ANNUAL MINISTRY REPORT 2023
Go Team
GO TEAM
The Go Team multiplies disciples by mobilizing the church to go as we serve and witness in both Woodlands outreach and world mission.
left to right: Joel Seah, Ps Jimmy Won, Ps Lim Kee Oon, Khoo Hern Ern (Erny), Rev Edward Chau
Who we are
Team Head: Lim Kee Oon
Staff & Ministries: Erny Khoo (Church Outreach); Joel Seah (WSC Outreach); Edward Chau (Boys’ Brigade); Jimmy Won (Missions)
What we did
2023 kicked off with Little Olive Tree (LOT Woodlands) opening its doors to its first batch of children. Friends of LOT, affectionately known as FLOT, is a group of WEFCers committed to reaching our LOT children and their families for Christ. Each Friday, the storytelling team led worship at assembly and shared God’s truths through stories and activities. Others in the FLOT team organised family events like our first LOT Fun Day held in June. The work was covered with much prayer!
LOT Fun Day on 24 June 2023
Through three runs of Christianity Explored in 2023, we saw 45 WEFCers bring 17 guests. We praise God for those who received Christ and subsequently got plugged into Life Change Groups. We pray that many others will see Christ through the almost 700 copies of Ordinary People, Extraordinary God given to family and friends at Christmas. We are still working towards having personal evangelism as an integral part of the discipleship of every WEFCer.
Wanting to start small and grow deep, an Outreach Core of mostly young adults was formed in September2023. The vision for this team is to be biblically grounded in the evangelism mandate and live out the gospel call in our own lives so we can say to the church, “Follow us as we follow Christ”. We are convicted that evangelism in WEFC must be Spirit-inspired and people-driven.
The Outreach Core Team at Our First Meeting (Missing: Li Yee and Nicole)
Missions:
Although we were still short of our goal of one mission trip per member in 2023, we were able to witness significant numbers of members either going, considering or committing to go for a mission trip.
In early 2023, WEFCers Veon Lim and Kim Chong responded to God’s call for an OLOY (One Year One Life) Program in Timor Leste, which included a recce trip in March, Prayer Summit in April and a stint of four months (June-October) in Maubisse, Ainaro. SAWA Mission conference onsite was relaunched in March, attended by more than 120 participants! Our members supported the registration process and led worship during the conference sessions to encourage workers in the field.
Kim, Veon and Ps Jimmy with fellow Singaporeans during the Love Timor Prayer Summit
Kim and Veon visiting a local ministry in Dili, Timor Leste
April was a busy month! In April, we sent Titus and Ginny Lau to Kurdistan for a year with Habibi International. Ps Ho and a team from the Chinese congregataionconducted a Chinese Alpha program for Meiting Church in Hanoi (12-18 April),and Jason and Jess Lim did an exploratory trip to Japan (14-27 April) and have proposed a partnership with a local church in Minamata for outreach to children, youths and the elderly.
In August, a team including the Lee family (Guan Wen, Rachel, Esther and Estel) visited Maubisse. God willing, the Lee family will begin long term missions in Timor Leste this year. Another team from the Chinese congregation visited Bac Ninh in Vietnam (6-10 October) and partnered with Meiting Church to do diaspora work among the migrant workers there, and a youth team visited Sawa@PhangNga (18-22 Dec) to touch base with Sawa workers and support them in outreach.
Prayer walking with the Renovar Staff at the new land.
Apart from these trips, three WEFC members completed the Kairos Mission Program (Guan Wen, Samuel and Kaitlin). Leslie Tsen, Samuel and Kaitlin went another mile to qualify as facilitators of Kairos program. Praise God!
Vietnam Mission team, 12-18 April 2023
Woodlands Social Centre (WSC) Community Outreach:
2023 was a year that Woodlands Social Centre was able to demonstrate its mission of Blessing Families in Woodlands through transformational community services. As WSC moved towards engaging the community through community dinners, many volunteers and families in the community were able to meet and build relationships with one another. Through the sharing of experiences and life stories, deeper relationships were forged with the community in Woodlands.
Over 135 families and guests from the neighbourhood came for our WSC Christmas Carnival on 2 Dec 2023
Our partnership with WEFC was significant in allowing us to demonstrate the unconditional love of God through the quarterly community dinners. Without the volunteers and their willingness to connect with the community these platforms would not be as successful as they are today.
Through the Academics Support Programme (ASP), volunteers helped children and youth in need of academic support. Through this weekly engagement, children that were usually unengaged and unsupported were able to meet and connect with positive role models, improve in their academics, and make new friends.
Boys’ Brigade:
This year the 44th BB Company achieved another overall Gold Award. Other than the requirements and awards for each Boy in the company, we ensuredthat Christian Education sessions were conducted in every Parade (weekly meeting). In August, the Boys organized a BB Cares event with our WSC clients, bringing them to Bird Paradise. Presently we have only nine Boys left because we have not had any recruitment for three years due to the intended merger of Fuchun Secondary School with Woodlands Ring Secondary. We are still waiting for the leadership’s decision on whether the 44th Company will continue in the new school.
Bringing our WSC clients to Bird Paradise
Where we are going
In the next five years, our God-given dream is for WEFC to welcome 200 new believers into the Kingdom. We pray that part of this dream will be realized through the following initiatives:
- Storytelling at LOT and the Mums-in-Prayer group beginning in January 2024
- WSC's dedicated shift towards more community-focused and child-friendly engagement to serve young families
- Passionate involvement of WEFC members in short-term mission trips.
This cannot just be about the programs organized by the church and WSC, but more significantly, we desire to see each of us at WEFC wholeheartedly living out a life of personal evangelism. The Go Team’s efforts seek to equip the church and provide platforms to facilitate personal outreach and evangelism. We pray for the joy and privilege of seeing lives transformed as we continue to work diligently, with our hands firmly on the plough.
May God give us the joy of witnessing His harvest!
ANNUAL MINISTRY REPORT 2023
Go Team