Firstly, I would like to thank Rev Polly Wang Ping and Rev Wee Meng Yeow for supporting me to join STEP 2018. In this 3 week internship, I have gotten closer to my church mates, Jie Ting, Gong Zheng, Jeremy and Jia Le who I had only spoken with during the weekends, but through this programme, I am able to know more about each of our spiritual lives. I am also thankful to have met people from different Presbyterian churches in Singapore, believing that everyone had forged unforgettable memories together in this short period of time. Lastly, I am grateful to God for giving me this opportunity for the exposure to many things that I didn’t know of before and being able to take 3 weeks leave from work.

During the 3D2N camp, we had Rev Wong Shyun Jye from Bethel PC who gave us us an introduction on the organisational structure of Presbyterian Churches in Singapore. After his sharing, I understood that the English Presbytery started in 1992 due to the increase in English speaking population. Under the organisation, there are schools which some of the Presbyterian churches are taking care of. For example, Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School is under the pastoral care of Living Praise Presbyterian while Grace Orchard is under Providence PC and Presbyterian High School under True Grace Presbyterian Church. The Synod also has representatives in various boards such as All Saints Memorial Chapel Board, SAJC, SA Mission Hospital, Singapore Bible College and Trinity Theological College. Also, under the Council For World Mission consists of Caribbean, Pacific, East Asia, Europe, South Asia and Africa regional missions. CWM Council Meeting will be held to discuss overseas mission networks and reflect on the mission of God to challenge our churches into active mission partnership globally.

During the group building activity, we were in groups of 5-6 and had to visit the various Presbyterian Churches in Singapore. When we were travelling to the locations, we had to share our testimony with our group members. After the conversation, I was able to see God’s grace and his amazing works in everyone’s testimony and their journey in Christ. At night, we were given time to prepare for our first presentation on the Presbyterian History for the next day which when preparing, I felt that my biblical knowledge was not good as I have no idea that Paul had went on 3 missions after knowing Christ. On his third mission, Paul went a big round to reach his final destination, Jerusalem from Antioch, which was a stone’s throw away from the former, which was art of God’s plan for him to spread the word across the land. The period following Acts 1 was written till the 16^th century, Christianity became a tool for the political elite to exercise their sinful desires for the treasures of this world, until Martin Luther put on the 95 Theses on the gates of the cathedral on 31^st October 1517. Martin Luther realised the corruption in the Roman Catholic Church and that of His word was not in line with what the Bible truly meant, and thus he came out with the 95 Theses. The reformation of the church by Luther also influenced John Calvin and John Knox, figures central to the development of Presbyterianism. It is indeed amazing that the Presbyterian Church first came into Singapore from Scotland when Rev Benjamin Keasberry, who wanted to preach in China, was denied entry and decided to make his way back to Java; by God’s will, he was called to service in Malaya and Singapore instead.

I also had the chance to visit Hannah Senior Home and Sarah Senior Centre to interact with the elders. It was my first time visiting such places and compared to other nursing homes, I realised that in these homes under the Presbyterian Community Services lacked full-time staff and volunteers. Perhaps, to outsiders, spending their time with the elders is like a waste of time, but to the elders, the time spent with them is very precious, as some of them are neglected by their children. To me, visiting the elders was a heart-warming experience as the elders I interacted with were very open in talking to us.

On one of the days, I had the chance to visit a Catholic Church. The visit was definitely an eye-opener for me as I previously had no idea what was a service like in a Catholic Church. The attitude of the Catholics during the mass is something that I can learn from, as I felt that they were worshipping wholeheartedly.

During the 2^nd week of the internship, we had a lecture on biblical counselling by Pastor Gideon Teo and everyone had the chance to counsel him after learning how. Biblical counselling is the process where the Bible is related individually to a person who is struggling under the weight of personal sin, so that he or she might genuinely change in the inner person to please God. After this lecture, we had an activity conducted by Pastor Evangeline Cheong, letting us know that God has a plan for everyone, and we had to share with someone from this internship the little things in life that we’re grateful for.

Jeremiah 29:11 New International Version (NIV)

¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

During the evening, we headed over to HealthServe in Geylang to interact with the migrant workers. When Jia Xin and I were paired with a Chinese migrant worker at a coffee shop, I felt awkward as I have not interacted with one before. But after having spoken with him, we found out that he came to know HealthServe through a friend and went to get help from HealthServe, after falling from a height that fractured his skull and backbone which resulted in him not being able to work for months. I also had the chance to walk through the alleys of Geylang, having the Chinese worker lead us, realising that there were many illegal gambling dens and brothels, places which the patrons needed the grace of God. After this encounter, I came to a realisation that Singapore, although safe, was not as I imagined it to be. After heading back to HealthServe, my friends and I had the chance to have a mini worship session with the Chinese migrant workers. It’s really nice to see how God entered their lives through the lowest point.

In one of the evenings, I had the privilege to attend the Ravi Zacharias International Ministries Open Forum at Covenant Evangelist Free Church in Woodlands. During the forum, I saw how people received Christ in their life and how gentle Ravi is in the spirit when he answers people with wisdom and respect.

In conclusion, I believe that there are still many things I can learn in STEP 2018, and I highly recommend people to attend this program as one can get a lot of exposure and takeaways. This program allowed me to know more about the Presbyterian Church as I feel that it’s important to know our denomination’s origin and knowing the differences in denominations too. I feel that as Christians, we should yearn for the knowledge of his words otherwise our faith in him is dead.