Monthly Youth Fellowship

Introducing….St. Columba's Monthly Youth Fellowship!

We had our first monthly Youth Fellowship on 25th February 2012 at St. Columba’s Parish Hall.

There were about 20+ youths that came that night. We’re hoping that this fellowship will be able to gather the youths together and create a stronger bond with each other as well as getting to know their Creator!

We will be having Youth Fellowship on a monthly basis on every 3^rd Saturday of the month.

All youths are welcome to join this fellowship!

Here are some pictures…Enjoy!

 Praise & Worship session led by Sebastian

 Time to get to know each other

 Time for games

Blanket game

More singing!

Closing prayer

For more pictures, click here: 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2680255178226.2105862.1611692176&type=3&l=69f25e1e27

AYC Committee Yearly Retreat

The AYC committee went for our annual retreat on 19th February 2012. This year, we had a day retreat at Uncle Hollis’s Lodge. Uncle Hollis was very generous to offer his lodge for our retreat. A big thank you to him and his family! :)

The lodge is situated at Sungai Rait, not far from the Soon Hup Farm. We had a great time away from the city surrounded with lots of greenery and a place that have a “kampung” feel to it. It’s refreshing! Our sessions were led by Ven. Solomon Cheong, Revd. Alfred and our advisor Bro. Derek. Topics that were discussed are mainly about serving the ministry and what are our challenges we faced in this ministry. Looking back, AYC has gone a looonng way back and have gone through many ups and downs. We hope & pray that this ministry will continue to persevere and stand strong especially in this generation where we need to stand out, be the salt and light amongst the distractions, challenges and issues that are faced by the youths in our community today. We ended our sessions with an evening prayer and having the sunset as our backdrop was something pretty awesome and thereafter we had a sumptuous meal prepared by the MASCM (Miri Anglican Senior Citizen Ministry), whom had accompanied us. It was absolutely delicious! And the dinner fellowship was a priceless moment…two generations gathering together and spending time together! Here are our pictures to share:

The Lodge 

 Having our sessions

Posers!

AYC Committee 2012 

with Ven. Solomon Cheong and our advisors Revd. Alfred Damu & Bro. Derek Cornas 

 With MASCM group

 Glorious foooooood!!

 Time to seranggg!

A big Thank You goes to the aunties & uncles of MASCM! :D

X-PLORE Bootcamp 2012

On 16th - 22nd January, X-plore Bootcamp was held. This camp aims to expose young men & women to pastoral ministry. It is hoped that through this programme, the participants would be able to explore how God calls them in their own lives, especially in lay and ordained ministries.


X-plore Bootcamp objectives are:
1. To assist young men & women to discern the call of God in their lives so they can answer it according to their stations and capacities.
2. To expose young men & women to pastoral ministry i.e. what a priest does outside Sunday Mass
3. To encourage a form of discipleship following Christ
4. To expose young men & women to the more intermediate aspects of Christ-like living in terms of worship, prayer, Word and fellowship.


Target group:
Form 5 & 6 school leavers, fresh graduates and diploma/degree students who are on holiday


This year is our first year organising X-plore Bootcamp. This will be a yearly camp for the youths. The pioneer group consists of 11 youths (8 young men & 3 young ladies), most of which are Form 5 leavers.


So, what have they been doing throughout the camp, you ask? Well, their sessions are a mix of talks conducted by clergies and facilitators as well as outings i.e. visitations and involve in various ministries' activities.


Here are some activities that they went through for the past one week:


a. Talks conducted by clergies & facilitators on One Voice, Introduction to Anglican Practices, Life of Prayer, Prayer & Praise, Habitual reading & studying of the Bible, Life of witnessing, Introduction to Altar Serving.
b. Planning and preparation for School Ministry (Kindergarten & Primary school) & Youth Fellowship with the Confirmation Candidates
c. Preparing own meals
d. Recreation: Volleyball & Netball
e. Home & hospital visitation
f. Quiet & reading time 

For pictures & videos of what they did, check out our X-plore Bootcamp facebook page @
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Xplore-Boot-Camp/231654096916978

Light of Truth

Young Adults 'Into the Wild'

Are you stressed out? 

Bored & need a break from the daily routine?

Come join us...into the Wild! 

The Young Adults Ministry is organising a two day one night weekend trip to the Borneo Tropical Rainforest Resort on 26-27 November 2011. 

Registration fee is at RM65 per person. 

There will be great activities such as flying fox, guided night walk, water park fun, jungle trekking, trip to the waterfall and lots more other exciting activities lined up for you. 

You can get your registration forms at the booth in front of the school hall after service every Sunday. 

Bring your friends too! See you there!! :D

For more info contact Magdalene @ 0198558520 or email us at anglican.youthcouncil@gmail.com.

Young Adults Gathering

Hello there! About a week ago, on 23rd October, the young adults had a gathering at Fr. Cheong's place. The place was filled with young people, great food & lots of laughter. It was indeed a great time which we had together... Here are some pictures to share!

Porkylicious! ;p

Time for charades!

Act it out!

HOW TO BECOME A CONFIDENT CHRISTIAN

DON'T LET YOUR FEARS STOP YOU FROM STANDING UP FOR JESUS

What are you afraid of?

I’m afraid of lots of things. Heights, spiders, the dark, static electricity, failure, awkward silences.

As a Christian, one of the big fears that we seem to have in common, is the fear of standing out. A lot of who we are and what we do makes us really different to people who are not Christians, so the temptation we face is to shrink back; to minimise the differences so that we don’t stand out – but so that we blend in.

Thinking of shrinking?

There’s a Superhero called The Atom. Look him up on YouTube, he’s pretty funny. His special power is shrinking … he can shrink to such a small size, that he’s able to go around unnoticed by his foes.

And you know, I think us Christians face the temptation to do the same – not shrink to atomic size, but to minimise our faith in Jesus, to effectively shrink back, so that we go around unnoticed. It just seems easier that way – no hard conversations about Jesus/faith/religion and other controversial things.

You can have confidence

Hebrews 10:19-39 was written to the Christians in Rome, to urge them not to shrink back. To be confident. The chapter talks about confidence in three areas:

1. Confidence in your relationship with God – because of what Jesus has done for us, we can (and should) approach God confidently. Approach him in prayer. Approach him in his word. And make time for that! Someone once said that if you’re too busy to pray, then you’re too busy.

2. Confidence in your relationships with other Christians – make it a commitment to meet with your brothers and sisters in Christ, even when life is getting really busy and hard. 6-7 hours a week for Church, youth Group and Bible Study is not a huge ask, but they all go such a long way to helping you stand firm in your faith. Go to church confidently, to be an encourager!

3. Confidence about who you are amongst your non-Christian mates – don’t shrink back like the Atom. Stand up for your faith at school. Write about your faith on facebook. Invite mates to youth group even if they laugh at you. Because Jesus doesn’t want facebook fans, he wants committed followers. He doesn’t want people to click the ‘become a fan’ button, he wants us to deny ourselves, take up our cross – be willing to get hurt for him, and follow him.

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while,

"He who is coming will come and will not delay.

But my righteous one will live by faith.
And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." (Hebrews 10:19-39)

Article written by Matt Jacobs (fervr.net)

Treasure your parents before it's too late by Dr. Chris Anthony

It is better to give them a little now than to give them the world when they are gone

The world is full of sons and daughters like you and me

I had a marvelous mother, who loved me, sacrificed for me and helped me in every way possible.


In all of my growing up from childhood through school and eventually marriage, my mother was always at my side.


And when I needed help with my little ones, she was there for me.


A few years ago, we buried this wonderful woman. Can you imagine how I felt when I returned home and


Found poem in her drawer written by my mom.


The time is now
If you are ever going to love
Love me now while I can know
The sweet and tender feelings
Which from true affection flow


Love me now while I am living
Do not wait until I am gone
And then have it chiseled in marble
Sweet words on ice-cold stone


If you have tender thoughts of me
Please let me know now
If you wait until I am sleeping
There will be death between us
And I will not hear you then


So if you love me, even a little bit
Let me know while I am living
So that I can treasure it


Your loving mum




Now she is gone and I am sick with guilt because I never told her what she meant to me. Worse yet, I did not treat her as she deserved to be treated. I found time for everyone and everything else but I never made time for her.


It would have been easy to drop in for a cup of tea and a hug but my friends came first.




Would any of them have done for me what my mother did? I know the answer.

When I called mom on the phone, I was always in a hurry.


I feel ashamed when I think of the times I cut her off, the times I retorted back to her,


The times I glared at her in an angry mood when she wanted to correct me and guide me through the correct path.


I remember too, the times I could have included her in a trip out and did not.


My children loved Grandma from the times they were babies. They often turn to her for comfort and advice.
She understood them.


I realize now that I was too critical, too short-tempered, too stingy with praise.


Grandma gave them unconditional love.


The world is filled with sons, daughters and a child like me. I hope they see themselves in this letter and realise from it.
Reflections
This story highlights that we must do whatever we can when our parents are alive to appreciate what we say or do, however little that may be.

Very often we are willing to spend thousands to give them a grand funeral with the most elaborate preparations and expensive coffins and so on. We are willing have memorials without fail year after year. We give alms in memory of our late parents but we could not afford to spend some time with them when they were with us before their death. We were too busy with our lives.


How much do we treasure our parents? They may not be perfect but it is undeniable that they deserve more than what we are doing for them now.


We may be cruel to them or we may even be criminals but to our parents we are still good children and they continue to justify why have become bad. They blame everybody else for their children being bad except them as they believe their children cannot have gone bad by themselves.


Nobody in the world does that. Many will flock to us when we are in a position to give but none when we are down and out. Our parents are the only ones who will be there with us and for us whether we are good or bad, up or down till their last breaths.

Let us search our hearts to see where we have placed our parents in it. If they are not in our hearts it is time to make a place for them there now. If they already there as in many of us, it is time to give them a little more. Let us not do something or fail to do it that we will regret later as it will be too late.

Xposed Camp 2011!

Calling all teenagers age 13-19 years old!

AYC is organising a teens camp just for

YOU!

When?

18th-20th March 2011 (School Semester Break)

Where?

St. Columba's Primary School

Fee?

RM25.00

What XPOSED CAMP is all about?

Life as a teen can be challenging. EXPOSED camp is about developing and shaping one’s character according to the likeness of God and family. The Bible clearly stated in both 1 Samuel 2:26 and Luke 2:52, Samuel and Our Lord Jesus' lives are a great example of growing in faith and are able to overcome any troubles and doubts in their lives.

What will the teens gain from this camp?
At the end of this camp, we expect all participants to understand and to face challenges in their life development of maturity in faith and in their life as Christian witnesses.

Why parents should encourage their children to join XPOSED CAMP?

Teens are at the stage of exploring. They are eager and curious to know everything especially in knowing their faith and having that believe that they hold on from their Christian families. Therefore, this is the chance for them to learn and be EXPOSED. We also believe that this camp is a great opportunity to make their school holiday special!

Note:

We will be opening a registration booth at the entrance of the school hall before & after Sunday Services. :)

For more details:

Email: anglican.youthcouncil@gmail.com

Call: Timothy at 019-847 2569

Time for Funbowl!

We had a fun time playing bowling at Megalanes, Bintang Plaza on 15 February 2011. There were about 30+ young adults who came to join in the fun. Even Ven. Solomon & Revd. Alfred played too! Little did they know that the bowling game that they're gonna play is somewhat altered or rather a creative improvisation of the usual game. This altered version is called "The AYC Funbowl" hehe. Here are some pictures which were taken on that day. We had 10 teams with pretty interesting names i.e. Bagak, Harimau Malaya, Mayat Hidup, competing against each other.

 Jangan pandang belakang

 Take a bow

 Busy bowlers

 Sit & bowl

Focus...focuss...

Hmm...a strike or masuk longkang, Shirley?

Steady, aim...bowl (rather roll)!

After the bowl, it was time for some refreshments, prize giving, mingling and photo sessions. 

We do hope that by having this sort of event, we would get more young adults to be introduced and get involve in the youth ministry! :)

Til next time, God bless all.