50 Years Building His Kingdom - Far Eastern Bible College

Carmel. They also started the Junior YF to
reach out to the younger teens from 10 to
12 years old in Life Church. The ministry
included fetching the teens for fellowship
meetings and taking them home.
The Lord’s Provision
Other than spiritual food, the LCYF
also had activities such as hikes, camps,
retreats, picnics and sunset services at the
Gap and reservoirs. Saturday afternoons
were sports day. It was a time of growing
up, experiencing the kindness of older
brothers and sisters in Christ, learning
many skills, making lifelong friends and
experiencing the joys of leading others to
Christ. Senior YFers made time and effort
to teach the younger ones how to play the
guitar, thus building them up for service in
the future. Life in the LCYF was always
exciting and spirit-filled.
Many too met their spouses in the YF.
Deacon Seah Geok Leng and Audrey
fondly remember how the Lord brought
both of them together in the YF. They note
that many of their dear Christian friendships,
forged in the LCYF, have endured
till now. They say, “When both of us got
married, the whole YF was behind us, helping
us in every aspect.”
In the latter half of the 1980’s, the
LCYF was so big that they had to use the
FEBC hall for meetings. Each meeting was
attended by about 50 to 60 YFers from
Primary 6 to Pre-U. When YFers invited
their friends to YF, they were usually their
classmates. Sometimes almost half their
class came! In those days, quite a few
YFers came from poor families and they
had problems coping with finance. Fellow
YFers contributed to finance their studies.
Leong Meng Soon, a YF member
from 1988-1996 remembers, “YF was informal
but serious in the study of the Word.
Life was simple but meaningful then. Although
we had less of the high-tech stuff,
there was closeness and our favourite dinner
haunt was either Newton Hawker Centre
or Whitley Hawker Centre.”
Systematic follow-up is important to
the continuance of any ministry. YF leaders
often assign an older member to take
care of some of the newer or younger
‘sheep’. Meng Soon says, “In my time, new
converts and visitors to the YF were well
taken care off. There was a buddy system
in which a more mature YF ‘discipled’ a
younger one.”
Pitfalls
Every group has their problems and
the LCYF was no different. The YF was
confronted with the mundane problems of
teenage BGR issues, parental objection,
challenges of maintaining a good Christian
testimony in our studies while attending
all YF meetings and activities. There was
a conscious effort to ensure leadership continuity
and every chairman took on the responsibility
to ensure that the baton was
passed on. Those who did not like the way
things were done left the organisation after
creating problems but the remnants just
carried on.
However, the LCYF must persevere
in their motto, which is “To know Christ
and to make Him known”. Without knowing
Christ in a personal way and sharing
the Gospel, there can be no dynamism in
the Church. The LCYF is essentially a ministry
of bringing young people to Christ
and helping them to mature in the faith. A
good test of the effectiveness of the YF
programme is to see ex-YFers in positions
of leadership in the Church.
Youth Fellowship
YFers during a Retreat
at Beulah House,
June 2000
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