MINISTRY
Adapting
&
Growing
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WORDS & IMAGES SJSM CHINESE CONGREGATION
anuary 2020, when COVID-19 broke out in Singapore, was the first time that not a single guest registered for Alpha course. The church’s atmosphere was starting to be tense. In February, as required by the government, we began conducting temperature screening and providing hand sanitiser for our members. Online service registration via Google Forms was set up, and the 9am Sunday service was streamed on Facebook Live as a trial. The World Health Organization’s announcement on 11 March that COVID-19 was now classified as a pandemic, and the subsequent decision was made to suspend all onsite services across the Diocese, posed us a great challenge. In order to allow more of our members to participate in our online services, we created our own YouTube Channel so as to stream our service videos. At the first online service, our peak attendance was only five persons. Rev Thong rallied our members, and the next service saw a great increase to 139 attendees! Thank God! The government’s declaration of the Circuit Breaker period from 7 April to 1 June meant 2020 was the first time that Good Friday and Easter Sunday services had ever been held online.
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Since we could not physically gather, we started a YouTube Sharing & Testimony initiative. We invited our members to participate by submitting entries, so as to cheer one another on, and to maintain their relational connections within the church. To date, we have over 50 videos featuring words of encouragement, testimonies, musical pieces, Bible readings, prayers, photo albums, and more. April to July 2020 also saw us using the Zoom platform for our Annual General Meeting, children’s Sunday School, Youth Fellowship, as well as cell meetings. In collaboration with YMCA and the larger SJSM family, our young adults also distributed dinner packs to needy Dover residents. When Singapore entered Phase 2 of Reopening from 19 June 2020, onsite services could finally resume! Online registration was shifted to JotForm to provide a better experience for our members. And as members could not sing their hearts out during the worship services due to safety restrictions, the music ministry decided to pre-record worship sessions to help members better experience God during service. We also decided to make a bold move and try out online Alpha. From mid-August 2020, the Alpha team participated in training, sent out flyers and registration forms, and encouraged our members to invite new friends. And at 2pm on Saturday, 3 October 2020, the 38th and first-ever online Alpha in the history of SJSM’s Chinese Congregation kicked off. About 20 new guests registered for the course, and five eventually received Christ. As we entered 2021, God through Rev Thong led the us to start a Saturday service. This new arrangement not only solved our earlier problem of limited time to run two services on Sunday, but also created a new time slot choice for our members. The evolving pandemic has required the Chinese Congregation to adapt. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:10, “When I am weak, I am strong”; in this odd and unusual time, we overcame many weaknesses to became strong by God’s grace! All glory be to God and our Lord Jesus Christ!
