Dear friend,

One of our purpose statements in SYFC is: We aim to prepare and equip every believing young person for the mission of youth evangelism.

The different serve programmes, which are short-term internship programmes, are designed with that purpose in mind. These programmes aim to give young people who have finished their major examinations or are going through transitions in life a taste of what it is like to serve God in a full-time ministry.

The challenge this year was how to make the different serve programmes as engaging and as useful for the participants due to COVID-19 restrictions.

One of the changes we made was in the way sessions are conducted since we cannot intermingle and are disallowed to gather in big groups. We invested in a simple broadcasting system so that we can better “Zoom” the teachings online. Recordings of the sessions are also uploaded so that the Project Servants or Grad Servants can refer to them again.

Other than that, we also made changes to the curriculum so as to enhance the participants’ learning experience. In the ITE Ministry’s Grad Serve programme, the Grad Servants volunteered in a non-profit thrift shop that raises funds for ex-offenders. One of them shared that it gave her the opportunity to witness the passion of other volunteers in action and this reminded her of God’s love for us no matter our backgrounds. In addition to volunteering at the thrift shop, the Grad Servants also had the opportunity to engage children from a neighbouring country over the digital platform. One of them remarked that it was his first time organising an online event and he had so much difficulties trying to remember his script. However, he enjoyed the whole process of organising and executing the event together with the rest of his friends.

The Polytechnic Ministry just started their Grad Serve programme. Other than training the participants how to share the gospel with others, one of the interesting topics they will talk about is “adulting”. Adulting is a word popularised in social media in the late 2000s and it refers to actions and behaviour that are typical of adults. As this group of Grad Servants will be stepping into the workforce, enlisting in the army or furthering their studies in the university very soon, they will have to learn to manage different responsibilities in life and expectations that are placed on them. In speaking with them about adulting, the staff hope to prepare the Grad Servants for their next phase of life.

Please pray with us that the young people who join us in the different serve programmes will desire to live gospel-centric lives and proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to the people around them.

All glory to God,