Impossible Conference is a yearly event that is organised by the FOPx committee - youth pastors and leaders from various churches and denominations, with the same vision to see God’s name lifted high in the generations and in Singapore. Youth leader Koh Jie Hui reflects on the youth gathering.
Jeremiah was called and ordained as a prophet at seventeen (Jeremiah 1:4). Timothy was referred to by his youth (1 Timothy 4:12), and Samuel was called when he was just a young boy (1 Samuel 3:8).
Youth is not to be despised, and the degree of faith and tender-hearted responses in the room at the Impossible Conference was truly encouraging. Throngs of young people came forward to the altar calls inviting them to give their lives to Jesus, to live for Him and make a stand for God in a broken world. This is not an unusual sight to witness at a youth conference, nor is Cornerstone a stranger to altars of weeping youth. We are reminded that from the inception of the Church, the youths in Generations have been marked by a passionate hunger for the pursuit of Christ.
Yet we know from the Word and by experience that some seeds sown at events like these – may fall on good ground, while some fall by the wayside. Others even wither away quickly (Matthew 13:1-9). Youths – to indifferent eyes – might seem strangers to commitment and perhaps this event was no exception.
As I stood, witnessing what I felt was like a multitude of young people responding to call after call to give their lives to God, it was humbling to realise this was a glimpse in that moment when Jesus declared that the fields are white for harvest – this image of eager Samaritans leaving town and heading across the fields towards Jesus, looked much like a plentiful harvest gleaming in the sun.
If I may be so bold to transpose the imagery: Here, in a covered hall, with droves of young people moving forward to answer the call to live for God and find their identity in Him, is a ripe harvest; a generation seeking discipleship and desiring to respond to the Lord.
It was not lost on the congregation that all the speakers (Christine Caine, Pastor Jean-Luc Trachsel, Pastor Robert Fergusson, Pastor Teo Hayashi, Reverend Edmund Chan, and Pastor Yang) shared their hearts to sow into this generation. Perhaps the beauty of the inter-generational endeavour of the Church is that God puts in our elders a desire for legacy, and in the hearts of the younger ones, strength and a desire for mentorship.
FOPx, the organiser of the Impossible Conference, which gathers youths from Singapore churches – its programs, initiatives and structures, ultimately form an extension of a personal conviction for youth ministry. If you find yourself willing to journey alongside this generation, I pray that God will open your hearts and eyes to see the opportunities and God-given potential in each young person whom God puts in your path.
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