At the last Emerge service in October, the young people of City Harvest Church were treated to a drama production and a message that reminded them that God is here to take away their shame and restore their dreams.
Emerge ended its year with a bang on 22 October. At the final Emerge service of 2023, the youth movement of City Harvest Church welcomed its newest members with a graduation party. At this momentous event, Primary Six students transitioned from HarvestKidz to Emerge.
The service opened with exuberant and electrifying praise and worship, with the youths praising Jesus at the mosh pit. It was something that every Emerge youth looked forward to at the bi-monthly Emerge services.
The youths then a drama produced by Loud Camp, entitled “Come As You Are”. The production was first staged at the Emerge youth camp in June. Nygel Goh, 20, felt that the drama segment was significant for the newcomers. “During the Emerge June camp, I watched the drama. Watching it for the second time today was refreshing and it brought back memories of my own camp experience. I’m delighted that it will be the beginning of an amazing journey for all the new friends,” he said.
The drama chronicles the journey of a gifted closeted singer, Bella. Because of the scar on her face caused by an accident when she was young, Bella struggles with self-esteem issues and childhood trauma.
Through participating in a singing competition with a mask on, she manages to find fame without revealing her identity. When her face is revealed through a livestream one day she breaks down in tears. Thankfully, she has a loving grandfather who gives her unwavering support and encouragement. Through his reminder that God made her beautiful, the wounds in her heart heal and she finds the courage to be who God created her to be. Bella’s story reminded the congregation that they can come to God just as they are, revealing their true identity because they are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Coco Lee, 19, and Ebenezer Yu, 20, who acted in the drama, were thankful for the support they received throughout their rehearsals. They remembered all the encouragement they received from their crew mates while they tried to overcome their nervousness.
“Rehearsals with other crew mates were joyful and made me grow closer to God as we reminded each other about God’s presence,” added Ebenezer, who was happy to impact people’s lives through the drama.
GOD WANTS HIS CHILDREN TO BREAK FREE OF SHAME
Kong Hee, the senior pastor of CHC, then took to the stage to preach a message of encouragement to the youth.
He started his message by reading Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Jesus is the “author of our faith”. This means that He is the One who opens the path for His people. Not only that, He is also the finisher, which means that He will be the One who perfects their faith. “Jesus understands what it means to have a vision, to have a dream, to desire a great future. Without a dream, your life has no purpose, no meaning, and no sense of direction,” the pastor said. Quoting Acts 2:17, the pastor encouraged the congregation to have dreams and reminded them that God wants to give them a vision. Before Jesus became the Lord’s Saviour, He had to go through a fight of faith and finish the course of His life. He had to deal with the shame and condemnation that was poured on Him.
Pastor Kong reminded the youths that God has a great plan for them but at the same time, the devil has evil plots to attack their self-esteem every single moment. He shared his own experience at 19 when he first preached in a youth group. When the service was over, a girl told him that it was the worst message that she had ever heard and that she would never visit the church again. Pastor Kong was deeply hurt by the remarks, but as he read the Bible, he learnt that every person God uses must break through the “shame barrier”.
Pastor Kong went on to share about the heroes of faith such as Joseph, Abraham, Moses, David and Peter. But they all managed to break through their shame barriers and go on to do great things for God. He encouraged the youths that in Christ “all things have become new” (2 Cor 5:17).
There are three types of shame barriers that God wants His children to break free from: inherited, imposed, and actual shame. Because all mankind is born with a sinful nature (Ps 51:5), they have inherited sin. However, Jesus took the shame and nailed it to the cross. Imposed shame is something someone else imposes on a person—it could be an immorality in the family or abuse.
He shared about a girl, Jane (not her real name), who first went through physical abuse by her guardian, and then was sexually abused by another relative. This man would treat her nicely after abusing her at times but beat her up at other times. She was puzzled by the man’s actions and thought that to get out of getting beaten, she had to have sex with the man. She felt ashamed of her body and became very angry. She joined a gang and began to fail in school. To help her get out of her sadness, her aunty brought her to visit a witch doctor. Instead of aiding her pain, the witch doctor witch burned her with incense and molested her. Jane went into multiple traumatic flashbacks and had suicidal thoughts.
During that period, she was reminded of a friend who once brought her to CHC and she relived the presence of God she felt. She prayed to God and sought out a cell group leader for help. Soon after, she received a diagnosis of severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and went for counselling. One weekend service, she decided to forgive all who had hurt her and she received tremendous spiritual healing. Jesus set her free fully and all the negative flashbacks stopped.
She eventually started serving in HarvestKids and became a cell group leader. From being a perennial failure in exams to graduating with a degree, Jane eventually became a top student in Singapore.
Finally, actual shame is brought about by the bad things that one has done. When these three types of shame are piled up, it is easy for a person to collapse. “The good news is that God is our ‘shame buster’: He is the one that breaks through our shame barrier, and He will turn every negative into a positive,” Pastor Kong encouraged the youth at the end of his message.
He gave an altar call for those who wanted to know Jesus and many youths went to the front and gave their hearts to Jesus.
After the sermon, the youths continued their party with a games segment, “How well do you know Emerge?” led by Jerome Choong, 22, and Kaz Foo, 23. The congregation was eager to participate in the games.
The next game, “Blessing Grab” involved balloons. Played in musical chairs style, participants had to grab onto balloons in order to stay in the game. Colourful balloons were released in the hall for the fast and attentive grabbers to receive a prize.
The Emerge service ended with a time of food and fellowship as beautiful live music played from the stage. Waves of laughter from the youths catching up with one another while enjoying their food sounded out across the room.
Clarice Lim, 18, who sang gracefully alongside guitarist Xavier Thong, 13, was relieved that their hard work had paid off. “My favourite moment from today’s service was praise and worship, where I could jump and express myself freely. The atmosphere was joyful together with the youths’ energy.”
The next Emerge service will be held on 18 Feb 2024. For latest updates, follow Emerge @chcemerge on Instagram.
