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Reaching out in love - Gracehaven

In this blogpost, we interview Sandy Tung who has been leading GBC's outreach programme to minister to the children at Gracehaven home. She shares with us what this ministry is all about and the opportunities for you to participate in this ministry in 2015.  

Hi Sandy! For those of us who may not know much about Gravehaven, can you share a bit more about the background to it? What is Gravehaven and how did GBC get involved in it?

Gracehaven is a residential home run by the Salvation Army for young people who require care, protection and rehabilitation due to risk behaviours and a lack of parental supervision. The aim is to help young people reintegrate back into their family and society through an array of holistic programmes and activities specially designed to cater to the well being of each individual person. At Gracehaven, a team of professionally trained social workers work towards building holistic and individualized care plans that are tailored to meet each young person’s needs.

GBC's involvement with Gracehaven was initiated by the GBC Ladies Ministry about ten years ago. The initial involvement was a reading programme for the younger children at Gracehaven on every Monday evening. The purpose was to provide GBC ladies an opportunity to participate in mission outreach within Singapore

What kind of programmes/activities has GBC been running for Gracehaven and how have those been received?

For the past six years, we have been organising quarterly programmes for the children (mostly teenagers) at Gracehaven. The programmes are conducted on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 12 noon. Each programme has three segments:

1. Sharing from the Bible based on the theme that Gracehaven has recommended. This year's theme from Gracehaven is "Serving with Respect".

2. An activity such as handicraft or a talk at Gracehaven or outdoor games or walks. Examples of some outdoor activites which we had conducted include captain's ball, nature walk at a park and kite flying at Marina Barrage. 

3. Refreshment and fellowship with the children.

Gracehaven appreciates our partnership with them to run such programmes on a Saturday and sharing God's Word with them.

What is the one most encouraging and one most discouraging thing about serving in this capacity?

Encouraging - the children's trust in us when they share their struggles and their thankfulness to God, as well as our GBC team of volunteers who do not get discouraged or upset when the children are noisy or misbehave :)

Discouraging - lack of GBC volunteers to help lead the programme. Although we only see the children once a quarter, it has a positive impact on them and the Gracehaven staff.

What are the ministry's greatest needs in 2015? What plans does GBC have for Gracehaven?

Currently we have 5-6 members who are regulars and are committed to the ministry. We do need at least a few more volunteers. The volunteers must be at least 18 years old  and who are committed and able to help organise the activities. If we have more committed volunteers especially from our young working adults, we can plan for bi-monthly instead of quarterly programmes so that we can spend more time with the children.

For 2015, we will be organising five programmes on the following Saturdays from 9 am to 12 noon: 21 Mar, 16 May, 25 Jul, 19 Sept and 14 Nov.

If you are interested, you can contact Sandy Tung at tunglcs@yahoo.com.sg or Leow Bok Wee at leowbokwee@gmail.com.

We hope that we can continue to encourage the children in their faith by sowing seed, praying with them and be a witness of Christ's love to them,  

How can we pray for you and the team as you continue to serve?

Please pray for wisdom, good time management and unity in Christ.