People ¢ Jason Woo is the Communications Executive at MCS Comms. / Photos courtesy of Caitlin Foo, Andre Chan and Thaddeus Lee
MCS youths:
The ones who stayed Caitlin came to Christ at 13 when she found a God who “kept showing up” in her life and became real to her. However, growing up at PLMC in her formative years did not shield Caitlin from experiences that caused her to question her faith. “There was a time when many friends and people I grew up with decided to leave for another church or Christianity altogether. That was a huge period of testing for my faith. The youth ministry was something that meant a lot to me, and I had to witness it unravel,” said Caitlin.
Some of the PLMC youths with Rev Wendy Tay
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t is often said in Christian circles that the Church is always a generation away from extinction.
For The Methodist Church in Singapore (MCS), the need to engage and retain the youth in our churches has become more urgent, particularly as many appear to be moving to megachurches that are generally non-denominational, or leaving the faith entirely. Enter the “Why I Stayed” social media campaign. Initiated by the General Conference Communications team and launched in May on the MCS Instagram page, the campaign featured Methodist youths and young adults sharing how issues and challenges in church and in life made them question their faith. Despite this, they chose to remain in their respective churches. Three of the stories are highlighted here.
“I felt abandoned, lonely and quite bitter. I was disillusioned about the Church, and there was not much guidance to help me navigate this. The main issue I struggled to reconcile was the disconnect between what the Church was supposed to be (a loving and welcoming community) and the reality surrounding me (that many of my friends had deserted). “During these times, I was still involved in church activities, but my faith was not growing, and there was no joy. There were lots of painful prayers and just grieving over what was lost.” Still, Caitlin chose to remain and serve God, mainly because of the leadership responsibilities she was given. “Through those responsibilities, I had the opportunity to witness God restore a broken community. At that point, I was dependent on God’s direction, and He showed me people and solutions for the problems around,” Caitlin explained. “Leaving the Church at that point of time would have been disobeying Him.” God brought people to minister and engage her through different seasons of her life. She counted among them the fellow leaders who faithfully stayed the course, pastors who connected her to a healthy and consistent cell group whose members treated her warmly despite not knowing her well.
“God kept showing up!” Caitlin Foo, 26, Paya Lebar Methodist Church (PLMC)
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METHODIST MESSAGE August 2021
“What helped was simply their fellowship, sincerity when listening, genuine prayer and their availability,” she shared.
