Dear friend,
When Joel Choong started the arts outreach initiative under EDGE (Evolving Digital Generation Evangelism) Ministry, he called it Through The Roof. The phrase through the roof carries the general idea of something rising to a very high level, such as in the case of: The sale of this art piece has gone through the roof. However, Joel specifically chose the phrase to reflect Mark 2:3-11 where four men brought their paralysed friend through the roof to meet Jesus. They had heard of Jesus’ healing power and desperately wanted their friend to be healed too. These men trusted in Jesus’ healing power and Jesus did more than healing the paralysed man of his physical ailment, he forgave the man’s sin. Similarly, Joel hopes to lead art-inclined students (known as creatives) through the roof for them to encounter Jesus personally and have their greatest need fulfilled.
Over the last two years, many students whom Joel contacted were curious why he was willing to help them without a fee since creative platforms usually charge a fee for such collaborations. Joel’s simple answer to them is, “This is my Christian duty for the art community.” Joel makes no attempt to hide his Christian identity and his motivation for doing what he does and students who appreciate that continue to work with him. One of the projects that Joel has collaborated with some students is in the production of zines. A zine, according to Wikipedia, (short for magazine or fanzine) is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine.
In order to sell the zines, Joel has started to participate in various bazaars and art book fairs. There, he also meets fellow artists and this creates further collaborative opportunities. Joel also found a suitable printer to print the zines — the RISO Printer. Unlike modern printers, this printer prints one colour at a time and it creates a unique look to the finished product (see attached photo). Other than being able to print the zines in-house, Joel feels that there will be a lot of creatives who will be keen to explore working with him if we were to purchase a RISO Printer. Thank God some donors saw the potential and funded the purchase of the printer.
We saw immediate interest from the creative community once word is out there that we have a RISO Printer in our office. Joel now has opportunities to befriend and build relationship with more creatives. As we continue to reach the creatives, please pray for us to faithfully steward God’s resources and to reach this group of young people relevantly with the gospel.
All Glory To God,
Richard Tan
National Director
*Joel will be hosting a get together to report about art outreach work on 5 October, 10am at Emmanuel House. If you are keen to attend, please RSVP at this link: www.tinyurl.com/ttr-edge-2024
