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Foochow MC blesses 4,000 in Christmas outreach

Tamil Ministry members from Foochow Methodist Church reenacting the Christmas story. – Foochow Methodist Church picture.

Mr Sivakumar (left) being interviewed spontaneously by the emcee, Mr Saravanan Ayyavoo. – Foochow Methodist Church picture.

By Raja Thomas

 

FOOCHOW METHODIST CHURCH (FMC) members held an outreach event for migrant workers at the open field beside Racecourse Road opposite their church, on Dec 16 last year.

 

As church members saw multitudes of migrant workers at our doorstep week after week, the Lord helped us to have compassion on them because they were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a Shepherd” (Matt 9:36). Our pastors and leaders led the church in making a decision to bless these people.

 

The main idea was to bless them without any other motive, so we prepared 5,000 goody bags with things such as lunch boxes, noodle packets, biscuits and tracts. In the bag, we printed a Scripture verse, “You are blessed” (Psalm 115:15), as that was our aim.

 

It was an amazing experience of how God’s people worked together for this special task, as the whole church came together in prayer and support.

 

Their support was not only through prayer and financial means, for they physically got into action for this event – about 200 volunteers from the Foochow, Mandarin and English congregations were on the ground together with 130 members from the Tamil Ministry to help in various areas of the event. “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.” (Matt 25:40)

 

The Rev Dr Daniel Lee Kok Pheng, Pastor-in-Charge of FMC, said: “God will not forsake His people. He knows what is best for His people. FMC members will come in full force to help when there is a need. It is a good testimony to see all the four congregations working together as a big family. Our distractors and demons were defeated when they tried to disrupt God’s work. God’s presence was real to all who came, including prebelievers.”

 

We experienced God’s mighty power, as we were in the midst of a rainy season, but the rain stopped just in time and the weather was fine throughout the event. We distributed more than 4,400 goody bags and there was a crowd who stayed for the programme, as well as many passers-by.

 

The Scripture verse that came to my mind that night was: “Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.” (Eccl 11:1) We were assured that through the event, they all had a chance to hear that the Saviour was born on Christmas, and that one day they would accept Him personally. We will continue to pray for the harvest.

 

Our event programme clearly communicated the birth of Jesus through the contextualised songs, skits and dances. Our Tamil Ministry members did a wonderful job, and we are grateful to Pastor Jonathan Suppaya and members from Jesus Lives Church who partnered with us in the performances.

 

The emcee, Mr Saravanan Ayyavoo, a MediaCorp artiste, did a surprise interview with one of the performers, our Tamil Ministry member Mr Sivakumar. This gave Mr Sivakumar the opportunity to spontaneously share his testimony about how he came to know the Lord and about the changes in his life. Praise God for the unexpected opportunity!

 

Ms Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State for Law and Education and our Guest of Honour, assured the crowd that we were there to show our love to them. Surely the message of Christ’s coming was communicated to a large number of people this year. We thank God for this meaningful Christmas celebration!

 

Pastor Raja Thomas is Pastor in the Tamil Ministry of Foochow Methodist Church.

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