The goal for the youth this year is to become stronger as a community, in unity and in living out our faith. One important thing that Aunty Kwee Shan and I have found is that building communities is like making mosaics — piece by piece, we slot them into the space that they uniquely fit, and then we behold the end result. Think of it like stained glass; many little pieces, radiating with light and colour, that form a picture we would have never seen from just one piece alone.
To help the youth find how they fit into our shared mosaic, we embarked on our first instalment of the StrengthsFinder workshop. Our friend Wayne has done a slay (!!!!) job in conducting StrengthsFinder; a personality assessment that highlights which kind of strengths one taps into more intrinsically. There are four dimensions of these talents: Relationship-Building, Strategic Thinking, Influencing and Executing. The assessment revealed that many of our youth are strong in Influencing themes — particularly in the realm of making connections with others and communicating ideas. As their shepherds for this season, we are looking forward to seeing what God has planned to help them steward these gifts.
Pictured above: We're sharing with each other what Strengths we're proudest of!
There is so much else that can be said about the workshop, but I’ll leave Brendan to share more about what we did with you all.
“The recent session was an illuminating journey of self-reflection and discovery. Upon taking the CliftonStrengths test, we were given reports analysing our respective strong and less instinctive personality traits. The reports gave more detailed descriptions of our top five Strengths to give us a clearer idea of the data. All of the activities organised were an eye-opening experience for me as I personally rarely take the time to reflect on myself.
However, the one that engaged me the most involved partnering up with Elijah to discuss how we would tackle the challenge of leaving a barren desert island alive. My foremost strength of being Futuristic helped me foresee potential hurdles and plan proactive strategies for food and water conservation. On the other hand, Elijah’s Competitive strength enabled us to set ambitious goals to create shelter out of what little we had. We knew that together, we could push boundaries and inspire each other for excellence.
This activity stood out to me as I realised that recognising strong and weak talents is a fundamental aspect to understanding someone more deeply.
Utilising our individual strengths every day builds on our identity. In fact, learning to embrace and respect both strengths and weaknesses promotes empathy, a Strength that is particularly significant to me. Overall, the session was enlightening because it helped me to appreciate both my unique qualities and newly-discovered areas for growth."
We hope you pray with us that as God begins to work within the hearts of our youth, He shows them how they have been equipped and empowered to serve and love His people.
Pictured above: The BeReal we took with the Chinese Fellowship, while having Very Good dinner (many thanks to Aunty Emily and Uncle Daren for hosting and feeding us)!
Signing off,
Zoe
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