The Father's Heart for the Homeless | Peatixtag:peatix.com,2011:12021-11-15T09:44:28+08:00PeatixHomeless HeartsThe Father's Heart for the Homelesstag:peatix.com,2018:event-4432322018-10-30T18:30:00SGT2018-10-30T18:30:00SGTTHE FATHER’S HEART FOR THE HOMELESS“In [our] Father’s house are many rooms…” (John 14:2)A Christian Symposium on Broken Homes and HomelessnessINTRODUCTIONThis informal Christian symposium is open to local churches, ministries, and individuals to find out more, and to encourage more Christians to get involved in fostering / opening up their homes to homeless children and youths. It is jointly organised by Homeless Hearts, The Salvation Army Gracehaven, Home For Good-SG, Oldham Hall and The Last Resort, and supported by Elijah7000 and St Andrew's Cathedral.In particular, we will be covering the following topics:a. Our Father’s heart for missional communities for the homeless / those from broken homes - a revolutionary and Biblical way of caring for those who are homeless / from broken homes;b. The severity of the broken homes / homelessness crisis in Singapore today, especially among children, youths & families;c. Why the churches in Singapore must respond to the broken homes / homelessness crisis today, especially among children, youths & families who are homeless / from broken homes;d. Practical ways for you / your church / organization to care for the children, youths & families who are homeless / from broken homes.This Christian symposium brings together:(i) A leader of both a Christian fathering movement and a para-church organisation ministering to the family,(ii) The head of a Christian residential children’s home with fostering and family reunification services(iii) The executive director of a Christian hostel which has opened its doors to certain profiles of homeless young persons(iv) A married Christian lady who has been fostering children under child protection who need out-of-home care while co-leading a movement for Christian foster parents and doing her day job as Chief Psychologist at MSF(v) A married Christian couple who have opened up their home to homeless young persons, and(vi) A Christian leading a homeless befriending movement with both Christian and non-Christian volunteers.They will share how God has shown them why and how the crisis of fatherlessness in today’s society is contributing to the silent epidemic of homelessness in Singapore today - not only among the elderly but also among children, youths, and families. They will also share their eyewitness and personal testimonies of what God has been doing amongst them as they respond to His call to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers (Malachi 4:6).Come and hear how YOU can respond too to the Father’s call for the Church in Singapore to minister to the fatherless and homeless in our city today and to the ends of the earth tomorrow, to:“… rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated;… renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.”(Isaiah 61:4)PROGRAMME SCHEDULE6:30 pm - Registration & Light Dinner7:00 pm - Opening Prayer and Worship7:15 pm - “The Father’s Heart for the Homeless”: Opening Address by Jason Wong | Chairman, Focus on the Family; Co-Founder, Elijah70007:30 pm - “Build A City of Refuge: How Local Churches Can Bring The Homeless Home Truly” by Abraham Yeo | Founder, Homeless Hearts of Singapore
7:50 pm - “Many Rooms: Homes for Homeless Young Persons” by Cedric Chew | Head, The Salvation Army - Gracehaven8:10 pm - "Let There Be Hope" by David Ang | Executive Director, Oldham Hall; Chairman, Board of Family Life of CAC - Methodist Church of Singapore; Deputy Chairman, Kum Yan Methodist Church, LCEC; District Councillor, Northeast CDC8:30 pm - "Letting God Use Our Homes for Good” by Vivienne Ng | Co-Founder/Leader, Home for Good-SG; Chief Psychologist, Office of the Chief Psychologist, Ministry of Social and Family Development8:50 pm - “Make Room!” by Kenneth and Adeline Thong | Initiators, The Last Resort9:10 pm - Family Panel Discussion and Q&A9:30 pm - Closing PrayerSPEAKERS’ PROFILESJason Wong:A Colombo Plan Scholar, Mr Jason Wong spent over 23 years in the Singapore Civil Service, having held positions such as the Deputy Director-cum-Chief of Staff of the Prisons Service, Chief Executive Officer of SCORE (Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises), and Senior Director working with at-risk children and youth at the Ministry of Social and Family Development.Jason founded the Yellow Ribbon Project in 2004 and the Dads for Life movement in 2009. Since leaving public service in 2013, he has been volunteering as Board Chairman, Focus on the Family and as a board director at Centre for Fathering. He had sat on COMPASS (MOE Council) for 2 terms and is currently sitting on ACCORD (MINDEF Council). Over the years, he had mentored many ex-prisoners, fathers, and young people. Jason is married with two children.Cedric Chew:Mr Cedric Chew had been a socially responsible educationist over some 20 years before moving fully to the social services sector in 2013. He held positions such as Vice Principal of ACS (International), GM of MindChamps PreSchool, Director (Senior), Education of the MINDEF-related Singapore Discovery Centre and founding CEO of IGQ (International Graded Qualifications), formerly an affiliate of the UK-based GQAL (Graded Qualifications Alliance), before taking up change management leadership roles in employment development and social enterprise with MINDS (Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore).Cedric currently heads The Salvation Army Gracehaven Children's Home which provides a continuum of professional care, support and development services for vulnerable children, youths and their families, including residential home, fostering and family reunification and strengthening services through the 4Ps (Public-Private-People Partnership) approach. Over the years, Cedric had helped set up, turn around or change-manage many educational and social service-related organizations and programmes, especially for marginalized young people. Cedric is married with a child, is a member of St John's-St Margaret's Church (SJSM) and serves with Bridal Salon Ministry (BSM) @Worldwide House Of Prayer (WHOP).Abraham Yeo:Abraham has been in Hope Church (Singapore) since 1998, and is the founder of Homeless Hearts of Singapore (HHOS), a local independent volunteer group that consists of both Christian and non-Christian volunteers. He was also one of the workshop speakers at the 2018 GoForth National Missions Conference, on how the Church can care for the marginalized and “invisible” people around us. His story has been featured in ChannelNewsAsia last year. He loves hearing and sharing people’s stories, exploring novel ideas to build communities, cafe-hopping, and spending time with people over a fun cup of coffee.Abraham founded HHOS in 2014 with a brother from another church to advocate and raise awareness for the homeless in Singapore. HHOS aims to kickstart a movement to encourage fellow Singaporeans to reach out to and befriend the homeless in their own neighbourhoods. Some of HHOS’s partners are Ministry of Social and Family Development, Paya Lebar Methodist Church, Mt. Alvernia Hospital, The Last Resort, and so on. HHOS has also given talks at various educational institutions, religious groups, and NGOs too (e.g. Raffles Institution, the Polytechnics, Singapore Discovery Centre, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Geylang Adventures). More details on HHOS are available at https://fb.com/homelessSG.David Ang:David serves as the Executive Director for Oldham Hall, a legacy of Bishop Oldham, the founder of the Singapore Methodist movement. He is the Chairman of the Board of Family Life of CAC - Methodist Church of Singapore and also the Deputy Chairman of Kum Yan Methodist Church, LCEC. David is part of the core founding team of Elijah7000 and served as the first Head of the Dads for Life Secretariat with MSF. A District Councillor in Northeast CDC, he used to Chair the Family Initiative @ NorthEast Committee. He has been married to Amy for the past 23 years and they have 3 children ranging from 14 to 20 years old.Vivienne Ng:Vivienne is Chief Psychologist at the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF). A clinical psychologist by training, she oversees psychological services within MSF and the social service sector, in areas such as disability; parenting and marriage; vulnerable families; gambling etc. Until 2013, she headed the Clinical and Forensic Psychology Branch (CFPB) within the Rehabilitation and Protection Group (RPG) at MSF, which provides trauma treatment and offender rehabilitation. A Colombo Plan scholar awarded through the Public Service Commission, Vivienne worked for 9 years at the Institute of Mental Health & Woodbridge Hospital before joining MSF in 2000. Vivienne and her husband David Mok have 3 biological sons - Ethan (aged 21), Ewan, (aged 19) and Elliot (aged 17) and a 10-year-old foster daughter. Her family worships at Wesley Methodist Church. An approved MSF foster parent, she has fostered 2 babies and 3 children over the past 10 years. She is a cofounder/leader of Home for Good-SG, a Christian Fostering network with a vision of providing a loving family for every child in need. Her heartfelt prayer is to see spiritual revival and transformation happen within Singapore, and to see the Body of Christ reach out to help needy and disadvantaged children and their families, and to open their hearts and homes to children who need out-of-home care. Kenneth and Adeline:Kenneth (Ken) and Adeline (Addy) love taking people on adventures. They enjoy spending time with people over meals and refurbishing old and broken things. Ken thinks that’s the reason Addy married him! Their passion is to see people restored to the Father, that no one should ever feel there’s no place they could go to. They have The Last Resort, a home ministry where children, youths and young adults are welcome to do life in community. They also see their role in reverse missions - seeing the nations being reached in Singapore. Currently, they are serving as deacons in Redemption Hill Church.Ken and Addy initiated the idea for The Last Resort even before they got married. On their first mission trip together in South Africa, Addy was struck by how close-knit Christian communities there were. They not only lived together, but shared everything with each other. It was a great example of loving both God and people, something they wanted to bring home. Back in Singapore, they saw another need: to help young people whom existing social services couldn’t fully support. It reminded Ken of Matthew 9:36, which describes Jesus’ compassion for the helpless crowds. And so, the couple found their own answer to this challenge: offering themselves and their home as an example of what Christian community should look like—loving, compassionate, and nurturing. Their dream is ultimately for families and communities - especially Christian ones - to make room in their homes to see safe places populated all over this city. More details on The Last Resort can be found at https://www.thelastresort.life.Do share this with your church leaders and Christian friends. Thank you!ORGANISERSHomeless Hearts of Singapore (https://fb.com/homelessSG)The Salvation Army Gracehaven (https://www.salvationarmy.org/singapore/gracehaven)Oldham Hall (https://www.oldhamhall.org)Home For Good-SG (http://www.homeforgood.sg)The Last Resort (http://thelastresort.life)SUPPORTED BYElijah7000 (http://elijah7000.org)St. Andrew’s Cathedral (https://cathedral.org.sg) https://www.facebook.com/events/238309233515822/Updatestag:peatix.com,2018-10-24 20:58:202018-10-24 20:58:20Venue was changed to "St Andrew's Cathedral (The Nave)". Orig#381952Updatestag:peatix.com,2018-10-15 14:59:532018-10-15 14:59:53The event description was updated. Diff#379016Updatestag:peatix.com,2018-10-11 18:31:592018-10-11 18:31:59The event description was updated. Diff#378031Updatestag:peatix.com,2018-10-07 19:18:332018-10-07 19:18:33The event description was updated. Diff#376718Updatestag:peatix.com,2018-10-07 19:15:152018-10-07 19:15:15The event description was updated. Diff#376717Updatestag:peatix.com,2018-10-07 19:14:172018-10-07 19:14:17The event description was updated. Diff#376716