EAST Homecoming Reunion 2022
Over 120 alumni, faculty, staff and children attended the Homecoming Reunion in celebration of EAST’s 30th anniversary on 18 Nov 2022.
I graduated in 2002 with a Master of Divinity when EAST was at Dorset Road. I remembered fondly my time there: together with school friends, we either had meals at Cambridge market (‘Hokkien mee’ or seafood soup) or at KK Hospital. Upon graduation, I lost contact with EAST and most of my school mates. It was only in 2017, when I joined EAST Alumni Relations Office, I was back in the loop with some alumni. I managed to compile the database of every EAST alumni. But many of the alumni that I have been writing prayer emails to were just names to me. During the pandemic, I got to see some of them during the Alumni Zoom meetings. A week before the Homecoming Reunion, I managed to meet up with some alumni who visited EAST. I was able to meet up with Sufen (Taiwan) after 20 years. I met Baataraa (Mongolia) and Timothy Saw (Myanmar) when they came to visit EAST during the last chapel.
Adjunct Faculty: Cambodia EEC Teaching Reflections
4th November 2022 was a special day for me. Not only it was a day where I took to flying after close to three years of pandemic restriction, it was also the day that EAST Extension Centre (EEC) could conduct classes on location. The class in Cambodia was probably the first to meet face to face since the pandemic.
I was there to teach New Testament Narratives class to a cohort of students taking Master of Arts in Leadership and Graduate Diploma. This cohort started in 2018 and they are mostly Christian workers. There are organisation leaders, church planters, teachers, Crusade staff and even a missionary from Singapore who has been in Cambodia for 19 years. Before the pandemic, EAST sent instructors to Cambodia several times a year to cover the modules necessary for them to complete their programme.
EAST 30th Anniversary Reflections
I graduated from EAST in 2018 with a Master in Divinity where fond memories remain of the campus in 1 Dorset Road. I came to EAST expecting to arm myself with theological training but God had more in mind for me – EAST equipped me to grow in head, heart and hands.
At EAST, learning is imbued in every facet of the student life not only in the class but outside the walls of the classroom. There is emphasis on the application of head knowledge distilled through the heart. I am grateful to the teachers who made every effort to teach with passion and conviction that caused learning to take place. I am blessed to have thoroughly enjoyed every subject in my course. Indeed, EAST plays a significant role in equipping their students to become holistic practitioners in the field.
Last Chapel of 2022
Rev Jacob Li & Mrs Josephine Li emceeing the final chapel as partners in ministry.
The last chapel service of the semester was held on 2 November 2022, concluding the series of chapels on the theme of “Committed to Growing in Christlikeness”. Mrs Josephine Li together with her husband Rev Jacob Li co-emceed the service. They warmly welcomed a few of our alumni who joined us for chapel that day including Bataaraa, a church planter from Mongolia, Ps Timothy Saw from Myanmar, and Mr Chan Kok Meng who is currently serving at Yio Chu Kang Chapel as a church staff. There were also some visitors who could be potential new students at EAST as well. Josie and Jacob started off with an ice-breaker by asking the audience to search for a piece of paper beneath their chairs. Four of them had to share a personal thanksgiving and the most memorable thanksgiving came from Kok Meng, who shared, “I thank God that I could be be married be Diana in 2018!” Everyone cheered as they are both EAST alumni and met while studying at EAST. The four who shared a thanksgiving walked away with an NTUC voucher each! There was much to be thankful for indeed.
EAST Ministry Weekend 2022
Dr Raymond Go and Mr Derek Atkins' Mentoring Group serving at an orphanage at Batam, Indonesia.
The world is entering a new ‘normalcy’ of living with the Covid 19 endemic. Borders restrictions are lifted in most countries and we are seeing a travel ‘revenge’ after battling the Covid 19 pandemic the past three years. The Office of Mentoring at EAST, which used to send Mentoring Groups (MG) for weekend mission trips, decided that by faith, they will start these trips again. Six MGs were divided into five teams and they were sent to Medan, Batam, & Jakarta in Indonesia, Chiang Rai in Thailand and Sarawak in East Malaysia during the Sept 16 – 19 weekend. These trips aimed to help each group to learn precious lessons in “classroom without walls” settings – bonding with each other, serving together, enhancing the faculty mentors’ and students’ spiritual formation in their lives, relationships, service, and reflection of their walk with God.
EAST Library Catalogue
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