang mereka banggakan, maka hal ini jauh melebihi kata-kata berkenaan dengan nilai-nilai yang ingin kita ajarkan kepada mereka. Pendidikan seperti ini sangat efektif masuk ke dalam hati mereka.

Saya percaya ada dua model peran yang utama dalam kehidupan seorang anak. Satu datang dari sekolah dan yang lain datang dari rumah. Berapa banyak sekolah dapat menyajikan peranan seperti ini? Guru-guru memiliki interaksi yang terus menerus dengan para siswa. Jadi, betapa pentingnya peranan guru sebagai teladan.

Ya sangat penting. Mereka berada di tanah yang gembur untuk menanamkan nilai-nilai pada saat mereka mengajar, bukan hanya dalam akademis saja tetapi juga bagaimana guru menilai diri anak, bagaimana mereka bereaksi terhadap kesalahan anak, bagaimana mereka memotivasi anak untuk berprestasi dan bagaimana mereka menggunakan waktu yang tepat dalam mengajarkan nilai-nilai Kekristenan untuk sepanjang kehidupan mereka.

Kita percaya SPH sangat berhati-hati dalam memilih guru. Guru adalah pahlawan tanpa tanda jasa. Mereka membentuk kehidupan anak-anak.

s

y Best Friend

SPH Pluit–M

SPH Pluit–We Love to

Learn

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special report

SPH-Karawaci Strings Program Students in International Honor Orchestra Festival Students from the Strings Orchestra Program at Sekolah Pelita Harapan-Karawaci participated in the Association of Music in International Schools (AMIS) Honor Orchestra Festival February 20-25, 2008 at St. John’s International School in Waterloo, Belgium. Twenty students auditioned in October 2007, six students were accepted and five were able to attend with their teacher Therese Wirakesuma.

Student Comment “Going to Belgium with my friends and teacher was not just another holiday, but we all learned something new during the festival.

I learned how God has given me musical talent and how He gave me the opportunity to join this AMIS festival. I’m glad I joined the Honor Orchestra because I made many new friends who are also good musicians. The best part of Belgium other than the festival was The MUSSELS, FRITS, BEER (according to the adults!), SAUSAGES, WAFFLES, MANNEKINPIS, PANCAKES, and of course CHOCOLATES!” (Antonia)

“This AMIS trip is very inspiring for me, because I can see other players who are much better than I am. However, this trip is not only about playing and making music. It is also about sharing our knowledge and meeting people from all around the globe. It is also about having fun, just living with a host family and exploring the city of Brussels.”

(Nathan)

“It never came to my mind that I would be accepted to join the Honor Orchestra with other talented international students.

I actually thought I didn’t do well at the audition, but amazingly I was accepted.

The preparation and practices we had were tiring but the experience was priceless and the accomplishment in the end was overwhelming. I made new friends and learned new things from playing with a big orchestra. Overall, it was a great way to share our talent with the rest of the world.”

(Tashia)

Students: Tashia, Tatiana, Irma, Antonia (Year 9), Teacher Therese Wirakesuma and Nathan (Year 8).

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SPH Sentul City:

A Fifteen Year Reflection from the Acting Head of School Mr. Jim Rawlins has been the Acting Head of School at Sentul from January and will complete his term in June.

We are immensely thankful to Jim and his wife, Marty, for taking on this very important role. Jim was a Head of School at Karawaci way back when Pelita Harapan first began. His reflections are written here ….

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RAVEL back with me for a moment to 1993. Picture us coming from Jakarta, turning off the toll road at the Muslim school, needing a four wheel drive because the muddy road was impossible to traverse after the rains. Pak Yohannes was driving my son Paul and I out to see the SPH Karawaci school site. We finally pulled up to the construction building in front of the earliest beginnings of one cement building that was going to be four storeys high finished with red bricks. This was March and Pak Yo said we will start school in July. I asked respectfully in what year did he think that would be? All I could see were water buffalo and rice paddies in the surrounding area.

We started school with 119 students, a national teacher and an ex-pat teacher in each room on July 19th 1993. The vision was to have several SPH schools and some Dian schools and some Lentera schools spin off into other parts of Indonesia.

Fast forward to now and I have the privilege of being interim Head of School at SPH Sentul. I’m currently doing several teacher observations. In one of those observations the Psychology teacher was creatively bringing two different theories (Social Psychological Persuasion) into the discussion and the students were right on top of it not missing a thing. Their English was

terrific, the students loved their teacher (Miss Alison) and she loved them back. Not long after that I joined four other teachers invited to take part in a class that was discussing Post Modernism among other things. The discussion was quick-paced and questions were flying and many comments were being made and I quickly realized there was deeper understanding in that class than I have seen in some sophomore classes in college. The teacher (Mr. Leland) was inspiring and he and the students were having a great time. All fully engaged and learning was activated.

Earlier in the week we were led in devotions

by Yosua (affectionately called Rabbi Yosua) who explained how Jesus taught and trained his Apostles by having them with him all the time (permeated by relationship).

Now I see that happening all through our schools. The qualities of teachers really can’t be held in. Somehow it just leaks out.

Who you are permeates your classroom and the students. I love what I’m seeing. Teachers control the weather in their classroom, whether it’s sunny and bright or not. They create inviting environments for crisp and clever communications and lessons ... Check it out!

So now I understand we have three SPH schools with a fourth planned for 2010 in Kemang. We have four Dian schools and seven Lentera schools. My faith was so little back in March of 1993 I didn’t think the building would be ready. Not only was it ready we have all these schools and all these wonderful teachers sharing their talents and faith in Jesus Christ which was a very comprehensive vision and is being realized more fully every year.

I know this for sure, the next time I’m in a field and Pak Yohannes says, “The chicken will pull the plow”. I will hitch it up!

Jim Rawlins and His wife, Marty

Refleksi Limabelas Tahun dari Acting Head of School−SPH Sentul City Mr. Jim Rawlins menjabat sebagai Acting Head of School di Sentul sejak Januari dan akan menyelesaikan tugasnya pada bulan Juni mendatang. Kami secara khusus berterima kasih kepada Jim dan istrinya, Marty, untuk peranan yang sangat penting ini. Dahulu Jim adalah Head of School di Karawaci ketika Pelita Harapan pertama kali dimulai. Refleksi beliau adalah sebagai berikut:

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ENGENANG peristiwa pada tahun 1993, menggali kenangan akan perjalanan dari Jakarta, keluar jalan tol di sebuah sekolah muslim, perlu suatu kendaraan Four Wheel Drive (4WD) karena jalanan yang berlumpur yang tampaknya mustahil untuk dilewati setelah hujan turun. Pak Yohannes yang mengemudikan, anak lelaki saya, Paul dan saya sendiri kemudian keluar untuk melihat lahan yang akan digunakan untuk SPH Karawaci. Tiba di suatu konstruksi bangunan di depan lahan yang nantinya akan menjadi bangunan berbata merah setinggi empat lantai.

Hal tersebut terjadi pada bulan Maret dan Pak Yo berkata kalau kami akan memulai sekolah ini

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pada bulan Juli. Saya bertanya pada tahun kapan?

Karena sejauh mata memandang di lingkungan sekitar hanyalah sawah serta kerbau yang sedang membajak tanah.

SPH Sentul City New Head of School It’s been a long process but we’ve

Kami memulai sekolah dengan 119 siswa dan seorang guru nasional serta guru ekspat dalam setiap ruang kelasnya pada 19 Juli 1993. Visi kami adalah memiliki beberapa sekolah SPH, sekolah Dian, dan sekolah Lentera di seluruh wilayah Indonesia.

finally got there! The search

Memandang ke depan hingga saat ini saya mendapatkan hak istimewa menjadi interim Head of School dari SPH Sentul. Sekarang saya sedang melakukan penelitian akan guru. Salah satu hasil penelitian, Psikologi Guru, adalah secara kreatif menghadirkan dua teori yang berbeda–Social Psychological Persuasion yang didiskusikan dengan para siswa. Bahasa Inggris mereka sangat baik dan mereka suka akan guru mereka, Miss Alison dan demikian sebaliknya. Tidak beberapa lama, saya ikut bergabung ke dalam kelas tersebut beserta empat guru lainnya membicarakan tentang Post Modernism. Diskusi terjadi dengan cepat dan pertanyaan-pertanyaan bertebaran serta komentarkomentar terjadi. Akhirnya saya menyadari kalau sudah ada pemahaman yang mendalam di kelas tersebut daripada yang pernah saya lihat di beberapa tingkat kedua di universitas. Guru (Mr. Leland) bersemangat dan para siswa memiliki waktu yang indah bersamanya. Semua terlibat dan proses belajar berlangsung dengan aktif. Di awal minggu kami dipimpin oleh Rabbi Yosua mengadakan ibadah yang menjelaskan bagaimana Yesus mengajar dan melatih para rasul dengan bersama-sama mereka sepanjang waktu (suatu hubungan relasi).

education from other campuses

Sekarang saya melihat apa yang terjadi di semua sekolah kami. Kualitas dari guru-guru sudah baik sekali. Siapa dirimu mempengaruhi kelas dan para siswa. Saya suka akan apa yang saya lihat. Guru-guru mengontrol suasana dalam kelas apakah cerah ataukah tidak. Mereka menciptakan lingkungan untuk komunikasi dan proses belajar yang baik dan cerdas. Lihatlah sendiri!

Maka sekarang saya memahami kalau kita memiliki tiga sekolah SPH dengan yang keempat direncanakan tahun 2010 di Kemang. Kita memiliki empat sekolah Dian dan tujuh sekolah Lentera. Iman saya demikian kecil saat di Maret 1993 dimana saya tidak berpikir kalau bangunan sekolah akan siap. Tidak hanya siap saja tetapi juga kita memiliki semua sekolah dan guru-guru yang baik dimana mereka membagikan talenta dan iman dalam Yesus Kristus, juga suatu visi yang menyeluruh yang direalisasikan setiap tahunnya.

Saya mengetahui hal ini dan suatu saat saya ada di ladang dan Pak Yohannes berkata,” The chicken will pull the plow”. I will hitch it up!

Committee which comprised parents and teachers from PH Sentul as well as leaders in have spent the past few months carefully assessing high quality applications for the important Head of School position at Sentul.

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INALLY two excellent candidates were selected to visit the campus and meet with teachers, students and parents. They were also interviewed by Yayasan personnel. We are pleased to announce that Mr. Nick Combes was offered the position. Nick has joyfully accepted the invitation to be the new Head of School at Sentul for the new academic year 2008/2009.

Nick and Robyn Combes are really excited about returning to their second home with the SPH family in Sentul City.

Nick brings a Christian spiritual maturity and wealth of experience having been a school principal in three significant locations.

He has spent the past six years in China as Principal at Yew Chung International School of Beijing, where has seen much rapid growth and change in this bi-lingual international school.

Nick is also an Elder at the Beijing International Christian Fellowship and has been pastoring a congregation in that fellowship.

Both he and Robyn are no strangers to the SPH family having spent two and a half years at SPH-Lippo Cikarang before their move to China. Prior to their move to Asia, Nick served for ten years as Principal of a two campus Christian School in Victor Harbor, South Australia.

Robyn is currently a University Guidance Counselor in Beijing and has had the privilege of guiding many students in their journey to find the right pathway towards future tertiary studies. They have three daughters, two of whom are married and a daughter who lives with them in Beijing. They are also proud grand-parents.

Nick and Robyn both have a love for the people, culture, climate and geography of Indonesia and are looking forward to returning to Indonesia and joining the Sentul community. In all of their school assignments Nick and Robyn have led significant growth in quality and quantity. They are aware of the need to dedicate a significant period of time to the ongoing growth of SPH Sentul.

We welcome them both.

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Mr. Nick Combes

Kepala Sekolah SPH Sentul City yang Baru Akhirnya setelah melewati proses yang panjang, kami menyelesaikan tugas ini!

Panitia yang terdiri dari orang tua dan guru-guru PH Sentul, juga para pemimpin dari pendidik-pendidik di kampus-kampus lain selama beberapa bulan ini secara hati-hati telah mempelajari lamaran-lamaran yang berkualitas untuk posisi penting Kepala Sekolah di Sentul.

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UA kandidat terbaik yang terpilih, kemudian berkunjung ke kampus dan bertemu dengan guru-guru, para siswa, dan orang tua. Mereka juga diwawancara oleh personel Yayasan. Kami dengan senang hati mengumumkan bahwa Mr. Nick Combes ditawarkan posisi tersebut, yang kemudian menerima undangan itu menjadi Kepala Sekolah di Sentul untuk tahun akademik 2008/2009.

Nick dan Robyn Combes sangat tertarik untuk kembali ke rumah kedua mereka bersama keluarga besar SPH di Sentul City.

Nick membawa kedewasaan rohani dalam kekristenan dan kekayaan pengalaman sebagai pemimpin sekolah di tiga lokasi yang penting.

Beliau selama enam tahun terakhir ini menjadi kepala di suatu sekolah ‘bi-lingual’ yang maju dan tumbuh secara pesat di Yew Chung International School, Beijing–China.

Beliau juga adalah pengurus dari Beijing International Christian Fellowship dan menggembalakan jemaat di persekutuan tersebut.

Keduanya, baik beliau maupun Robyn bukanlah orang yang asing di lingkungan SPH karena pernah selama dua setengah tahun bekerja di SPH Lippo Cikarang, sebelum pindah ke China. Sebelum pindah ke Asia, Nick melayani sebagai Kepala dari

dua Sekolah Kristen di Victor Harbor, South Australia selama sepuluh tahun.

Robyn saat ini adalah seorang University Guidance Counselor di Beijing dan mendapatkan hak istimewa dalam membimbing banyak siswa untuk perjalanan mereka menemukan bidang studi yang tepat bagi masa depan mereka. Mereka memiliki tiga anak perempuan, dua di antaranya telah menikah dan seorang lainnya tinggal bersama mereka di Beijing. Mereka juga bangga menjadi kakek dan nenek.

Baik Nick maupun Robyn mencintai orang-orang, budaya, iklim, dan geografi dari Indonesia dan sedang menunggu untuk kembali ke Indonesia serta bergabung dengan komunitas Sentul. Dalam semua tugas-tugas sekolah, Nick dan Robyn telah membawa pertumbuhan yang signifikan baik dalam hal kualitas maupun kuantitas.

Mereka sadar akan diperlukannya dedikasi waktu untuk kelangsungan pertumbuhan SPH Sentul.

Kami menyambut mereka.

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Our Community Services―Kesuma Bangsa and Karya Kasih

Christmas Party Fun with Kesuma Bangsa

Our Grade 2 students invited from Kesuma Bangsa for a Christmas party.

Kesuma Bangsa is a small local Christian school with limited facilities and poor conditions. It’s situated fifteen minutes away over the bridge near the Supermal; this makes it ideal for the children to visit each other and build up relationships.

For Christmas our children were asked to carry out jobs for love at home to raise money to buy things to fill a shoe box for their buddy in Kesuma Bangsa. After all the money had been gathered we took the children shopping so that they were involved in the whole process and they even worked together to wrap their presents too.

This project is a great opportunity for our children to show God’s love to others. We are thoroughly enjoying working with the caring teachers and fun children at Kesuma Bangsa.

Praise God that we can be a blessing because He has blessed us with abundance.

Grade 4 Christian Service Project (Wati from Rumah Anugerah with Elaine from SPH 4B)

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Following a shared lunch with the Karya Kasih Kids, provided through the weekly JOY jar collections, the Grade 6 students played games with the children from the Kwitang area community/ GKI church. These children are selected based on information provided by the RT to come to this location once a week for a nutritious meal. Through their interaction, our SPH students share love and joy with other children in the community.

Grade 11 students visited SD Kesuma Bangsa, a small junior school in Tangerang. There they worked hard at scraping, painting and decorating a number of rooms. They presented gifts to the children and sang songs with them. It was a rewarding day all round. Well done.

Melia (8.5) writes of her experiences; “In school we’ve been introduced to service to our community as part of the requirements for passing our grade and moving on. What a lot of us realize is, that when you are helping and serving others, it just feels warm inside. It sounds cheesy, but I know that giving our time and effort really pays off ...

Sure, the experience was bittersweet. They sometimes were possessive and greedy and the heat was burning our backs but it was all worth it.�

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Reaching Out

We recently teamed up with Basilea Church and the Indonesian army (TNI) to feed and treat 3000 people at a free health clinic. Our students had the privilege of serving the people of Desa Cihuni and learning how to assist the many dentists, doctors, optometrists and pharmacists who were volunteering their time and services to this clinic.

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LTHOUGH we were very excited for the opportunity to be Christ’s hands and feet in this community, it was also easy to feel overwhelmed in the days leading up to the clinic. How would we be able to feed 3000 people? They needed

such a vast quantity of food. Surely this was an unrealistic goal that was too much to ask from our parents? But God is good!

He touched parents’ hearts to be generous, and provided us with a tremendous team of Class Parent Representatives who stepped up to the challenge with dedication and support. Amazingly, within a week, parents had collected 146 boxes of noodles, 490kg of rice, 51 boxes of aqua cups, 100kg of eggs, 20 kg of vegetables, 9 boxes of biscuits, 3,000 bowls and spoons and 71 boxes of fruit drink!

We worked together to not only to feed the 3000, but we had food left over too! This goes to show the fantastic community spirit we have at SPH and how His provision never fails. We are so thankful to everyone who so

generously gave their time and their support to this project. It was a real blessing to work together with such a dedicated group of parents who modeled servant hearts as they served along side their children.

Everyone served with smiles on their faces and with great enthusiasm in spite of the tremendous heat and demands of the job. The health clinic was well organized and the doctors were delighted and blessed by the assistance that the SPH students provided. Some students escorted patients from the doctors to the pharmacy tent, while others helped record data and packaged medication. Some students teamed up with the army and parents to prepare food: Can

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you imagine unwrapping 3,000 packages of noodles and opening each of the little sauce packets?

Sometimes as teachers or parents we wonder what impact an event like this will have on these young people’s lives. Nadia, shared her thoughts with us through her reflection on the event: “(While assisting the eye doctor) I found out that a lot of the villagers can’t see and a lot of them also can’t read letters. (Later) I passed out cakes to the registration tables and a lot of the ladies crowded around me and asked for the cake. This really made me think of the difference between our lives. For us, if it happens that the cakes are given to us, we won’t appreciate it. We’re too picky about the food we consume. After that I picked up trash.

Saying ‘excuse me’ to the people while picking up trash really humbled me. I felt like stepping down to feel how poor people feel, especially how the sunshine really affects the strength and the readiness of our body. This made me think of how the people who collect trash every day as their job feel. It’s really painful. While I was picking up the trash, a girl put her hand into the trash bin and started to take out some aqua cups. It was a really touching thing … for us that’s trash, but for the people there, it’s a chance of getting money. Those aqua cups are trash for us but for them, it’s their life. This kind of activity is good for me to reflect on my own life and for the people who cannot get enough money to go to the doctor even though they actually really need it. I think this kind of activity should be held more often.”

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Sekolah Bintang Laut, Karawaci—A Memorable School Visit A teacher’s perspective by Mrs. Maureen Cox I love to see SPH senior students in totally different environments. They are so used to being comfortable, that to expose them to the reality that not everyone lives like them can be revolutionary.

For students to have the opportunity to look around a small local school, Bintang Laut−seeing bare walls, dirty floors and dilapidated desks−is a shock because they are so used to being surrounded by all things beautiful.

To be told by the Headmaster that they have very few resources−few books, no maps, no posters is a major surprise when they know we at SPH want for nothing.

I am thrilled that the experience of seeing this situation made them determined to act and with money that they won in a recent English competition the school now has new cleaning and sports equipment, clocks, Children Bibles, dictionaries, a map of the world and, perhaps more importantly, our students have an appreciation of what it means to respond to a need.

My prayer is that these observations and actions will continue to be opportunities to discover and practice the joy of giving.

A student’s perspective by Sanjana Mahtani

A student’s perspective by Jeffy Katio

It all started out with chasing a vain benefit; a debating competition! A way to showcase our skills and hopefully earn a prize. The prize? We won it. But now I personally don’t, and never will, regret the day we shared our prize with others.

Mrs. Maureen provided us with the opportunity to visit the school to which we had decided to donate the prize money. Little did we know what we were in for. We were looking forward to seeing happy students, in a comfortable academic environment; that’s not what we found. Sekolah Bintang Laut is located on the outskirts of Karawaci.

We discovered heavily peeling walls, broken brown, uneven desks, a basketball court with no basketball or ball. There were three little “classrooms” with study equipment limited to a few desks and chairs, a blackboard, the President and Vice President’s portrait, and a teacher’s desk. A library with very few books; teachers with no teaching equipment.

Having lived in Indonesia for all my life, the poor condition of schools has become a common sight, however, I can sadly say that “Bintang Laut” was unlike any other I’ve seen. Upon my arrival there, I was not only astounded by what was before my eyes but also deeply grieved.

The story has to have a happy ending right? This one does not have a “happily ever after” ending; but it does have one that shows arrows pointing in that direction. In other words it is a start. We were able to sit down and ask the teachers and the headmaster of the school exactly what they needed, and in my opinion, deserved. Soon after, Mrs. Maureen called Jeffy and I to gather all the equipment such as broomsticks, maps, children’s bibles, dictionaries, clocks and more books. I could imagine some of their happiness when they received these things!

The condition of the school was very “unfortunate”, the front entrance decorated by dusty insignia and nothing more. The interior was worse; the walls were battered and torn, the desks old and frail.

The school is meant to hold Kindergarten to Junior School students however it is ironic that the size seemed incapable of holding such capacity.

I was very glad that we could make a small difference and hope that this is the beginning of a long-term commitment from the Senior Students of SPH.

w h a t ’s o n

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Junior Unity Championship (arranged by Social Outreach Committee, supervised by Student Council)

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NE of our Student Council’s main goals this year is to increase the student’s awareness in regards to helping people in our local community. The Social Outreach Committee is a newly formed board that is dedicated to arrange events that will provide a channel for our students to be more involved with community service. One of the committee’s recent events was the Junior Unity Championship, where our school had the privilege to host a soccer competition between schools from the surrounding areas.

The vision behind this competition is that it will increase relationships between our own school and others. The schools that we were privileged to welcome were those with very limited facilities and resources. Pele once said, “What better way is there to teach friendship than to give two boys a soccer ball and the afternoon.”

We believe many of the differences in our country can be overcome when we just learn more about each other, and from that learn to value and appreciate our differences.

Nine schools from Binong and Legok participated in the event. The competition ran from midday, until six o’clock in the evening, with SD Binong 2 coming out as the winner after a hard fought final. Smiles and cheers, dominated the whole day.

SPH Lippo Karawaci SPH Idol (arranged by Events Committee, supervised by Student Council) SPH Idol is an annual event that our Student Council hosts. Contestants have to be brave and courageous to sing in front of an audience of hundreds and a panel of three critical judges. Participants ranged from groundbreaking musical talent to outrageous people that are just there to ignite laughter amongst the audience.

This year’s SPH Idol was filled with immense talent, many of whom came from our graduating seniors group.

Ray (Yr.12) with his extraordinary talent of singing romantic and melancholic songs won the award at the end of the day, by singing “Home” by Chris Daugherty from American Idol.

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Youth made by Youth Gala Dinner (arranged by YMY Core Members) YMY is a student oriented fellowship that consists of SPH students that have a passion to learn more about Christ and their relationship with Him. The idea behind the Gala Dinner is a night that feature not only another social outing with students, parents, and teachers, but a night where the participants of YMY have the chance to share their vision of “the roles of Christian leaders in Indonesia”.

Speakers throughout the night re-emphasized to the audience that as Christians, we have a role to play in our country; one that may determine the course of our history.

Thus the dinner was a strong expression of conviction and beliefs. Students were the butlers, event organizers, technicians, speakers, singers, and leaders, and all worked together to ensure that the night was a splendid experience for all guests. Around 200 guests joined the fellowship during the night, all coming in with their fancy gowns and suits, further decorating the night. A significant amount of money was raised to build sports facilities at a local school.

Deeper Concert (arranged by Deeper Committee, supervised by Student Council) The Deeper Concert is another annual event that the Student Council hosts. It is a night where a student-led band welcomes all guests into an atmosphere of worship and magnifying our one and only God. Songs are performed, and all people who come along then join in the celebration of our Creator, as our friend, and Lord. There are usually around 100 people, with a Bible session shared at the intermission.

SPH Lippo Cikarang

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1-2. PoI Grade 3 (December 12th, 2007) 3. Junior School Home Concert (December 7th, 2007) 4. Assembly Grade 3 & 4 (January 29th, 2008) 5. Pals (February 1st, 2008) 6. PYP Workshop (February 14th-16th, 2008)

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SPH Sentul City 1

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7 1-2. Choir SPHBSCC–Educational Seminar at Kemang Village (January 12th, 2008) 3. Sport Fest SPH Sentul City 2008 4. MSS support AIDS Day (December 1st, 2007) 5. International Day (February 13th, 2008) 6. Grade 3 Ceramic Activity (December 3rd, 2007) 7. Choir Charity Night Concert–Pak James Riady expressing appreciation to The Pianist: Santo G. Kurniawan (February 23rd, 2008)

book corner

upcoming event CHARACTER IS DESTINY Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember

By John McCain and Mark Salter Random House, 2005. ISBN: 1-4000-6412-0 This book written by John McCain, now is the 2008 Candidate for US President from Republican Party.

This book show us why, by telling the stories of celebrated historical figures and lesser-known heroes whose values exemplify the best of the human spirit. He illustrates these qualities with moving stories of triumphs against the odds, righteousness in the face of iniquity, hope in adversity and sacrifices for a cause greater than self-interest.

In Character of destiny we will meet:

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Winston Churchill: shows diligence, who, in renowned eighteenth remark, counseled schoolboys to “never give up” A nun, formerly a comfortable Beverly house-wife, who works with prisoner in Mexico worst jails George Washington, whose wisdom and hard-earned self-control helped him survive the chaos of war.

Mother Teresa: Love that shows selflessness and contentment: I want to belong to GOD Lord Nielsen: shows responsibility and how to fight that made The British Navy the most powerful in the world.

The individuals whose stories we tell were chosen because they had a special quality, a particular strength of character that made their lives and their world better. They chose to live their lives in ways that we admire because they believed their principles were their most important possessions. Not their look or abilities, not their comfort or pleasure, not their job but they were true to themselves and were not false to anyone.

CHARACTER COUNTS!

By Karl Leuthauser Group, 1999. ISBN: 0-7644-2075-5 This book is collection of forty true stories you can include as part of your teaching or as the central part of devotion you lead. These true stories come from the experiences of forty different Christians who have suffered, labored and succeed in the name of Christ. None of the women and men in this book were perfect. But every person tried to serve Christ with what he or she had been given. And for reasons known only to GOD, the actions or circumstances of these people have made them prominent characters of Christian history.

Their stories will inspire the students to live with character and will challenge teenagers that Christlike character is possible and necessary!

In this book we will read about a man named Abraham Lincoln, who found peace in relationship with Christ.

Today’s teenagers are desperate for role models and heroes. The devotions in this book will help them see that there are people who lived and still live with integrity, selflessness, service and other characteristics that should set us apart as Christians. The stories in this book will challenge teenagers to raise the standard of their own personal character while encouraging them to persist in faith and relationships with Christ.

By: Fransisca Messakh (Senior Librarian)

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SPH Lippo Karawaci IB Art Exhibition

4-8 April 2008

SPH Cup–Basketball SMP & Soccer SMA

17-26 April 2008

Creative Community Celebration

19 April 2008

SPH Cup–Basketball SD

8-10 May 2008

Career Fair (Grade 9)

2-6 June 2008

Farewell Celebration (Grade 12)

3 June 2008

SPH Sentul City PYP Easter Breakfast

19 March 2008

PYP Grade 6 Exhibition

4 April 2008

Open House

16 April 2008

PYP Book Week

14-18 April 2008

Visual Art Exhibition (MSS)

19-20 April 2008

Togetherness at Muara Angke (PHH Students)

17 May 2008

Donor Darah

20 May 2008

Farewell Celebration (PHH Students)

6 June 2008

SPHBSCC Annual Concert

14 June 2008

SPH Lippo Cikarang Student Led Conference

12 March 2008

Book Week, Book Bazaar

28-30 April 2008