nc2012 | conference booklet

25.10.2012 – 27.10.2012 | Thursday – Saturday NC12

Dear NC2012 participants, Instead of writing long sentences that might bore you, I will suggest the ancient Franciscan Benediction as our prayer together throughout this conference May God bless us with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,so that we may seek truth boldly and love deep within our heart. May God bless us with holy anger at injustice, oppression,and exploitation of people, so that we may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among people. May God bless us with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that we may reach out our hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy. May God bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we really can make a difference in this world, so that we are able,with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessings of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator, Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word Who is our Brother and Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with us and remain with us, this day and forevermore.

Amen.

(quoted from Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel, p.292, with the word “you/your” changed to “we/our/us”)

To make it less forgettable and more practical, write your own prayer at any place in this booklet and share it with at least one fellow participant — specifically, contextually, counter-culturally — as to how, as a follower of Christ you can engage in any sphere of your life wherever you are with:

Enough foolishness to believeThat you really can make a difference in this world,So that you are able, with God’s grace,To do what others claim cannot be done.

In His abundant grace,Lisman KomaladiGeneral Secretary

FES NatioNal coNFErENcE 2012GEt rEal. GEt out.‘compaSS’ coNFErENcE BooklEt

WElcomE WordS From NatioNal coNFErENcE 2012 chairpErSoN–With a grateful heart, I wish to welcome all of you to the 2012 FES Singapore National Conference. To all students and staff workers from different countries and different campuses, thank you for choosing to attend and join us. Each of you is given by God for the planning committee to host and take care of and we are very excited to meet every one of you. In this conference, you will meet brothers and sisters from different cultures, language groups and backgrounds. It is my hope that every one of us can step out of our comfort zones to open

our hearts in sharing and fellowship. We are all children of God, with our own experiences with God and have encountered challenges in our service to God and so may we allow God to encourage, motivate us with the sharing of others. May we become a family on the basis of our common identity in Christ. Let not seemingly unbreakable language barriers stop us, let not differences in our ministry emphasis separate us. Let us not give up being a family, being one body of witnesses, to be salt and light for God together.

以感恩的心欢迎大家来到新加坡学生福音团契2012年全国会议。对于来自不同国家，学府的学生与干事们，谢谢你们前来参加。你们每一位都是上帝所赐予这个筹委会来迎接，照顾的而我们也很兴奋地想与你们每一位见面。这个会议有来自各种不同文化，语言，背景的弟兄姐妹，因此希望大家能踏出自己的舒适区，敞开心怀地分享，团

契。大家都是神的孩子，都有自己与神的经历，都有为神侍奉而面对艰难的经验。让上帝透过其他人的分享来鼓励你，激励你。让我们因为都是属耶稣的身份而能成为一家人。不管语言文化的障碍有多难克服，不管在侍奉的理念与主旨有多不同，让我们不放弃成为一家人，成为一个合一的见证，一起为主做盐做光。

Dengan hati bersyukur, saya ingin menyambut kalian semua di FES Singapore National Conference 2012. Kepada para mahasiswa dan staff dari berbagai negara dan kampus, terima kasih untuk menyempatkan diri untuk datang dan bergabung bersama kami. Setiap dari kalian Tuhan telah percayakan kepada kami dan sebagai panitia kami dengan sukacita menyambut kalian. Di dalam konferensi ini, kita semua akan bertemu dengan saudara-saudari dari berbagai budaya, bahasa dan latar belakang. Harapan saya adalah supaya setiap dari kita bisa keluar dari zona nyaman kita dan mau membuka hati untuk berbagi dan bersekutu bersama. Kita semua adalah anak-anak

Tuhan, dengan pengalaman hidup bersama Tuhan dan tantangan yang berbeda-beda dalam melayani Tuhan. Oleh karena itu, marilah kita membiarkan Tuhan menguatkan kita melalui cerita dan kesaksian satu sama lain. Biarlah kita semua bisa menjadi satu keluarga dalam identitas kita bersama di dalam Kristus. Jangan biarkan hambatan bahasa menghentikan kita ataupun perbedaan penekanan dalam pelayanan menjadi penghalang yang memisahkan kita. Janganlah kita menyerah dalam membangun kesatuan sebagai satu keluarga, menjadi satu saksi, bersama sebagai garam dan terang bagi Tuhan.

Co-laboring in Christ,Caleb Chin Jia LeChairperson | FES NC 2012

WElcomE WordS From FES GENEral SEcrEtary –

25.10.2012 – 27.10.2012 | Thursday – Saturday NC12 02

art EXhiBitioN – “thE chriStiaN homE”–Welcome to the home of the Ang family! Over the next few days, you are invited to explore their home at Apartment 3-05. We hope that you can get to know each of the family members better – they are very unique individuals, with very real struggles that you might be able to identify with. If you pop by during the Siestas, you might get to chat with Mrs Ang, who enjoys company during her teatime. Feel free to enter the rooms, but do look and listen carefully – sometimes things are not what they appear to be on the surface. This exhibition seeks to be honest about the darkness that lies within all of us, and believes that we need to grapple with these blindspots as a community, so that we can begin to love our neighbors in vulnerability and with courage.

P.S. Being the dynamic creatures that we are, things do not stay the same; so do remember to pop by 3-05 everyday!

“ . . . look and l isten carefully . . . things are not what they appear to be on the surface.”

Room 3-05 Index:1-The Living Room2-The Tent

3-The Desk4-The Bedroom

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4

3

uNdErStaNdiNG thE coNFErENcE thEmE–Get Real. Get Out is about getting real with our identities as Christians and getting real in our faith. It is also about getting out of comfort zones and being willing to journey to where God has called us on campus and in society. Finally it is about you and me, all of us in FES Singapore, and how we bring glory to God as his people. As we reflect on each of these ideas, let God guide our hearts and minds that we may know Him and serve Him each day!

Identity: As a Singaporean NTU-CFer of the English section, there are various identities that I need to grapple with. That of being a Singapore citizen, being a Christian, being a student of NTU, and in the English section of NTU-Christian Fellowship. There is always a tension in deciding how far can we emphasise that an identity is unique while at the same time, not being exclusive. As I continue to discover a more holistic understanding of being a Christian Singaporean in NTU; its uniqueness and responsibilities, I hope to invite all of us to identify the identities we have and how we should embrace all that they entail. Journey: Some of us have embarked on a longer journey to be here in National Conference. This is in terms of the actual mileage travelled to arrive in Singapore, as well as the duration that we have spent with the FES Singapore family. Some of us came by a 7-hr plane journey, some of us came by a 7-minute cab ride. Some of us are in our first semester, some of us ended our last one sometime ago. Yet no matter how different the journey had been, we are all gathered here at National Conference and God has a message for us. It may be a message for each of us individually but also as a community in Christ. It may be to refresh us and may also be to provide directions for us to move ahead. We may not be gathered for long, but we know that the conference is not an end to itself but that after being refreshed and given directions, we have the momentum to move ahead. Fellowship: “...Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelations 21:3-4

At this conference, we hope that all of us can have a better understanding of God’s word together as a community. Listening to theme talks, testimonies sharing and discussing in small groups, may we learn more through the perspectives of others from different contexts. But more than just learning, this conference is a celebration of all of us as a people of God, a people of His kingdom and the living hope that we share. May we spend time to talk to people from different campus, language sections and nationalities and may close bonds be formed, bonds that are long lasting.

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NotES & ScriBBlES–


campuS/cF mEEtiNG + Small Group mEEtiNG–Campus meeting will be held at the last day before closing ceremony at worship centre, dining hall and basement. If there are any changes in location it will be announced during the camp.

Small group meeting will be held at the end of day 1 and 2. For convenience, the location for small group meeting is preassigned as below. However, each small group can decide to meet somewhere else comfortable.

Groups 1-13Worship Centre (Auditorium)

Groups 14-20Dining Hall

Groups 21-25Basement

NUS VCF, NUS CVCF, NUS ISCFNTU ECF, NTU CCF, NTU ISCFSIM SCF, SIM ISCF

Worship Centre (Auditorium)

JCUCF, ICF, Poly Chinese Work,TP SCF, NPCF, SPCF Dining Hall

Korean delegatesThailand delegates Basement

coNtact dEtailS (front desk and emergency)–

ac c ommodat ion issues and G eneral enquir iesI r ene (84816802) or Jer emiah (93691604)

l ogi s t i cs enquir iesNic olas (93572672) or Amos (9 1909643)

conf er ence fee payment and r egistrat ionTan D iwei (9 1 195026) , Ya L in (92726692) , or E dwin (83513440)

In case of any emergency, please look for your small group leaders or contact any committee or staff immediately.

FES Nc2012Organising Committee–PositionNameCF/FES–ChairpersonCaleb ChinNTUCF–Vice-ChairpersonAmitha PagoluNUS VCF–SecretaryEdwin HutomoNUS ISCF–Treasurer Tan DiweiNUS VCF

Tian Ya LinNTUCF–Programmes Zeng HanyiNUS VCF

Janet TingNTU CCF

Yap Shir NeeNUS CVCF

Mary-Ruth LowNUS VCF

Manoel ManuputtyNUS ISCF–Art ExhibitionLau Bee JuanNUS VCF

Goh DaolinNUS VCF

Tse Hao GuangNUS VCF–Accommodation Jeremiah ChanSIM SCF

Irene SaksonoNUS ISCF

Evelyn GiovanniSIM ISCF

Devina WongsoNUS ISCF–Publicity and Media Lin WeiNTUCF

Arthur KengNP SCF

Justin ChanTP SCF–Logistics Nicolas KevinNUS ISCF

Precious WochaICF

Adithya ManggalaputraNTU ISCF

Amos Yu ChengNP CF

Joshua HendinataNTU ISCF–Staffworkers Reuben AngFES ASW

Adrian NugrohoFES SW

Yvonne ChooFES AGS

Lisman KomaladiFES GS–

GENEraliNFormatioN– Room KeyThere is only one key for every apartment/room. These keys will be kept by the respective room leader. For convenience and safety purposes, it is recommended that participants take all their valuables with them and leave the room doors open during the sessions, in case someone needs to enter the room but the room leader cannot be found. At the end, however, the system is left to be decided by the respective room leader for everyone’s convenience.

If the key is lost, an admin fee of $75 will have to be paid. The replacement cost is to be shared equally among all participants staying in the room. RoomsDo treat the rooms like your own home. This includes the responsibility to keep the rooms clean. Swapping of rooms is not allowed. Quiet HoursAs there are other residents staying in Salvation Army, please do keep your noise level down, especially at night, after 11PM. WaterIt is safe to drink tap water in Singapore. There are water cooler stations on each floor of Salvation Army.

MealsThere will be one dining hall for all meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner). It is on the 2nd floor (next to William Booth Chapel). As there are more participants than seats in the dining hall, please do keep to the assigned timing (there will be two 45-minute slots for lunch/dinner) to get and eat your food quickly so that others will have a chance to eat too. Please also make sure to maintain the cleanliness of the dining hall at all times. Leaving CampFor your safety, and to encourage full attendance for the conference, please do not leave the conference venue at any time. If you do need to leave camp/have already stated you will need to leave camp, please notify your group leaders. The front gate of Salvation Army will be closed at 10pm every day. Please seek assistance from the guard house if you are leaving or coming to Salvation Army later than 10pm. Information DeskThe information desk will either be at the back of the Worship Centre (Lv. 1) or near the book stall (if there is no activity going on at the Worship Centre). Lost and FoundParticipants are to be responsible for their own belongings. The committee will not be held responsible if any belongings are lost. However, if you do find any items, kindly pass it to the lost and found station at the Information Desk.

Medical AttentionIf you need medical assistance, please approach the Information Desk. Alternatively you can call any of the Emergency contacts given below.

AnnouncementRequests for announcements should be submitted in advance, as early as possible, to the Information Desk.

Conference PhotoThe group photo session will be after Theme Talk 3 and before lunch. Do prepare your best faces for it! OfferingAn offering collection will be held during the closing ceremony on the last day. The offering collected will be used to cover any conference deficits. Any extra funds will be channelled to the FES Singapore General Fund. Souvenirs and Book StallsThere will be a stall selling books related to the conference-theme, t-shirt and badges at the entrance of Salvation Army, Level 1 (near the lift). Please do come down, take a look, and get something! (It’s all amazing, we promise)


dEvotioNS For day #2–Daniel 1:8-16, 3:1-30 and 6:1-29Sometimes it is difficult to remember that we are living in a fallen world, with the exuberance and celebrations going on around us that tell us otherwise. We do live in a fallen world. The book of Daniel provides us with a very useful and important paradigm for Christian living today. There are some Christians who think that the world is getting better and better but it is not.

There are many models of living in this fallen world. The book of Daniel provides us with a good model of living in this fallen world - the model of exile. As God’s people, we are living in exile in a foreign land. The apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, saying that there are different kinds of citizenships but we must remember that we are citizens of heaven. We are citizens of a different kingdom. We are followers of the eternal king living in the midst of worldly kingdoms. We are ambassadors of our Lord Jesus Christ; we are representatives of the king of kings in a world that is fallen, in a world that is often hostile to the kingdom. We must live our lives faithful to our calling.

This idea of exile is a very important model for us to remember. Living in exile, Daniel did not get into a “holy huddle” but rather he sought to live life faithfully as a follower of the living God. In so doing, God used him effectively. God raised him up to be of princely service in a fallen kingdom. Daniel lived his days in the light of his vision of the tomorrows. To be in exile does not mean that we resign to the world and we huddle together and wait for the Lord’s return. To be an exile is to walk the streets, the byways and the highways of this land so that God’s purposes can be fulfilled and to be involved in this world and yet not be affected by it. This seems to be our modern challenge as Christians and in this respect, I want to share with you three questions that we find Daniel and his men asking, three very critical questions that we also need to ask in our day and in our age.

What do we value? Daniel 1:8-16 — Daniel and his three friends were brought into exile in Babylon. They were put through training in the administrative service in Babylon. They were destined for high service in Babylon. However, they did not allow the surroundings to change their identity. They may have been forced to changed their names but their identity remained intact. They were offered royal food and wine but they refused lest they be defiled (v8). Daniel and his friends had a problem because they remembered that they were worshippers of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, who made a covenant with them when He chose Moses and gave His laws to His people. His laws state that they are not to eat certain kinds of food. Therefore, these men ate vegetables and drank water to remain faithful to God’s laws. They ended up with a vegetarian diet. The point is not in being vegetarian but the point is in remembering our identity and following God’s laws very strictly, trusting Him to bless us in our obedience to Him. So we find here that there is a great demonstration of what our Lord Jesus Chris says – that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4, John 4:32-34). So here we have a great demonstration of the kind of questions we need to ask ourselves. What do we value? We want to value what God gives us, not what the world gives. We need to also ask ourselves what sort of food we are feeding on. We live in a world where we have a lot of diets (intellectual, moral, spiritual). They say “rubbish in, rubbish out”. A lot of stuff is floating around that threatens to squander away the precious things that God has given us and threatens to change our value systems. The advertising world creates new values and sometimes it distorts good values. That is the reality. Some people say that the Nike advertisement “Just do it” is a good statement and that Christians should learn from it. My problem is that it introduces a certain way of functioning and thinking that it lodges itself in our operating system, in our daily lives, so that Satan can use it to make us fall. So church members daily say “just do it, just do it” and then on Sunday, we spend half an hour preaching “don’t do it, don’t do it”. This is a big struggle to ask people to transform their thinking. The other advertisement is the Sprite advert, which says: “Obey your thirst”. What sort of ideology comes into our minds? And then on Sunday the sermon says “deny your self”. So obey your thirst or deny yourself? And this is often the kind of struggle that takes place in our minds and in our hearts.

What kind of diet are we taking in? One thing that we struggle with is materialism. Materialism is something that we all struggle with which brings with it competitiveness and consumerism. We are living in perhaps the most consumerist of all civilizations and societies. We are surrounded by consumer ideology and it is very difficult for us to walk through the department stores and the marketplace without becoming a consumer, like all the others. We need to prepare for the day, like Daniel and his friends, when though we walk through all the streets, marketplaces and hallways of this world, we can remain faithful to God, not ending up as consumers but ending up as disciples of Jesus Christ, who deny themselves, take up the cross and follow Jesus. Many years ago, I was teaching in a church camp in Desaru. During on of the evening breaks while sitting at the balcony of a chalet, I noticed a group of monkeys coming to the campsite at 5 pm. Everyday, they would come to the campsite very punctually at 5 pm. I noticed that their path through the campsite was marked by the garbage bins along the route. As I was thinking of this scene, I heard a voice saying to me: “Human beings laugh at the monkeys, the journeys of human beings on earth are also marked by garbage bins.” Many people’s lives in the modern world today would simple be described as a journey from one garbage bin to another. The apostle Paul said about all the things, that were important to him when he became a Christian, they became rubbish to him compared to the excellency of knowing Christ. As Christians living and working in the marketplace, we need to be careful on how we make good decisions. I read an article from the Readers’ Digest (December 2007 issue) listing “10 Ways to Make Better Decisions”. It spells out how people make decisions. I will mention two of them:

1. Good Enough Choices The marketplace is flush with a number of choices that is beyond imagination. The marketplace is full of consumer choices. The article mentions that there are two types of decision-makers. One group is the maximisers and the other satisficers. The maximisers are trying to find the best option or deal available. They will check out 1000 outlets for the best price. The opposite is the satisficers. It comes from two words “satisfy” and “suffice”. The satisficers are happy when finding something that can meet their needs. As I reflected on this, I thought about how we Christians spend our life, wasting our lifetime on consumer choices that have no eternal value. It does not ultimately matter

what type of handphones we use, whether we subscribe to Singtel, Starhub or M1 or what type of car we drive. In the scheme of eternity, it does not matter. What matters most is how we have lived our lives to glorify God. In a marketplace of consumer questions and choices, we have to make our decisions clearly and figure out what are the most important questions and what are the most important choices that we need to make in our lives. As Christians living in a fallen consumer world, we must refuse to waste away our lifetime with unimportant and eternally insignificant consumer choices so that we can have more time for those things that really matter.

2. Framing Effect Our choices are affected by the way alternatives are presented. People prefer “90 per cent fat free” than “10 per cent fat”. It is psychology, consumer psychology. It is actually the same. We prefer gains rather than losses. In one experiment, researchers made students buy a $100 weekend ski trip. Then they made the students buy a similar weekend trip at $50 but at a better ski resort. Then, they told them that is on the same weekend and they had to drop one of the deals. Guess which one, the students preferred to drop? Yes, the $50 trip even though it was a better resort. They preferred to give up the better resort rather than to lose the $100. The point is that we find it difficult to let go of what we have invested, especially the greater cost. If you think about it, what are the implications for Christian discipleship? When we preach the message that we must give up, we must sacrifice, that when we meet Jesus, we must give up those things that we are grasping in our hands, that we must deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow Him, why do you think it is difficult for Christians to do that? Because we have been reminded by Satan of how much we have invested in these false securities and false futures that this marketplace has given to us. The more I think about it, the more I realize that this is a psychology that Satan uses to prevent Christians from giving up what they cannot keep to gain what they cannot lose. Something that perhaps, Christians living in the fallen world need to think about.

What or Who Do We Worship? Daniel 3:1-30 — King Nebuchadnezzar built a golden image of himself, which was 90 feet tall, 9 feet wide, and he instructed


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the people to bow down and worship the image. The thing that I want to highlight is the “conditioning”. In chapter 3:5 “as soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the image of gold…”, note the musical accompaniment to the conditioning that is taking place, just like the musical jingles in advertisements. This is repeated in v 7, 10 and 15. It will be good to read chapter 3 aloud and you will begin to realise what is happening. You know the Pavlovian experiment. The famous Russian psychologist Pavlov did an experiment with some dogs. He noted that the sight of food made the dogs in his experiment salivate. He rang bells when he called the dogs to their food. Later, when he simply rang the bells without showing the food, the dogs salivated. The dogs had associated the sound of the bells with the food and were conditioned to produce the reflexes associated with the food, just by hearing the bells. This is called conditioning. A lot of our modern fallen world is really a collection of conditioned reflexes. We are subjected daily to conditioning processes that make us behave in a certain way. When we the word “SALE”, we are conditioned to join the queue. We are conditioned to join every queue and then ask the question: “Excuse me, what is this queue all about?” There is a lot of social conditioning going on in this fallen world. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego refused to follow this conditioning. Every time they heard the music, while others would fall down and worship the golden image, they did not fall down and worship the image. They marched to a different tune. They followed a different God and so refused to be conditioned.

In Daniel 3, we find another phrase that is repeated frequently (v 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 26, 28, 29, 30). The names of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego are repeated frequently. “Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego” is a counter-phrase to the one that had to do with idolatry. Every time it repeated, it brings a sense of nobility and faithfulness. But is it also some form of conditioning? I do not think so. Conditioning turns us into human machines that produced certain kinds of behavior. But the phrase “Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego” does not condition us, instead it reminds us of a great cloud of faithful witnesses (Hebrews 12:2). It traditions us and roots us in a story of godly faithfulness and holiness that refuses to bow before any other god except the one who made and redeemed us. It inspires us to forego instant gratification, and even suffer pain and deprivation, for the sake of our relationship with God.

Conditioning makes us live a life of conditioned reflexes. People caught in this conditioned life have nothing but animal reflexes in their daily lives. The reflexes are dressed up as free choices but they are not. On the other hand, we can live freely when the truth makes us free (John 8:32) and the Spirit leads us, so that we do not live by reflexes but by daily choices based on responses to God’s divine love and grace. One manipulates behavior, the other forms character. Conditioned reflexes or loving choices? One must decide how to live.

How Do We Pray? Daniel 6:1-29 — In Daniel chapter 6, King Darius was tricked to pass a royal decree that if you are praying for the next 30 days, you can only pray to the king. The governors and satraps were jealous of Daniel’s service. He was an upright man with no corruption and no negligence. So they plotted that no one in the kingdom should pray and if they prayed, they should only pray to the king. Daniel could have complied but he did not. He was not an idol worshipper. But he could also have stayed out of trouble by not praying at all for 30 days. Or Daniel could have prayed secretly, like most of us would do, or prayed just before he slept or changed his usual posture when praying. But he did not. Daniel’s spirituality and discipleship were at stake. He guarded them. Daniel did not change the rhythm and pattern of his prayer life. He made sure the rhythm and pattern of his prayer life was untouched by the decrees and laws of the land. In living in a fallen world, we need to march to a different tune. We must make sure that our prayer lives are not affected by trends and whatever is popular in the world that we live in. Unfortunately, our devotional life is one of the first victims today of the speeded-up world that we live in. When we go back to Singapore, we go back to a rut; we end up running around in circles, in frenzy and have very little time in the Holy of Holies. We Christians run around the temple in marathon races and in all kinds of things but we seldom enter the Holy of Holies. And what God wants us to do is to come into the Holy of Holies, to spend time with Him, to gaze at His majesty and to be bathed in His truth and be stirred by His love and to go out in His mission. That is the kind of Christian and disciple the Lord is asking us to be. There are many factors in our society and in the modern marketplace that negate prayer. We are affected by efficiency. God does not think in terms of efficiency. We are affected by the word “speed” but God, who is eternal, is not bothered by slowness or not excited about speed. Many years ago, there was a book written by a Japanese theologian called “Three Miles An Hour God”. You do not have to believe everything he says but the point is that if you want to be with God, you have to walk like God walks. And God walks three miles an hour. If you want to travel at 60 miles an hour, you will leave God behind. In a sense, he is right because in the Bible, whenever men were with God, they walked with God. Enoch walked with God. Very seldom, do you see anyone ran with God. Usually when believers ran, they were running away from God, like Jonah. When you are with God, you are usually walking with God. The only we see God run was when He runs towards us, His prodigal children.It seems to me that God’s usual speed is a very different speed. If we get caught up in the speed of the world without reflection or without resistance, then we will become victims of this speeded-up word and our prayer life will be affected.

Conclusion Let me end with a story from one of Peter Kreeft’s book “Socrates Meets Jesus”. In this imaginary story, Socrates was brought back to our times and became a Christian. He was challenging a New Testament professor in Harvard University over some contents in the Bible. The professor was having a difficult time with Socrates when the bell rang and everyone left hurriedly. However, Socrates was still asking his questions and looking around as everyone left, he said: “I realize that we come from very different societies. In my society where I come from, we value truth more than we value time. I notice that in your society, you value time more than you value truth.” I thought that this was a very clever way of pointing out some of the dangers in our efficient and pragmatic society. We are no longer asking what is truth, we are simply asking what works. We are becoming prisoners of this pragmatic monster. The Bible says we live not by sight but by faith. We are not called to be pragmatic followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be faithful followers of the one who said that He is the truth. This is our challenge as we follow our risen Christ, to grasp Him – the truth, the way and the life.

It is important that we spend time in God’s presence so that God’s perspectives will become ours, so that we walk and negotiate the highways and byways of this modern world with a godly mind and a godly vision. That is what God expects of us and we need to do this right to the end. We have enslaving technologies today that negate prayer. In a sense, we pity people who cannot cut themselves off from technology. The handphones are one distraction in church. People are sending SMSes while worshipping God. Emails can also be a curse. We have no time for reflection, no time for God because we want instant answers to our emails. We must get out of this efficiency mindset. Do not misunderstand me. I think we ought to be very effective in our work and we have to do our job well but this efficiency mindset is a very dangerous thing. It is a marketplace thing and we must be very careful.

“... living in a fallen world, we need to march to a different tune.”

“... we will become victims of this...”


BioGraphiES/thEmEtalk #1

–Kwa Kiem-Kiok–Kwa Kiem-Kiok became a Christian in secondary school and started going to church in Secondary 4. However, it was through her participation in VCF that she grew in her faith. After graduating from NUS, she worked for a couple of years as a lawyer before joining Graduates’ Christian Fellowship as a staff for about 6 years. She has also worked in her home church Trinity Methodist, overseeing discipleship and nurture. Presently she teaches at East Asia School of Theology missions-related subjects such as contextualisation, urban ministry and globalisation; and outside the church she sits on some committees involved in bioethics. She enjoys reading detective novels and listening to classical music and her husband is a Methodist pastor.

Sin Boon Ann–Sin Boon Ann is the Deputy Managing Director of Drew & Napier’s Corporate and Finance Department. He began private practice in 1987. He spent some time in academia as a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, before returning to private practice in 1992 when he joined Drew & Napier. He was a Partner from 1994 to 2001 and became a director upon the corporatization of Drew & Napier. Boon Ann is an independent director in a number of listed companies in Singapore, and was formerly a member of the Company Legislation and Regulatory Framework Committee (“CLRFC”) appointed by the Ministry of Finance, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Monetary Authority of Singapore in December 1999. Boon Ann was a Member of Parliament for Tampines GRC from 1996 to 2011.


–Vinoth Ramachandra–Vinoth Ramachandra is from Sri Lanka, and lives in Colombo with his Danish wife Karin. He currently works as the Secretary for Dialogue and Social Engagement for IFES. He has visited Singapore frequently for ministry with FES and also as an Honorary Fellow of CSCA, Trinity Theological College. His primary ministry passion is to help Christian students and professors bring a Christian sensibility to bear on all the conversations that make up the life of a university. He is the author of six books of which the most recent are Church and Mission in the New Asia (Trinity Theological College, Singapore, 2009) and Subverting Global Myths (IVP Academic-USA and SPCK-UK, 2008). He serves on the Council of Reference of the Micah Network and also of A Rocha, a global biodiversity conservation network. He loves reading, walking and looking at birds and stars. And he blogs occasionally at http://vinothramachandra.wordpress.com

Bishop Dr Robert Solomon–Bishop Dr Robert Solomon is the Bishop of the Methodist Church in Singapore. He had served previously as a medical doctor, pastor of two churches, principal of Trinity Theological College and president of the National Council of Churches of Singapore. Dr Solomon has degrees in medicine, theology, intercultural studies, and a PhD in pastoral theology from the University of Edinburgh. Having authored 15 books and numerous articles to books, theological dictionaries and journals, he sits on the editorial board of Conversations, an international journal on spiritual formation. Bishop Solomon has an active speaking and teaching ministry in many countries. He was a member of the National Steering Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony and has engaged with political, religious and community leaders. He and his wife have three adult children and two grandchildren.


–Gabriel Koh–Gabriel Koh was formerly with VCF (NUS) in his student days: crucial, important years in his growth, understanding and formation of convictions. He has since gone on to serve in Marketplace Christian Network under Graduates Christian Fellowship, helping young graduates transit to the workplace, and also serves in his church cell group, as well as his church’s drama ministry. He enjoys running and swimming because the soul often moves at diverse paces, reading because it is always a delight to arrive at the same conclusion with a fellow sojourner who has been on a thoroughly different journey, and enjoys plonking away at the keyboard because the heart can never find enough words.

Dr Peter Jacobs–Dr Peter Jacobs is a Senior Economist and Deputy Director of Bank Indonesia Representative Office in Singapore. His main tasks are mainly disseminating information to investors and rating agencies in Singapore regarding the Indonesian Economy. He has a masters degree in policy science from Saitama University Japan and a PhD in Law from Padjajaran University, Bandung, Indonesia. He actively speaks to many professionals from various churches and campuses focusing on issues in the market place, particularly in the Government Sector. He is also a board member of Perkantas (Indonesian FES). He and his wife have three children.

Kuik Shiao-Yin–Shiao-Yin is a co-founder and creative director of The Thought Collective - a group of social enterprises that shares the common purpose of building up Singapore’s social and emotional capital. The group offers new possibilities in the way we think, live and serve as a community. School of Thought drives innovation in civic learning to nurture generations of thought leaders. Think Tank curates content and designs information to make meaning in a complex world. Food for Thought transforms community spaces and brings people together to enjoy good food for a good cause. Thinkscape creates experiences that advocate new perspectives on industries, institutions and issues. Common Ground bridges the public and private sector to facilitate social innovation for pressing national concerns.

notes



rEFlEctioN quEStioNS For Small Group diScuSSioNS–Themetalk #1 / ReflectionsWe began National Conference by looking at what is Christian engagement, and exploring the cutting edge of where our faith meets society. Take some time to consider your personal response to what has been shared, using the following questions to help you form an opinion:

What was one new thing you learnt from today’s talk? Do you agree? Why/ Why not? Was the speaker’s argument based on any

assumptions? Do you agree? Why or why not? Think back on your experiences in your own

campus context: what were some instances of Christian engagement you are aware of? Any opportunities for Christian engagement that might have been overlooked or missed? What implications can you see for the church

in society? Or how society views the church? How would this affect our practical Christian living

and witness, as individuals and in a community?

Themetalk #2 / Reflections Share and discuss one observation or thought

that left the deepest impression upon you. Did you identify any issues which the speaker

raised where the answer is not clear-cut? Did any of the blind spots mentioned by the

speakers resonate with your own experiences - whether in your campus ministry, church or personal life? Discuss the underlying causes or reasons that

might keep us from realising this issue/ make it difficult to address this issue. What is one thing we can do to address this

blindspot?

Themetalk #3 / ReflectionsPair up, preferably with someone in your group who is from a different campus and section.

What principles/values were prominent in the stories shared? Have the sharings on Christian corporate

engagement excited and inspired you to serve Christ in ways you might not have thought of before? Share your own struggles/joys of personal

obedience to follow Christ’s call to be salt and light and engage with the world around you. How did the sharings on corporate response

change/extend your former understanding of what it means to engage as a community? Is there anything you would consider “taking back” to your campus ministry?

EnGauge Sessions / Reflections (day 2 and day 3)Because there are a variety of En-Gauge sessions it maybe better to share in smaller groups of 4 with people who went to different sessions, so you can learn the most from each other. Discuss the following questions:

What did you learn about engagement from your Enquire session? [group members who chose different topics can share.] How did your understanding of “how to engage” progress from the 10-minute Entice session to the 30-minute Enquire session? What were your perceptions on the issue/topic

before and after the Entice & Enquire sessions? Did you manage to identify your blind spots, or did someone point it out? 30 minutes isn’t THAT long. What would you

like to understand better after today? What practical steps can you take to apply

what you’ve understood about engagement?


notes

25.10.2012 – 27.10.2012 | Thursday – Saturday NC12

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SchEdulENC2012–

thursdayRegistristration0500pm

Dinner Time0530pm

Opening Ceremony0700pm

Theme Talk0800pm

Student Council Briefing0900pm

Discussion & Supper Time0915pm

Bath Time – Rest1100pm – 1200mn–

FridayBreakfast Time0800am

Bible Exhortation:“Courage and Compassion”0900am

Worship & Testimony1000am

Theme Talk1030am

Lunch Time1200nn

Siesta0130pm

Student Council Discussion0230pm

Games0330pm

Dinner Time0530pm

Worship & Testimony0700pm

Engauge 1 – Entice0730pm

Engauge 1 – Enquire0900pm

Discussion & Supper Time1000pm

Bath Time – Rest1100pm – 1200mn–

SaturdayBreakfast Time0800am

Bible Exhortation:“Solomon: Faithfulness”0900am

Worship & Testimony1000am

Theme Talk1030am

Conference Photo1200nn

Lunch Time1230pm

Siesta0200pm

Engauge 2 – Entice0300pm

Engauge 2 – Enquire0430pm

Dinner Time0530pm

Student Council Reflection0700pm

Campus Meeting0730pm

Worship & Testimony0830pm

Closing Ceremony0900pm

End Conference0930pm

25 10 20 1 2 27 1 0 2012

nc2012 | conference booklet

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