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Youth Bible Conference 2014

This year’s Youth Bible Conference was held on 21st June, and saw the youths gather for a time of fellowship, worship, and of course, Bible study. The theme for the conference was “Community and Discipling Relationships”. Needless to say, this year’s conference went beyond what the planning committee had dreamt of – in the midst of the fun and laughter, there were valuable lessons taught, stronger bonds forged!

The event opened with icebreakers, then worship. In accordance with tradition, the theme song was introduced, this time written by a few of the youth themselves. Based off passages from the book of Matthew that were to be covered in the sermon by Yee Kiat later on, the song was about our call to disciple and be discipled in response to Immanuel. The sermon, titled ‘Immanuel in the gathering and discipling of the church’ was a rich and refreshing take on the book of Matthew, with reference to the concept of ‘God being with us’, and the idea of church discipline. Some of the youths were surprised to hear that Matthew 18:20 “Where two or three are gathered in My Name, there am I with them” was not about God granting us our wishes whenever we pray together in groups; rather, it is God’s promise to us that where a group of believers gather to lovingly confront a brother or sister who has sinned, God is with them. Discussion time allowed youths to clarify any doubts, and share their own personal experiences where God did not seem to be there with them. Many questions sprung up, including “Since Matthew seems to only say that God is with us when we are gathered as a church, does that mean that God isn’t with us when we are alone?” or “What is the church? Why do I go to church?” – questions which demanded much thinking and self-reflection. For the first time, the time allotted for discussion was not enough!

The highlight of the event for many youths was undoubtedly the experiential game, dubbed ‘Crossing the Moat’. Members of each group were required to cross over to a ‘safe zone’ demarcated by white masking tape on the floor, in order to complete the objective of the game. Numbered boxes marked the path to the ‘safe zone’ – every member had to cross by following the numbers. Rules that seemed nonsensical and frustrating (“You cannot talk, giggle, cough, or ‘ahem’ during gameplay”) were strictly enforced by the four game-masters – each time a rule was broken, everyone had to go back to the starting line regardless of their progress. It took awhile before everyone realized that it would take cooperation from everyone involved in order to finish the game – there were no winners, the only goal was for all to reach the ‘safe zone’. In the end, all ended up safely in the ‘zone’.

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Guiding each other every step of the way!

There were poignant moments where the older ones were guiding the younger ones, holding on to their hands to make sure they did not fall, and others, where a particular individual would stand up and say “I’ll lead the way” when his leader had given up. Many lessons could be drawn from the game – all applicable to discipleship. While crossing the ‘moat’, one had to always look forward to follow the footsteps of the person before, and backward, to check on the progress of the person after. The message? In discipleship, there is always one whom you look up to and follow, as well as one whom you guide. Because when one fails, all fail.

Workshops by Pastor Ollie and Samuel Beh touched on the different aspects of church and discipleship. Teaching from 1 Timothy 4:11-16, Pastor Ollie gave biblical examples of discipleship, as seen in the interactions between Paul and Timothy, and then tied it back to the possible practices involved in discipleship. For Sam’s workshop, participants were encouraged to share their own perceptions of the ‘church’ with each other first, before Sam pointed out specific phrases in Hebrews 10:19 – 25, linking it to the attitudes that one should adopt towards the church.

The night closed with worship, and the mandatory group photo, as everyone cheered for the camera, leaving with much food for thought, and memories to treasure!

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Group photo!