My Next 10 Months..

I’m really excited to be writing you this as it allows me to share with you a glimpse of what I’ll be doing with my time in the next 10 months and what God will be doing in my life.

Some of you know that this time back in Malaysia has been very faith building for me and how God has many times challenged my heart to really open eyes to see the masses. Increasingly so in the last 2 months especially after my church’s Alor Setar mission trip, God has been convicting me about building his kingdom by first being apart of the community, not just my community but the community of the old, young, rich, poor etc. He revealed a verse to me after a night where I was growing in pain over the many unreached people in the world, especially the poor and needy and the socially deprived – this was after I watched some silly TV show which really provoked my thinking on our worldview and culture. The verse is taken from Luke 4 v 15

“ The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”

I believe this year back in Malaysia, being in SIB (my home church) and being given the opportunities to be apart of various mission trips to the Orang Asli villages, doing Community work during e03 and with my cell, the life changing experience at my church’s Youth Camp, doing Legal Aid for the Juvenile Remand Prison, going to Alor Setar and just the numerous random occasions of being challenged to be culturally aware prepared me for what was to come in September when I went away on holiday.

My heart and passion is one of lives – to impact lives in the most personal and relevant way. Of course, to pin it down further, God has given me a great burden for youths and young people. While I was in London on holiday last month, I received an email from someone at Oasis asking me if I was interested to join their frontline programme and asked me to come in for a chat at the office – this person thought I was still in the UK studying as he got my contact forwarded to him from a mutual youth leader we know. Was it a coincidence I happened to be in the country?? I didn’t really know then but as I prayed and sought the Lord about it with my family, God spoke to all of us and confirmed it so clearly that it was of Him. The timing was perfect! I had just finished my pupillage in August. And my family and I had just come back from Birmingham (which is where I’m now officially based!) after we had to detour there to catch a flight out to Austria. To top it all of, the placement is for 10 months –ending early July and my exams are in mid August which I have to sit for in London! Looking back now, I see just how much God had a hand in working out all things! Wow!

I will be working as a volunteer with an organisation called OASIS TRUST. Oasis Trust was founded by Steve Chalke in 1986, where they started off with opening a hostel for homeless young people. Today with over 300 staff, students and volunteers, Oasis pioneers mission, healthcare, education and housing initiatives in the UK and across the globe. Oasis has a passion for sharing the unconditional love of God with those society has written off and wants to help churches and individuals do the same. Tony Compolo, RT Kendall, Fiona Caste, Ian Coffey and Joyce Huggett are on the Council of Oasis Trust serving alongside Steve Chalke. Oasis Trust seeks to also equip the UK church and individual by providing bible training (in partnership with Spurgeon’s College) and challenge them to get involved in their community both in UK and further. Oasis Trust is associated with YOUTH FOR CHRIST.

I asked someone at Oasis what are they about. The Answer : “At Oasis we see ourselves as innovators and pioneers, rather than followers of the crowd. We are committed to finding new ways of tackling old problems. The church already has more than enough 'talkers' - at Oasis we see ourselves as 'doers' of the word. Our faith is a faith that gets its hands dirty.'”

And that answer resonated within my heart instantly… And so now, here I am starting on my new journey with the Oasis Youth Action Frontline Team after much praying and seeking the Lord with my family and close friends.

Personally, it’s a season of my life now where I believe God is taking me for a time of exposure, a time of experiential learning and development of character. And He is doing that by first taking me out of my comfort zone – to be able to live a disciplined life both financially and spiritually. Hence, I’m taking a step of faith to get my hands dirty by throwing myself into an urban community setting to reach those who need God’s love the most. It is going to be a 360 degree turn from my normal lifestyle and it would take great adjusting but I know that with God, your support and prayer, the change will be less difficult. My tag line is one I seriously need to be seen putting into active practice i.e. “ to be the change I wish to see in the world”.

My placement will be for 10 months with an AOG church called The Church At Junction 10, which is located off Junction 10 on the M6 Motorway. However, my primary work will be pioneering a church plant work, which the main church has just begun 2 months ago. This new church plant is still in its baby stages and is primarily targeted at the youths and young people, first to be built up as a youth church. The church plant is located in a small estate called Wednesbury, which is off Junction 9 of the M6. Wednesbury is a rather industrial based area, part of the Black Country and Wednesbury also happens to be the 2nd poorest estate in England. The vision of the main church at Junction 10 is to plant a church in the estate to reach out to the community in the area by showing them love & giving them hope in everyway possible. In the last 2 months, they have been in the process of helping young people in the area develop practical skills and talents by setting up a performing arts and music session whereby kids can just drop in every last Saturday of the month and learn to play any instrument of their choice, learn drama, learn to sing, learn to dance and puppetry. I will be working alongside my placement co-ordinator by using my musical skills to teach the kids how to play the keyboard & to do drama. In the interim, the second Saturday of each month is used as a time for mentoring and discipling the kids by imparting to them values and sharing with them the gospel in a more relevant manner. The new church plant will be setting up Kid’s Club and Youth Clubs like a Community Centre (which is quite a norm in the UK within a council estate as part of community youth development) for youths in the estate to come and interact with youths. During these sessions, my role would involve preaching and sharing with them from the world of God, imparting values and engaging with them through many different manners. Of course, I will also be required to work with the main church in their Youth and Children’s Ministry weekly on Sundays and other random days with Bible Study and Youth Events.

Outside the parameters of the church, my other work will include going in to the primary schools and middle schools in the Walsall district on Tuesdays and Thursdays to conduct their assemblies and take some of their Christian syllabus of the RE (Religious Education) classes. We are now also slowly getting ourselves involved with teaching youths and young adults by teaming up with Vine (a school set up by Christians in the Walsall district) whereby it is a school for people who society has written off i.e. people who have learning difficulties, people who have been expelled from school, people who have been unschooled but have a desire to learn. The subjects we will cover in our teaching include English, Maths, Science, General Knowledge etc. So please do keep me in prayer as I would need a lot of revision and patience to teach!

Well, its not all just practical work – I will be trained too!! Every Monday, all OASIS teams based around Birmingham come together for our weekly bible training session from 1pm-8pm where we have a set teaching programme for each term revolving around Leadership Development, Worldview & Culture, Discipleship, Christian Character, Church Life, Evangelism & Missions etc.

I even have a reading list to complete for each term –ranging from 3-6 books! Its kind of like bible school and university as all of us need to write a research essay for term 1, a study project for term 2 and a practical project for term 3which is to be submitted (yes datelines!) to Oasis Trust for review! I guess that’s to keep us on our toes!

Why am I doing Oasis Frontline?
Because Frontline dangles you by the ankles into the real world, it stretches you, lets you see the enormity and the intimacy of God all at the same time. It's challenging spiritually, mentally and physically but it's a journey worth taking

My vision :
To have a hands on experience with the poor and marginalised to help them realise their full potential in Christ
To impact lives in this generation through my own life
To develop a lifestyle that is disciplined and culturally aware
To work in partnership with people and local churches in learning together to develop and implement strategies for growth and increase effectiveness within the community

Journal :
To keep you abreast with how I’m keeping, you can email me or visit http://sealife.multiply.com

Support :
I’d like to ask if you would consider partnering with Oasis & Junction 10 in supporting me in this work
There are two ways in which I would tremendously value your support:

• Prayer. There is nothing I need more than prayer! If you can commit to praying for me regularly throughout the year, I’ll send you regular prayer letters to keep you updated about what God has been doing with the work there and also my own prayer needs.

• Encouragement. A big one! Guess, its more to keeping in touch with me as it can be a rather lonely journey there some days – so it’ll be brilliant if you guys can drop me a mail occasionally and share with me your life too! Hey, I still want to be part of your life journey, my friends and I want to be able to pray for you too!

• Financial support. Could you pray about supporting me financially? As I’m going to be using my off sessions to do self study and revise for my LLM (Masters-of-Law) exam, I am not planning to take on any part time paid work. My parents have committed to covering part of my expenses. However, this still leaves a shortfall of about £2500 or so which I hope to raise from close friends and other people who are led to support me. Most of the money will go back to Oasis Trust as Oasis is covering the cost of putting me at the placement first and also any extra money I raise will go into helping other Frontliners in other cities who are unable to raise sufficient funds.

For accountability purposes, I will be sending my financial statement of all the financial support I have raised to my Team Co-ordinator at Oasis every 2 months.

You can contribute financially by cheque, banker’s draft or money order in any currency of your choice to either myself or my mom at the following addresses

MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE CURRENCY
Malaysian Ringgit/ Singapore Dollar Cheques etc payable to:-
Chew Mei Lee
64 Jalan Desa Maju
Taman Desa
58100 Kuala Lumpur

UK CURRENCY
UK Cheques payable to:-
Valerie Quay
45 Byron Mews
Hampstead
London
NW3 2NQ

Or for those of you in the UK who wish to contribute a set sum on a monthly basis, it may be more convenient for you to set up a direct debit or standing order with your local bank to debit a certain set amount monthly for the following account :

Account No: 11006714
Sort Code : 51-50-01
Bank: Natwest
Account Holder : M L Chew


THE REST OF THE WORLD
Please email me so we can discuss or work out what is the best and most cost efficient method.

Important Note!
It would be extremely helpful if you could reply me as soon as possible by indicating your method of support/commitment be it prayer, encouragement or financial by including your
• Name
• E-mail Address
• Mailing Address
• Telephone No

If you are contributing financially, please state if you are committing to contributing monthly or on a lump sum basis. It would be good if you could also state the amount you are contributing.

I will send you an acknowledgement as soon as I hear from you!

Thanks!

Serving with you for Him,


Val
valerie_quay@yahoo.com