BATS ministry

The Daniel 4 slides

2010-12-03T00:29:00.000-08:00

Hi, the Daniel 4 sermon will not uploaded as it is not a powerpoint file. It is created in another presentation platform that allows panning and infinite zooming. This way, a greater level of continuity is achieved as compared to your traditional powerpoint's "one-card-at-a-time" way of presenting. For those interested, you may visit their website at www.prezi.com. And best of all, it's free! Unless you want an upgrade of the free version, then you'll havta pay.

6 June Pastoral Desk Bulletin

2010-08-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

God Holds Us, Parents Accountable

Several years back, I was invited by a church to give a talk to their pool of Sunday school teachers where I shared with them certain principles to take note of in serving as a Sunday school teacher. I remember one of the things I shared with them has to do with dealing with badly behaving students. I got wind that some of the teachers are feeling guilty or ‘blamed’ for not being able to change their student’s horrid behaviour. So I intentionally included two verses in my talk:

Proverbs 28:7 (NKJV) - Whoever keeps the law is a discerning son, But a companion of gluttons shames his father.

Proverbs 29:15 (NKJV) - The rod and rebuke give wisdom, But a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

With these verses, I stated that the Bible assigns blame upon the parents when a child exhibits wayward behaviour. Therefore, if their students are behaving in a rude and unruly manner, the shame is on the parents, not the Sunday school teacher. And I challenge the Sunday school teachers there if they could give me a verse that assigns shame upon the teacher of a student who is known for bad behaviour. My take on their badly behaving students: never take responsibility for your students’ behavior, just take responsibility for their knowledge intake. Of course as teachers we do what we can to promote good behaviour among our students but ultimately, the major contribution to behavioural development is parental upbringing.

Throughout Scriptures, it is clear that God holds parents accountable for their children’s behavior.

1 Samuel 3:13 (NLT) says: “I have warned him [Eli] continually that judgment is coming for his family, because his sons are blaspheming God and he hasn’t disciplined them”.

Eli is a classic example of a parent whom God held accountable for his children’s bad behavior. Even in the New Testament, God is even ready to disqualify people from having a governance role in church unless their children “believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.” – Titus 1:6 (NLT). God does not believe in having ‘public success-private failures’ to govern His people. All these indicate that God takes parenting very very seriously.

I remember a word of wisdom that my pastoral care lecturer told my class in Singapore Bible College once. He says that nobody can really say that he is ready for marriage or kids because no matter how much you try to prepare, it’s all just theory until the rubber meets the road! You’ll just have to grow into the role when the time comes! Having married; having had kids, I couldn’t agree more… we simply fumble our way through one day at a time.

Recently, Ai Cheng, my wife told me about a friend she has who is an excellent, well-respected Chinese language elective teacher who recently learnt that his own son failed Chinese. He admits that he has been dealing with the Chinese language for such long hours in his vocation that he has no heart to coach his son in it when he comes home. I suppose I can identify with his struggles as I myself struggle to do devotion with my son every night before he sleeps. Besides days that I reach home late (where he slept already), often times, I do feel tempted to skip devotional time with him especially when I am super sleepy or when I feel overwhelmed with many chores and things on my mind.

When it comes to parenting, no matter how old your child is, we are all learners. From generation to generation, there are always new research discoveries on parenting tips and that is why it is always helpful to read Christian parenting books or attend Christian parenting seminars from time to time to keep up to speed with the latest developments. On that note, I’d like to recommend ACT’s latest offering: Focus On The Family’s parenting talk. Admittedly, I did not attend it last Sunday as I need to facilitate my DTC class, but Ai Cheng went and couldn’t stop talking about it the minute we reached home. Since Ai Cheng is not somebody who give high marks to Christian talks easily, I would recommend this one to all daddies and mummies on the strength of her testimony. There is still three more sessions, so don’t miss it =)

IMPORTANT NOTICE

2010-02-21T22:17:00.000-08:00

The slides for the Sermon: Why Don't We Evangelize? preached on the 14 & 21 Feb, WILL NOT be uploaded as the views presented there do not reflect the official church position. Sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused.

14 Feb Pastoral Desk Bulletin

2010-02-21T22:13:00.000-08:00

Open Wide the Doors, this CNY!

Colossians 4:2-5 says:
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned;”

In the book of Colossians, Paul asks the church to pray for an open door.
The 2 most persuasive interpretative possibilities are:
1) This is Paul’s way of asking the church to pray that he will be released from prison so as to be able to go out and share the gospel.
2) Paul is not specifically asking for a prison break but is just asking in a general sense that opportunities for gospel sharing will come his way (regardless of whether he is in or out of prison).
I might be wrong, but I think I’ll go for option 2 because of 2 reasons:
1) Even when Paul was out of prison, he still needed doors to be opened for evangelism (1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 2:12).
2) Imprisonment never seemed to deter Paul’s missionary work (Philippians 1:12-13).

Yes today is Chinese New Year (CNY) and most of us are going to meet lots of pre-believing relatives in this season. As God’s redeemed people that have been so blessed by the gospel, how we wish that our kinsmen can too, be blessed by the gospel. Well, one thing we can do is to pray for open doors. Pray that God will orchestrate opportunities for us to share the gospel to them.

2 reasons why I’d like to encourage you to pray such prayers:
1) It’s scriptural (since Paul asked the church to pray it)
2) If this super anointed, miracle-working apostle to the gentiles need to (through prayer) rely on God to provide opportunities for gospel sharing, how much more we!
Don’t let this CNY go by without praying for opportunities. We all desire to share the good news; we just need God to “open up to us a door for the word”.

Ice-Cream Time

2009-12-15T23:02:00.000-08:00

Dead Sea Scrolls Quiz Nite

2009-09-28T02:25:00.000-07:00

Combined Social with Pizzas Galore! (see background)

BATS 3 alias Shadow

2009-08-14T04:52:00.000-07:00

yeah! finally the BATS 3 - Shadow group is up and about! we had a funtastic first meeting playin cranium!

Wonderful Saviour... Camp Theme Song 2009

2009-06-10T23:28:00.000-07:00

Are You Praying in Faith?

2009-05-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

In John 5, the unbelieving Jews were seeking to kill Jesus because Jesus made Himself equal to God by Calling God His Father. And in verse 39 - 44 we find Jesus’ accusation of these unbelieving Jews:

39 “ You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;
>> these unbelieving Jews read the Bible to obtain eternal life, but they don’t realize that the Bible is all about Jesus
40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.
>> even though they seek after eternal life, they won’t get it since they are unwilling to come to Jesus
41 “I do not receive glory from men;
42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.
>> These unbelieving Jews don’t love God at all
43 “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
>> Jesus came, not seeking His own glory, but seeking the Father’s glory and yet, the Jews don’t receive Him which is not surprising since they don’t love God the Father. But, if a cult leader or a false teacher come along seeking his own glory; trying to glorify himself instead of glorifying God the Father; trying to establish his own kingdom rather than build God’s kingdom, these unbelieving Jews will gladly receive such a cult leader.
44 “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?
>> So Jesus ask: how can faith arise in them when all they are concern about is receiving praise and affirmation and approval from each other rather than from God?

Verse 44 is a good verse to meditate on. Jesus ask:how can faith arise when the Glory of God is not on our agenda? I believe one key component of faith is having a mind that is concern for God’s glory.
This has implications on our prayer life: if we are to pray with faith, we need to be concern about God’s glory. In other words, one of the key contributing factor in praying prayers of faith is to pray, being motivated by God’s glory. We pray for things to happen for the purpose that God be glorified.

In our prayer life, there will be many things that will fill our prayer list. So let’s be mindful to be motivated by God’s glory rather than our own glory or our own ministry’s glory or our own church’s glory. We need to see beyond our little kingdom, and be focused on God’s kingdom, God’s glory. If not, our prayers will be stripped of a crucial dimension – the dimension of faith. And one key component of faith is the concern for God’s glory and God’s approval.

So I believe that the person who prays for things to happen because he is concern about God’s glory is the person who is praying prayers of faith! Think about that =D

"Does God EXIST?" Outreach 14 Mar 2009

2009-03-27T00:31:00.000-07:00

Yup, here's Dr John Massey delivering the message :)

Shu Shu leading "whose line izzit anyway?" Hilarious game... we hadda awesome time =)

1 March BCBA Bulletin - Pastoral Desk - C L

2009-03-27T00:28:00.000-07:00

Hearing God’s Voice, Knowing God’s Will

Time and again, this topic of God’s voice/ God’s will have been surfacing in my life. Last year, at the IDMC conference, Rev Edmund Chan talks about doing what’s most ‘efficacious’. But what’s most efficacious actually begins with knowing what exactly God’s will is. So in other words, doing what’s efficacious means doing God’s will no matter how silly that is in the natural. Problem is, discerning God’s will might well be one of the hardest things to determine depending on the complexity of the circumstance.

Also last year, Gordon T. Smith, former dean of Regent College, (His published works include Listening to God in Times of Choice (IVP, 1997), Courage and Calling (IVP, 1999), The Voice of Jesus (IVP, 2003) ) was invited to Singapore Bible College to deliver a series of lectures. He believes that every Christian should be able to answer two questions. First, what do you think Jesus is saying to you at this point in your life, in the context of the challenges and opportunities you are facing? Second, what indicators give you some measure of confidence that it is indeed Jesus speaking to you rather than someone or something else? So I had the privilege of discussing Gordon Smith’s lecture notes with our two STEP intern, Leroy and Wei-long just two weeks ago. And going through the various pointers and guidelines that Gordon Smith gave in discerning God’s will was really helpful at least for myself in thinking through my own process of decision making. But alas, at the end of the day, we recognised that there are really no fixed formulas or foolproof methods in determining God’s will. I guess discerning God’s will is more of an art as oppose to an exact science.

Just last week, in one of our BATS CCG meeting, we were going through Nehemiah Unit 2 and we were discussing about how Nehemiah “prayed in line with God’s word”; requesting for God to grant him favour with the Persian king to grant him permission to embark on a wall-building project. One question that was raised was how does Nehemiah know that God had indeed called him for the job? Or that the timing for the job is now? Did God spoke to him audibly or did God impressed thoughts into his hearts during his time of fasting and prayer? Or did he act in faith (not knowing whether it is really God’s will) due to the burden that he had for the safety of his people? Since Nehemiah didn’t really specify, we won’t really know HOW he came to know God’s will (yet we do know that what he did was indeed in line with God’s word and will). Contrast this with the experience Paul had in Acts 16:6-10.

6 They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; 7 and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; 8 and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9 A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

At this point, for Paul to preach the gospel to Asia or Bithynia would be in line with God’s word but not in line with God’s will. Here, we know very clearly HOW Paul knew God’s will (as to where he should preach the gospel) which is through a combination of “the Holy Spirit/ the Spirit of Jesus” and a vision of “a man of Macedonia”. Do you see it now? This is precisely why knowing God’s will is so super tough. Most of the time, the average Christian is not cracking his brains figuring out whether he should choose between what’s good and what’s evil; what’s moral and what’s immoral. But our battle in times of choice is between what’s good and what’s best. As Gordon Smith aptly puts it: “good is the enemy of best” which is why at times, in discerning God’s specific will, looking to the word is (let me say this very reverently) not very helpful. The word would have us know that we ought to give to the poor but doesn’t say which charity to give to. The word would have us know that we ought to preach the gospel but doesn’t say to which people group to preach to first (as in Paul’s case). So what then shall we say to all these? Again, as I have stated, earlier, no fixed formulas, no foolproof method. Discerning God’s will is an art that is founded upon our relationship with God and just as with any relationship, it may take some time, some trials, some errors (on our part of course) before we can confidently recognise that still small voice.

Young Adult Ministry Significant Dates for 2009

2009-01-09T20:43:00.000-08:00

14 Mar sat YA Outreach #1 (evening) – N5
21 Mar sat YA Combine Social
06 Jun sat YA Retreat/Outreach #2 (daytime retreat with outreach in evening) – N5
13 Jun sat YA Combine Social
10 Oct sat Youth & Young Adults Night O Worship & Prayer (evening) – N5
19 Dec sat YA Christmas Outreach #3 (late afternoon) – Outside Church

YA Ministry Calendar 2009 for 1st half of year

2009-01-09T20:39:00.000-08:00

Studies for 1st half of 09: Nehemiah – 18 lessons
Studies for 2nd half of 09: Isaiah unit 5-9

15 Feb sun Bats 3 – Ne 2
18 Feb wed Bats 1 – Ne 2
21 Feb sat Bats 2 – Ne 2
22 Feb sun Missions Sunday 1

01 Mar sun Bats 3 – Ne 3
04 Mar wed Bats1 – Social
07 Mar sat Bats 2 – Social
08 Mar sun Bats 3 – Social
14 Mar sat YA Outreach #1
15 Mar sun Bats 3 – feedback / pray for outreach attendees
21 Mar sat Combine Social
22 Mar sun Bats 3 – Ne 4 (CAP 2 at 1:30pm)
29 Mar sun Bats 3 – Ne 5

01 Apr wed Bats 1 – Ne 3
04 Apr sat Bats 2 – Ne 3
05 Apr sun Bats 3 – Ne 6
10 Apr fri Good Friday Service
11 Apr sat Evangelism #1
12 Apr sun Easter Service
15 Apr wed Bats 1 – Ne 4
18 Apr sat Bats 2 – Ne 4
19 Apr sun Bats 3 – Ne 7
26 Apr sun CAP Block Visit 3
29 Apr wed Bats 1 – Ne 5

02 May sat Bats 2 – Ne 5
03 May sun Bats 3 – Planning for Bats 3 BANG Internship – Macro/ Brainstorm
10 May sun Bats 3 – Planning for Bats 3 BANG Internship – Micro/ details
13 May wed Bats 1 – Ne 6
16 May sat Bats 2 – Ne 6
17 May sun Family Day am & pm
24 May sun Alpha Sunday & AGM
27 May wed Bats 1 – Ne 7
30 May sat Bats 2 – Ne 7
31 May sun Bats 3 BANG Internship BEGINS

03 Jun wed YA Retreat/Outreach Planning
06 Jun sat YA Retreat/Outreach
07 Jun sun Bats 3 BANG Internship
13 Jun sat Combine Social
14 Jun sun Bats 3 BANG Internship
21 Jun sun Church Camp
27 Jun sat Subin & Michael’s Wedding
28 Jun sun Bats 3 BANG Internship END

03 Jul fri Alpha BEGINS
05 Jul sun Bats 3 join - Youth Sunday
08 Jul wed Bats 1 & 2 – Alpha Prayer Gathering
12 Jul sun Bats 3 - last Sunday before transiting to weekday
19 Jul sun DTC 2 takes over the room
22 Jul wed Bats 1 – Alpha Prayer Gathering
25 Jul sat Bats 2 – Alpha Prayer Gathering
??????? Bats 3 – Alpha Prayer Gathering
26 Jul sun

############### more details of 2nd half of year will be available at a later date

13 Sep CAP Block Visit 4

01 Nov sun Bats 3 – Planning for Bats 3 BANG Internship – Macro/ Brainstorm
08 Nov sun Bats 3 – Planning for Bats 3 BANG Internship – Micro/ details
15 Nov sun Bats 3 BANG Internship BEGINS
22 Nov sun Mission Sunday 2
29 Nov sun Bats 3 BANG Internship

06 Dec sun Bats 3 BANG Internship CAP Block Visit 5
13 Dec sun Bats 3 BANG Internship
19 Dec sat YA Christmas Outreach #3 (late afternoon)
20 Dec sun Bats 3 BANG Internship Christmas Celebration Service
24 Dec thur Christmas eve service
27 Dec sun Bats 3 BANG Internship ENDS – Graduation from Internship

Geek Terminal Photos courtesy of mr Hozea =)

2009-01-07T23:06:00.000-08:00

yup, that's the place

the crowd was real cosy with a body count of 46 (we catered for 45 by faith haha =)

Gift Exchange!!! Everybody loves presents =)

The Core of every Altar Call - Dec 08 BCBA Bulletin

2009-01-07T22:32:00.000-08:00

I once went to a large evangelistic rally at the Singapore Indoor Stadium (I think that has to be at least 8 years ago). There was a fabulous drama being put up; very professionally done and the crowd was responsive and spontaneous; basically, awesome atmosphere! When the altar call was about to be given, the preacher spoke very dynamically about how people feel a sense of emptiness no matter how they try to fill their lives with friends, activities and achievements. He spoke about a God-shaped void where only God can fill and with that, he gave an altar call, getting non-Christians to come forward and allow Jesus to come into their lives and fill them with peace and purpose; no more restlessness, no more emptiness; just come to Jesus! And honestly I was pretty shocked at the immense numbers that responded. In my estimation I’d say at least 300 plus went down, if let’s say 100 of them are really rededications, then we’re talking about a 200 plus harvest! I recalled going out of that rally deep in thought. I remember on my bus journey back, I was asking myself why did the 300 plus responded to the altar call? At a human level, I guess it’s because they wanted the benefit of obtaining a purposeful life and eradicate emptiness and futility in their lives (which I believe is not the essence of the gospel). But yet on that bus, I came to the conclusion that God is gracious. God is able to use what deficient theology preachers deliver to fulfill his salvific purposes. And I believe by faith, that those 300 plus that responded will eventually find out about the essence of the gospel through follow-up sessions.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that those 300 plus are not saved, they probably are, since salvation is really more of a process of enlightenment and by faith I believe that the Holy Spirit is working in their lives to cause them to respond to the altar call in the first place and that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in their lives to cause them to eventually understand and embrace the essence of the gospel. But like I said, I am speaking by faith, so I’m not entirely sure; but I am pretty sure that the preacher in the rally is really sincere about drawing people to God’s kingdom and God can use such a sincere heart. But the point I am making is that I believe nobody can be convinced that a certain person is a Christian unless and until that certain person has come to a clear understanding of the essence of the gospel. FORGIVENESS OF SINS is the essence of the gospel, without which the gospel message must be deemed deficient (but not unusable by God).

Psalm 103 verse 2 says: “Praise the LORD , O my soul, and forget not all His benefits”. It is so true that being a Christian comes with it a whole host of benefits (which is of course less apparent if the conversion stems from a persecuted nation) and I think it is fine to draw people to Christianity with these host of benefits but yet the main benefit to be highlighted ought to be that which is found in verse 3 of Psalm 103: forgiveness of sins. In fact, this I believe is the benefit that separates the sheep from the goats. Forgiveness of sins presupposes that you are a sinner on your way to hell – a key idea that contributes greatly to the gospel message being an offensive one. Overly “seeker sensitive” messages that takes the offensiveness out of the gospel simply won’t cut it. Indeed the gospel message must be offensive to those whose hearts are hardened and salvific for those whose hearts are humbled. Recently, the BATS young adults did a study on Isaiah 6 (unit 3 of the Isaiah guidebook), where Jesus quoted Isaiah in Mark 4:11-12.
He [Jesus] told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!”
Pretty shocking to hear that the reason why Jesus spoke in parables is not because he wanted to help people relate to his message better but so that those whose hearts are proud and hardened against God will remain unforgiven for the purpose that they be kept out of the kingdom. When the unadulterated word of God is preached in its truest form, it always produces two different kinds of effects on two groups of people: those who are perishing (regarding God’s word as foolishness) and those who are being saved (regarding God’s word as the power of God) – 1 Corinthians 1:18. Do I believe that God’s desire is for everyone in the world to be saved? That’s a definite yes, but do I believe it is God’s will for everyone to be saved? I guess that’s a no, since I believe that God has willed that proud and hardened hearts be left out of the kingdom. God works by this principle: resist the proud, give grace to the humble (James 4:6).

As I am writing this, I am preparing for the gospel message that I myself will deliver at the Young Adult Christmas Outreach. By the time you read this, that outreach would have been over. My concern for this outreach is not for all to be saved but for the untainted message of God’s love to go forth without stripping away its intended offensiveness. Even if all the non-Christians present are offended by the message and nobody receive Christ in the end, that’s not really my concern. I’m more concern that the Holy Spirit is able to use the truth of God’s word to fulfill its intended purpose of saving souls on the one hand and hardening hearts on the other hand. Ultimately, people need to receive Christ for the reason that really matters. Come to think of it, forgiveness of sins is at the very core of the sinners’ prayer, I am of the believe that a “Christian” is not a Christian until the core benefit of forgiveness of sins is clearly internalized.

There was once a sincere evangelist who was sent by God Himself to preach the gospel to a non-Christian household. So he went and spoke about how God accepts everyone without favoritism; how Jesus went about doing good through the power of the Spirit; how Jesus died and rose again and is now Judge to the living and the dead. He said all this, but it was only when forgiveness of sins was preached that the Holy Spirit saw fit to interrupt (yes, interrupt) his preaching and descend upon all who heard the gospel message. This evangelist is Peter, the household is Cornelius’ and the core benefit of Christianity was preached in verse 43 of Acts 10. Especially in this Christmas Season, whenever and wherever the occasion calls for us to share the gospel, let’s get back to the core of things shall we?

Chang Loong - 12 Dec 2008

YA Christmas Party 08

2008-11-06T18:33:00.000-08:00

Hey-Yo folks! We are havin a Young Adult Christmas Paaaaarty! It's gonna be evangelistic in nature so bring your seeker friends over and invite them early so they can mark the date and time down!

It's gonna be on the 13th Dec, 3pm to 5:30pm!

And it's gonna be in the coolest place in town... Yes in DownTown! Checkout this cool hangout place: GEEK TERMINAL at 55 market Street - above Raffles Place Mrt - See you there!!!!!

Checkout the map to the place at: http://www.geekterminal.com/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=41

There's gonna be games, a cool program, finger foods, drinks, and yes, a Christmas tree!

YAYAnoWAP - 25th Oct 08

2008-11-06T18:12:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's guest music minister, Geoffrey Woo ministering with songs and testimony in BA's very first YAYAnoWAP - Youth And Young Adults night o' Worship And Prayer!

Dawn Prayer - 1st Nov 08

2008-11-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

Young Adults in Action @ the very first BCBA dawn prayer

BATS1 chillin' out at mindcafe, the land of games!

2008-09-12T19:36:00.001-07:00

^ Guess who's the shuffler up there?

< Lots O concentration needed!

Combined Socials / Counsellor's Training at N4

2008-08-15T18:56:00.000-07:00

Yo! R u able to spot who turned up for the Combined Socials / Counseller's Training on the 19th July?
The various discussion groups, figurin out tough and typical questions from your regular Christianty Skeptics :)

Young Adults' Retreat 2008

2008-07-16T02:49:00.000-07:00

Again, for this year's YA Retreat, we are riding on Project Timothy's ability to bring in fantastic speakers to nourish us with the richness of God's word. And this year, Rev Andrew Reid gave us a well-researched run-through of how the Old Testament Laws should influence our understanding of New Testament Ethics. There were 7 of us who were there and we stuck together during small group sharing time and mann! we had an awesome time together! too bad it ain't stay-in :) Btw, managed to spot any familiar head(s) from the photo?

Gavin's self-portrait

2008-07-16T02:19:00.000-07:00

Whoa, thought this drawing of Gavin by Gavin is pretty cool. How many people have actually got down to drawing themselves? Have you?

ATBA farewell BBQ for the Mao family

2008-07-16T02:01:00.000-07:00

Yup, that's how we look at Gabriel's place; twas a cool & breezy and slightly drizzly night

BATS1 deep in thought

2008-06-26T00:13:00.000-07:00

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,

for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14

Welcome to the BATS1 community where we approach the word like little children

by sitting on miniature chairs and huddling around kid-sized tables :)

YA update on 29th July08 bulletin

2008-06-25T23:32:00.000-07:00

www.bayaexpress.blogspot.com

As you might already have guessed from the above title, the young adults now have their very own blog-site. This blog-site is specifically designed for Bukit Arang Young Adults (BAYA) which include Community Care Groups BAYA, BATS1 & BATS2 (alias ATBA) to express themselves and checkout church events pertaining to young adults at anytime, anywhere. In the site, you’ll be able to search out useful info like the calendar of events for the young adults or interesting updates on their recent activities. You can even enjoy the Church Camp’08 theme song, ‘There is a Higher Throne’ on the site. This site is technically, a great way to be up to speed with the happenings of this dynamic fellowship. And thanks to Timo for helping to spruce up the site, you can now download sermon slides from the website to review the message at your own time. My recent sermon slides on Hebrews 5:11-6:20 is the first one to be up and ready for downloads. Anyone with ideas on how to further enhance the blog-site is most welcome to email me at changloong@bcba.com.sg

Contributors for the blog-site include Daniel Loh, representing BAYA; Graham Choo, representing BATS1 and myself who’ll represent BATS2. Ivan Chow and Lincoln Mao are also included in the list of contributors so they can update us on their overseas ventures and adventures. And not to worry, we are all mindful that this is a public domain and so sensitive and confidential info will not see the light of day on the blog-pages.

Now let’s talk about Bible study. Ai Cheng and myself have recently taken over the leading of BATS2 to allow Lincoln and Grace more room to adapt to parenthood and to prepare for their overseas transition. Thankfully, the adjustments needed for the BATS2 community are pretty minimal since Lincoln stays only a block away from me. If you shift your eyes to the right, you’ll see BATS2 having CCG meeting at my place on a Saturday night. And yes, that would be Ai Cheng leading the group towards greater familiarity of 1 Corinthians 10. Basically, the three young adult CCGs are nearing the ending chapters of first Corinthians, and thereafter, they will be embarking on a new journey: the book of Isaiah.

Right now, we are all gearing up for the upcoming young adults combined social/ counsellors training on the 19th of July and praying for pre-believing friends to invite for the Evangelism Sunday on the 27th of July where Lincoln will be speaking on the topic: Is Christianity A Psychological Crutch? See you there!

D.A. Carson’s Evening Talks (Revelations)

2008-05-16T00:54:00.000-07:00

Hi Young Adults, apparently you need to register for this even though it's free.
So do register early at http://www.anglican.org.sg/livingword.html.

Dates:29-31 July 2008(Tuesday to Thursday)
Time:7.45 – 9.45 pm
Venue:St Andrew’s Cathedral (Next to City Hall MRT)

29 July (Tuesday) Rage, Rage, Against the Church (Revelation 12:1-13:1)
In apocalyptic language, John tells us what we learn elsewhere in the New Testament: the Christian's most fundamental enemies are not other people, but the powers of darkness. How then shall we cope and triumph?
30 July (Wednesday) Antichrist and False Prophet (Revelation 13:1-18)
Some Christians around the world face brutal opposition and outright persecution; other Christians around the world are in danger of being seduced by false teaching and transient glitter. The dangers are different, yet they are one. How are we to respond?
31 July (Thursday) Trajectories (Revelation 14)
There is a perennial danger of thinking that Christian life and thought pertain primarily to this world. But the whole of the New Testament is against this reductionism: there is a heaven to be gained and a hell to be shunned. These opposed trajectories mean that everything in this life has far more significance than we sometimes think.

Church Camp'08 Theme Song

2008-05-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a little intro of the song from the songwriter herself plus some musical tips

This would be the slide version that was shown as part of the church camp publicity

that recent gig

2008-05-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

and yes, for all those who miss the brillaint jazzy performance by our talented mr ian soh at the recent esplanade gig, here's a photo of the man hard at work :) photo, courtesy of hozea.

Announcement #1

2008-04-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

Those who would like to own an extra copy of the CCG directory (to put in your car or office etc) can purchase a copy from the office @ $2 each, just feel free to email me your orders anytime :)
For those who hasn't visited the church website for ages, philip has given it a cool makeover plus you can now view the church bulletin online! So what R U waitin for? check it out at http://www.bcba.com.sg/
What a joy! Weighing 2.89 kg, Nathan Mao has arrived on the 26th March 2008! Welcome indeed!

For those who missed the YA Update on the 30th March 2008 Bulletin...

2008-04-01T23:11:00.000-07:00

The Young Adults Update

Hmm... so what’s eating the BA young adults these days? To put it vaguely, lots and lots of things. You know, the incessant demands and expectations to “do more” and “be more” on young adults in this age can be rather scary. What a phase to be in! Partitioning time for the mountain heaps of commitments that whirl around their lives can be pretty challenging; and this is true whether you are a single, a single attached or a wedded young adult. Yet the fact that many of them are still able to find time to be involved in the Kingdom’s work in a cool variety of ways is way encouraging to say the least.

One of our main staple programs to help us connect with the Word and with each other is our regular bible study meetings. At the moment, we are still digging up treasures in the book of 1 Corinthians, where we have learnt a great deal about certain principles for Christian living like the importance of unity or the perils of immorality. I’m often inspired by their passion for accurate biblical interpretation. Recently, Lincoln came up with a neat system for our bible studies where we systematically work through a number of key questions that should guide us towards an accurate understanding of the text in its context which should in turn give birth to an accurate application. Ah yes, speaking of birth, the young adults are rejoicing with Lincoln and Grace on the arrival of baby Nathan Mao :) What joy!

We also want to pause at this point to give praise to the Lord for two members in BATS 1 that have stepped up to render service to the Kingdom...
Number one, Ivane, for helping out in Alpha as a discussion leader and also at BANG and number two, Victor, for courageously taking the step of faith to co-teach with Sharon in the Sunday School ministry (Primary 6 class). Actually, there’s a number three, and it’s from the BAYA camp. Subin has also just stepped into the arena and took up the challenge to lead bible study at the BAYA meetings. So Congrats to BAYA, they now have not 3, but 4 leaders to lead the word from henceforth (Dan, Jon, Sharon and Subin). Wait a minute, there is also a number four and five! Hozea and En Ai have finally graduated from DTC and have stepped up to lead in the Nurture Class for new believers (from BAY).

I’m sure the young adults would agree that many who have took the plunge to serve has found themselves in the midst of healthy growth. For example, Serene, the co-leader of BATS 1 has noticed her sister in Christ, known as Hazel, growing exponentially as a new BAY leader since December 2006.
Of course, we must never ever forget to give thanks for the many (probably much more than we often imagined) young adults that are not mentioned and who too are serving the Kingdom in ways that often times go unnoticed. These are young adults that serve in the music, logistic support, discipleship, personal evangelism and also those involve in ministries outside of BCBA, they are doing a great work for the Lord too.

The BA young adults are people who have entered a unique phase in their lives where they are embarking on a whole new world of responsibilities – new schedules, new authority figures, new system, new environment, new commitments, plus marriage and babies... wow, these are major changes indeed. As they continue to give of themselves amidst their busy and hectic and demanding and tiring schedules, my prayer for them is that as they remain committed to God’s work, they would be equally zealous in guarding their rest time, leisure time and personal time with the Lord. Pray with us.

Peace,
Chang Loong

Calendar O Events 2008

2008-04-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

Church Events that concern the Young Adults

Feb
12 - 13 > Project Timothy Seminar on Ecclesiastes

March
9 sun > CAP visit
15 sat > Preaching Old Testament Law to New Testament Christians – Dr Daniel Block
21 fri > Discipleship Retreat 9am – 12:30pm in church (Good Friday) – Rev Tan Kay Kiong
23 sun > Evangelism Sunday I – 10am – Michael Tan

April

May
4 sun > CAP visit
11 sun > Global Day of Prayer – 3pm or 7:30pm - spore indoor stadium
24 sat > CAP outing
25 sun > Church AGM

June
5 – 9 Thurs-mon > Church Camp
21 sat > BA family games day - ic: Jimmy

July
11 – 12 Fri-Sat > YA Retreat; Venue: YMCA Metropolitan, Stevens Rd; ‘Law & Grace in the Christian Life: Contradictory or Complementary?’ by Andrew Reid
19 sat > YA Combined Social/ Counsellor's Training – ic: Graham
27 sun > Evangelism Sunday III (Young Adults) – 10am – Lincoln Mao

August
31 sun > CAP visit

Sept
? > Dialogue Supper – ic: Serene

Oct
21 – 22 Tue-wed > Project Timothy Expository Preaching on Job – Christopher Ash

Nov

Dec
? > Another Dialogue Supper?
7 sun > CAP visit
21 sun > Evangelism Sunday IV – 10am - Jeffrey Goh – Christmas Celebration