The inaugural Synod Training & Exposure Programme (STEP) has completed its first week (19-22 May). Along with the week's theme, 'The Entrance', we had the opening ceremony held at Singapore's first Presbyterian church, the 171-year-old Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church.
This is symbolically very significant as STEP is the first internship programme intentionally designed to inspire and equip emerging leaders of local Presbyterian churches! It is not only an entrance for our 30 participants (from 11 different churches) into STEP but marks the new phase of leadership revitalization that Singapore's Presbyterian community is entering through this programme. Our Presbyterian congregations have been struggling for too long due to the shortage of both lay and clerical leaders. It is my prayer that STEP will address this situation.
On the first day, we had the Synod Moderator and Vice President of the National Council of Churches of Singapore, Rt. Rev. Philip Leow Khee Fatt to grace us with the opening message. Then followed by a series of orientation programme before we end with team building games.
As one of the emphases of STEP is to expose the interns to Presbyterian heritage, we have crafted out a list of topics pertinent to our denominational identity. Yours truly gave a brief introduction on Presbyterian history and distinctive, Willy Lau (Synod's Youth Executive and my co-architect for STEP) talked about the organizational structure of the local Presbyterian Synod, and Dr. Lee Soo Ann (Senior Fellow of National University of Singapore) spoke on the history of the Presbyterian movement during the colonial time. These took place at the Synod House at Mt. Sophia.
On the third and fourth day, the interns visited Trinity Theological College (TTC) and Singapore Bible College (SBC) respectively. The two colleges have graciously hosted us, showed us around their campuses, and deployed their esteemed lecturers to talk to us. We are very grateful to TTC's Dr. Ngoei, Dr. Simon Chan, Dr. Maggie Low, Eld. Eunice Low, Dr. Leow Theng Huat, Judy and Yicong, and to SBC's Dr. Clive Chin, Dr. Violet James, Dr. Calvin Chong, Ting Ting, Billy Chiang, and Veronica.
For the last session of the first week, we had Pr. Gideon Teo from Providence Presbyterian Church to guide the interns on how to develop their own ministry project in their own local church. As part of the objectives of STEP, we want our interns to either be involved in an existing ministry or initiate new ministry. This would provide them with practical experience which at the same time benefits their home church.
I hope that the first week's programme has served as a good entry point for the interns to gain a glimpse of what a wholesome Presbyterian ministry is or can be; which is historically rooted, theologically robust, and socially relevant.
Pr. Joshua Woo
Chairman of STEP 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment