Youth Speak

New Ways of Sowing

John Cheong

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The AMA workshop held in May 2020

In this issue of Youth Speak, we hear from Tammy and Yen Ee on how SJSM’s youth ministries found new ways to serve the youth community during Circuit Breaker.

Tammy Choo, 22, Heartbeat’s Social Media Team

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, youth leaders in Heartbeat had sensed that loneliness was an increasingly prevalent issue that young people were facing, with a growing number of them feeling disconnected from their peers despite how connected they seemed. Once Circuit Breaker rolled around, there were fears of a disconnect from the support of peers and church leaders. As such, the Heartbeat (HB) social media team took the opportunity to address these issues.

The HB social media team comprises a small group of youths who manage the Heartbeat Instagram account, finding ways to engage and edify the community in an authentic manner. Thus, for us, the recent shifting of interactions onto the virtual space was an opportunity for us to serve with extra fervour. In light of all that had happened, we and other youth

volunteers began praying and trying to create “spaces” to help the youths journey with one another and spend their newfound spare time at home to deepen their relationship with God.

One such “space” was the 21-Day Quiet Time challenge. The idea behind it was to encourage the entire Heartbeat community to sync their quiet time texts and daily devotional focus, starting from the book of James and ending with the book of Jude. By reading just a chapter a day, the congregation would finish 7 books of the Bible together! We decided to have the challenge run for 21 days, drawing from research findings that 21 days of repetition forms a habit. We hoped to help youths who struggle with irregularity in their quiet time, and to offer a practical way for cell groups to encourage each other in this aspect of spiritual maturity.

To ease the leaders’ workload, a Telegram bot was created to send the passage of the day and assign a member of each cell group to share what they got out of their quiet time. There were also livestreams on Instagram where pairs of youths took turns to discuss their takeaways from certain passages. This way, youths were able to engage in daily devotion both within their small groups and as a congregation. Besides the challenge, other “spaces” for engagement included our weekly Zoom Workout sessions on Sundays, Praise and Worship sessions on Tuesdays, Youth Leader’s sharing about godly living on Thursdays, and a Prayer session/Call to Prayer on Fridays. These gave youths avenues to serve and gather as one, enjoying each other’s presence and sharing life despite the physical restrictions imposed by Circuit Breaker.

We were very glad to hear that these activities helped many youths find stability in God and in the church community during that turbulent time. Besides the uninhibited sharing, we also had a lot of light-hearted, fun events where we met people outside of our assigned cell groups, and all these contributed to a strong sense of solidarity that we could not have anticipated.

For this, we have many people to thank, starting with our volunteers who met regularly to pray for direction, and those who anchored different activities and interactions! The HB social media team has found so much fulfilment in knowing that our platform could be used in such wonderful ways and that we could help encourage our community during this challenging season.

A Sisterhood workshop held in August 2020 that ran various stay-at-home activities over Zoom.

As all these activities begin to slow down, and life returns to pre-COVID normal, we hope that we can continue to use this platform to knit the community closer, helping youths know that they are not alone and that they are part of this Heartbeat body who share in their highs and lows.

Cheong Yen Ee, 21 The Sisterhood Ministry

When Circuit Breaker was first announced, besides my anxiety regarding university exams going online, I was also concerned about church activities being moved to an online platform. How would the dynamics of service change and what would engaging the church community online look like? Amidst my prayers about these questions and considerations, God quickly answered in the first few weeks of Circuit Breaker. Quelling my fears, He reminded me that the church was never bounded by the physical four walls, and distance will never stop Him from continuing to minister to His people.

It was during this period that the Sisterhood Ministry team encouraged me to grow in my intentionality and heart for the girls in Heartbeat. At the same time, we met up more frequently online to brainstorm and discuss potential workshops we could organise to keep everyone connected to the community. One such workshop was held in May 2020, in conjunction with the Fellaship: the AMA (Ask Me Anything)!

The AMA was born out of a Sisterhood and Fellaship gathering where we discussed questions and misconceptions/stereotypes which we might have had about the other gender. We felt that the AMA was a great opportunity to engage Heartbeat and shed light on areas which we might not usually touch on, helping us better appreciate and love one another as a family in SJSM.

As a panelist for the workshop, it was eye-opening for me to see how our views differed across genders and how we ought to lead them back to the truth of the Bible. I personally learned so much from the team meetings we had before the actual event; there were many instances when I was able to see the contrast between biblical, godly views and the conventional, secular opinions which we so often hear.

Moreover, feedback we received from both the girls and the guys in Heartbeat was incredibly encouraging. The workshop clarified certain doubts or misunderstandings youths might have had, and beyond that, it served as a starting point for Heartbeat to engage in sensitive conversations in a healthy and respectful manner, ultimately growing us in love for one another and in unity as a community. Besides the opportunity afforded by the workshops, we consistently engaged with the rest of the girls in the Sisterhood via our weekly posts on Instagram—“Motivation Monday”, “Worship Wednesday”, and “Faith Friday.” The sharing of testimonies, words and images that God placed on our hearts, and even the worship song recommendations reminded us that despite being physically apart, we are all united in one thing and that one thing is Christ.

I would like to say “Thank you” to all who have blessed us with the sharing of your testimonies and experiences, to those who have prayed for us and to those who have helped us in one way or another! And of course, a huge thank-you to all the girls in the Sisterhood who have been ever so lovely. We hope that all of these initiatives have been blessings to you just as they have been such great blessings to us.

Looking back now, all my initial worries at the beginning of Circuit Breaker seem so small. We are still able to minister to each other, God is still moving in our midst and we are still united as one body and church. Having this in mind, let us continue to stir up one another to love and good works, to not neglect but to encourage one another as the year goes on!