To welcome Primary 6 students who are graduating from Children Church and moving on to join youth cell groups in City Harvest Church, a series of “parties” were held in their honor. One attendee shares her story.
Contributed by Isabelle Tan
CN PHOTOS: Ng Bee Chen.
A party bursting with exuberance and joy–this aptly describes the Primary 6 Graduation Party at CHC in Jurong West! The theme of the party was “Sports” and all the Primary 6 students present, their friends and their cell group members donned on sports attire in anticipation of an action-filled time.
Upon entering the hall, one could not help but notice the brightly colored balloons, streamers and decorations that livened up the party room. We were separated into different groups: blue, green, orange and yellow. The groups were seated at designated areas marked by colored placards.
As a warm-up exercise, we played a game called Sports-lympic Showdown. In this game, each team had to use a different way to compete; my team, the Blue Team, had to “swim” as fast as we could and the other teams had to defend themselves by saying, “gulp gulp gulp, yummy!” This defended them, as without water, we were “unable to swim”. Other defense and attack methods used by the other teams also included the actions of javelin throwing, running and shooting.
The next game we played was Stringzy Frenzy; each team was given a raffia string and we needed to find a list of items that were related to the theme “Sports” and to tie them to the string.
The games sent adrenaline pumping through our veins and got all of us hyped up for the rest of the session–we were all energized to praise and worship God! Soon after, pastor Lim Meng Chin went on stage to share a sermon on the importance of choosing Godly friends and the importance of having a discipler. It is true that the people we choose to be with affect the way we behave and that is why choosing friends of good influences is important. It says in Proverbs 22: 24-25, “Don’t befriend angry people or associate with hot-tempered people, or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul.” This verse not only teaches us to be mindful of hot-tempered people but also of anyone who does not live an upright life or is simply a bad influence.
As many of us Primary 6 students, would be joining cell groups later this year or early next year, a testimony was shared by Karuna Chua, 17, who graduated from Children’s Church five years ago, to help us understand what a youth cell group is like. She shared how her cell group members were very friendly and amicable, and how they would celebrate her birthday every year. She also added that the group’s warm and affable nature helped her integrate smoothly. Upon hearing this, I felt excited about joining my own cell group, W460, the next week.
This party was truly an enjoyable experience. Not only did I get to know my cell group members better, I also made a lot of new friends! I used to think that going to a cell group would be a scary and hostile experience but it is clearly the exact opposite. I will never forget the whale of a time I had at this party, ever.
