Yes, another year has quickly passed by…in fact, a whole decade has quickly passed by ever since we entered the new millenium! wheee~ i’m sure when we all look back, we’ve all come quite a long way.
This year has been a great one. We’ve seen many friends of ours come to know Christ (praise GOD!) and made many meaningful relationships. We’ve seen members grow to become leaders themselves in many different ways. From bible study group leaders to offering to help out willingly to doin the miniscule things that go by unnoticed. And for that, we are entirely grateful and blessed to have you guys (and girls) serve ICF. Personally, after a whole tiring week at uni, i was always looking foward to ICF on Fridays. It was always uplifting. And if there were times when things weren’t going too well, Ramsey House was the place to be on a Friday night to get a boost of encouragement. ^^
Events were always fun even though it doesn’t always go as planned. I remember a particular incident where we had a bubble tea night. We were suppose to have bubble tea but the tapioca balls got ruined. so we had to have bubble tea without the bubbles! But it didn’t matter cause in the end, everyone just had a good time all the same.
Ahhh….those were good times. But what’s even better is what we have in stall for us next year. I believe God would continue to bless us in 2010 (twenty-ten or two-thousand-and-ten…call it whatever you like) as much as He had this year. I believe that great things would come. Both to ICF and to each one of us individually. Therefore, I encourage everyone to continue praising God and givin ur all to Him. Never limit what God can do.
So, for the sake of being sentimental and all, i leave you a poem…
This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!
I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!
Obviously, I didn’t write that poem. I’m not that talented. Credits to someone named William Arthur Ward (an American pastor). But i found it really inspiring and I hope it inspires yall too.
It was fun diggin into God’s word together, eating together, playing and joking together, and doin life together. May next year just be as awesome.
Till den, see yall next year! BABEH!
written by Justine Phang
photos by Justine Phang.
SLC (Student Leadership Conference) was a blast this year! For one whole week, we ate heaps, pondered on 1Peter, and learnt how to play Ninjashka! We also got to know heaps of new ppl. Here are a few testimonials from our ICFers who went for the conference:-
“Only caught two sessions and slept through one of them due to major sleep deprivation. The manuscript study was awesome and i have been inspired to memorise more scripture, which is really a huge thing to take away. The word of God is life and committing it to memory is one of the most edifying practices and is vital to a strong walk with JC.” -Chris-
“I’m really glad I went to the SLC. Before the conference, I didn’t realise how much you can get out of the book of 1 Peter! I’m now challenged to read 2 Peter, to proactively dig deep into the word of God (looking forward to Summer Bible Studies!) and to draw closer to God so I can talk to others more about Jesus 
Also, if I had not attended SLC, I would not be as motivated to stay passionate about Him! I heart ICF” – Miriam-
Hey all! As you all know, we had our AGM on 31st August. So…..we would like to introduce yall to our new committee!
President: Charlotte Kirby
Vice President: Justine Phang
Secretary: Miriam Mylvaganam
Treasurer: Vanessa Cheng
General Exec : Sarah Kee
General Exec : Ryan Santoso
If you don’t know who these people are, do get to know them cause these are the ones who are gonna be attending to your every whim and fancy….haha…ok, maybe not. But i”m sure the new committee is equally excited to get to know you peeps as well. We hope that you would continue to give the new committee support as you have given the past committee. 
To Peng, Min Yu, Shirley, Jon and Justine (who is still on committee), thank you for all the hardwork and effort you have put into ICF. May you continue to serve God with all your heart and be glad to know that you are now part of ‘the older, wiser ones’. 
written by Justine Phang.
photos by Justine Phang.
The Cultural Marketplace was a joint fundraising event run by Victoria University Christian Union and Wellington International Christian Fellowship at the beginning of August. Our purpose for running the event was three-fold: to raise awareness of the work we do on campus to reach students, to raise funds in order to support our work, and to build relationships with the churches and wider Christian family in Wellington.
The event was held on a Saturday evening from 5-10pm at a local church hall. We had a variety of culturally-themed food stalls and activity stalls such as Chinese calligraphy, henna painting, poi making and sari tying. Cultural performances ran throughout the night, including dancing by the predominantly Muslim Malaysian student group from the university, a local Tongan group and a variety of Chinese dances from the Chinese church where the event was held. The Chinese Lion of Judah dance that wound through the crowd was a highlight of the evening!
Some of the food stalls were run by local church representatives and others by students with food contributions from supporters. The Minterns manned a stall with a looping video about ICF & CU, and our presidents spoke at times throughout the night about the groups and our mission. Nigel Pollock also ran a fundraising auction in his inimitable style!
The intense preparation of decorations and food before the event and setting up on the day was a great bonding time for the students of both groups. We found painting banners together on the floor to be a wonderful community-fostering activity! Everyone pitched in and had an awesome time.
The Cultural Marketplace was publicised to all the churches in central Wellington, and to students and the public through internet advertising and posters all over the city & university. A wide variety of people turned up, from long time supporters and fellow church members to random students and members of the public. A delegation from Massey Palmerston North came down to support us too. Our goal of seeing 500 people through the doors was met.
Running such a large scale event was a huge learning curve for all on the committee. Although the event did not make the profit that we had hoped and we wound up just comfortably in the black, the other two arms of our purpose were well and truly achieved. Overall the Cultural Marketplace was deemed a huge success and the feedback from those who attended or were involved has been incredibly positive.
written by Charlotte Kirby.
photos by Justine Phang
Not really related to anything we’ve been doing at ICF, but apparently I can put other things up into the blog as long as it is related to God.
I’ve recently listened to a beautiful sermon on Psalm 91, which is my all-time favourite psalm in the Bible. It has been a great encouragement to me through the years, especially when things in life are not going so well.
The sermon is only on the first two verses of the psalm, but in those two verses alone I’ve gained many insights. I’ve written a summary of it, and I hope it’ll encourage you as well, as it has touched me deeply.
Psalm 91:1-2 (NIV)
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty
I will say of the LORD,
“He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Most High – El Elyon
He is the Most High God, the highest of the high, the ruler of all, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He created us in His image, and we belong to Him. Thus, He is in control of all things – of the universe, of all creation, and he should have pre-eminence in our lives. To dwell in the shelter of the Most High is then to live in utter submission to this God who has created us in love and out of love. We are living in an incredibly busy world – work, life, family, friends – all great but after a long time of trying to juggle it all it will get tiring. It is then important to just take some time out and rest in His shelter.
In Genesis 14, Abram, who would go on to become Abraham, defeated Kedorlaomer and his allies because they captured his relatives. Abram was then met by Melchizedek, the High Priest (another person whose story will be told another day) and Melchizedek blessed Abram. Abram then gave a tenth of everything he owned. The king of Sodom wanted to give Abram more wealth, but Abram raised his hands to El Elyon and swore that no one but God will make him wealthy, so that no one may say that the king of Sodom made Abram wealthy.
Almighty – El Shaddai
“El” means powerful. Scholars cannot agree on the meaning of “Shaddai” and hence there are two camps – one believes that it means “strong, like a mountain”, while the other believs that it means “like a mother’s breast.” Combing these meanings, we then have an image of a God who is powerful and strong, mighty and all-sufficient but at the same time loving, nourishing and satisifying like a mother’s love. He supplies all our needs, and He doesn’t need us to help him out.
Sarai, Abram’s wife, tried to help God out. God has promised Abraham that he will become a father of all nations, and through him, all the world will be blessed. But he was of old age and had no children. Sarai tried to help God out by asking Abram to sleep with her maidservant, Haggar. From that union came Ishmael. But this was still not the child that God had promised. This “helping God out” may have been one of the biggest mistakes in history because until today, we can still feel the impact of that act. Then at the age of 99, when Abram and Sarai were as good as dead, God appeared to Abram and said:”I am El Shaddai; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant with you and greatly increase your numbers.” (Gen. 17). This appearance of God was the starting point of Abram becoming Abraham, the receiver of this wonderful promise. Sarai became Sarah. A year after that, the promised child, Isaac, was born. Through the years, God was faithful to this covenant, and this promise was fulfill in the person of Jesus – the forever living descendant of Abraham.
Is there a promise that you have been waiting for? Trust in God because He is All-Sufficient.
LORD – Jehovah
He is a just, holy and righteous God who must purge evil because this is His character. People always talk about how it is God’s love that held Jesus at the cross; yes, but it is His righteousness that compelled him to hang there in order to deal with evil once and for all. He then calls us to righteous living. How are we suppose to dwell in his righteousness as a refuge, as He is such a loving, wonderful God, but yet, so just? How are mere sinners suppose to stand in this presence? We do so by living a repented life – a life that acknowledges the saving grace of Jesus, and to turn away from sin, that we may be called “good and faithful servants”.
God – Elohim
He is the one who stands on covenant relationships, as He cannot break His promises. He is trustworthy. He will never leave us nor forsake us, engraving our names in the palm of His hands. He restores and He never forgets our names.
In Genesis 15, Abram asked God:” How can I trust you?” when God wanted to make a covenant relationship with him. In the olden days, covenant was made by cutting animals into half, leaving a trench or a trail of blood in between the pieces. Both parties are then to walk on each side of the animal pieces as a sign that says: If I ever break the covenant, let what happened to the animal happen to me.” But we see that when God made the covenant with Abram, He alone walked through the ceremony, in a form of a blazing fire. God decided to bring unto himself the burden of bearing both sides of the promise. And again God did this when Jesus came and died on the cross as our perfect substitution. Indeed a trustworthy God that will still remain faithful even though all others are faithless, because He cannot go against His own character. Remember that He never forgets who you are.
Isaiah 49:15-16.
Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.
Elohim never forgets.
I will dwell in the shelter of the Most High
- I belong in the arms of the Father
I will rest in the shadow of the Almighty
- I will be fruitful and not step out of God’s shadow. I will get to know Him
I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress
- I will live a repented life. Every time the Holy Spirit urges me on something, I will deal with it. I will not run.
My God, in whom I trust
- I will trust in God because there is security in His name.
written by Fran Lim.
This year Easter Camp was filled with lots of fun and memories. We got to meet many many many new people and enjoy the experience of staying in the marae. Together with our friends from PNOCF, we spent 3 days worth of playing, talking, eating, and learning about different cultures and God.
Day 1
After a loooong 3 hours drive from Wellington, we arrived at the marae at Halcomb where we met our friends from PNOCF. We were then greeted by the Maori family who owns the Marae in the traditional Maori way; first, the head lady calls and we walk in (girls first). And then a karanga is sung. After that, a few speeches were presented by the guys and then it was our turn to sing a song. After that, we did the ‘hongi’ where we touch noses with each other as a way of greeting each other. After settling into the Marae (which is a ginormous hall which can fit like 80 sleeping people), we played some ice breaker games. One of them was called the guardian angel game where you had to take care of another person in the camp for the whole period of the camp. In our first session, we got a little history talk about the Marae and also discussed in groups about our own culture.
Day 2
Day 2 began with breakfast and a session on what happens after death. We talked about how different cultures have different beliefs on what happens after death. In the afternoon we played loads of crazy and fun games which really helped us all to loose weight after eating all the good food. hehe. For dinner we had the hangi which is food that was cooked underground. Lots of hardwork was put into that, but it was really interesting to watch cooked food being digged out from the ground. We had another session after dinner. This time, we talked more about Jesus and who Jesus is. It was really good as there were alot of non-christians there who were really interested in finding out more about Jesus.
Day 3
A few of us woke up at 5 in the morning to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful. After trying to catch up with a bit more sleep, we had easter reflections and communion. As we wrapped up the camp, we took the chance to take as many photos as we can. We did a massive clean up and packed up. Before heading home, we had an official farewell and did the hongi again.
written by Justine Phang
Hunny: yeah so I’m just going to ask for an extension…Eww cross the road! Don’t walk near that person. He’s a drug addict. Stay away.
Bunny: hey hold up a minute! Remember in ICF last Friday how that small group leader…was it Justine?…yeah I think so. Well, she was explaining to us about the woman who was unclean and cast out from society. Yet just by a touch of Jesus’ cloak, she was completely healed. And that’s what happened. So even though she was unclean, sick and dirty, like this guy here (standing in front of drug addict so he can hear us), Jesus completely healed her. And Jesus didn’t get mad or angry or shooed her away. No, he called her ‘daughter’ and praised her for her faith.
Hunny: Oh yeah, I vaguely remember that story. Isn’t it similar to the story about that dead girl who Jesus raised to life? It was against the Jewish custom to touch a dead girl. But he touched her and brought her back to life.
PAUSE
Narrator: During Jesus’ ministry He reached out to the unclean, poor, and marginalized people. He wanted to show people how we should respond to these people today. Who do you think these people are today?
RESUME
Bunny: So yeah, I think that’s something we should really be putting into practice aye.
Hunny: Yeah, I guess you’re right, as always. It’s just that…
Bunny: What?
Hunny: Well…there’s not really any opportunities ya know? It’s not like we come across anyone who really needs our help on a day to day basis. I mean, what great things can I do? I’m just an ordinary person going about my life.
(Drug addict suddenly has a seizure and collapses on Hunny)
PAUSE
Narrator: In this situation, what would you do?
RESUME
Hunny: (freaks out and screams and tries shaking him off) Ahh! Get this thing of me! Heelp! Ewww. I think we should leave.
Bunny: No! We can’t just leave. We gotta help him! If we don’t help, I doubt anyone will. C’mon let’s get him to the hospital…
Hunny: Alright, alright. But you carry him :p
__________________________________________________________________________________
At the hospital…
Narrator: At the hospital, Hunny and Bunny was waiting in the waiting room.
Hunny: Bunny… I feel bad. I don’t think I have that much amount of faith to believe that I can be someone that can help heal people. I always thought that you needed to be one of those great fancy people like pastors or small group leaders, who change the world.
PAUSE
Narrator: How would you respond to this?
RESUME
Bunny: Yes sometimes I feel that way too. A lot of us do. But now that you mentioned it, another thing that I got out of the Bible study was that it didn’t matter to God how big or small our faith is rather as long as we put our faith in Him, he can use us to do many things for His glory.
Hunny: Wow, I’ve never thought about it that way before. So even though my faith is still soo small, God can use me just as well as a pastor?
Bunny: Yup! Exactly, Hunny! Wow, turns out you were listening in study last Friday! :p
Narrator: So throughout the week, keep an eye out for who these people might be whom you can break the social boundaries and help them out. Also, we must remember that as long as we put our faith in Jesus, no matter how big or small our faith is, and God will do the rest.
written by Justine Phang and Miriam Mylvaganam.
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
To wrap up this week, we learnt about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and again were confronted with the crucial question: Is Jesus really the Messiah, King of the Jews, Emmanuel, God in the flesh? Jesus was praised as a great Rabbi and at first the people were impressed, certainly! But, from their reaction it was easy to see they failed to understand who Jesus was and what he was saying. They seemed to know him so well, yet still turned to one another asking, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’
No, no, no! A million times no!
Although the Jews unbelief is shocking to us, from what Jesus said next it was clear it was of no surprise to him. After the initial blow to there blindness, then comes the knockout punch. Indeed another scripture was fulfilled that day from the book of Moses: “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;with a foolish nation I will make you angry”. I am here to proclaim the year of the Lords favour. Salvation to the Gentiles. The Scriptures you so diligently study reveal it, and I am Gods chosen one to bring it about.
Praise. Amazement. Fury. Attempted Murder. But the gracious hand of God was indeed as much on Jesus, here as it was in the land of Herod the Nutcase.
This is the good news that followers of Jesus believe in. We believe that Jesus Christ has come to save all of mankind, whether Jew or Gentile. Just as God’s salvation is not exclusive to the Jews, so too is not unbelief something they are only guilty for. The bible is clear in it’s diagnosis and Christ is the glorious cure, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
Two Questions
So for those of you who are still learning about Jesus, and wanting to know more, our question for you to think about is “How will I respond if Jesus is really Gods’ Son?
And for those of you who are followers of Jesus, Jesus coming for all people is great news. Do you live as though Jesus is great news? This news is indeed great for ourselves and those around us. Who are those you can share this good news to?
In summary, reflect on this Scripture from John 1:11-12:
“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
What a great joy to be a child of God!
written by Greg Mackay