Mental Health Resources for Parents/Caregivers
Mental health of young people is a key concern for Singapore with recent events throwing a spotlight on it. For this #SaturdayGoodRead, EAST News reproduces a set of resources originally compiled for parents of youths at Grace Baptist Church (GBC). We thank Ms Hannah Yeo of the GBC Youth Ministry for graciously allowing us to do so. May it be a timely and useful resource for parents or caregivers to engage in ongoing conversations with their teenagers, not only for those who have signs of mental health challenges.
According to the Straits Times, “more than half of the young people polled by the National Youth Council [NYC] in the second half of 2020 said that mental well-being was a challenge for them, with some citing anxiety over the future, stress over finances, and worries about academic or work performance.” Even before the onset of COVID-19, mental health for youths was an issue flagged by NYC (see its April 2019 issue of Y+).
Tsubasa@Tokyo 2020: Failure & Faith
Tsubasa: A Manga on the Failure and Faith of Christian Athletes
The newly released manga, Tsubasa: Searching for Wings, has been providentially timed for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympic Games season. Many athletes will be able to identify with the characters in the manga – seeking success and significance, fame and glory in winning (tsubasa is wings). Ultimately, however, one’s true joy can only be found in knowing Jesus Christ as the Saviour and realising one’s identity as God’s beloved.
The manga is based on a story of Reina, a reporter who is herself once a figure skating competitor who had to retire due to an ankle injury in her younger days. She had to interview three real life Christian Olympians and “research key to mental toughness” among these athletes – Brazil’s Paralympian Daniel Dias, American Sprinter and Bobsledder Lauryn Williams, and Japanese Taekwondo Athlete Yoriko Okamoto.
Famous Last Words on Good Friday
For this #SaturdayGoodRead, EAST News is republishing a post from Dr Alex Tang’s blog titled “Famous Last Words on Good Friday” as we are entering the Holy Week. Dr Tang examines the last seven sentences Jesus uttered on the cross and the significance of His last words for us as His followers.
Sermon Statement
Jesus’ famous last words revealed who he is and what he had done for us – God incarnate and the penal substitution for our sins
Lessons from Ravi Zacharias’ life
Merely eight months ago, the Christian world was giving Dr Ravi Zacharias a warm send-off at his funeral in May 2020. He was recognised as a well-respected apologist and hailed as the C.S. Lewis of our day. Fast forward eight months later to February 2021, Ravi Zacharias International Ministry (RZIM), the organisation founded by the namesake, accepted an independent investigative report that concluded there were numerous sexual abuses by the late founder involving a number of women over a substantial period of time. This is grievous news to many and a release for those who have been victims. We are thus providing a few resources gleaned globally and locally in response to the scandal.
Love Your Neighbour
Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ~ Matthew 22:37-39, ESV
In “Wanna do outreach? Let’s first talk about love,” Pastor Jeff Chong of Hope Singapore Church said, “Our neighbours are anyone that we encounter; that God has brought into our sphere of influences. Everyone is our neighbour.”
Thus if Christ’s commandment is to love God and love people (see the verses above), then it has to be ongoing acts of love toward others especially our neighbours located around us.
EAST Library Catalogue
EAST Populi
National Library Board eResources
The Digital Theological Library
