In Review 2021: The Jubilee Year Edition

MINISTRY

Serving in the Midst of a Pandemic Think of church, and one usually thinks of services, outreach events, and prominent ministries (e.g.

Worship, Hospitality, Missions). But there’s a sizeable group of Operations staff and servers who are quietly working in the background to ensure that things run as they should — or are able to run at all.

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n 2019, the nationwide Celebration of Hope event — which saw crowds thronging the National Stadium — commanded our attention through the middle of the year, and the rush and excitement of Dover Celebrates Christmas took us through to 2020. Lee Chee Sheong, SJSM’s Group Head for Operations, recalls how the work by New Wineskins Transformation Taskforce was also introducing changes to the staff structure, which necessitated adjustments to work with new teams and under new leaders. “We were also moving and settling into the newly renovated Level 4 office,” he says. “Changes had been made

to the set-up and layout to promote openness and bonding. In short, there really was quite a lot going on to begin with.”

Nigel Sim, Head of Communications, recalls how in mid-February 2020 “there was reason for caution as we kept an eye on news updates while determining next steps”. As SJSM continued to pray against the spread of COVID-19, various precautions were also being implemented that kept in step with government measures. MOH’s advice was that worship services could continue so long as appropriate measures were put in place. But it was impossible to know what to expect.

IN THE TEETH OF THE STORM “Our small Communications team was tasked to get worship services live-streamed within less than a week, because we wanted to give members who were unable or unwell the choice of attending services online,” Nigel says. “Up until that point, we had never live-streamed a service. But thank God; certain capabilities were already in place. It was not a perfect set-up, but we went live that weekend (15/16 February).”

“The impacts of COVID-19 really hit us in midMarch 2020; that was when all the regulations and health screening requirements kicked in,” says Ashley Tan, Team Lead for Admin & Events Management (AEM). “Everything was totally new to us and had to be picked up and built from scratch in a very short time — setting up electronic declaration forms, purchasing thermometers, reconfiguring the basement carpark, cordoning off areas, and setting up screening stations…

“Milton (Wee, Team Lead for Facilities & Security), Jonathan, and Poh Chye really had their hands full with space allocation for safe distancing, setting up of barriers, and disinfection of public spaces and high-touch surfaces, while also supporting construction-related concerns with regards to Project Spring-Winter, so AEM closed ranks with them and shouldered whatever we could.

“Then the Diocese called for all parishes to cease onsite services for two weeks… and then the Circuit Breaker happened.”

“In the weeks leading up to the Circuit Breaker, SJSM went from fully onsite to fully online,” Nigel says. “Then, when onsite services were allowed to resume, we moved from Circuit Breaker to Phase 1 to Phase 2 in a matter of three weeks, finally settling on a hybrid of onsite and online services. Everything changed in 2020 — Holy Week, AGM, Christmas. I’m grateful for my colleague Han Hwee, who soldiered along with me to facilitate video recording and streaming during those challenging months.”

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