Ministries of Life Bible-Presbyterian Church

 

SUNDAY SCHOOL SENIOR DEPARTMENT

 

The Sunday School is one of the largest and most important ministries in our church for the following reasons:

1. Outside of the pulpit ministry, it provides a framework for systematic and structured instruction in the Word of God.
2. The ministry spans the entire demographic of our church to the extent that “we have a Sunday school class for every age, you are never too old or too young”.
3. Its ministry affects the lives of a good number of believers. We have an average weekly attendance of 400 over students which is almost half of the approximate 1,000 odd active members of our church.

Given the above, it is vital that our Sunday Schools strive to do our best to carry out the ministry entrusted to us with utmost care and effort.

Here in the Senior Department, we have been given the unique privilege of blessing and influencing the lives of our young people aged between 17 – 22.

This year, our Sunday School classes have embarked on the “Bible Truths” series published by Bob Jones University. The series covers both a study of the books of the Bible as well as other topical studies, giving our students a healthy balance between theology and application.

Our department also meets corporately on the last Sunday of each month in the Chinese Service Hall, for Open Sunday where we have a combined message. This year, our theme is “A Real and Effectual Faith”. It is our prayer that with the time spent each week in Sunday School, we will not just be mere Christians in name, but that we will all find our faith real and effectual in our lives.

Please find below the details of our individual classes as well as the schedule of topics for our Open Sunday for the rest of 2011. Come and join us as we study God’s word together! Do contact Mark Liu at 9667-4268 or post2mark@yahoo.com if you have any enquiries.

Individual Class Details

Class	Age Group	Location	Teachers
1B	1st Year JC/Poly	Beulah Centre Level 4 Room 4	Eld Heok Seng & Daniel Wong
1G		Beulah Centre Level 4 Room 10	Trudy Lim
2B	2nd Year JC/Poly	Beulah Centre Level 4 Room 5	Russell & Kar Liang
2G		Beulah Centre Level 4 Room 6	Dn Roger Lim & Veronica Lee
3B	3rd Year Poly/ 1st Year NS	Beulah Centre Level 4 Room 9	Cornelius Kan & Dn Lim Pin
3G		Beulah Centre Level 4 Room 7	Tan Peng Chuan & Angela Tan
4B	2nd Year NS	Beulah Centre Level 4 Room 8	Andrew Ong & Ian Tay
4G	1st Year University	Beulah Centre Level 2 Room 11	Chin Wai Peng & Eunice Phoon
Young Adults Class	University Age Class	Beulah Centre Level 4 Room 3	Mark Liu & Daniel Tay

Open Sunday Schedule

Date	Topic	Speaker
22 May 11	Making Career Decisions	Elder Ng Beng Kiong
12 Jun 11	Missionary Sunday	To Be Confirmed
24 Jul 11	Overcoming Spiritual Lethargy	Elder Ong Eng Lam
28 Aug 11	Biblical Worship	Pr Calvin Loh
25 Sep 11	What Does the Lord’s Supper Mean to Me?	Rev Charles Seet
27 Nov 11	Our Great and Awesome God	Dn Joel Seah
1 Jan 12	Prize Giving Sunday	NA

Open Sunday (8 May 11) – Biblical Apologetics by Mark Chen

Testimony of One of Our Teachers – Russell Joel Indran

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” 2 Cor 5:10,11a

I am thankful for the privilege to serve God in the Sunday School ministry. I am not a very experienced teacher – this year would be only my fourth year teaching. But I thank God for the many precious lessons He has taught me thus far.

The following are 3 principles that have guided me these few years:

1. Being faithful in using my talents. “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” (1 Cor 4:2). Serving as a Sunday School teacher takes up a fair bit of time. Sometimes I wonder whether it is worth the sacrifice. Surely the time used can be spent on my own pursuits? Well, I recall that it was sometime at the 2006 YF camp that God confirmed in my heart that I had the spiritual gift of teaching. I soon recognised that having freely received this gift, I ought not to ‘bury’ it but use it for God’s glory and to edify His people.

 

Being faithful also entails diligence. At times one may be tempted to simply go through the motion and not be thorough in lesson preparation. I thank God for how He has constantly reminded me to do my best for God and for my students. God is gracious – He has always granted me sufficient time to prepare my lessons well (even in the midst of my NS), and provided many avenues for me to be better equipped in this teaching ministry.

1. Preparing my heart before teaching. “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” (Ezra 7:10). I am often mindful that one has to be walking right with God before teaching. After all, it is easy to be a hypocrite: to teach one thing and do another. The example of Ezra in preparing his heart to seek and to do God's Word before teaching it is one that I strive to emulate. I thank God that it is through examining my own heart that He has revealed to me my many sins and shortcomings. Through this I have also drawn closer to the Lord and learnt to be more sensitive to His Spirit's prompting. What a joy and blessing to be used by God and to grow in Him!

 

1. Loving others as Christ loved me. Our Lord Jesus Christ asked Peter: “Lovest thou Me? ...Feed my sheep” (see John 21:17). I believe that teaching in the Sunday School goes beyond the mere act of teaching. In fact, teaching for an hour each week might well be the ‘easy’ part. What takes more effort (and more love) is reaching out to the students individually, praying for them, and understanding their needs and struggles. It takes much patience and perseverance to do this, especially when the response is not always positive. Some students require more personal attention than others.

Looking back, I must confess that I have not done very well in this area. But as I reflect on Christ’s selfless love for me, I am always reminded of how much more I can love my students. Christ loved me when I was unlovable – how then should I refuse to share such love to others?

Some years back, I saw our pastors and some of our staff workers present a song item entitled ‘Lord, let me serve’. It was a great inspiration to me, and a reminder that none of us deserves to serve God. With God granting me the opportunity to serve, I resolved to serve Him to the best of my ability in spite of any discouragements or setbacks.

May this song encourage all current (and future) Sunday School teachers too, and may we be ‘steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of Lord’ (1 Cor 15:58a), till we see our blessed Saviour face to face! May God help us.

People are longing to learn of the Saviour,
Children are growing, not knowing He cares.
Lord let me tell them about Your compassion.
Lord, where can I be used?

Lord let me serve; Lord let me follow,
Give me a place and a purpose to fill
Teach me to serve, teach me to follow
Use me to do Your will

Ready and willing I give You my talent
Show me the task and I’ll serve You today,
Give me a passion to work for Your glory,
Lord, where can I be used?