Lydia Lee
From Lyccwiki
- LYDIA LEE
- Singapore Youth For Christ
Lydia Lee first came to Melbourne as a student, graduated in Media studies at RMIT, and upon graduation immediately went into full time work with Youth For Christ Singapore in July 2004.
She works with 4 other staff in the Media Ministry of Singapore Youth For Christ. Currently, the main projects under my charge is Project Serve (A holiday program for Christians) to mobilise them to do the work of youth evangelism. Doing much video work, producing videos that tell other people about their work as well as upcoming events they have.
You could take a look at what Lydia and her team did last Project serve at http://www.syfc.org.sg/ministries/media/mediaserve/index.htm You would be able to see some photos and even a sample of the video the students produced! For more about the ministry in Singapore Youth For Christ, do visit at http://www.syfc.org.sg
Singapore Youth for Christ 
Singapore Youth For Christ started its youth outreach work in 1957. Since then, SYFC has made His message relevant and known to the different generations of youths. SYFC will continue to be true to the task of bringing the life changing gospel to more and more young people
Contents |
Letters
Feb09
Wed, 18 Feb 2009
Dear friends,
I pray this letter finds you well! Attached is my update for February. It reflects a little of what I have learnt through this "month of love" where there is so much talk about Valentines and what love really is.
Thank you in advance for reading and praying along with me :)
When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. ~Hosea 1: 2- 3
This absurd story of the man of God being commanded to marry an adulteress would shock all the ideal lovers simmering in mood of love this February. I am sure no one would consider this story romantic and definitely not want their stories to be in any way similar. Yet, if we look past the candle- light dinners and expensive roses, the pink balloons and butterfly kisses, we will be awed by a greater love that God has shown through the life of Hosea. The Lord said to me (Hosea), “Go, show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” ~Hosea 3: 1 There is an astounding lesson God wants all in Israel to learn and for all who will read this account thousands of years later, to understand. It took unspeakable patience and courage to forgive and love an unfaithful spouse, as Hosea did. But for God to forgive an unfaithful and sinful people He created, to love them though they kept despising His grace and goodness till He was finally nailed to the cross, this is truly divine.
Recently, I had the pleasure of hearing a songwriter and bible teacher, Michael Card, teach and perform live. Most people know him as the songwriter of El-Shaddai but that night, he captured my attention with another song entitled Song of Gomer. When he was singing this song, a friend beside me commented that it was unusual for people to write a song for Gomer. It should be a song for Hosea! After all, it was him who suffered the unfaithfulness of his spouse! But as I thought about it, I realized why Michael Card should sing about her. Gomer was us; Gomer represented us. The words of the song brought tears to my eyes, especially the line that sings, “Hosea, you’re a fool”. In the eyes of man, Hosea is a fool. In fact, many will even think God is a fool to love a people who do not reciprocate His love. But it is exactly because of this, that it becomes imperative that God show His love- a love unparallel by any person or divine personality created by man’s imagination. He had to seek us. We would not and could not seek Him. “And though time and time again I flee, I’m always glad to see you coming after me.”
This February, SYFC hosts our annual Garage event with the theme of Love. Pray with us that through music, multi-media presentations and drama, we can usher in the message about God’s divine love to man. Lined up this year for SYFC is a series of mega-events. I entreat your prayers that as a staff team, we will remember our service to be an expression of our love and gratitude to God, that we will serve joyfully despite the obstacles and work load. Please pray that our love for God will be overflowing, that all who witness our service may see the God of Love alive in us!
Jan09
Sun, 18 Jan 2009
As promised, attached is my first update of 2009! In it, I share two very encouraging testimonies. I pray that it will encourage you too as to how you have been a part of youth evangelism in Singapore! :) While I am encouraged by God's work in individuals, I am also encouraged by your faithfulness in prayer and giving to this work. AS the recession hits us globally, we as a whole are in more ways than 1, stretched in exercising our faith in God, to provide as He has been all along :) So i really thank God for you, that you are still so faithful in your support! :)
Last year in my church, we had a series on Church history. I was particularly inspired by the history of the Puritans and pilgrims, who were scattered because of persecution. As they settled down in foreign lands, a very famous motto of the pilgrims then was "A City On A Hill"- where they sought to build a godly community where they will shine for Jesus Christ and stand for truth; they will be a city on a hill which cannot be hidden (from Matthew 5: 14).
And in light of this, I pray that the Lord will continue to use LSCC to be a light for Him in Melbourne, reaching out to non-Christians and being a haven for Christians locally and from overseas :) Do keep me in touch and let me know regularly how I may keep you all in prayers too :)
His Servant by His Grace, Lydia
---
Dear Friends of LSCC, A year ago, at this same time, I met 2 girls during our annual Project Serve Program. One (A) was an A-leaver (18 years old), a fresh face to the ministry of SYFC. The other (B) was an O’leaver (16 years old), a Christian student I have been following-up with for the last 2 years. They were both new in experience to Christian ministry and also still searching with regards to the convictions of their own Christian faith. They joined us for a 3 months program and afterwards, went on to pursue their tertiary education locally, one in a Polytechnic and another in a university. I still keep in touch with them and recently, over a dinner, I had the privilege of hearing them share about the continuous work of God in their lives after Project Serve.
A is now actively serving in her church’s Children and Youth ministry. She contacts me occasionally to ask me for samples that would help her run the outreach events she organizes for them. Recently, she organized an evangelistic Captain’s Ball event and used one of our evangelistic videos to share the gospel. And the last I heard, she conceptualized and produced a drama during the Christmas period, engaging her church’s children to put up a very interesting production heralding the Christmas story. Each time I hear A share about what she is doing in church, there is so much excitement and initiative exuded from her that I cannot but praise God for what He is doing in and through her life! When I first met A, she was one who had many ideals and pursuits in life. One of my concerns for her was that she would be easily distracted by these pursuits and give up serving God. But through her time in Project Serve, God had arrested her heart for His own purpose and ignited a passion within her to want to serve Him and His people. Her parents and the people in her church had testified to her change of heart and life. This year, she will be leading her youth group and personally take care of a group of 13 year-olds in her youth group.
- Rejoice with me, that through time, in His own leading, God has turned a heart around.
B is now taking more responsibilities in church. She has been leading some youths in the Media Ministry in her
church. Being part of the youth group committee also, she has been influential to its plans and direction. Recently,
she shared about the concerns she had for her youth group, particularly after a youth camp.
During the youth camp, she was disturbed by some inconsistencies she observed. While the camp committee planned
some structured games to highlight biblical truths, the links between the games and the truths were not clear. At one
point, the game caused some youths to struggle and become confused over what was right and wrong. B was very upset
at the inconsistency and refused to play the game. Afterwards, she insisted upon the committee to clearly explain their
rationale to the youths. She also took courage in approaching the camp in-charge to state her stand as to why the game
should have been scrapped.
I was encouraged by B’s strong stand for truth, for right and wrong. Standing against her friends and committee was not
an easy task. This was the first time I heard her speak so firmly against an action and even to take a stand against it. I am
encouraged to hear how the Lord has sharpened her senses and made her more sensitive to His truth. I also thank God for
giving her the courage to speak the truth and attempt to make rectifications where inconsistencies exist.
- Rejoice with me, that through time, God has attuned her mind to His truth.
2009 began with a blast, with close to 50 youths joining our current Project Serve Program. I am personally supervising another two 16-year old girls, G and M. While the time and energy demanded in engaging and equipping the students for evangelism drains me, I am reminded by the Lord, through His Word and through the testimonies He lets me witness, that this is a work worth expending my energy for. I thank God that I can step into another year with you supporting me.
- Please pray for and with me that the Lord who can transform hearts and minds, will be pleased to use me and the staff team in SYFC, to continue to impact youths for Christ.
- Let us pray that the youths who come through Project Serve will find their time meaningfully spent and that they may be challenged to continue serving Him beyond Project Serve.
Nov08
Apologies that my November update is late... Coming up in December is Christmas and we are having a huge mobilisation campaign, mobilising 600 Christian youths to be out on Orchard road the Christmas week, to be sharing the Christmas story to youths on the street. By far, more than 500 youths are joining us on this campaign. It really is something to thank God for and an exciting time! However, do keep us in SYFC in prayer that we will not be overwhelmed by the work and administrative details but rather, concentrate on letting Christmas be all about Christ and channeling our energy to impact the lives of the youths we meet.
---
When one reads the Christmas account in Matthew 2, one will not miss the repeated phrase, “Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet…” It is clear that Christmas is not just about the birth of an extraordinary baby. Christmas is about a Promise fulfilled- one that only God can fulfill and which He did. By this Promise, God altered mankind’s history. By this Promise, God proved Himself unique and the only Saviour for the world. The first Christmas was truly a magnificent event! The teacher at our recent Camp Praxis taught, “If Christ did not come, the best God could say then is, ‘I tried to save you…’” But Christ has come and on the cross, He cried, “It is finished.” God did His part and man is without excuse. I had thought the account in Matthew 2 is a familiar one to all Christians, especially if they had grown up in church. However, I was surprised when I first encountered a group of 6 secondary school students who joined us for our Nov-Dec holiday program (Media Project Serve), that they had never read this passage of Scriptures! They did not know about Bethlehem, the manger nor the wise men and the star! They found the names vaguely familiar but they never thought they were from the bible! It is probable that they had heard the Christmas account being preached on and sung carols about it but never consulted Scriptures to affirm what they were hearing or singing about. How then is this Christmas account different from myths of Santa Claus and Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer? Of course, the important thing is not ‘how come they do not know’. The critical thing is that one learns and now knows so one’s life may be aligned to Scriptural truths and can form convictions of his/her own and not borrow from someone else. This holiday, we are running 2 programs to help ground Christian students to the bible as well as equip them to share the gospel this Christmas.
- Media Project Serve
- Media Project Serve began in November and we have a regular group of 6 secondary school students joining us every week. Our task is to design a pair of papercraft shoes which we can use to share the Christmas story. In the course of designing, the students are also learning for themselves what the Christmas account really is and the significance of Christ’s birth to their present lives. Some of them really struggle with reading the bible because they haven’t been reading and do not like reading in the first place. But over the past one month, the discipline to read the bible has set in and they are slowly picking up the habit of doing quiet time during our program.
- Camp Pr'xis
- In this Christian camp, we looked at different passages from the book of Acts to study how the apostles preached and defended the Christian faith. Students also went through a structural experience on having to preach and defend the faith to different groups of people- the false prophet, the non-Christians who ask difficult questions like, ‘How do you know the bible is true?’ and Christians who do not think sharing the gospel is important. While the people they met were merely acting, the students’ struggle in giving a defense has given them much to think about with regards to how much they really believe in and understand their faith.
- At the end of the camp, students were challenged to commit to searching the Scriptures more diligently and to be found sharing the gospel to youths this Christmas.
As I recount, I am reminded by the Lord of exactly why I responded to full-time ministry. The need for both non-Christians and Christians to hear the gospel is still very vital. In such times of godlessness and apathy towards man’s spiritual needs, Christians need to rise up to know, to defend and to share the faith. Please pray with me as I continue in the task of teaching and guiding youths to the truth. And in the midst of doing so, please also pray for me that I will stay close in my walk with my Lord and Saviour, that my faith first is firm and my relationship with Christ, genuine.
