2016 in StAY

I was watching Fr. Robert Barron's Catholicism Series, and among all the interesting things I have learned, one line stood out to me the most:

"You judge a spiritual act by its fruits."

It makes me look back and question the past year of StAY. What have been the fruits of StAY or where have I seen these fruits in 2016?

In FORM
Friends of Refugees Melbourne has undergone a tremendous change in the past year. It has addressed one of the key concerns that have been raised up more than two years ago by one of our former leaders, Andrew. It was about making the focus of FORM more on building relationships with the refugees than providing material aid.
The year 2016 showed itself to be the right time and environment to do this. As FORM coordinated with other organisations with regards to Moving Days, it became obvious that there are already a lot of organisations out there who are also conducting their pwn Moving Days in perhaps a bigger and wider scale.
With this change, we saw the birth of the School Holiday Program, which has focused on building relationships and bringing refugee families together. Home Visits, Detention Centre visits, and the Christmas Hamper Drive still continues.
The fruits of the ministry is not just limited to its activities, but to the people as well. The new leader of FORM, Mario, brought with him a breath of fresh air in one of the oldest and longest ministries of StAY. FORM still continues to bring new faces into StAY, contributing to our growth in numbers. It was also amazing that the ministry did not just cater to the needs of other people, but more importantly, to their own journey and experience through the much-needed retreat that the FORM leaders had last year.

In the Music Ministry
The Music Ministry is sadly one of the existing ministries of StAY that have been "put on the side" by the leaders, if I might say so (and I am guilty of it as well).
I remember the time when there would be a leader or two who would be there helping or singing in the choir. Now, we don't actually have a clear idea who is the leader of the Music Ministry. And it wasn't anyone's fault. Individuals have moved on to other suburbs and even interstate for various reasons.
For me, this is a reflection of one of the issues that have been brought up time and again in StAY: transition of leadership.
First of, we don't really have a method or process in doing so. After all, transition of leadership was never an issues when StAY was "reborn" because there were just very few of us! And with the growth of StAY, we have seen people coming and going, leaders included. There it started to sink in that we cannot do this forever; we have to find a way to pass the "baton". This handover has been brought up meeting after meeting, but there was not a lot that has been done with it.
I, for my part as StAY Leader, am at fault, as I have failed to address the elephant in the room and ask other leaders if they are still willing and capable of leading the ministry or not. It seems like a simple question to ask, but very uncomfortable. With the majority of the leaders shifting focus to the vocation or marriage or not even able to come to Cell Group anymore, the necessity for transition of leadership is becoming a reality and an urgency.
The lack of leadership in the Music Ministry leads to failure of giving credit where it is due. Despite of the lack of leadership, the Music Ministry vividly thrives, thanks to the initiative, willingness, and effort of the few people, who have been consistently raising their hands up and stepping in as the need arises. The Music Ministry has also seen an emergence of fresh faces in the past year, fresh faces who have notably been consistent and committed to the activities of the Music Ministry. It is my hope that 2017 will see new faces stepping up, not just in the Music Ministry, but in StAY as a whole.

In Cell Group
Cell Group was, and remains to be, my "baby". Leading the ministry is one of the highlights of my journey in StAY and is a role I would gladly take up again. Letting go of Cell Group leadership have been a tough journey for me, teaching me to let go, let others take control, and the humility of being a participant instead of decision-maker.
Amazingly, being a participant has allowed me to see as a spectator how the Holy Spirit has moved in the ministry. It's amazing what I hear and witness about other people's journeys, the Holy Spirit is on the move in their lives and situations, even if most of them don't realise it just yet. It's in these individual experiences that I see the fruits of what Cell Group does, how it is an avenue of change and growth.
New faces have come the past year, some have moved on, and some have stayed, regularly coming every Tuesday. Surprisingly, not a lot shares in the open, but they come every week, rain or shine.
The past year has also seen a couple of individuals step up to accept Cell Group responsibilities and some new faces taking the initiative to lead small groups. It is my hope for the new year that Cell Group not only be conducive to fellowship but also to leadership.

The past year has been a shaky ground in terms of leadership in StAY. Our once 7 ministries are down to 3 ministries, due primarily to the fact that there was no transition in leadership, and thus, no one took over and continued the respective ministries. But despite that, the fruits have been seen in the remaining ministries, with its activities and its people. With the fresh faces showing commitment in the existing ministries of StAY, it will be interesting and exciting what StAY will be capable of in 2017.

Patricia Fernando

The end of another year

At the end of each year I feel the need to write a message of reflection as there are many people who have crossed my path and been a part of ministry in St. Augustine’s Melbourne. It has been a while since my last post (I usually write a half year update and missed that) so there’s quite a few changes to share.

St. Augustine’s Young Adults (STAY)
As of half way through the year, I had transferred my leadership of STAY to Pat who had been an amazing leader of STAY cell group through the previous year. It was a move which was necessary more out of capacity rather desire/want to continue as leader. Aaron has continued to support Pat just as he has supported me in leading STAY so she won’t be alone in what is a daunting role/responsibility. I still feel like a leader in STAY despite not being in the position – I think it’s something that might be hard to move from as STAY is so much a part of me as I am a part of STAY.

In blunt honesty, the 2nd half of 2015 has been a struggle for STAY. The continuous level of growth and success of the ministry climaxing with “Redeemed” - a worship/dance/drama production of Stations of the Cross back in Easter left the group wanting and expecting more of God’s grace and power. Instead however, I felt participation slowly wane thereafter. STAY cell group did not grow in numbers as anticipated from the slow but steady flow of new people to the group. Consistency of attendance became more sporadic which made it difficult to build intimacy towards the STAY vision of creating a ‘Sanctuary’ for its members. I think the busyness of life for members and even leaders were taking a toll on STAY – this is also reflected in the numbers of recent posts on our blog...

Friends of Refugees (FORM)
I felt the fall in STAY participation most in the refugee outreach (FORM) which I have continued to lead. In the previous 2 years, STAY members were the backbone of volunteers in FORM visits to refugee families and more demandingly in Moving Days. STAY has however slowly become less of the backbone, with more than half the volunteers coming from outside STAY, from the parish, friends of friends and even Facebook. For such a large group of ~40 people in STAY, the small amount of support FORM received from them, made it feel like it wouldn’t be missed by STAY if it simply shut down and disappeared.

My words are however a discredit to the members from STAY who are actually regular volunteers and who I might have taken for granted at the start, expecting them to be there on a month by month basis or when it suited them. As much as I long for STAY members to be part of / help in outreach for refugees, God has amazingly provided us with sufficient volunteers to support the ministry even though at times it looked like we wouldn’t have enough.
We didn’t do anything new or vastly different, but this year we completed 8 sets of detention centre visits, home visits and Moving Days, the latter of which has grown bigger and better. We also ended the year with a Christmas hamper run to over 130 families, about double the number from the previous year.

This has encouraged a separate group of young Catholics to start a refugee outreach like FORM in the western suburbs. This group had helped with FORM visits/Moving Days prior and with delivering hampers. Another highlight was being able to gather past and present volunteers of FORM for a thank you lunch in August to celebrate 4 years of ministering to refugees.

Personally
I could not continue to lead both STAY and FORM, plus run my life as I had for the previous 3 years, with its larger size and complexities. It was a difficult choice on which one to let go. There are many key functions of FORM (mostly relationships with external stakeholders) that make it difficult to hand over responsibility/leadership to someone else and were probably the main drivers behind my decision to continue to lead FORM. There was also an ‘exodus’ of all the experienced FORM leaders due to their own personal commitments/circumstances which left me with the newer FORM leaders to run the outreach ministry.

It was a busy year and like the year before, I was feeling tired towards the end even though I just had FORM, and not STAY, to lead. Trying to support the other ministries in STAY when the need arose also simply added to the busyness. While it is a relief that the year is over, I was reminded by what I had heard a young priest say amidst the flurry of World Youth Day Sydney preparations several years ago: “that to build the Kindgom of God, we should be this busy outside WYD as well”.

Next year will be an even busier time for me as I plan my upcoming nuptials and as I transition to a new vocation of married life. It looks like my time as a Young Adults leader should change and I will be looking for a leader to take over FORM, preferably in the early part of the year. It makes me nervous to hand everything over as there appears to be intricate parts that are not so easily passed on. It is therefore likely that I will be there for support but with less leading.

Final Words
While I have not been so positive about STAY and its progress, on reflection it still continues to have an impact on all who attend. I can see it in how we pray over the people who have to leave Melbourne, in new members continuing to join the group and in the amount of new vocations taken up by its members such as in leadership, joining a ministry and in marriage. STAY is still like a big tree which has grown very big where the birds can come and rest in its branches and which continues to bear great fruit. Please pray with me that God will continue to bless STAY and all its ministries like FORM can help grow this tree so it can receive more new people (birds) and continue to succeed with love, peace and joy (bear fruit).

Wishing you a most blessed Christmas and a joyful new year.

In His love,

Jack

Redeemed

by Jack Chui

Last year in 2014, Father Victor approached me near the start of Lent to ask if STAY could host a Stations of the Cross evening for the parish. With so many other things I had to do at the time, I asked for volunteers during the next cell group meeting and hand-balled the responsibility over to one of them with an opened ended guideline - Stations of the Cross. What resulted was the combining of the Firebrandz Choir, Firebrandz Dance and every other STAY member not involved to produce an amazing and reflective interpretation of the traditional Stations of the Cross.

In 2015, STAY/Firebrandz aimed not to take Stations to the next level, but to an even higher level with a production quality event of dance, drama and music. They called it 'Redeemed' and it was produced to bring the passion of Christ in a way Melbourne had not seen before. A video will hopefully be posted to help describe the Redeemed event which words won't fully capture. Hosted on the Saturday before Good Friday, I would like to share my take outs.

Nothing happens without leaders

Redeemed started as an idea by Christabel - Firebrandz Dance ministry leader at the start of 2015 and from there had just under 3 months to put on a large scale event which we had never done before. I realise that without her initiative to put forward the idea, her gathering of people and resources and driving the whole project, nothing of such an event would be possible. It made me see as a leader myself with such perspective how important leaders are in getting things done. This doesn't just apply to those 'appointed' as leaders but those who consider themselves the lowest as well in taking the imitative to pray and act. 

Christabel said 'yes' to God and 'yes' to a production Stations of the Cross and with a great vision was able to share it, inspire and encourage others to say 'yes' and for the benefit of the church community and Melbourne, for one night we brought heaven to earth. The Church lacks good leaders especially for youth and Christabel has reminded me how amazing things can happen by just taking initiative. Please keep leaders in prayer as they are so important in bringing God's glory to earth.

Pushed for the best

Aside from the event night itself, the one thing I'll remember was our first full dress rehearsal just over a week before the event after which Christabel told everyone that their dance/drama/music was terrible. I thought it was good/ok with my untrained eye/listening as I was only in small parts and was able to watch most of it but I did not expect such disappointment from Christabel. Lacking life, lacking emotion, timing and synchronisation, remembering moves ... it scared her how bad we were with so little time left and with a lot at stake.

Her straightforwardness was refreshing and required though and it excelled me and the others to practice and go beyond what we thought ourselves was good enough. Too often, I don't think I need to try hard to improve or be better because I'll eventually get there and I'm not that bad at things. But with a week left, Christabel pushed everyone hard to go beyond what we thought was our potential because by doing so, we would give it all for God and His Kingdom such that nothing was held back and so that God was not held back. In doing so God helped us deliver a story that glorifies Him.

Pressure and excitement

Its not often I am challenged or operating well outside my comfort zone. I can barely remember my last acting or performance day back in high school?.. Drama was the first class I dropped for a reason. But I said yes to anything that was needed by Redeemed and so some 'relatively easy' dramas were my performance roles for the evening. Backstage in the sacristy before the event the pressure was like exam nervousness but with a church full of people making sure I wasn't cheating. I hadn't felt so much pressure for what was at stake for a while.

I don't mind pressure because I think I deal with it well, but it brought excitement in what I and the crew could do to bring His passion alive and allow God to speak and be felt to all that watched and performed. I had never done anything like this, maybe watched something similar but it was a delight to be part of something radically different, inspiring and greater than myself. I did what I could not do before and I was happy, not scared because I was doing it for God and His kingdom.

Look at what we've done

From the last words of the movie "The Theory of Everything" (Steven Hawkings autobiographical film which I watched recently). I was reflecting with others how a large scale production involving so many dancers, props, costumes, music, video, lighting, marketing, prayers, choreography, filming would have been possible years earlier when STAY was without Firebrandz. We had not even thought of such dreams or visions before and it had become a reality after a few short years.

While every moment in STAY/Firebrandz is a blessing because of the people that God has gathered in the weeks/days/months before it, the big moments like Redeemed that aren't possible without a lot of people's collaboration was such a clear reminder to me of how we came from very little to be able to do so much. Its another great blessing to be able to witness and be a part of God's work. Like in the movie, it wasn't so much the honour I've received in helping STAY/Firebrandz grow or in being part of a production but the fruit it has borne in others that have come in contact with STAY/Firebrandz.

I am in awe to look at what we've done because it had to have been God who did it through us.

In His Love,

Jack

Sanctuary - A New Vision for STAY

Sanctuary - refuge or safety from pursuit, persecution, or other danger. ~ Google search definition

Sanctuary ~ Dictionary.com

1. a sacred or holy place.
2. Judaism.
• the Biblical tabernacle or the Temple in Jerusalem.
• the holy of holies of these places of worship.
3. an especially holy place in a temple or church.
4. the part of a church around the altar; the chancel.
5. a church or other sacred place where fugitives were formerly entitled to immunity from arrest.
6. immunity afforded by refuge in such a place.
7. any place of refuge; asylum.

Early this year after returning from a busy finish of 2014 with the ministry activity around Christmas, I had an air of tiredness and worry about how STAY/Firebrandz would operate in 2015 in particular around the other leaders. Leaders were going through personal battles, competing commitments, changing lifestyles, lack of motivation, inactivity, overwork, interstate travel ... it seemed to me we did not have much fire anymore.

A year ago, STAY/Firebrandz was doing new and breakthrough activities, starting new ministries and growing to be able to see them bear fruit with the words 'STAY can do anything'... 

It was time for a new vision and a new direction for STAY/Firebrandz but what could it be?

I prayed and thought with the other leaders in STAY/Firebrandz over 2 months and at the last leader's meeting and to help form the vision, I asked each leader where they saw STAY was and should go. Most of the leaders had been in STAY/Firebrandz for at least a year and a half. The sharings that came out had a similar theme, mostly about what drew them to 'stay' at STAY. Similar words around safety, protected, trust and relationships were said often.

From listening to everyone, I was looking for a theme or word which bubbled up towards the end from which I shared at the end as my summary for the group and the word was 'Sanctuary'. It seemed to capture something of what everyone said and while I didn't know the full meaning of the word then, it was something that seemed to inspire thought and and excitement. This turned my tiredness into one of hope, that there was a new aim and direction for STAY/Firebrandz that would help transform the group in something we hope that is closer to what God wants us to be.

I had the fortunate of talking closely with a good friend from overseas while he was over from Singapore for work in Melbourne for 2 months and like me, he was a leader in a similar church young adults group. His group or community was around 15 years old and were undergoing a period of major transition to become more like a covenanted community such was the depth and growth of his group. On a retreat he hosted for myself and a few others, he shared one thing that stuck with me.

It was based on Henri Nouwen's idea of discipleship. Living as a disciple involves 3 disciplines:

1. Solitude
2. Community
3. Ministry

He quotes an example of this in In Luke 6:12-19 where Jesus spends the whole night in prayer, then calls the disciples, and then cures people of unclean spirits and disease. Community flows from Solitude and Ministry flows from Community. This other blog article (written by someone else) summarises the idea well:

http://thismortallife.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/nouwen-on-solitude-community-and.html

The idea struck me because I currently live the disciplines backwards and probably spend most of my time in Ministry. I have structured STAY around ministry and helped build STAY as a ministry. I hardly spend time with the community justifying it by my also busy out of ministry commitments and letting the other leaders with more time fulfill that task. Solitude time is also eaten away by ministry and the administration work which comes with leading STAY and also Friends of Refugees.

So for me, its time to refocus STAY/Firebrandz. Last year we spent our efforts building a ministry and now its time to build a community - to build a sanctuary.

Merry Christmas - The Year of STAY / Friends of Refugees

By Jack Chui

[This post is a bit disjoint because its just some of my raw thoughts blended into a Christmas sharing, plus my inadequate writing skills]

Its becoming tradition that I write a message/letter around this time as gift to all my friends instead of the usual Christmas gift. As a leader of church ministry (STAY and Friends of Refugees) it has a been a busy year in particular towards the end - just have to read some of the entries in the blog to see what's been going on.

The end of year / Christmas season is meant to be a period of wind down, but for ministry it can tend to be the wind up as Christmas is a key church season. The weekly STAY cell groups, organising outreach for Friends of Refugees, STAY retreat, socials and meet ups with other leaders has left me bit tired even weary and looking forward to a break. 

While it looks like the group does too much and has done so throughout the year, it has been a sign of a lot of activity and life (thankfully not all of it driven by me). My tiredness while concerning is a sign that I and others around me have put in a lot of work and given it to their capacity (or even beyond) to build the Kingdom of God on earth. All this was not unexpected with a growing group and it has been a privilege and honour to oversee it all and share in some of the joys that have come from it.

If I look back since the half year report card I wrote this year, I would say STAY and Friends of Refugees has gone through a time of maturity. Nothing has majorly changed in what the different ministries do since the start of the yea and everyone seems to be getting use to the pattern of activity and work that's required. Of course, there have been some changes within the ministries itself which is exciting to watch however the 'excitement' that was there at the start of the year where 'we could do anything' was a commonly used phrase has mellowed away.

Such is likely a cycle for such ministries (I've never been through such amazing growth in youth/young people's ministry before) but such growth cannot keep going forever or at least in the same way. The STAY and Friends of Refugees groups are about the same size, with newcomers replacing those who have to leave Melbourne city. While the numbers are the same, the relationship dynamics are changing as the time in the group increases and so there's a greater need for pastoral care.

The people in the ministries are no longer totally made up of people I know very well as they have gotten too large to have time to spend with each one getting to know them. I have relegated myself to the operational parts of organising (which I seem to be getting better and better at because its the primary thing I do) and getting to know the leaders so that they can go out and do the real work of bringing God to young people. It doesn't sound the most exciting life, but like a good servant, I've been trained to just keep going.

There were times when I complained about the amount of work that I needed to do, that there was no one else to do it, and if there was they were just not available to be able to help. There was pressure on other areas of my life - relationship, family and work to fit everything in and I'm blessed with their tolerance. I learned though, that I shouldn't be complaining if I'm doing this for God and His Kingdom. As St. Augustine said - Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.

I hear people who I've encountered in ministry talk about the amazing community and family feel of STAY/Friends of Refugees and how it has welcomed people from everywhere to journey and serve together. For me, I am most happy that the ministries has helped fulfil some of my personal vision for it - and that is for 'the lost sheep'. I've talked about it from time to time and its an interesting impression which God has reminded me of very early on this year about 'the lost sheep'.

I wondered about how my personal vision of 'lost sheep' could be accommodated by STAY/Friends of Refugees and the other leaders within them. The simple vision of STAY is to bring God to young people. Jesus mission was primarily for the lost sheep - those who are lonely, outcast, sinners, the difficult... I just want to do what Jesus did and bring others to do the same.

STAY and Friends of Refugees are full of lost sheep now and the amazing thing about it is just watching them change through God's work in the ministries and through the year. There are people in STAY whom I never thought I would be able to meet or thought would come to a place like STAY, and yet, some of them end up 'staying'. The leaders have grown so much, some from next to no leadership experience into seasoned warriors. Many have shared their testimonies privately and some more publicly which is very encouraging as a sign that the ministries are bringing God to young people. I hope that the focus on 'lost sheep' will keep the heart of STAY / Friends of Refugees in the right place to be able to fulfil God's mission through the ministries.

When I look in STAY however, I don't see the lost sheep any more because they're all with the 99 (together in the group). The lost sheep are outside the group in places we haven't reached. There are many out there who are still to be reached and so I feel that is where I might go to see where this 'lost sheep' vision might take me.

STAY and Friends of Refugees are in a position where I'm not leading everything (like I just about was at the beginning of the year) and for the leaders to grow and for STAY / Friends of Refugees to grow, they will need their leaders with bigger visions and more energy to take it to where God wants it to be used for. By stepping away more, I won't be holding the ministries to what I am capable of because the ministry like all things can only grow as much as the leader. Part of this direction is due to my personal tiredness (what I'm feeling at the moment) but we'll see where God takes me next year =)

It has been a wonderful year in STAY and Friends of Refugees and I'm glad to have been a part of it with each of you. Thanks for your prayers, support and company through the year and I wish you and your families a most blessed Christmas and Joyful new year.

Sincerely,

Jack

Such Joy

by Jack Chui

Sunday 24th August 2014 will be remembered as a joyous day when Nicole who started coming to StAY a year ago was baptised in the presence of St. Augustine's Church and the young people of StAY. In my typical fashion, here are 3 of my take outs:

The Purpose of StAY...

is to bring God to young people. And I guess one of the highest forms (if not the highest?) of fulfilling this purpose is to see young people enter into God's family here on earth --- which is for the Catholic Church through baptism. It's moments like baptism of a friend who I've been following through StAY when I see a visible sign of God's hand at work through the ministry, that all the work and prayers have resulted in the joy of His Children entering in full communion with the Church.

Bringing People Together

I was really glad that Nicole hosted a lunch gathering using her unique occasion to celebrate and it drew just about everyone in StAY. We had all been waiting for this day, preparing with her to celebrate this day and we filled the hall. The hall we had always had our cell groups in was packed. Some members had come from their usual parishes for this and its amazing how such an event can bring together so many people. The Firebrandz choir put on their best. How StAY has grown and what hope it brings to others we haven't met in Melbourne.

Need for Hospitality

The lunch gathering was open to the rest of the church and through it, two new people came and were introduced to StAY and its activities. Without the gathering, we might have missed these people who by chance were attending the baptism as part of their Sunday mass obligation. We had not been seeing new people coming to StAY cell groups on Tuesdays recently and it reminded me that I had not been inviting people that I see from church/mass to join us. I used to do it along with some others but now that StAY has become too big it felt like I didn't need to invite any more because we didn't need more people. But how we can miss out on bringing God to these people if we don't invite. I should not take our apparent blessings for granted...

So all praise and glory to God for his work through StAY and its people.

God's Providence Led Me to StAY

by Shirley

Five years ago I left my home in Malaysia for a new adventure in Melbourne. As I was saying my goodbyes to friends and Lifeline (SFX Youth Group in Malaysia), some of the leaders mentioned that one of the previous leaders was now in Melbourne and I should get in touch with him to get connected to a group here. They forgot to give me his number and I forgot all about asking amidst my hectic packing schedule. 

I came to Melbourne, totally forgot about this ex-Lifeline leader and started searching the internet for Catholic groups. I didn't find many, so I tried attending a few churches to see if there was a suitable group for me. Needless to say I didn't find any as they were either too young (school-going age), or too old (retirement age). 

Sometime in October 2009, about a month after I started work in Optus, this guy Kenny started in my department too. We became friends and we had our little community of Malaysians in the office. When Chinese New Year came around in February 2010, Kenny and his wife Jo invited us Malaysians to their home for reunion dinner. Reunion dinner is celebrated on the eve of Chinese New Year as a family gathering and is one of the highlights of the CNY celebrations. Most of us were living away from home and we didn't have any family here to celebrate reunion dinner with. 

So there we were hanging out in Kenny and Jo's home on the eve of CNY. I was looking at their bookshelves and I noticed a lot of Catholic books. All this while I didn't know Kenny and Jo are Catholic and we never talked about religion at work. I started asking them about their faith and was pleasantly surprised to find out that we shared the same faith and that there was this youth group called StAY that Kenny and a few others were leading, which they invited me to. 

As Kenny was driving me home that night, we talked more about our faith and I found out that he used to attend the same church Lifeline was based at. Suddenly a thought occurred to me... Was this the guy that the Lifeline leaders wanted to introduce me to but never gave me his contact details? I started asking if he knew this person or that and it really was him!! They never connected us but God somehow did in the end! What were the odds of that? 

And so that was how God led me to StAY... 

There is no coincidence in life, only God's providence.. :)

A Leader’s Journey through the Quick Journey through the Bible

By Pat Pagulayan

Here I am, wide awake at 3am, reflecting on the last 8 weeks of StAY. Blame it on my malfunctioning body clock courtesy of doing shift work.

Anyway, as you all know, we have had Jeff Cavin’s Quick Journey through the Bible in the last 8 weeks of cell group. I can’t fully recall how the idea came about, but I remember that it was a choice between Jeff Cavin’s Quick Journey through the Bible, Fr. Robert Barron’s Catholicism, or Christopher West’s Theology of the Body. It was not an easy choice to make, as there is a need to inform young adults on those 3 topics, most especially on Theology of the Body.

But at the end of the day, I decided to go with the Quick Journey through the Bible. Above all, as Catholics, we should know more about God. And what better way to start knowing more about Him (other than journeying with Him of course), than to know His Word. Aside from that, StAY’s mission is to bring God to young people. A lot of young people like you and I are seeking God; that’s perhaps why some of us came to StAY in the first place. And God has revealed so much of Himself and His love for us in His Word. As St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”

Sadly, a lot of us lack appreciation for the Bible, and it is difficult to be motivated to read something that we don’t appreciate. Personally, being led to have this for cell group is God’s gentle nudge on me to read the Bible in an organised manner as well. I have started reading the New Testament back in September last year and it has opened my eyes to how valuable the truths that God’s Word provide. I started encouraging people in my small group to read it as well, however, the most common question thrown at me were “how do we read the Bible?” or “where do we start reading the Bible?” And so the decision to push for Quick Journey through the Bible (QJB) came about.

Then the organising part came. First of all, we needed the materials. Jessica Lee from Emmaus has kindly lent StAY her DVD, Leader’s Manual, and Student Workbook. Reproducing the workbook was easy. However, the Bible Timeline Chart was another story. It’s painstaking enough to assemble them one by one, but moreover, to write on every single one of them as I realised that some of the words were too light to be read. But I guess the excitement took over, and by God’s grace, I was able to assemble 40 charts before Session 1.

Productivity came with a downside though. I was just recovering from a spiritual/emotional/psychological roller coaster during Lent, and as I got caught up with the preparations for QJB, my prayer life dwindled. I could hear Kenny’s words echoing: “Manage your priorities. Spend time with God. Ministry doesn’t necessarily bring you closer to Him.” In my head, I was just pushing myself to think that I only need to get through the first session, then everything will flow from that. True enough, it was just Session 1 that needed the most preparation. I’m very thankful to Jack for taking over the Spiritual Gifts session we had at cell group as it bought me more time to prepare.

Second, the facilitators. The first question in my mind was how am I going to get people to jump into the boat with me when I myself don’t know what I’m getting myself into? But as God once again proved to me that He will always provide, He has put courage in the hearts of some members to step up and take this journey with me. As majority of them are new ones, the StAY Leaders have willingly buddied-up with each facilitator to guide them and the group as well.

Everything was set and all good to go.

Session 1. There were around 25 people who were there as we started opening prayer. A lot of new faces, which is good. Then more people came. And more people came. And more people came. Before we started watching the DVD, there were around 40 people in the room! We had to grab more chairs from the other rooms to accommodate everyone. It is at these times that I thank God that I have OCD. I prepared for 4 groups, but I also had a back-up leader in case we needed a 5th group (which we did). We ended up having to put a group in the hallway because there were too many.

As I looked around the room that evening, I felt overwhelmed. At the same time, I felt upset. Recalling all the hours I spent on assembling materials, I thought to myself, “Oh, they’re not here for cell group; they’re just here for the Quick Journey”. Right there and then, I felt God convict me, asking me why I’m doing this whole activity in the first place: is it to get people to come to cell group, or to provide people an opportunity to appreciate and know His Word?

Ouch. That hit me right where it was meant to. I thank God for putting that in my heart right at the very start. It has taught me a valuable lesson on leadership and humility. Getting my intention right has provided my perspective a steady ground that enabled me to just be still in the challenges of the remaining 7 weeks.

The remaining weeks were alright. There were a few bumps here and there, such as the projector suddenly deciding to retire, sudden change in venue, change in facilitators, absent facilitators, sub-optimal speakers, etc. But yeah, I guess we cruised right through it.

And now, 8 weeks is done and over with. The first thing I thought of was, “Yes! No more luggage to drag around!”

But on a serious note, all I could think of after was that I hope that the 8 weeks have somehow stirred up something within those who have taken the Quick Journey through the Bible to actually start picking up and reading their Bible. I pray that there is more appreciation for God’s Word, not just from the lecture, but from the small group sharing as well.

It amazes me how the whole story is focused on a basic and simple question: Do you trust God? Jesus came, relived the experience of the Israelites, and proved that yes, we can trust God. And as I reflect on my walk in these past 8 weeks as well, God has proven once again that yes, I can trust Him.

STAY Half Year Report Card

By Jack Chui

I've been on a 2 week break overseas - a break from not just work, but also STAY... I'm not foreign to being busy having worked, studied, team sport, maintaining relationships before but STAY or ministry has been one area where the workload has increased. So busy that I haven't had a chance to write here since the beginning of the year...

So its time to provide an update from my perspective on how STAY is going.

A STAY member sent me this video which can summarise how STAY has grown over the past year in 3 minutes.

If STAY Cell Group is a measure of how many people there are then STAY has just over 50 people, up from about 20 at the end of last year and just one or 2 a year ago. Its growth in numbers was phenomenal itself last year, but it has continued to grow and the growth has not stopped. It gave me great joy each week to keep adding a person to the STAY Whatsapp group which is not used anymore because it can't support groups of over 50...

Its a nice problem to have so many people coming to Cell Group each Tuesday and available for other ministry but too difficult for me to lead them alone. So I have formed leaders for the ministries and brought them together to form a leadership team with me. They are:

Prayer - Andrew (Pray for STAY)
Cell Group - Pat
Outreach - Nicole (Friends of Refugees)
Worship - Aaron (Firebrandz)
Choir - Karl (Firebrandz Choir)
Dance - Christabel (Firebrandz Dance)

My role in STAY has changed from keeping STAY alive, then looking after its members and now growing new leaders. I am now doing the role that my predecessor Kenny spent much of his time with myself and previous leaders. I have learnt much from Kenny, STAY and from others about leadership but at times I feel unqualified to mentor about leadership because I myself am not good at it. I've gotten better but its so hard. I guess this was why it was always said to me is that the church lacks good leaders - they are hard to find if they are born and its hard to train for... Now its my turn to take on this responsibility... A new challenge!

As leaders we have met together a few times but as my poor experience tells me, its hard to gather lots of people together for a meeting and 7 of us is large enough. There was no real formula to how I chose some of the leaders... some were natural because of their expertise, some were calculated risks (and not so calculated) and others were inexperienced or unexpected. My history of choosing leaders hasn't been great - I don't pray much about it, but try to pray while we're in it. The group is diverse and should produce enough healthy conflict to make sure we act in the best interests of God, the ministry and everyone in STAY.

One thing that seems to be constant in the last half year is what I could call a 'Midas touch'. Everything STAY seems to get involved in seems to turn to gold... Its quite amazing to see because God had to have a hand in all the things we do for it to be so successful. I'll see if I can explain with all the ministries below:

Pray for STAY

The most important ministry, because if there's only one thing I want to do in STAY that is to get young people to pray (vision for STAY is to bring God to young people). Prayer allows God to work through us/STAY to bring the success and success is God's responsiility. Andrew has been faithful in leading this each Monday evening over Skype which is timed so that we can pray for the next day's cell group amongst other events that require prayers. Andrew has also been diligent in lifting up all the individual intentions of all STAY members of which there are many. I would not assess progress based on turn out which is around 5 per Monday but by how God works through the other ministries and that has been nothing short of amazing --

STAY Cell Group

Of all the leaders I have known Pat the longest from the first STAY retreat in 2011. The vast majority of people in STAY are completely new to me as I've only met them through STAY over the last year. Cell group is so big now that we are using every room we can in St. Joseph's Hall (including the hallway...) to split into 5 smaller groups. Choosing a leader for Cell Group was hard - its arguably the most time consuming role and most involved with the individuals in STAY on a week to week basis. Pat was a left field choice, she has the passion and commitment plus the pastoral skills but no demonstratable (at least unknown to me) leadership skills. I have been guiding her and she has taken this role by the reins and just ran with. The group is now running an 8 week course on elementry reading of the bible which has through word of mouth attracted interest from other groups outside STAY. Cell Group faces the problem of becoming less intimate and controllable as it grows so this will be a challenge for Pat and the other leaders to make sure that cell group's primary purpose and attraction doesn't deteriorate - fellowship.

Friends of Refugees

STAY's outreach ministry has continued to grow even though I thought it could not and was reluctant to because it was big enough as it was. Moving Day moved quickly from 1 truck in January to 3 in March which meant organising 3 times as many volunteers, donations and refugee families than before. Managing this by myself would be impossible without the help of Nicole and the organising team of 3 others who have been active with the outreach month to month. Nicole was reluctant in accepting leadership as she feels unqualified and overwhelmed by the sheer amount of risk and responsibility of leading a group like Friends of Refugees. I have had to continue leading Friends of Refugees and it will probably consume most of my ministry/management time - it was my original position after all...

Needless to say, the organising team with Nicole has been instrumental in allowing the outreach to grow and STAY members have been active in volunteering. The more it grows, the more we can reach out to befriend more refugees and also allow God to reach young people through service.

Firebrandz

Firebrandz has an agenda independent but not separate to STAY as it is led by Aaron and tied to the ICPE group. STAY and Firebrandz work together and are synomous with each other and has contributed to each others growth and success. STAY has brought people to Firebrandz events and Firebrandz events has brought people to STAY events. Its core activity is a monthly worship night which is held on the last Wednesday of each month which brings young people together for Praise and Worship and Catechesis from a guest speaker. The parish is also invited to the Worship nights and on average about 75 people would attend. Its almost a copy of the Friday Catechesis nights which STAY used to run and as a newish ministry they have started requesting for feedback through forms to get a better idea of what the community would like. There are also plans for an in house (or more 'in-church') retreat in June. STAY should organise a retreat towards the end of the 2nd half of the year as well.

Aaron is a well formed leader and informally he oversees the other 'Firebrandz' ministries -

Firebrandz Choir

The choir was a new initative for the start of this year with STAY having enough people to be able to support a choir and maintain our other ministry commitments. The choir now has over 20 people which is about half of the STAY members which I see as a good but also challenging problem. They don't all fit in the choir stalls but the choir has drawn people who would not have otherwise thought themselves as good singers/musicians to serve the church in this way. They are led by Karl who was one of several possible choices of leaders and is led by their well trained conductor in Aaron. Aaron was undoubtedly the most obvious choice to lead the choir, but it was also an opportunity to develop a new leader that may have few of the talents and skills and see God work through them.

The choir started with serving at one mass a month and now has been requested and has capacity for 2 masses a month which is the same as the regular choirs in St. Augustine's. The choir practices every other week usually the day before their service. It won't be long before they will serve at Firebrandz worship night and perhaps even weddings...

Firebrandz Dance

This largely unknown and rarely practiced ministry is the initiative of Christabel who had grew up in New Zealand learning it within her family and community. I have not been closely involved but I know we have something very special in our midst. From what others tell me, there are about 10 girls taking part most if not all except Christabel without much dance experience. Thus there is a learning curve involved and much of it was about the concept of dancing for God (rather than for others). There was plans to have the ministry debut in July during Firebrandz Worship Night first anniversary but we managed to bring that forward with a somewhat abruptly planned Stations of the Cross event which our parish priest asked the group to host. Along the with the choir, the dance ministry helped the passion of Christ come alive to those that attended the event. I had seen liturgical dance once before but the 2 dances performed during the Stations event gave me a glimpse of more amazing things to come. This ministry will likely be the most video taped of all of STAY's ministries =)

Other Notes

I will need to keep other adhoc events coming into STAY such as the Stations of the Cross to give our growing number of members active, to create an extra sense of belonging and importance in being part of the group. Some activities we said we'd get involved in (but may not have actioned yet) is:

- Services in the Church - readers, collectors, acolytes, Eucharistic ministers

- Fellowship in the Church - fundraising BBQ for parishoners, other church events

- Socials - Events organised by the Archdiocese like Indoor Soccer Competition, dinner nights out

- Reflecting by writing in this blog

A most amazing thing about STAY is not just the number of people now that are being drawn to the group but also their willingness to help and participate. In past, it always felt like a struggle just to get people just to help that I simplified things for them to make it as easy as possible for them to say yes. I probably wasn't trusting enough not humble and courageous enough to ask for help especially when few seemed to want to get involved. There is a great energy in the group that has continued wanting to seek and know God, and they'll do whatever it takes (like studying a book together) to give the Holy Spirit a chance to work through them and their friends. All of this could not have been done without the Holy Spirit's work in the group and in the hearts of those who we have reached. So all praise and honour goes to God for being the true victor and source of success in this group.

Ambitious

By Jack Chui

Last Tuesday at our first STAY cell group for the year I asked the few members that were able to come (young adults seem to take long holidays over Christmas/NY...) what they would like to do for our ministries in 2014. It was an opportunity to hear and take on board a new way of doing things that would be better than my own way - because it can seem that I have asserted my own way of doing things as the seemingly sole leader of STAY. Now that we have an army of willing members, we can do so much more than just me leading everything. So below, I'll summarise our ministries and our aims for 2014 - and includes some other items which I had not brought up on Tuesday.

STAY Cell Group (Fellowship, Discipleship)
*IMPORTANT* - we are trying a new start time of 6:30pm - 8:30pm to better fit the working schedule.

The format for cell groups will remain before but with a few additions:

• 6:30pm - 7:00pm -- Open sharing / Check in + a song or 2 in praise & worship leading into Opening prayer
• 7:00pm - 8:00pm -- Alternating weeks of bible sharing and topic. The topic can be a video teaching with sharing afterwards
• 8:00pm - 8:30pm -- Closing prayer with more intercessory prayers, annoucements and pack up

I'll need to encourage the members to take turns to lead/facilitate especially when the group needs to be split up for the middle sharing section. Nothing discussed about period dinners or about male/female split of sharing now and then.

Friends of Refugees Outreach (Service/Ministry)

Normal schedule of activities to remain over a 5 week Sunday afternoon cycle:

• 1st Sunday -- Detention Centre Visit
• 2nd Sunday -- Rest
• 3rd Sunday -- Refugee House Visits
• 4th Sunday -- Moving Day
• 5th Sunday -- Rest

Moving Day will continue as long as there is a need for large material items to be given to the new settlers but his may with the reduction of refugees entering Australia wind down such that the larger charities can meet the needs.

In addition or replacement if needs be to the above, we wish to start English tuition/classes for the refugees nearer to their homes. We tried this once including employment services at St. Augustine's but it did not get off the ground after a reasonable first week. This will require learning materials development but also more consistent support that is weekly rather than monthly for the English learning to be of best use. To meet this I am thinking of garnering the support of the local parishes in the areas where the refugees live to find more laborers for the vineyard.

Firebrandz Worship (Worship, Evangelisation, Discipleship)

Monthly Wednesday evening Worship nights will remain as is with the format to be led by the Spirit. This has in the past included P&W followed by a talk or testimony. To enhance the worship the following 2 ministries will be set up:

• Choir - Firebrandz/STAY will start a choir to ultimately play for Firebrandz worship nights and also at Sunday masses at St. Augustine's. This has kicked off before even writing this with the debut to be on Sunday 12th January to fill in for the regular musicians taking a break after Advent.
• Dance - A new initiative to bring a little known ministry of liturgical dance back into action. Starting practice after Choir practice becomes less regular, this ministry will help lift the Firebrandz worship nights.

Communications / Marketing (Evangelisation)

We have started several channels of communication over the last 6 months so here is a list with their initial strategies:

• Email - the formal channel for annoucement of events/ministry
• Website/Blog - the official website to store information which can be shared to the public. I wish to promote more sharing of reflections/events to be written by different people
• Facebook Group - secondary to the website but allows members to share online material
• Whatsapp - for quick more personal-wide messaging

Did not talk about adverstising or maintaining existing notices in bulletins or on the AOY website.

Pray for STAY (Corporate Intercessory Prayer)

This was not discussed on Tuesday but was a monthly gathering over Skype for the leaders to intercede for STAY and its members along with other personal intentions. After a prayer session on Wednesday night, it was decided to make this a more regular opportunity because the spiritual growth and fruits of STAY and its related ministries all stem from prayer.

PRAY for STAY will now be open to anyone who wishes to dial in and pray, every Monday evening over Skype with the possibility of improvement such as meeting in person and praying in the park.

STAY & Firebrandz Retreats (Fellowship, Discipleship)

Father Victor the parish priest of St. Augustine's has offered to lead a retreat for STAY and we are looking to take this opportunity with a retreat over the weekend during Lent or Easter season. My tentative date for this is late May as there is also plans for a Firebrandz retreat around November 2014 and so space the retreats apart. A team will need to be formed organise such one off events.

Helping in Mass / Church BBQs (Service)

To give back to the wider community, it is desired to have more young people participate and help in mass. The Firebrandz choir is the start of this and there are some helping out as readers and Eucharistic ministers. The aim is that one and no more than 2 Sunday's a month, the STAY group will bless with Sunday mass with its aid by serving in the mass.

Another service to the church which STAY used to support was BBQ lunches after morning mass. We did not host any BBQ's last year but it is something the group can do to build the parish community by gathering people after mass over food. My plans for this would be to host 2 and no more than 3 such BBQ's. The dates we have used in the past is Pentecost Sunday (early June) and St. Augustine's Feast Day (nearest Sunday in late August). A BBQ early on in the year to welcome people to STAY/St. Augustine's or a BBQ during Advent to celebrate the year could be options for the 3rd BBQ.

-- END LIST --

That is a lot to do... and at times it seems daunting to me when I see everything that we do and are going to do all laid out like this. I also forgot to ask whether there was anything else we can do...

But lets remember Matthew 9:37-38

"Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Christmas and New Year Wishes - A Reflection of the Year That Was

By Jack Chui

Each year I receive a Christmas card from a former cell group friend where her tradition is to write a reflection of the year that was on Christmas day and send it to all her friends. I have been a privileged recipient of her cards for several years now and she has inspired me to do something similar - hence this post. I have given few if any gifts to people this Christmas and I hope the following will be gift enough to everyone who has been a part of year/life. It is the gift of Jesus that I really want to give to all and maybe while I'm writing this, it will come through although I won't be writing about it explicitly.

The year of 2013 for me could be summed up as one of amazement and great blessing. If you look back at all my previous posts in the year its not too hard to see the highs and the lows of my journey as a leader in ministry this year. Through it all, God has provided me with enough just when it was required.

We tried new doing new things for the Friends of Refugees outreach. Early in the year we piloted English classes and employment searching services but after one week the refugees didn't come back. We also invited them to a BBQ at the Church and while we prepared a lot of food, they didn't turn up. Such is the nature of the ministry some times. However, where we might have failed in understanding them or where God did not give us a way through there were other things where God gave us a way.

We continued with our monthly visits to the Detention Centre and the released refugees in their homes, but undoubtedly the most wonder came from the Moving Days. All we had done before were simple tasks which involved volunteers, cars and communication, but Moving Day was a big logistics operation the like I had ever been involved in let alone organised. We started with nothing and just came away amazed at how the Holy Spirit drew volunteers, donations, trucks (Man With A Van) and just a way to bring furniture from those who didn't need it, to those with none.

Emmaus Cell Group was my support through the first half of 2013 and the group was growing slowly from strength to strength. Sadly, from such a high, I decided to leave Emmaus halfway through the year so that I could concentrate more on STAY the young adults ministry. From what I've heard, Emmaus Cell Group (which is a parish cell group) have adapted well to their new leaders and I pray that Emmaus Cell group will only become stronger.

Halfway through 2013 I was facing an ultimatum of whether to continue leading STAY or just giving it up with the other leader Jean heading to Singapore. STAY had few if any consistent people coming for cell group on Sundays after morning mass and it was lonely leading a group that mainly consistent of just me... But at the last moment just when we needed it, God came through and brought a few people along with more fire than me. If you read the last few posts, you can read how STAY has amazingly turned around from next to nothing and become a wonderful group/community which has also driven the growth of Friends of Refugees and Firebrandz (STAY's P&W partner).

A lot of STAY's growth has come through a new ministry called Firebrandz. Firebrandz is an overseas group which brings God to young people through music. Aaron had come from India to start up this branch in Melbourne and was a keen but unknown supporter of STAY. With a little help from STAY, Firebrandz has hosted 4 Worship nights, a healing mass and a retreat with great turn outs. the people attending these were also encouraged to come to STAY cell groups on Tuesday evenings. While the ministry is run predominantly by Aaron, I believe God through the people being formed in STAY will lift Firebrandz so that it will experience the amazement that I was able to see in STAY and in Friends of Refugees.

Writing about how great this year and ministry has been might be repetitive after a while but I do this to bring out God's glory. All I had to do was say yes and be there, and God drew the people and made a way for all these wonderful things to work. In all my years in Melbourne participating in Church and then leading I have not experienced so much amazement. It was not my own skills and ability for which brought all this about because it was never this good before.

I think God was preparing me through the many trials and opportunities of the past so that I could experience and witness the joy of such fruitful ministry. I have a learned a lot in my years leading Emmaus, STAY and Friends of Refugees and I know that I'm a little more wiser now having learned from others and being taught by others. All this has been leading me to a mission - and that is to bring God to people - in particular young people. I have been so privileged to see God draw people closer to him through cell groups, Firebrandz worship/retreat/mass and the refugees outreach. Some people have even been drawn through this humble website.

I feel like I'm Joshua in the battle against Amalek. I'm the one out the front of the battle doing the work and receiving all the glory, but the battle was really won by God and the intercessions of Moses on the top of the hill (Exodus 17). There is no way all of this could be done by my hand below, but through the prayers of the few or many that are praying for me and the ministries. I wish to thank everyone for their prayers and I hope that if you are not able to witness some of the great things that have happened because of them that you might get a glimpse of them through the writing in this blog. If that was 2013, then I'm a bit scared of what 2014 will bring in terms of the new challenges that might be set (2013 challenges were a stretch and beyond for me) but I say bring it on! because then God's work will have be to even more powerful through us.

It has also been a very blessed year for me not just because of the wonder and amazing things which have happened in ministry, but I've also been able to sustain a relationship with my girlfriend. Prioritising can be hard with so many things on and so I'm very blessed to have the time for ministry and importantly her support to be able work for God's Kingdom here on earth. I think the arrangement now permits me to be able to lead and be very involved and so I will continue fighting the good fight while I can because one day, things will change and I may not be able to any more.

So this Christmas/New Year message is one of thanks - for your prayers, participation, support and contribution to all the ministries I've been involved in, that you will be blessed with His love, joy and peace more than I have been so blessed to have witness this year. That 2014 will be one of greater glory for God and that the gift of Christ which is the intention of all ministry is spread deeper in your hearts and in more people. That those who are struggling like the refugees and their own problems will find solace in an unconditionally loving God. Wishing you a most blessed Christmas and a joyful New Year.

What To Do?

By Jack Chui

I can look back at some of my earlier posts in the year and reflect fondly on how STAY has just transformed in just six months. People from church and sometimes outside of church have been coming up to me to tell me what an amazing group STAY is and then congratulate me on building such a wonderful community of young Catholic adults (no mean feat by the track record of other groups out there). I might receive all this glory as the leader, but all this credit really goes to God because I did very little in making STAY what it is today.

A friend from STAY recently told me about the patron saint for Priests - St. John Vianney. He was apparently not a very smart guy, barely making it through the seminary out of sheer persistence. His superiors took the safe option and sent the newly ordained and incompetent young priest to a remote parish (today known as Lourdes). When St. John Vianney reached there, he just prayed and prayed for many years - there were only a few people attending mass at the church. He also heard confessions for 16 hours a day and somehow, many were drawn to the parish and the whole town was converted to the amazement of other priests and his superiors.

I feel like I am like St. John Vianney, except much worse - I haven't been praying and I'm not 100% devoted to STAY or God. Yet the people just came, but not like before ... they actually "STAYed"... My aim and mission for the whole year was quite simple - just keep the ship from sinking... One of my gifts apparently is persistence - stubborn persistence sometimes and so I'm quite good at just keeping things going. That's all I really did for STAY...

Through little if any work of my own, the Holy Spirit brought new people to STAY, such that few if anyone in STAY from a year ago is still here today. They love STAY more than me and are so hungry for more of God that as the leader, I don't know what to do to meet their thirst or our simple goal of bringing God to young people. Because all I know how to do well is to keep the ship from sinking.

STAY is not in survival mode any more, and I've never been a part of a group as energetic and lively as this one. We have almost 20 people attending cell group each week (diligently for most) and at this run rate, STAY could have 40 people in mid 2014 and 60 people by the end...  I never imagined STAY would be more than 12 people at best given how few in number young adults are attending mass, and let alone having the time and will to attend a cell group. Its scary to imagine how much more of a powerhouse STAY can become (thankfully I don't have much imagination) because while its a nice problem to have - lots of people, it will come with more work and complexity of more relationships.

While keeping the ship afloat, I have been directed by the newcomers in STAY and they have been taking a lot of the initiative to run worship nights (Firebrandz), outreach for the refugees (Friends of Refugees), prayers and outings for the cell group. They have much more ideas and fire than me and I wonder whether it is time for them to take more control of the rudder to steer STAY towards to the will of God. I think I've not said no to any of their ideas. I have done my role faithfully, and while I have been advised not to stop until God waves the big red stop sign, I wonder if I should take more of a back seat so that the newcomers are not held back to take STAY forward. I have also thought about whether I should lead both STAY and Friend so Refugees or only one...

It might also be a good time for God to push me outside my comfort zone to try new things for His Kingdom so there might still be purpose for me to continue being a leader of STAY. My mission might also be to encourage people to become leaders and take on some of the cell group leading which I currently do. What to do ...? Already on the cards is a worship/music group for STAY/Firebrandz to play for Sunday mass and perhaps Firebrandz - to start in January 2014 while the regular worship bands at church take some time off after serving during Advent. Another initiative STAY had run in the past is a retreat in the 2nd half of the year.

I'm looking to study a professional course for my work early in 2014 of which I attempted last year and didn't pass. It would require a lot more study than trying to fit study around my many commitments and so my other worry is whether there are people willing and with the time to do more for STAY ... I think and hope that I underestimate the group and their abilities - it is time for God to shine more through the members of STAY. I pray that I can be not so proud to ask for their help.

The Old have been Replaced by the New

By Jack Chui

I was meant to write about the first Firebrandz P&W night which was held on the last day of July but just hadn't had a chance to. Now that some other things have settled, its time to write about it and conveniently tie it in with how the other ministries are going.

Bur first, to put this post into context, I was feeling down and lonely 2 months ago as I wrote here:

http://stay-ministry.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/lonely.html

Jean has now left Melbourne which means I'm the only one left of the early leaders and of any one that came has been in STAY over a year ago. But God is so faithful, as I've encountered several times before, He brings the right people at the right time. So far (and its kind of early), God is renewing the young adults ministry of STAY with completely new people - people so different than the old crowd. They have a new life and energy which I as part of the old crowd really lacked and its great to see them lift me.

When STAY started, we had 5 aims: Worship, Fellowship, Service/Ministry, Evangelisation and Discipleship. Instead of closing STAY when it struggled to do even one of these aims, I can happily say we are getting there with 3 of them =)

Worship - Firebrandz

This came out of nowhere and I will gladly claim partnership and say that Firebrandz is an offshoot group from STAY. Its managed by much better people than me but that kind leader Aaron is now a strong part of STAY so I can claim it as part of us (even though its more an externally organised group).

Firebrandz hosted its first P&W night on the last Wednesday evening of July. Aaron and his core group were doing most of the work, and I only gave advice and helped promote the event at church at which was going to be the venue. I had little idea what the night would be like short of the many other P&W events that I've been to. I had lowered my expectations based on Aaron's past experiences with organising such events but in the end it didn't matter how many people came, if there were only 10, it didn't matter so long as we could praise and worship God together.

For the first night, an amazing ~70 people came, mostly on the young side which spaced out a bit filled about one third of the church. There were too many people from goodness knows where to get to know so I concentrated on getting the equipment set and changing the slides. There were only 2 people playing and leading the music - Christine and Aaron, but they were enough for God to reach out to the whole church. One of the elders from Aaron's core group came from India (or NZ) to give a bit of a talk after 4 songs and even though I didn't quite appreciate his style of preaching, he managed to encourage just about everyone to come to the front for prayer (a little pentecostal style) -- only the Holy Spirit could inspire such courage from everyone!

So while I wasn't so amazed because I've seen things like before in my other life, it was still a great night from which I could see God work powerfully. The next Firebrandz P&W night is again on the last Wednesday of the month, this time it coincides with St. Augustine's feast day so I'll be praying for that one to be Spirit filled.

Fellowship - STAY Cell Group

Cell group is the core of STAY because its the base from which people find each other and then participate/volunteer for the other ministries. It has been operating for the last 4+ years and had its ups and downs. Two months ago, I was the only person in the cell group that would show up on a Sunday afternoon but last night we had 12 people! And most of these that came were there last week. For the first time (I don't remember the last time) it seems we might be able to get a consistent attendance in cell group.

The rebuild started slowly, after I called an 'emergency' meeting 1.5 months ago to decide the fate of cell group and therefore the entire STAY ministry. I was open to just about any suggestion that we could try to keep STAY from folding and keep faithful to my ministry. We changed the time from Sunday afternoon to Tuesday evening and the ones that were at the meeting came and started to bring their friends.

The Holy Spirit seemed to work and touch each person as it attracted 'new' people to STAY - most which didn't belong to such a young adults group before and searching for more of God than just on Sunday mass. Some have found us from Sunday masses, but quite a few have come to STAY from attending Firebrandz. They kept coming back, which was a struggle before and so I'm so grateful to be able to see the same people for several weeks and hopefully build better fellowship with them when I failed to before.

And now with 12 people last night, it was like an overflow because we couldn't really sit close around the table. I find large groups such as last night hard to manage because it can be difficult to encourage sharing but its a nice problem to have. So thank you Holy Spirit for drawing people to build what I hope to be a wonderful cell group. I pray that through STAY, we can simply bring God to young people.

Service - Friends of Refugees

On Sunday 4th August, we ran our 2nd Moving Day where we pick up large donated essential items in a truck and deliver them to newly settle refugees. It is a large logistical operation for such a small group where many things can just go wrong. Even after some better planning after learning from the experiences of the first Moving day, there were still other problems cropping up which somehow, we managed to deal with as we went.

While not as amazing as the first Moving Day (my personal account of that here: http://stay-ministry.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/simply-amazing.html) it was still fruitful to see that we could help such underprivileged families have it a bit easier with settling in Australia. Perhaps my main take out which I can share is the dominance of young people that got involved to help the operation succeed. We usually enlist more adult volunteers because they seemed to have bigger hearts and also more time on a Sunday afternoon and young people have kind of been lacking. So it was uplifting for me and Father Peter to see young people involved - plus it also helps the refugees meet more people of the same age.

Hopefully as STAY cell group builds up, more can be encouraged to help Friends of Refugees befriend our new neighbours.

Please keep praying for these three ministries - so far things are looking good. We don't have anything that helps meet the aims of Evangelisation short of evangelising to the people that the ministries reach out to. For Discipleship, I am thinking of hosting a retreat or at least day trip/overnighter somewhere away from Melbourne city at the end of the year as a celebration to the year gone by.