The young people in City Harvest Church and the School Of Theology make missions a part of their lives.
Contributed By Reuel Eugene Tay
In mission trips, young people get the opportunity to preach the Word of God. PHOTO COURTESY OF SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY.
Missions are an integral part of City Harvest Church. The church sends out a mission team nearly every week each year. This year alone, over 100 mission trips have been organized and 491 members have participated in at least one trip.
Some of these individuals are in their teens and early 20s, part of a generation of young people who desire to make a difference beyond the four walls of the church and to influence people beyond Singapore.
The Bible says in 1 Timothy 4:12, “Let no one despise your youth but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” The Word of God is full of accounts of young people who were used by God to make an impact in their generation. From David as a young shepherd who defeated Goliath, to Samuel who answered the call of God as a young child, it is evident that age is no barrier when it comes to serving God and His purposes.
In CHC, the youth that go for such mission trips are given the opportunity to “stretch their wings and fly”: praying for healing of the sick, leading praise and worship at church meetings, doing humanitarian work in villages, preaching or sharing a testimony in front of hundreds. Age is no factor when it comes to participating in an overseas mission trip.
CHC’s missions pastor, Bobby Chaw, understands the importance of getting everyone in the team involved, regardless of a person’s age or experience. He explains, “Going for mission trips is a good opportunity for young people to do things they might not be able to do in the (local) church. Furthermore, when youth are exposed to the needs of people beyond their home church, it opens up their eyes and hearts, and nearly always moves them to want to respond in love and compassion. Jesus Himself saw the multitudes and was moved with compassion. Then He healed them.”
Chaw firmly believes that going for missions will help one to change his or her perspective about life and what they can do for others. “Every Christian needs to be less inward-looking and more outward-looking because the world is bigger than us,” he notes.
The language barrier between the Indonesians and Singaporeans did not deter the misssion team from ministering to the people.
One young person who went on a recent mission trip was Zachary Ho Yu Xian, 20, a student. Ho went to Malang Indonesia from June 24 to 27 with five other church members to minister at a church called GBI Dampit. During the trip, he was asked to serve as a back-up vocalist, share his testimony and preach in front of about 100 people—his first time doing all three. He recalls, “I was really nervous at the start of the preaching [but I] committed the whole meeting to God. The Holy Spirit then began to move in me and gave me the right words to say to the congregation.” The people were so moved by the Word, when Ho and his co-workers began to pray for them, many of them started to cry as they felt the love of God.
SOT student Esther Cheng, 19, had a unique experience in the mission field with her Bible school teammates. This group went Jakarta, Indonesia and helped to conduct 19 services. “During one morning service, I remember ministering to a particular lady and felt prompted to pray over a specific area in her life,” Cheng recalls. “Responding to that prompting in my heart, I laid hands on her and spoke into her life. She reacted immediately and was eventually set free from an area of oppression over her life. Through that experience, I began to understand that God can use young people for His purpose, even someone like me, to touch lives in meaningful ways.”
Cheng also shares that despite the language barrier between the Indonesians and Singaporeans, it did not deter the team from ministering to people and seeing lives touched and changed by the power of God, because “it is not by might or by power, but by the Spirit of God,” she says.
Chaw is encouraged by the attitude of the young people who see the importance of obeying the Great Commission and going throughout the world to preach the gospel. “It’s precious,” he says. “It’s good that they see the needs of the people and respond, especially on humanitarian trips that we have organized to (disaster-stricken) Haiti, Sichuan and Japan. It is encouraging to see youth willing to serve God through mission work.”
