Community Learning

Addressing the need for intellectual witness in the wider society, Kam Weng proposed an action item on leadership development that resonates deeply -

"many Christian leaders in the third world do not have enough time to acquire the pre-requisite skills and knowledge adequate to confront the best scholars from the other religions. Hence, it is vital that we begin early to equip younger Christians for such a demanding task... It is urgent that we identify promising young leaders and nurture them with supplementary education while they are still in colleges."

Not only that, Soo Inn proposed that developing leaders is also about 'spiritual friendship', living and walking with these young leaders - sharing our lives, otherwise it could be too abstract.

With that in view, I highly recommend the following community learning initiatives in the Klang Valley which would put needed resources in your hands to be an ambassador for Christ in the marketplace and guided by facilitators who are willing to share their lives.

1) ACT Ministry will be having a fortnightly (Mondays) group study on Philosophy for Understanding Theology by Diogenes Allen and ACT Ministry notes on "Greek Philosophy in Christian Doctrine". Time: 8.30pm - 10.00pm

Length: 12 sessions beginning on the 25/09/2006 and ending 12/03/2007 with Christmas and Chinese new Year breaks in between.

2) Basic Doctrine Course (tapes/workbooks from John Stott) at CDPC starting on 29 Oct 2006. Facilitators: Michael & Yvette Koh, excellent couple-teachers.

3) KJ John is a regular contributor at Malaysiakini with an emphasis on integrity and transparent governance in our country. He and Kong Beng will team up to lead the OHMSI group study on the book "Total Truth" by Nancey Pearcey which is an excellent resource for being informed about cultural issues in our day - from sociopolitical engagement, ethics, intelligent design,
homosexuality, gender issues, secularism, islam etc etc...

(btw the term 'total truth' was coined by Francis Schaeffer to mean that Christianity is not only true for religious issues like 'personal encounter w God' but also true in the public issues like how we do science, economics, social-politics, arts racial, sexual issues etc ...)

Since KJ John is also an experienced and well-connected writer for the public square, I believe we can really benefit from his insights in the Malaysian context. Also, Kong Beng would contribute from a theological perspective.

The next best thing (imho, a much better thing) to getting a formal education is to get experienced mentors like them to give us some coaching and hands-on guide.

The take-home value, as i see it, is we could have a group of young people who are prepared to engage the issues in malaysiakini or other public forums in some specialised issues when the need arises...

So far, I'm encouraged to see some promising future leaders have expressed interest.

We are desperately in need of people who will stand up and be counted. Round up your frens who may be interested and suitably gifted, and let's get connected.

How to sign up? Just email me at hedonese at yahoo.com

KJ John's Proposed Ground Rules are:

1. Meeting once a month either Saturday or Sunday for about 2 hours at a location of our choice. Attendance is compulsory for those all who sign up.

We cannot miss more than one in a row to a maximum of two meetings. The book has only 13 chapters and we intend to only READ and REVIEW only one chapter a month.

2. Those who have not read relevant chapter CANNOT PARTICIPATE in the discussion and dialogue. Both Navs 2:7 program and BSG follow these rules. Good for personal discipline and good discipleship.

3. Once committed, it is from start till finish.

4. We all agree to undertake to endeavour to start a new group of our own as our passing on the baton of the new way of thinking about life and living; after the session is over after about one year.