Mentoring Groups Outreach 2022

Four Mentoring Groups (MGs) got together on the Wednesday morning right after Chinese New Year school break to pack 60 gift bags for the residents of two HDB blocks at Haig Road. The room was filled with excitement and joy as MG leaders and students of these MGs worked in unity preparing for an afternoon of outreach to the community near our school. February is the time of the year for our annual MG Outreach. All MGs at EAST would set aside time to plan and organize outreaches to “love our neighbours” (Mark 12:31). The purposes of MG Outreach are to help MG members take steps to identify felt needs and reach out to our neighbours near and far, and also to provide an opportunity for MG leaders to model and coach the students accordingly.

After preparing the gift bags and going through a short briefing, faculty and students of the four MGs were paired up in twos and went door-to-door at the two HDB blocks to bless the residents with the goodies and show God’s love to them. The residents were very friendly and welcoming. The four MGs were able to bless 60 families with the gift bags, interacted with these residents as our neighbours, and had great spiritual conversations with some of them!

Beyond the EAST neighbourhood, another MG partnered with a church cell group to reach out to a community near their church. The MG members, together with the cell group members and their children, had a great time giving out goodies and interacting with the residents. The church cell group has adopted this community and has been reaching out to the residents there for some time and they will continue to follow through. It was a good partnership in working with an existing outreach ministry and learning from each other.

Going beyond the shore of Singapore, we had an MG outreach event organised with a MG member residing in Nepal. The event was held at an Arise and Shine Youth Centre in Nepal and the rest of the MG members joined the event online. While only expecting 50 youths to turn up, they had an overflowing attendance! There were 80 youths sitting on the floor and standing at the door listening intently. The MG presented two talks, “Who am I” and “What is wrong with this world,” and shared God’s love with them. The youths responded positively to the talks. The MG member located in Nepal and his local team of volunteers are planning to meet up with these youths as a follow through.

Another MG worked with a church in Iloilo City in the Philippines to organize an outreach event with the focus on relationships. The MG worked together on their message and the presentation. They also talked about the most important relationship they have which is with Jesus. They had a meaningful time reaching out to 32 people in the Philippines and working together as a team.

One other online outreach event was organized in partnership with a church in India. The MG focused their sharing on friendship and a member shared how she showed God’s love to her best friend. They shared God’s love in a clear and compelling way to 24 youths and leaders from 4 Indian states with 7 positive responses.

We are so thankful and excited about how God used our MGs to reach out and showed God’s love in Singapore and beyond during the pandemic. Our God is indeed a creative God who opened doors in amazing ways!

The MG Outreach report above was written by Mrs Sophie Lo who is an EAST ministry staff with the Leadership Development and Human Resource department. She is also an EAST Alumna who graduated in 2020 with a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies and recipient of the Spiritual Multiplier Award.