Family and Leadership - Reuben Yap

There were 2 main takeaways for this week, one on leadership and another on family.

First, it was the visit to the Onesimus garden that I learnt how to treat the people we want to help. Pastor Andrew Choo mentioned that he treated the girls he was ministering to as his own daughters. Daughters are people we love and we do what we can to help them. We judge their actions but not them. What was important? To love people like how we treat our own flesh and blood. I also thought about the ways in which he researched to help people. One of it was teaching people how to farm. Teaching farming to people who have once lost their way is innovative and serves to provide them a job.

Next, what I gathered from Kuik Shiaoyin is that she is telling us that family is important. She tells about how she met her husband and together they did many wonderful things like holding talks on family and doing community work. We also have to rely on God’s grace and strength and not our own.

We visited HealthServe and following a talk by Rev. Lam, I thought that thinking of the community as an extension of our family would be good in welcoming new believers in Christ. The follow up on a fellow new believer is important, as we want to share the love and warmth of Jesus to them and also to invite them to join the fellowship of the Lord. We are after all told to be missional under God’s ultimate mission plan. What was amazing was that the people whom HealthServe helped stayed back and also contributed. Through their word of mouth, many fellow workers came to know the Lord and are saved. This is certainly one area of community work we as Christians can think about.

As usual, during the talks I would not be paying full attention and this was also the case for Robert Solomon’s talk on Spiritual Leadership. What I remembered most from his talk was that he did not want to be a bishop from the start. Only through God’s prompting and a subsequent series of events that led to him being bishop that he decided he will serve. I felt the same way many years ago when I was ‘recommended’ to serve in the youth and later on in the young adults committee. I was attached to a cell group of younger people and was given the title ‘leader’. Although in my heart I was saying no, the word that came out was yes. I thought I was not qualified and tried to understand why people would ‘recommend’ me. It still baffles me today. 

I was always on the look out for someone better to replace me, thinking he or she would be able to do a better job than I am, because really I was not doing much. Then there were sharing by others who said that God places people and events in our life to guide us in our walk with God. I thank God that throughout the years, He has blessed me with mentors and friends who so willingly offered to help when I needed it. 

Lastly I felt that it was important to groom future leaders to meet the challenges of the future. We need good shepherds to take care of the flock. If we do not want to face the same reality in the churches of Europe, we have to act now.

Reuben Yap

Final Week - Reuben Yap

Before I knew it, STEP has come to an end. For the past three weeks, it was indeed a great privilege to be able to listen to all the speakers and as well as meet all the wonderful young people whose desire is to glorify God. I thank God for the organisers, Joshua and Willy, and also for the timing where we can all gather together.

Looking back, I am really thankful to have attended this programme. Initially, I did not readily accept to attend STEP because of 2 reasons. I wanted to work to earn more money, and was not sure if I should because I used STEP as a back-up plan for boredom (or the excuse because I have nothing better to do, therefore I might as well…).

STEP has exposed me to theology that I did not bother about before. While I see it has important, I initially thought that it did not concern me. It would be good for people who are considering further studies in theology to attend STEP as we have visited Singapore Bible College and Trinity Theological College. I am also inspired by the sharing of fellow STEP interns as well, using their talents and passion for a good cause.

I would recommend people to attend the next STEP, whether they are like me who am totally clueless about theology or they know much, because it is better to attend, as you are able to contribute to the discussion. Have I not mention people? Meeting people excites me more than the content of the talks unfortunately. Come and be inspired, motivated and even challenged to do something. That been said, I have to start on my letter to the EDC to ask them to continue their support for the programme. It has benefitted me so much.

I feel that 3 weeks is too short! How about a 4 weeks to 6 weeks time period? I felt that the 3 weeks were more of exposure (to me) and not much on training. Another 3 weeks for training perhaps? More practical stuff might interest the more hands on people.

Looking forward to meeting up for the next programme or any collaboration we might have between churches to achieve a common objective! Till we meet again, may God continue to lead and guide these people for Your purpose.

Reuben Yap

Local Mission Field - Reuben Yap

On Monday, we have a youth sharing session on overseas mission trips and one on underwater photography. Listening to them on their motivation, their passion and drive to achieve what they thought was necessary set me thinking on whether there is an issue that I felt needed to be addressed. I thought about mission trips, not overseas but local. I have a friend who lamented that students nowadays want to go on overseas community involvement programmes (OCIP) because it was a school requirement in order to graduate or that it will look good on their resumes. Due to that reason, the focus was on overseas work, and the needy in our home country are pretty much neglected.

There is work to be done in Singapore also, and I wanted to find out how we can help those in need in Singapore. The needs include physical and spiritual. The churches were set up in Singapore for a purpose, to meet the needs of the people in the area at that time, and as time progresses, the church grew. The needs of the people change with time and we too must change the way in which we try to meet or tackle such issues also. 

Living Praise Presbyterian Church, being the anchor church of Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Primary School, our mission field is just literally next door. Much can be done to reach out to the students. Coincidentally, part of our ministry project is tied to the school. So why not start with the Boys Brigade (BB) or the Girls Brigade (GB)? Our church currently has people who are committed to serving in the BB and GB. The challenge here is to encourage more on board. There is a camp this Saturday and helpers would be much appreciated! I intend to go and help, but now that I have injured my right knee, I am unsure if I could be of any help at all. Pray that God will provide the manpower needed and the program be run smoothly!

Learnt something new in biblical counselling, and also reaffirmed one bad habit of mine. I tend to judge people way before I find out the situation, something biblical counselling teaches you not to. The four steps to producing a positive fruit are love, know before speak and do. This is very important as there will be one day where people will confide in you and the least I could do is not to judge first without first finding out the issue. Oh and I also need to brush up on my mandarin again.

Reuben Yap

Church Design, Theology, and Evangelism - Reuben Yap

For the second week of STEP, we get to visit cool places like Church of St. Mary of the Angels, Ministry of Home Affairs' Heritage Centre, Bethel Presbyterian Church and Orchard Road Presbyterian Church. These places are cool because of their rich history, architectural beauty and their prime location.

The building of Church of St. Mary of the Angels was stunning. It was all white and beautiful, and the main sanctuary was spacious. The first thing I noticed was a larger-than-life statue of Jesus Christ when He was crucified hanging off the ceiling and is in the centre. Well, I did not feel good looking at it, and wondered of the significance in hanging the statue there. I quickly compared that to many Presbyterian churches that I have been to and what was displayed instead was the cross. The cross is the reason why we are free from the hold of sin. That was one difference, and the rest were mainly in the order and style of service. The focus for the service then was on the sacraments and not so much on the word. 

When I came to know the Lord many years ago, I did not bother with theology, and was just satisfied that I have been saved by Jesus, because I did not think it was necessary to know. However, as explained by Rev. Tan Tiong Ann, that it was also important that we study or at least read up a bit on the theology. It was important to know the reasons and the motivations behind everything we do today for our service or worship in church. Though we believe in God, the different denominations differ in their interpretation and understanding of the word, which led to the difference.

As students of the Singapore education system, we have been taught since young to respect and tolerate the people and practices of different faith, so as to maintain the religious harmony and unity in Singapore. Cases of racial and religious riots have been brought up time and time again to remind us of the dire consequences if we choose to be insensitive to the practices and customs of different faith groups. The setting up of the heritage centre to educate people is proof of the government’s efforts to preserve the peace in Singapore. In our efforts to reach out and evangelise to people of different faith, we need to be mindful and sensitive of the methods or the way in which we do so, so as to not appear as too overly offensive or aggressive in our proselytizing. 

On Wednesday, we also have the privilege of having a speaker from Ravi Zacharias International Ministries to share with us on the topic of 'Christianity and Science'. It was certainly time well spent listening to him as we live in a world where people argue that a belief in a God is irrational and that any intelligent human being would look to science to answer any questions we have in life.

At the end of the second week, with all the useful sessions, I hope that I will be well equipped to answer the questions that anyone has on my faith!

Reuben Yap

The Christian Walk Is Like Going Up A Flight of Stairs - Reuben Yap

This week was met with many physical challenges. First, many of us were unfamiliar with the area around Prinsep Street, Synod's office, TTC and SBC. Second, a few of us had to overcome a flight of stairs to get to the synod office. Yet many of us made it to the location and even on time! Truly want to thank God for that. 

This reminded me of how the Christian faith is like. While we know the name of the building and its location on map, we do not know the directions or the path to take. What we did was to meet earlier and head over together, and there was someone among us who knew the way and led us to the destination. We all like sheep were lost and do not know how to get to our destination. While we can gather in groups and even figure out a way, ultimately we needed a guide. We needed Jesus to be our guide and light who will bring and lead us to where He wants us to go. One thing that I have to prayerfully consider is brushing up on my mandarin. 

I’m not very good with it and don’t want to have to do anything about it. It was told that the majority of mandarin chinese speaking people are non christians. In order to reach out to them, it would be favourable to do so in mandarin. For the example of pastor Gideon, he said he was called to serve in the mandarin congregation, which wasn’t his first choice to serve in. Wherever God calls me to, I pray that I will be willing and prepare myself to go.

While walking up the long flight of stairs to get to the synod office, I was complaining why there wasn’t a lift or an easier way up. There was an easier way, but we would have taken a detour, and a much longer time to reach. We were already late, so we shouldn’t take that path. Our walk with Christ wouldn’t always be easy; sometimes the path is filled with obstacles that we must face in order to go up. We must focus on our final destination, not giving up halfway. While it may be difficult, we have faith in Jesus who will be with us as He walks with us on this path. There are others like us who are facing the same trials, so have faith and let us walk together!

Reuben Yap

STEP: "Mindblown" Internship! - Reuben Yap

A week of meeting new people and getting “mind-blown” during the talks has past and as I look back, surely this is more important than the other internship that I would have gone for had I been selected for it. When I was asked by my pastor to consider attending this STEP, I didn’t give him a reply immediately as I was waiting for a reply from the other companies that I had applied to be an intern. 

Honestly, I would rather work as an intern in those companies than to attend STEP, so disappointed I was when I didn’t get selected and treated STEP as a backup plan instead. My disappointment turned to gladness, as I wouldn’t want to miss this valuable opportunity to grow and learn spiritually with like-minded people.

Truly enough, STEP does expose you to the various understanding of theology and the history of the churches in SIngapore, I did surely gain new insights from the talks and seminars held at the two colleges and church in Singapore. I got to understand the birth of churches and also the historical significance and meaning of why and how churches form and the purpose of their founding. 

Part of being a STEP intern also encourages you to start on ministry projects, which could be on available ministries or a new ministry initiative. After the interns have shared their ideas, we realised that our initiatives are similar and that the issues we are targeting are also similar. Though we are from different churches, the challenges we face are not that different. We could cooperate with each other in terms of sharing of experience in dealing with such issues or brainstorming and coming up with new ideas to tackle such issues. This shows that our work is never done and we should not rest on our laurels to think that church work is always smooth sailing. 

Before attending STEP, I never really gave much thought into theology. After attending the talks however proved that many things we do have a purpose and can be linked to theology. Our theology must be sound and in order to assure that we must study the word and understand it. The learning just cannot stop.

Reuben Yap