Fong Wenwei’s sharing (Youth Group Leader)
I have been in Mt Hermon for as long as I can remember. I have served in the Children and Youth ministry since I was 17 years old. Back in the day (I sound so old here, haha), those aged 17 and above had to get up earlier to attend Sunday School and then transit to the normal service with everyone else.
I thought that it was the easiest ministry to serve in. I didn’t have to sing, I didn’t have to learn an instrument and I didn’t have to meet new people every day. Little kids are adorable and generally easier to get along with than adults. This is still true to me; I work with youths every day at my work as a social worker serving the youth population.
Many of our youths are subject to the rapid proliferation of online content. If I were to be in their world now, I would be so bombarded with information that I would feel fatigue from it.
Even though content fatigue is very real, I can see how God has helped us to carry our youths through the hard times, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic when we had to resort to meeting on Zoom for Sunday School. It was not easy as many of our youths still value social interaction with one another.
It was fun improvising how we could do Sunday School in person without the restrictions that were in place during the pandemic. When some restrictions were removed, we were able to meet in the park for a picnic while meeting another group through Zoom. I learnt a lot from the youths in such a short amount of time, and saw their strength in those tough times when they attend school lessons online and met all their new schoolmates through screens.
I have met so many youths in my line of work and my time serving in the youth ministry, I think I learnt from the youths. It is a constant reminder that we are all on equal footing with God and we are not any better than anyone else because of how old we are.
I would like to introduce you to one of the youths who has inspired me with her faith in God: Ruby!
Ruby Lee’s sharing (Youth)
In our current age, with the prevalence of temptations and the normalisation of sins like the acceptance of LGBTQ+, the promotion of "non-traditional" families such as during the recent Pink Dot which was themed around redefining what family meant, I am grateful to grow up in the church. Hermon's Youth Ministry provides me with guidance on how to live a godly life, and a community to keep me in check and allow me to form healthy Christian relationships.
Through talks and Sunday classes, I learn what is right and wrong in the sight of God.
During weekly youth lessons, we go through the reflection questions, which helps to deepen my understanding of the sermon and scripture. Additionally, we go through selected bible passages to build a strong biblical foundation for our faith in Christ. Currently, we are doing the book of John, which delves into how Jesus is the Son of God, why we should believe in Him and how the lessons learnt then are still relevant and can be applied to our lives now as His children, the ones He gave His life for.
Although the youth group is small, it is a tight-knit community in which I can hang out with Christians my age, share our woes in life and grow together via the many activities hosted by the youth or for the youth such as pizza making, hiking and, most recently, prawning. These activities give me an avenue to try new things. For instance, I had never gone prawning before last week, and I learnt that it is not really my cup of tea. The worms are all squirmy and the prawns are all slippery and aggressive! The activities also give us an opportunity to open our homes and share our interests, like when I shared my love of baking through making pizzas with the youths.
To me, the youth group is much more than merely learning about God's word. It is also about fellowshipping with others, bonding as children of Christ and living out His word each day.