Dear friend,

A blessed new year to you.

I do not know if you can sense my excitement but I caught myself repeating in three Instagram reels for the SYFC channel that “after two long years, CCIS returns to Orchard Road!” CCIS stands for Celebrate Christmas In Singapore and it aims to share the reason behind the season to the public during the week leading to Christmas. SYFC has been volunteering in this event since it started as it is a wonderful opportunity to share the birth of our Lord Jesus with others. I would like to share two encouraging stories from this year’s CCIS.

One of the booths that SYFC was in charge of was the immersive Christmas booth where we shared the first Christmas story using immersive technology. The public was transported back to ancient Bethlehem, some 2000 years ago and heard the account of the angel appearing to the shepherds and Mary to announce Jesus’ birth. Our staff, volunteers and students invited the public to the booth, engaged those who were interested to visit the booth and asked for their response after they heard the story. While some of the younger ones were rather fearful in approaching the public at first, they still tried. One such student was a 11-year-old girl who volunteered with her mother. Initially, she did not want to speak with anyone and wanted to stay inside the booth. However, the senior staff who was with her encouraged and guided her to speak with younger children and subsequently the girl became more confident and realised that it was not as difficult as she had initially thought. At the end of the day, her mother commented that the daughter was the one rushing her to approach people. Thank God!

At the other booth, Christmas Comes Alive, our volunteers dressed up to tell the Christmas story to children. Every child also got to bring home a Christmas tree ornament they made. This booth is run by the newly-established International students Ministry (ITM) and Preteens Ministry. Some of the churches that partnered ITM and the students whom ITM contacted volunteered to help in the booth. One of the volunteers was an international student who was down at the booth almost everyday, She was so excited to engage the children and share the Christmas story with them! Through her involvement, she also met and made friends with other like-minded brothers and sisters. She said this was a wonderful experience for her in Singapore and she hopes to volunteer with us in future.

We are grateful that we could share the Christmas story during CCIS last year. Please pray for us that we will continue to share the Good News of our Saviour rescuing man from sin faithfully to every young person we meet this year.

God be our Helper.

All Glory To God,

Richard Tan

National Director