Alumna Debbie Tan Serving in Spain

 

In 2014, Alumna Debbie Tan graduated with a Graduate Diploma in Biblical Studies and now resides in Costa del Sol, a “comarca” (county) in southern Spain. She is involved in running a weekly Spanish bible study group for about six people. Additionally, she has reached out to a gentleman named Jim in his seventies who had relocated to the UK due to his wife’s infirmities. She supports him and his wife by holding a Wednesday bible study with Jim and a few friends.

In recent weeks, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused more people to be susceptible to depression and suicidal tendencies. Debbie and two friends, Martina and Joseane, a Belgium and Brazilian respectively, got together to initiate a ministry named Girasol. Girasol is a project of Grupo Vida that seeks to bring suicide awareness and prevention to their community.

One of their approaches in reaching out to their community is having a coffee and chat corner where people who walk into their corner can open up to chat and jot down something good that happened to them within the week and pop it into a Thanksgiving bottle of “recuerdos” (memory). Come year end or Thanksgiving, these recuerdos will be read out and the community will remember how they have been blessed.

It is truly a blessing that Debbie is able to minister in different ways as she does now being a cancer survivor from Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer since 2017.

On Tuesday mornings, Debbie also runs an online multicultural Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) group, called Espanol BSF, reaching out to sisters-in-Christ living in Spain and internationally. They hail from ten different nations: Australia, New Zealand, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Myanmar, Portugal, Berlin, Malaysia, Singapore and Spain itself.

The training she had received at EAST has enabled Debbie to minister and serve the Lord effectively in a multicultural setting. If you are considering a short stint in theological studies, why not take up a Graduate Diploma course at EAST like what Debbie has done to help you be more effective in your ministry? Feel free to enquire at admissions@east.edu.sg.