Trackers is a discipleship programme by TRAC Youth Ministries for youths aged between 17 and 25 in transition between stages of their lives to the next, e.g. finishing ‘O’ or ‘A’ Levels, National Service or diploma studies. The three-month programme takes place from January to March each year. It consists of three phases: a Training Phase; a Mission Trip Phase; and a Local Outreach Phase.
A typical Trackers day starts at 9 a.m. with participants gathering to begin the day with Worship, Devotion and Testimony (WDT), which Trackers take turns to lead.
The greatest blessing of the Trackers programme, aside from God’s providence and faithfulness, is definitely the community. Spending every day surrounded by fellow believers who are fervently seeking God is truly an amazing experience. We keep one another grounded and centred on God. We encourage one another on our journey of faith. In the three months, we face highs and lows, and go through thick and thin together. It’s a community that has remained one of the greatest supports in our lives.
Hebrews 12:1 (NIV) aptly sums up the experience: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
9127-0204 (Annabel Ang)
I entered the Trackers programme at a very difficult time in my life. I had just left the army and was grieving for a friend who had passed away suddenly. Trackers was, for me, a journey of healing and renewal, of shedding everything and going back to basic spiritual truths.
It was a journey of surrender, of learning just how little control I have and yet how little I need to worry, for God has supremacy over everything. My fellow Trackers and I saw this each and every day as God’s hand moved and worked among us.
One of the amazing things I witnessed was how God guided the formation of our teams. On the third day, before we could get to know each other well, we were divided into teams according to the countries to which we were assigned for our mission trips. I saw that God placed each one of us in the country and the ministry that really suited us and where we could grow the most.
During the inauguration service of each year’s programme, every incoming Tracker recites a covenant pledge:
I am a Tracker. I am on a journey of faith.
In this journey, I shall learn afresh what it means to deny myself, take up my cross daily and follow Christ.
In the next three months, I shall discipline myself, and submit to the leadership, values and principles of the Trackers programme.
I know that I am not journeying alone. I am mindful that my words and actions can have a lasting impact on my fellow Trackers—for better or for worse.
Therefore, I will generously give of myself to others.
I will rightly represent God’s character.
I will lay down my rights in order to love and serve others.
By God’s grace I shall be a blessing of love, a bridge of peace, a bearer of hope.
I am a Tracker, I am on a journey of faith.
Though Trackers 2017 is over, it is not the end of my journey, nor of the covenant. Trackers is just the start of God’s work in us, the foundation upon which we are fed, will grow and mature, and will emerge better equipped and ready to take on the next stage of our lives with God at the helm. As we say: “Trackers never ends.”
I am a Tracker, I am on a journey of faith. May I grow to be more like Jesus Christ by the end of this journey.
Nathaniel Ng is a student at NUS and was part of Trackers 2017.
Photos courtesy of TRAC Youth Ministries