Dr Lewis Winkler: Summative Project Reflection
Graduand Athem being prayed for (April, 2025)
Below is a short reflection by Dr Lewis Winkler about what the graduating cohort had experienced at EAST:
The Summative Project gives graduating students the opportunity to reflect upon and share about what God has taught, wrought, and accomplished in and through them during the course of their studies at EAST.
This year, students shared what they learned about the Bible, including how to more accurately understand it and appreciate the original languages, how to creatively apply it with sensitivity and wisdom within their cultural contexts, and how to communicate it to others with clarity, relevance, and passion. They also shared how they learned to plan and lead more strategically in the ministries to which God has called them.
Another very formative aspect many mentioned was the cross-cultural experiences they enjoyed both in Singapore and abroad on ministry weekends and overseas internships. Mentoring groups of faculty and students provided a relational context to become close friends with people from many different cultures and countries, helping them to learn how to resolve conflicts and relate to and love people very different from themselves.
Building Bridges to Different Faiths Workshop
Join EAST resident faculty Dr Alvin Tey for his sessions on building bridges with those of different faiths. Besides the teaching portion, it also includes Q&A time with a panel of experienced ministry practitioners. This series of #GO Equipping Workshop is free to attend and organised by Cru Singapore.
The next and final one is on 10 April 2025 and explores Catholicism and Islam. Free registration up to the deadline of 7 April (or when full house whichever is earlier). Hurry, do sign-up as there are few places left!
The Cross Brings Peace
The cross is the symbol of Christianity.
The cross is displayed prominently on almost every church. Christians often wear it and display it in their homes and when you see the cross you assume that it signifies something Christian. What exactly does this Christian symbol mean though? Most people recognize that the cross looks backward to the death and resurrection of Jesus. While there are many aspects of the cross and Jesus’ work on the cross, one of the major things that the cross means for Christians is peace. The cross brings peace into the lives of all believers. This may come across as a strange thing, because the cross was originally an ugly instrument on which men were hung to die. Yet today, for the Christian, this former instrument of death and torture means peace.
Peace is something that we all need. We have only to look at the news to recognize that our world is constantly in a state of strife. Nations are fighting against one another, men and women are scheming to defraud each other, many things are not as they should be. We do not even need to look beyond ourselves to recognize this: each of us has an inward sense that things are not quite right. We cannot control ourselves. Even at our best, we are still lacking. We have a sense that things should be better than they are.
Inter College Games 2025
On 7 March 2025, five seminaries came together for Inter College Games 2025 (ICG). It began with a time of worship at Ang Mo Kio Methodist Church before moving over to Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park for a series of friendly but still competitive events. These included sporting events like mass relay, captain’s ball, football, scavenger hunt (Bible quiz), Chinese chess and international chess, and board games like Unlock (table top version of Escape Rooms). This year, EAST snagged the top prizes for Captain’s Ball and Relay Team and cheered our hearts out. We are thankful for the EAST Student Council who organised the Games with the support of Student Councils from the other four participating seminaries: Baptist Theological Seminary (BTS), Discipleship Training Centre (DTC), Singapore Bible College (SBC), and Trinity Theological College (TTC).
Below are two student reflections from Tan Jing Fei who participated in the Captain’s Ball game and Pang Xin Xian, as a member of EAST Student Council, who helped to organise the games.
In Memory of Alumna Lim-Bay Wan Jee
In Memory of Lim-Bay Wan Jee (1973-2025), EAST Alumna 2007, MDiv ICS
On 8 March 2025, EAST Community lost one of our best and brightest students who graduated in 2007 with a Master of Divinity in Intercultural Studies – Bay Wan Jee. The Lord has called her home. All who know her and have been touched by her gentleness and warmth will cherish our memories with her in our hearts. She graduated from EAST with an Academic Excellence Award, earned by those who are top of their MDiv cohort academically. Wan Jee has also served as a missionary with Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) for 15 years after her graduation from EAST. Her ministry was with the elderly in Japan. But when she was undergoing cancer herself and had to go through pain, hers was also a ministry of pain among cancer patients whom she could relate to and empathise with.
Wan Jee married later in life with Siah Chuan on 31 December 2021 and though the Lord had only granted them over three years together, they loved each other deeply. Below is Siah Chuan’s heartfelt tribute of Wan Jee:
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