Church is a place for families, literally, for these three sisters and two cousins.
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| CN PHOTO: Michael Chan |
Thirteen-year-old Foo Yating was first invited by her secondary school mate to attend City Harvest Church in 1992. She in turn invited her two sisters Jasline, 19 and Janet, 15, as well as their cousin Vivien, 19, to church. It wasn’t long before their other cousin, Agnes, 17, joined them.
The cousins all agree that the church has done a lot in helping them grow up into capable young ladies. Each one has grown to become a leader in her own right. Being involved in the various ministries in church has helped them to broaden their horizons, interact with people from all walks of life and learn how to solve problems.
Yating served as an usher for five years, in the Children’s Church for two, and is now leading a cell group while studying in the School of Theology. Jasline, who has served in the bookstore ministry for some eight years, has gone on to leading cell groups. Vivien, who used to be painfully shy and introverted, is now a cell group leader in the Chinese Church. Agnes was an usher for five years, in the choir for two years and now helps out on the other side of the stage in the chorus board ministry.
Having a family growing up in the same church together was a great deal of fun, but it also meant that the girls had to deal with family issues within the church. Take the three sisters, for example, who grew up with their fair share of squabbles. They recall a time during a cell group meeting where they had to pray for forgiveness toward a family member. While others in the cell group simply prayed a prayer to release forgiveness, the girls had to pray and forgive one another face to face, there and then—which they did, with much weeping amidst laughter.
Aside from the occasional family arguments, the sisters and cousins were always close to one another. More importantly, being a family provided strength and emotional support in tough times. The girls recall when Agnes’ dad suffered a stroke, and they all rallied around the stricken family. They shared the gospel to their uncle and aunt, who accepted Christ into their hearts. Three years ago, Agnes’ brother, Darren, gave his heart to Jesus and is now attending CHC.
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| PHOTO COURTESY OF JASLINE FOO |
The girls are all grown up now and though they are nowbusier, they still keep in touch through family gatherings and meet-ups over coffee. Yating, the youngest of the five, is in trade services at a prominent bank, Jasline is working in insurance while Vivien is in customer service. Not only has CHC helped these five girls to grow up, it has also helped some of them start their own families. Janet is a nurse manager. She met her husband in church and now has two children, a girl and a boy. Agnes is a homemaker and mother of a 4-year old girl. She too met her husband of 14 years, a research fellow in National University of Singapore, in church.
