On 7 September 2017, the Bible Society hosted the NextGen seminar Rich Church in a Poor World, with 77 participants representing 50 churches across Singapore. The event focused on how the Church can reach out and help disadvantaged children and youth in various segments of our society.

Mr Joseph Chean, National Director of YWAM Singapore, was the keynote speaker. He spoke on being a “Church without walls”, encouraging participants to look beyond the walls of their church buildings and out into the disadvantaged or forgotten communities around them.

A group of panellists also shared their own ministry experiences and presented ways they have been ministering to young people around them. Vivienne Ng from Home for Good SG shared about fostering experiences and opportunities; Mercy Ho from Tamar Village spoke on nurturing families in the red light district; and Pearly Sim from Faith Methodist Church. shared about ministering to neighbourhood children from a local church context.

Joseph Chean joined Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in 1997 and served in various leadership roles before assuming the role of National Director of YWAM Singapore in 2012. Joseph leads YWAM Singapore, a community of more than 80 missionaries from 16 nations. After three years of listening, prayer, discussion and planning, the Mercy Centre—a part of the ministry of YWAM Singapore—was founded in November 2013 to reach out to the lost and marginalised in our community, based on the mandate in Isaiah 61:1-3. Joseph is married to Kim and has two lovely girls, Olivia and Ashley.

On Thursday, 16 March, 88 participants from 50 churches came to the Bible House to join us for Apologetics for the Goodbye Generation, a special meeting for parents and ministry leaders to discuss how apologetics can be used to minister to the next generation.

Dr Craig Hazen and Dr Clay Jones, who are professors from the Christian apologetics faculty at Biola University, shared perspectives on engaging the ‘Twitter generation’ and on dealing with post-modern worldviews. The two discussed how churches can better engage the next generation by incorporating creative approaches to apologetics into their ministries, such as the use of media and art. They also explained how post-modernism as a worldview does not stand up to critical enquiry.

Ps Marianne Wong, Young Adult and Youth Pastor at Mount Carmel Bible-Presbyterian Church, was the moderator for the extensive Q&A discussion that followed. Sharing from a pastoral perspective, she encouraged parents and ministry leaders to adopt a more holistic view of ministry and relational care, even if a child or youth may be disagreeable and antagonistic towards the faith at some point.

Dr Craig Hazen is the founder and director of the M.A. Program in Christian Apologetics at Biola University and editor of the philosophy journal, Philosophia Christi. He is also the author of the monograph The Village Enlightenment in America, the acclaimed apologetics novel Five Sacred Crossings, and numerous of articles and chapters in various books and journals. He is a recipient of the Fischer Award, the highest faculty honour at Biola, and has lectured across North America and Europe on key apologetics topics.

Dr Clay Jones holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is an Associate Professor in the M.A. Program in Christian Apologetics at Biola University. Formerly, Clay hosted Contend for Truth, a nationally syndicated call-in, talk-radio programme, was the CEO of Simon Greenleaf University (now Trinity Law and Graduate Schools), and was on the pastoral staff of two large churches. Clay is a contributing writer for the Christian Research Journal and specialises in issues related to why God allows evil.