Discipleship & Nurture Stories

The 75th Junior Boys’ Brigade Company was established in 2000, and we have been recruiting boys from P3 to P6 till today.

The objective of The Boys' Brigade is the advancement of Christ's Kingdom among boys and the promotion of the habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect and all that tends towards a true Christian Manliness.

Despite the difficult pandemic period the past 2 years, we are thankful that adult leaders serving as officers and teachers had continued to serve in the company.

We would like to thank God for the generously support given by Paya Lebar Methodist Church, our sponsoring Church, in helping out in our weekly parades. They have been a source of motivation and inspiration to our Boys.

When I signed up for the workshop on equipping parents and children's ministry leaders, I expected to be taught how to make the word more pertinent and exciting to my children. However, what I learnt instead were very relevant, practical tips and techniques on how to better connect with my children. I like how these tips were taught using the acronym L.O.V.E which stands for Love Languages, Openness, Validation and Empowerment.

Being a huge proponent of the Love Languages, I was delighted to see how we were encouraged to find out and speak our children's love language so that our children will truly feel our love for them.

I also really loved the idea of empowerment. Many times in our protectiveness or our desire to get things done as efficiently as possible, we forget that our children are capable, and need us to trust them and give them room to grow.

Together with being open and validating our children, these tips become a powerful tool in helping us to connect with and love our children.

The mini practices and quizzes also helped me have a better idea of what these tips would look like when carried out. We received timely and effective feedback from the workshop trainers and also had our questions answered in great detail as well.

Overall, the workshop was enjoyable and I feel more equipped to parent and love my child the way God intended. (Su-Mei Lenden-Hitchcock, school teacher by profession, and mother of two children)

The workshop though done virtually was effective and inspiring. David and Cynthia imparted their knowledge in relating to children in an easy-to-understand, easy-to-remember and practical way. The lesson topics in the acronym L.O.V.E. helped a lot. L for Love languages, O for Openness, V for Validation and E for Empowerment. I especially like the Love Languages topic. Though I’ve read and learned about love languages in many forums, their tips on using “see, hear and feel” were especially helpful and useful, and I will definitely will start using these tips when teaching the children in Silver Boxes. (Angeline, mother of two young adults, who is serving in our Silver Boxes)

On 27 June 2020, I attended my first PLMC webinar called Beat the Blues by Benson Soh. In the past few months, mental wellness has been a popular topic, and this was a very topical subject. Mental health is a cause that is very important to me and I was very pleased to see such a webinar being hosted by PL.

It was a very interactive session, with the use of polls and Q&A for participants to interact with Benson and Kwang Meng, who was facilitating. The agenda covered anxiety, depression, treatment and intervention/prevention and was conducted in a myth-busting way.

The image above is an example of statements that we had to indicate whether they were facts or myths. It turns out that these are all myths! While there is some awareness about anxiety or depression being medical conditions, it was an eye-opener for many that the way to deal with mental health issues isn’t to avoid triggering situations, but to seek help and begin the journey to recovery.

Benson also challenged us to examine 9 different negative thinking habits including black & white thinking (seeing things in extremes) and blaming everyone else or ourselves for everything that goes wrong. This was a useful list of questions to examine our thought patterns and recognize their flaws.

We had an extremely lively Q&A session at the end of the webinar that spanned advice on medication and activities, recognizing depression or anxiety in ourselves and others, and advice for responding to and supporting a friend or family member who might be dealing with a mental health condition.

While we can provide others with a listening ear or accompany them for therapy sessions, we were also reminded to be fervent in prayer. I was encouraged by Psalm 55:22 that even if we struggle with mental health conditions ourselves or find it difficult and tiring to support someone dear who does, we can “cast [our] burden on the Lord, and He will sustain [us]”.

On 16 May 20, about 50 participants gathered online for a talk on Maintaining Emotional Intelligence During COVID-19 by Ms Carolynne Ng of the Centre for Seniors (CFS) organised by the Discipleship & Nurture Ministry.

Here are some of the things that stood out for me.

Emotional Intelligence = Perceiving, Understanding, Managing and Using emotions in our everyday lives

In a crisis, ANXIETY can present itself in many different forms – some people become controlling, others feel agitated or angry, some manifest defiance and other challenging behaviours, yet still others struggle with managing their emotions, and more.

Often, the main trigger to how others react is WHAT we say (our vocabulary) and HOW we say it (our tone). A good way of checking our vocabulary is to ask the question: How many positive words do I know AND use in dealing with other people?

Happiness is a choice; more importantly, it is an individual’s choice and no one else can make that choice for us. Do we want to control our emotions or let our emotions control us? Being angry or upset is tiring as many of us know. So we need to be aware or conscious of our emotions (ask the question: Do I want to be angry or upset?), then take action to manage the emotion (eg if angry, exercise or talk to someone about it; if bored, learn a new skill; if harassed, meditate or find your own space; if anxious, make a bucket list of things you want to do after the Circuit Breaker).

Ways to build Empathy for others:

• Stay Connected – by connecting with others, we can share their joys and their sorrows

• Be Aware – know what is happening around us and the world eg read or watch the news

• Be Kind – show others you care by giving them your time, gentle and encouraging words

• Be Considerate – allow others to be themselves and give them their space

• Help Others – do things for others to bring them joy and comfort

How can we react to a person who is always angry?

Take the first step to confront the angry person in love and in a loving manner (ie ask questions to find out why the person is angry or upset; offer support and encouragement)

Teens and Seniors are often defiant or rebellious – how do we deal with them?

This is often a struggle between our concern for them and their sense of independence. We can empathise, and try to understand what their difficulty is (eg teens are already dealing with growing pains; seniors often become forgetful or confused). It does not mean we do not need to set boundaries, but it does mean that we do so in a firm but kind manner, and not in an authoritative way.

The 5 Languages of Love

People react differently to how love is expressed, so knowing the individual’s love language is important to let them know they are loved. The five languages of love are:

• Verbal – saying out words of endearment

• Material gifts – giving things that the loved one will appreciate

• Gift of time – spending quality time with the loved one

• Acts of service – doing things for the loved one

• Touch – hugs, hand holding, kisses

Preparing for Change

Many of us are finding the changing working landscape challenging. We are also living in an increasingly Volatile, Uncertain, Ambiguous and Complex world that, as we grow older, is getting harder to navigate. So what can we do? First, we need to accept that change is the only constant in life. Second, we need to step out of our comfort zone. Third, we need to embrace change rather than resist it (if you can’t beat them, join them!)

Grasping the Word of God was held from 15 April to 13 May 2020, facilitated by Mr Low Kwang Meng. This course took place over Zoom, allowing us to deepen our knowledge of the word of God even though we could not meet physically in an effort to practise safe distancing. Praise God that with Him, all things are possible and His work transcends our circumstances

Over the course of the 5 weeks, we understood how to apply the steps of the biblical interpretive journey, how to analyse a biblical text from the level of the sentence to the discourse level, correctly apply the biblical principle and understand the importance of historical-cultural and literary context of biblical text. The process of interpreting and applying the Bible may be compared to taking a journey - applying the principlising bridge to cross the river of differences of culture, language, time, situation and covenant, to find the principle we can apply from the biblical text.

However, even though we could achieve the primary goals of this course, a larger question loomed and it found its way into our discussions. Since Bible study is tedious, it inevitably causes us to wonder: Why do we have to read the Bible for ourselves and understand God’s word through our own reading instead of reading a study Bible or solely relying on our pastors’ sermons and Circuit Breaker Devotions? As we shared our personal insights during the lesson, we found our answer: it is precisely because we struggled that we grew spiritually through the process of studying the Word of God and learnt to understand God’s message for us at a deeper level.

For the confused, as I was, Kwang Meng offered an apt analogy: Understanding the Bible solely through the lens of Bible study resources is just like taking a car trip to our intended destination, while studying the Bible on our own is likened to walking the course of the journey instead. While it is takes much more effort to walk, we would see more along the way than if we were in the car; similarly, we are more likely to be able to grasp God’s message for us when we read and study the Bible for ourselves. After we shared our reflections, I can safely conclude that we are all grateful that this course has equipped us with the skills to stand on our own two feet as we read the Bible.

As we studied Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path”, we discovered figures of speech and contrast embedded in this short sentence. More significantly, we understood the biblical principle that we would stumble in the darkness without the Word of God to guide us. May we all seek to study the Bible, grow deeper in the scripture and dwell upon the Word of God!

Look out for more Discipleship & Nurture courses coming your way on PLMC TODAY!