Buddhism, Taoism, Hindu, Islam.

We're surrounded by many religions aren't we? Especially in Asia, with our culture, upbringing and influences, it's no wonder it's hard to share the gospel with people around us.


Today at YF we learnt what the word Animism is. It's basically the term given to any religion that has many gods or doesn't believe in a ONE true God. The belief that spirits are around us and embody things such as trees, kitchens or maybe even portable P.A. speakers! It's funny to think how we can easily separate them in our minds now and say we're Christians and not animistic in any sense. However, Elder Vincent Lee, our speaker for the day, showed us with examples how Animism has crept into our lives without us even knowing it. Take for example, he quoted an example of how when he picked up money from the floor, he had to bring the money symbolically under both his legs before he could keep it. It was meant to ward off curses or charms that someone might have put on the coin. Or how when we choose handphone numbers or car numbers, to always look out for the number '8' in it for auspicious value. Such is society now and it's hard for us Christians to be wary of such practices if we're not careful enough.

Animism isn't just a chinese or asian 'religion' but it is also apparent and evident in Western countries. The example of Nancy Reagan [Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's wife] was brought forward as she was an avid and die-hard chaser of the stars. She consulted Astrologers and Star-Gazers when an assassination attempt on her husband was 'predicted' by the soothsayers. Or the example of Shirlet MacLaine who firmly believed in re-incarnation and many other doctrines.

However, we were also treated to God's view on such issues by taking a small glance at Colossions and Ephesians which had many insightful quotes about how our battles are not against man but Principalities and Powers.



With such in mind, we were given a sneak peak of what's 'akan datang' [coming soon] in the next session. We'll be touching on topics such as Yoga, Meditation and non-confrontational and impersonal 'religions' that are around us. However, we'll have to wait for part 2 to learn more about such. This first session has not only given us a brief taste of what's around us but has also whetted our appetite for the next session.

posted by Joel / Rui @ 12:24 AM
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u·ni·form /ˈyunəˌfɔrm/ [yoo-nuh-fawrm]

identical or consistent, as from example to example, place to place, or moment to moment: uniform spelling; a uniform building code.

a·ga·pe /ɑˈgɑpeɪ, ˈɑgəˌpeɪ, ˈægə-/ [ah-gah-pey, ah-guh-pey, ag-uh-]
unselfish love of one person for another, brotherly love

BreakOut: Uniform Agape was what went on this week for YF. We learnt that we have ONE FORM of LOVE and that is to God and each other.

The night was filled with fun, laughter and love [in a good sense that is]. The genders each did something special for the other to show their love and appreciation. Practice lasted the whole day but at the end, the girls choreographed a whole dance item for the guys which can be viewed below...



and the guys cooked an extra special dinner for the girls which included appetizers, main course, dessert and drinks. The kitchen was a crazy mess and dinner was made with much much effort put in by the guys. So much slogging away in the kitchen produced a delicious tomato-based pasta which was heavenly. The meat was great and the sauce just enough to compliment the pasta and beef. Dessert was smashing as well, we had those dough-like 'ah-ball-ling' kinda dessert with red bean. A video of the guy's preparing the food can be seen below...



Overall, the night was well spent and although we ended super overtime due to some hitches and glitches in the kitchen... grinz... I'm sure everyone had a blast and enjoyed themselves. we took many many photos which will be uploaded into a picture server [coz there were so many good ones] here. The link to the pictures are at the bottom of this blog post.

Thank God for the wonderful weather and the turn up. We had almost 30 youths serving in one way or the other appreciating each other. It was a wonderful event and many, if not all, went away with happy hearts and fond memories of the evening. We thank the Lord for such a fruitful event and we pray that this won't be a one-time thing but that we remember to appreciate our brothers and sisters in Christ constantly and to remember also that we have ONE FORM of LOVE in Christ Jesus Our Lord.

The Shalom YF wishes one and all a happy friendship day and many blessings to everyone!

Pictures of the event can be found here. Enjoy!
p.s. i still haven't gotten ALL the photos yet so stay tuned, when i add pictures, i'll email you guys again.

posted by Joel / Rui @ 12:17 AM
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Hey Guys!! It's too bad for those who missed the outreach workshop since it was a such great time of learning and sharing.

The event was kicked of with a little game I like to call the "Smoking Game" (think army lingo). Each group had an old copy of Time magazine and were instructed to select and cut any article or advertisement without being told what they had to do with it. Little did they know, that article had to be somehow linked to the gospel message through a question or otherwise. The creativity those present really shone through when they came up with gospel links to issues ranging from the london bus bombings and nuclear fallouts to Hello Kitty accessories. It was pretty impressive how they demonstrated that just about any conversation can be turned the way of the gospel!

The workshop proper included practical tips, some important DOs and DON'Ts and great testimonies from Cherie and Nick, who talked about their experiences with evangelism and their burden for the ministry.


A couple of very useful tools were introduced during the workshop. First of all, the One-Verse Evangelism method, which I personally find really useful because its both interactive and concise. Check out this weblink (http://www.navigators.org/us/resources/illustrations/items/One%20Verse%20Evangelism) to find out more or for those who attended, if I didn't explain it well enough... =p



The second tool was a Campus Crusade tract called What You See Is Not All You Get or WYS in short. This was another interactive tool which was much more detailed and easier to follow. Really useful if you're afraid of missing out anything because its a word for word presentation of the gospel, so not much 'smoking' required.


All in all, the workshop was an interesting experience but its not a one-off event! Hopefully you guys will be stirred to press on for the sake of the gospel and proclaim the message everywhere and anywhere. For those who couldn't make it don't fret! Any method of evangelism will work if God is in it!

For His Glory,
Han

posted by Han @ 12:11 AM
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