kepong baru scf camp

to boot it up, here's a pic of us holding up our bibles at camp:

and now, here's the promised post about kepong baru scf camp =)

i mentioned in a previous post that this camp was interesting. one reason for this is that it was much more charismatic than most scf camps are. this has it's pros and cons...

a general principle of any scf is that the ministry is inter-denominational. students come from many different churches... some speak in tongues, but some don't. some have a full band in worship, but some have only a piano. some dance and jump up and down when they sing, but some stand stock still. some have worship leaders, but some have open worship. some have a set liturgy that they follow, but some just 'flow with the Spirit'.

this broad range of variety leads most scfs to be balanced, in teaching as well as practice. it's usually not good to let one particular kind of church 'flavour' dominate the ministry, because that may cause students from other churches to feel or think that the scf belongs to 'their' church, not 'our' church. also, it may cause confusion and conflicts. so sometimes for the sake of unity, certain compromises have to be made.

i think that this is great, because christians from across the spectrum of denominations are meeting each other, working together, and learning about their similarities and differences. in a way, this is just what Jesus was praying for when he asked that 'they be one as You and i are one'.

however, sometimes if the teacher-advisors or the majority of the student leaders come from a certain denomination, then things may begin to lean in the direction of that particular denomination. in this case, all the camp speakers were from a certain charismatic church, too, which explains my opening statement that the camp was unusually charismatic.

one of the speakers wanted to teach about speaking in tongues, but she's familiar with SU's ministry (she's sent her sons for SU camps time and again) and after a chat with her, she gracefully agreed to modify that section of her message. i'm thankful for that.

the dangers of denominational bias in an inter-denominational fellowship aside, the camp went well =) many campers testified that they felt God's presence and that they had been ministered to. so, let's thank God and pray that He will continue a deepening work in their hearts. Amen! =)

and to shut it down, here's a pic of us all at the waterfall we stream-trotted to:


p.s. this is gonna be a busy weekend. the subang rally is on this saturday, and i'll be speaking at People's Park Baptist Church on sunday. i covet your prayers. thanks! =)