What’s Your Purpose in Fellowship?
(Report on the Young People’s Fellowship Camp 2009 by Clement Chew)
The Young People’s Fellowship (YPF) Camp is an annual spiritual retreat organised by the YPF to strengthen the faith of the young people in the congregation. It also serves as an avenue for the young people to have fellowship with one another so that they may provoke one another unto love and to good works (Heb 10:24-25).
This year’s YPF camp was held in Calvary Tengah Bible-Presbyterian Church and attracted a total of 31 participants. The theme of the camp was “What’s Your Purpose in Fellowship?” based on Hebrews 10:24-25—“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” The speaker for the theme messages was Rev Tan Kian Sing from Berean Bible-Presbyterian Church.
During the theme messages, Rev Tan frequently emphasised the need for fellowship and to serve one another from 1 Corinthians 12:1-31. Just as the physical body needs all of its members to function properly, so every member is vital to the body of Christ. The eye cannot say it has no need for the hand, neither can the head say it has no need of the feet. When one member suffers, the whole body of Christ suffers. Hence, no man in the body of Christ is alone, but each one participates in a harmonious fellowship among the saints. Rev Tan also exhorted us to discover our spiritual gifts and to use them fervently to serve one another in love. After every theme message, the campers were divided into groups to deliberate over discussion questions given by the speaker. The sharing within each group was so rich that it often carried on even during mealtimes. It was indeed encouraging to see the youths engaged in conversation over spiritual matters rather than on worldly things.
The night messages were based on the theme “For the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ” taken from Revelation 1. During the night messages, our elder, Dr Jeffrey Khoo, exhorted us to hold fast to the two foundations in the Christian life which are the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ. He talked about how the two foundations came under attack throughout church history, and how we ought to be discerning and earnestly contend for the faith.
In addition to the messages, the campers went evangelising door to door at Choa Chu Kang Central. The campers also took part in objective games where they took home many lessons about Christian living. At the end of the camp, the campers had a Bible Quiz. Through the Bible Quiz, the campers learnt that there was much to be learned from the Bible and how they ought to invest time to study God’s Word (2 Tim 2:5).
This year, we were blessed by three African FEBC students, namely Degu, Ibrahim and Eric. They exhorted us from God’s Word every morning and also participated actively during discussions. Their testimony served as an example for the campers to emulate. The senior members of the YPF were also very encouraged by the younger campers who showed a great desire to learn God’s Word. Truly they were like new born babes desiring the sincere milk of the Word of God (1 Pet 2:2).
For further details concerning the YPF camp, please visit our website at http://sites.google.com/site/ypfcamp2009/home. You will be able to download the messages as well as view the photos of the various activities held during the camp. We have also attached extracts of testimonies of some of the campers below.
Please continue to pray for the YPF that we will continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18). Amen.
Testimonies
“I thank God for being able to take time off from my work to attend the YPF camp. It was a great time to catch up with brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank God especially for the opportunity to make some new friends. The messages on the theme of Christian Fellowship reminded me of how important it is for Christians to have fellowship with one another, and how we ought to serve others with our gifts. The objective games were especially fruitful because they were a very
blunt reminder to me of how easy it is to forget about being a good testimony once we are caught up in doing other things. I was also very touched by the testimonies of the FEBC students during dorm devotion when we shared our thoughts and experiences based on Luke 9:23. Most of all, I’m reminded by the Lord how I ought to be always sharing the gospel, whether with my friends, my students, or during evangelism sessions with the church.” – Desmond
“I truly thank the Lord for enabling me to attend this year’s YPF camp. It had been a time of much spiritual refreshment. I thank God for Rev Tan Kian Sing, whose dedication to the Lord was manifested in the detailed outlines of his messages and thoughtful discussion questions for each message. Rev Tan also gave us very helpful pointers before we set off for our evangelism session, and lived out his messages on fellowship when he drove a group of us in his church van to the place of our evangelism. I also thank God for the wonderful daily discussion sessions after the messages, where we shared and bore one another’s mutual burdens, and exhorted and encouraged one another in the Lord. I had indeed been much blessed and also learnt much through these sessions. The greatest joy for me in this camp was seeing the younger ones truly growing in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18). All praise and glory be to God!” – Joycelyn
“Through the messages, the most striking lesson that I learnt is that the Lord gives us the grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ (Eph 4:7). Many times, I only remember that God is the giver of gifts, but forget that just as He is gracious to give us a gift, He will definitely give us the grace to help us use the gift in our service to Him. Thus, I am greatly encouraged that the Lord will definitely help me to fulfil my purpose in fellowship so that I will be able to serve to the best of my ability and do not need to be afraid of being inadequate to serve Him. All that is required of me is faithfulness. May the Lord help me to serve Him faithfully, remembering the grace of God sustains me in using my spiritual gift for Him. Another lesson learnt is that the gifts that we have are to be used for the glory of God and the edification of the brethren. Normally, we just say that our gifts are for the glory of God and forget that it is also for the edification of the church. Thus, we must always be mindful of the purpose of spiritual gifts and where we must exercise our gifts in.” – Candice
“During the camp, I observed that the theme and night speakers were very willing to minister to a small group of people of very young age. This is hard to find in my country where there are many ‘theologians’ who despise ministering to small groups of people and the youth. The speakers truly followed the example of Paul in Romans 11:13 and 15:31. The young people were also eager to learn God’s Word, asking many theological questions during discussions. These experiences will help me greatly in my future ministry.” – Degu
“I am very happy to testify of the blessings which I received from the YPF Camp. I am so thankful to God for the organisation of the whole camp; everything was very well organised and every activity was directed by a responsible person. The handbook which contained the theme of the Camp, the summary of the lessons and the timetable was well arranged and respected. The camp committee was well organised with everyone knowing and performing his/her work well. I was also impressed by the young brothers and sisters for their diligence, love and great desire to learn the Word of God. Everybody was joyous and happily participated in all the activities in fellowship. I really thank God for I have learnt many things from the YPF Camp.” – Eric
“Praise God for the opportunity given to me to attend True Life’s youth camp each year. The God-honouring fellowship and Christ-centred messages of Reverend Khoo and Pastor Tan have truly been refreshing to my spiritual walk. In addition to that, praise God for the dedication of the camp committee to the overall success of the event, including providing sufficient food (in many cases, more than sufficient) and entertaining games that involved Christian-based lessons. Even as the theme message is on Christian unity, it is my prayer for all those who attended to treasure the common love we share in Jesus, and to continually grow in His grace and wisdom together. Once again, thank God!” – Ben Lim
“Thank the Lord for the privilege of hearing the Word of God being preached. We learnt many truths about taking care of and fellowshipping with our brethren as well as being separate from the world. I pray that we can apply these principles in our Christian conduct. Be not hearers but doers of the word. We thank God for the opportunity to evangelise, going from door to door giving people tracts and telling people about the gospel. Evangelism needs to be approached with reverence and godly fear. The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. I also think it is important to make mention of our experience in the prayer meeting we attended on Friday. We could hear the brethren pray fervently together and we know that our Father in heaven hears our prayers when two or three are gathered in Jesus’ name. As for the incident during testimony time, I learnt that everything we do in life including what we say should be done unto God and not unto men.When we have that in mind, what we say do or think will reflect God’s presence in our lives.” – Daniel Lim.
