We are pleased to invite you to join a special “Bible Storying Seminar” from 1-4 October 2012. In addition to the seminar, we are also organising an “Introduction and Overview of Oral Story Projects” on 29 September 2012.

Why organise such a seminar? Stories are effective means to communicate values and truths. Our Lord Jesus was himself a master story teller, and many of us remember the parables told by Christ. All over the world, especially in oral cultures, stories have been used widely and effectively in share the Gospel and to teach Bible truths.

Introduction and Overview of Oral Story Projects

• 29 September 2012 (Sat), 10am – 11.30am
• Free Admission
• Breakfast fellowship starts at 9.30am

Bible Storying Seminar

• 1-4 October 2012 (Mon – Thu), 9am – 5pm
• Cost per participant: S$50
• Please note that the seminar is limited to maximum of 23 participants.

Venue: Grace Singapore Chinese Christian Church (Level 4)

Speaker: Keith Benn, Wycliffe Australia Bible Storytelling Coordinator Consultant, OneStory Project

Download Brochure

Download Registration Form

Topic: Personal Spirituality and Personality Types of the Asian candidates – Its implications and importance in the context of ministry placement, leadership and member care.

Speaker: Gracia Wiarda
Date & Time: 31 August 2012 (Friday), 9am to 12.30pm
Venue: OMF Auditorium, 2 Cluny Road S259570
Cost: S$10 per pax

Please issue cheque payment to “FOMOS Ltd.” and mail to:

FOMOS Ltd.
c/o OMF Singapore Ltd.
2 Cluny Road,
Singapore 259570
Attn: Maureen Goh

 The Power of an IDEA

Date: August 24th (7.30pm to 10pm) & 25th (9.30am to 5.30pm)
Venue: Kum Yan Methodist Church, 1 Queen Street. Living Room, 6th Floor
Cost: S$80 (includes tea breaks)

A weekend gathering with Darrow Miller – to discover that ideas have consequences. One of the subjects will be the Monday Church, helping us to connect our vocation with the advancement of the Kingdom of God. ( click on poster below to enlarge )

Download Application Form here.

The Workshop is designed to help missionaries hone their interpersonal skills, thereby enabling them to work more effectively together in community and on the field.

Date: 10-15 June 2012
Host: SIM and WEC
Location: OMF IHQ, 2 Cluny Road, Singapore

Registration: Download Registration Form

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARPEN?

• Your listening skills
• Your conflict management skills
• Your problem solving skills
• Your stress management skills
• Your trust-building skills
• Your grief management skills …and more.

Workshop Details:

• Registration is limited to 24 and must be received by 1 May 2012
• Confirmation and directions will be sent to you upon receipt of registration
• Plan to set aside the week to focus on this workshop, as it can be quite intense
• Workbooks will be given out on the first day
• Materials and sessions will be in English

“SYIS is a rich, valuable learning, and relationship- building week. Facilitators create an atmosphere of learning and sharing. The teaching modules and practice sessions are very helpful, and group dynamics very conducive for learning. A safe atmosphere of trust, learning, acceptance is created where mistakes and shortcomings are seen as learning opportunities. It is a fantastic opportunity to learn and to grow.”

- Annemie Grosshauser Psychologist Member Care Consultant

Costs:

• Single occupancy: SGD 665. – (includes accommodation – full board; meals; tuition and materials) p.p
• Double occupancy: SGD 590. – (includes accommodation – full board; meals; tuition and materials) p.p
• Day guests: SGD 400. – (incl. 1 dinner; 4 days lunch, coffee breaks; tuition and materials)

HOW TO REGISTER AND/OR GET MORE DETAILED INFORMATION:

Contact – John Stuart: info@simeast.com

Brochure 1 - SHARPENING YOUR INTERPERSONAL SKILLS: Singapore

Brochure 2 - WHY SHOULD I TAKE THIS WORKSHOP?

With psychologist Dr Brent Lindquist for: Pastors, missions leaders and staff, missionaries and member care personnel

• Preventing missionary burnout
• Missionary screening and selection best practices

Venue: Bartley Christian Church (4 How Sun Drive) Room 2.2
Date: Thursday, 15 March 7:30-9:30 pm
Registration: $10, Call +65 6298 3611 or info@simeast.com

* Click on Poster to enlarge

* Click on Poster to enlarge

During our contingency workshop on short term trips, there was a request for some articles.  So here they are available for download.

Just click on the “More” to view the list of articles available.

Ken Springsteen

Materials for Workshop

• GO4th Crisis Workshop Powerpoint Slides
• Model Policies
  

Articles for Workshop

• A CONCEPT FOR EFFECTIVE CRISES MANAGEMENT
• ALERT LEVELS
• BIBLICAL FOUNDATION FOR CONTINGENCY
• EFFECTS OF CRISES ON THE ORGANIZATION
• EMERGENCY PLANS HANDBOOK
• EVACUATION CONSIDERATIONS
• HOTEL SAFETY
• INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
• MANAGEMENT IN CRISIS (Optional)
• Recommended Websites
• Risk Assessment
• TRIPWIRES

Reference:

1. Contingency & Crisis Management Seminar II
2. Contingency & Crisis Management 2010

On the morning of March 11th, three of us set off on the train in Tokyo bounded for Fukuoka on Kyushu Island in the south. It had been a smooth and uneventful journey until I scanned the newsflash on the screen in front of the cabin.  From what I could decipher from the Kanji (Japanese written in Chinese characters), I realized that a major earthquake had struck the north-eastern part of Japan at 2.46pm.  I quickly informed my team.  We went online to search for information (there is wifi connection on train!) and saw the massive-ness of the devastation.  Right there and then, we knew God’s agenda for us for the second half of our trip in Japan – pray for Japan in her hour of crisis!

Two days before the earthquake, the Lord led us to pray in the heart of Tokyo at the Imperial Palace. Around the periphery of the Palace were stone slabs imprinted with the names of the individual prefectures of the country.  We prayed over three prefectures.  Of those 3 slabs of stones, 2 were the prefectures of Yamagata and Fukushima. We spent a considerable time standing over the Fukushima slab to pray for open gates and open heavens over Fukushima. We worshipped God with songs proclaiming peace and strength over Fukushima.

As the news of the extent of the disaster unfolded, we found out that both Yamagata and Fukushima were affected.  The realization that God had, in his fore-knowledge, led us to pray for these places, left us in awe and speechless.  There was no doubt that God loves this nation and cares for his people to have raised prayer covering for them (I am sure that there must have increased prayer for the nation during the week!).

A colleague once mentioned that whenever we hear sermons about signs of the end times preached from Matthew 24, it almost inevitably evoke feelings of fear and anxiety at the impending sufferings.  However, was that the intention of our Lord Jesus when he talked about nations rising against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, famines and earthquakes?  Did he also not, in the same breath, remind the disciples that “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come” (Matt 24:14)?

We have missed the point of Matthew 24 if we merely focused on the signs of the end times.  The ability to recognize the signs is to stir a sense of urgency to bring the Gospel to the whole world!  When all nations have heard the testimony, the end will come! In view of the sufferings that result from these disasters, be they natural and manmade, the challenge to believers is how can we equip ourselves to be able to share the gospel in a way that the whole world will hear of the hope that is found in Christ alone? And having equipped, so avail ourselves whenever the opportunity arises for us, to go!

The natural calamities and political upheavals the world has witnessed recently remind us of Matthew 24. Tens of thousands of lives are lost and many millions live in fear and confusion.  There are still yet many, especially Singaporeans, thankful that we are spared of such sufferings.  To end here would have been a letdown of what Jesus was challenging the church about in Matthew 24.

Within days of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, CRASH Japan (Crisis Relief, Assistance, Support and Hope) got into action to bring crisis relief to the disaster sites.  It was heartening to hear of churches coming together to help the survivors through supplies of daily necessities, as well as comfort and cheer.  What could be more encouraging than to hear of people putting their trust in Jesus as Saviour and Lord through the acts of kindness and testimonies of the saints!

Indeed this is not the time for us to shirk back in fear of the dangers lurking out there (radiation or not!).  We need to recognize that God is shaking the world in these last days and hearts are opening up as never before.  Now is the time to step up and step out to bring the hope within us to a world lost without Jesus!

Judy Foo (YWAM)

SIM East is organizing an exciting Mission Youth Camp for youths 15-22 years old this June 1-3. The facilitator is Sean Marston, the international Youth Consultant for SIM.

“This camp is about your ‘mission journey’. It is about you understanding world issues and how as Christians we can bring a spiritual and physical response to these issues. It is about you gaining ideas, a vision, a way forward and connecting with other young people like you.”

Location: Vision Farm Camp (Choa Chu Kang)
Who: Youth 15-22 years old
Cost: S$100 (incl. meals and lodging)
Facilitator: Sean Marston, Int’l Youth Consultant for SIM
More Info: info@simeast.com

Click Here to download SIM Camp Interest Form (pdf)

About Sean Marston (New Zealand)

I have two strong passions in life regarding work and ministry. One is helping young people understand and work out their Christian faith. The second passion is overseas mission work. This type of work is so vital and cutting edge because the “mission” norms that were so central to the Christian walk have largely been lost to the emerging generations.

My role at SIM International is Youth and Young Adult Champion. I’ve been concerned for many years about what is happening to the younger generations in churches around the world. These generations are drifting away from church, often because the structure and style of church does not fit with the way they relate and work out their Christian faith. It is also because the emerging generations are more relational and interactive about their faith. They want church to be like this too. They have questions about how their faith fits into the world and they have concerns and doubts and they are looking for ways to deal with these issues.

There is an emerging global youth culture and increasingly the world is flattening in terms of ideas, attitudes and communication. My question is how can we help young people understand and own their faith in ways that are relevant to them? I have a strong desire to help churches develop appropriate ways to connect with young people and know how to grow them into the church.

I want to be a resource person for denominations, churches and local youth workers in the majority world. My goal is help churches and leaders understand and connect with the emerging youth culture in their country. Emerging generations are just as passionate about their Christian faith and they want it to be real in their world.

I am 45 and married to Cathy. We have two children: Jessica (16) and Taylor (13). We are involved at a Baptist church in Auckland, New Zealand. I have never served overseas long-term but have been involved in training and evaluating youth ministries in more than fifteen countries around the world.

Mission in the twenty first century is becoming more and more challenging than how it used to be in the previous centuries. That could be due to the ever changing political climates of the field countries, complexities of multi-cultural teams on the fields, and field leaderships’ focus more on the activities and programmes at the expense of personal care for missionaries serving there. It is true that Mission agencies and supporting churches are as usual very active and serious about sending out missionaries to the fields. In the course of that endeavor, very often they all fail to realize the importance to providing the needed spiritual care for those serving on the fields.

God acts and Satan reactsWhen God acts, Satan always reacts. A very good example is when God created the world and man in Genesis 1 and 2, Satan brought sin into world in Genesis 3. Another example is when the first church was born in Acts 2 Satan reacted by bringing persecution to the early church from Acts 4 onwards. In the same way when missionaries are sent to the fields to serve they invariably face many challenges. Even when they help others they feel helpless when they themselves need assistance. They feel ashamed to reach out for help or do not find any trustworthy person on the field to turn to. Often they fall a prey to the demands and pressures of their ministry.

Stress-producing wolvesMission personnel often face the challenge of finding practical ways to be ‘shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves’ in order not to become prey to the stress-producing wolves of their lives. Multi-cultural issues, while they serve in a team can be one of the major causes of their stress. Loneliness, separation from dear ones, demands on the fields and lack of rest are some of the other causes. There have also been cases of moral failure among some of them too. Powerful self-deception enables them to justify and rationalize what is happening to their moral fibreDespair and hopelessnessOver an extended period of time coupled with a combination of factors, it may however lead missionaries to the verge of breakdown. They may even fall into the terrible pit of despair and hopelessness, which may at times bring their service, ministry and mission activities to a standstill. There have been cases of missionaries returning home with questions on their call and discouragement due to lack of support and understanding from leaders and team members on the field.  The reason for all these problems is, in the midst of their hectic schedule and service, they would have failed to care for themselves or there would not have been anyone to care for them. That increases the significance and importance of member care for missionaries.

Caring for missionariesMission is rewarding. But it is also rigorous. Mission is plundering hell and populating heaven. It is a literal spiritual warfare. Satan knows that the ministry on the mission field will only be as spiritually healthy as the missionaries are. That is why he wants to keep missionaries divided, discouraged, ineffective, feeling like failures, and, if possible, utterly destroyed. Satan does everything he can to make missionaries lose their spiritual vitality and freshness. Thus mission agencies in the first instant have the great responsibility of taking missionaries through appropriate pre- field preparations and equipping them to face challenges on the field. At the same time God is our great Encourager.  He encourages missionaries by His Word and presence during their quiet time with Him on the field. Further, the care, support and love provided by their peers and team members on the field (Acts 28:15; 2 Tim. 1:16-18) will be of great help too. Member care for the missionaries on the field must also be seen as very crucial and as an essential responsibility of the field leadership. But when the missionaries are back at home, the leadership and congregation of the supporting church and the sending office share that responsibility. The result will be a healthy and blessed missionary and ministry.

Watson RajaratnamDirector,
SIM Singapore

EAST Summer Block Classes 2011 are open for registration. For more info, please visit the EAST Website.