Youthfulworshippers areprized by temples,churches andmosques here,determined not tolose a generation togodlessness,especially now

with youth gangs in the news. Young people arealso key to the survival or revival of ancient faiths.So religious leaders now strategically unleashyouth-friendly programmes, from sports to socialnetworking. They cheer on good students withiPods, and race online to connect with teenagersand young adults.

WITH youth gangs in the news, religiousleaders now face new urgency in reachingout to the young.

What is at stake is clear to church, tem-ple and mosque elders, who prize youngworshippers and have in recent yearsmade ancient faiths more youth-friendly.Instil the next generation with a sense ofidentity and purpose or, they fear, losethem to cynicism, violence and evenfanaticism.

Religious leaders think faith can play arole in arresting youth gangsterism, byhelping to calm raging teen hormonesand supporting those in fraying families.

A member of the Baha’i community,Mr Chong Ming Hwee, 31, says: “It’s a dif-ficult age. There is a lot of surging energywhich, if not properly harnessed, may re-sult in the problems of youth that we see.Youth can play a significant role in socie-ty.” He deems them “very noble beings”.

Like him, religious leaders here see thepotential for good in the young: their al-truism, sense of justice and eagerness tolearn. But they say this can come to thefore only if teens are nurtured properly.

“Youths need to belong to a family,”says Mr Daniel Chua, 34, lead pastor ofThe City Church. “They need authenticrelationships where you can hear quar-rels, and you work it out.

“Looking around us, there so manyproblems of dysfunctional families.There’s a lack of kinship. That’s whatsociety needs and that’s what the Bible

promotes.”Mr Kwek Zeming, 26, a Singapore Bud-

dhist Mission youth group adviser, seesthe roots of gangsterism in ego.

“For us, we preach non-enmity. So ifthere’s a situation to avoid, we avoid it.We try to show youth there is more tolife, and you can put the welfare of othersabove yours. That puts away the ego andtones down their anger and hatred.”

Buddhists teach loving kindness, com-passion, appreciative joy and equanimity,he adds. “Growing up, young people haveraging hormones and pent-up frustra-tion, probably because of their family.With understanding and patience, we canhelp them.”

While gangsterism is worry-ing enough, even more sinisteris the threat of religious fanati-cism. And this is spurring faithgroups here to intensify recruit-ment of the young.

Miss Vidthiya Devi Ramasa-my, 29, teams up with other Hin-du youth volunteers to run live-ly Sunday classes in basic Hindu-ism for children in neighbour-hood temples here – convincedthat sound religious teaching for-tifies individuals against fanati-cism.

“With technology, the young

witness injustices that take place in thename of religion all over the world,” shesays.

“Young Hindus are taught to love, har-monise and have greater understandingof one another. When we focus on reach-

ing youth, their awareness of ex-tremism is heightened. Theywill spread their concerns aboutfanaticism not only to theirfriends but also throughout theworld with technology.”

Eight religious groups – theBuddhists, Taoists, Roman Cath-olics, Protestant Christians,Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs andBaha’i – report increasing theirfocus on the young.

They have launchedyouth-friendly programmes fea-turing sports events, social net-working and the latest music tohelp reel in youth.

The Heart of God Church uses iPodsand Nike vouchers – paid for from churchcoffers or donations by parents – toencourage studying and achieving goodgrades.

The Baha’i community of 2,000 peoplereaches out to its youth with a weekendprogramme of study, discussion and funactivities designed to foster positive lan-guage, help teens make moral decisionsand involve them in service projects.

And other faiths here have introducednew youth wings and youth clerics –almost unheard of 10 years ago – and arespreading the word online via Facebook,Twitter and blogs.

Learning from ProtestantsTHE good news is that young peopleseem to be open to such efforts.

A 2008 Straits Times survey of 1,000Singaporeans aged 15 and above foundthat those aged 15 to 19 were the mostlikely to convert to a religion.

“Young people are attracted to spiritu-ality,” says youth specialist Glenn Lim,39, a former Anglican youth pastor of 10years. The former drug addict and gangmember now trains youth pastors at theSchool of Youth Ministry, where he is theprogramme director.

He has met many former offenderswho cross easily into religion. Wherethey once looked for identity, signifi-cance and a sense of power in gangs, theynow find them in religion. He says: “It isalmost like they substitute domains – thegang for the religious group.”

“Religion is one platform to do goodfor mankind,” he adds. “Young peoplereadily rise up for a cause, whether it’sanimal rights, disaster relief or the YouthOlympic Games.”

Protestant Christianity seems to beparticularly successful at attractingyoung people. The Straits Times pollfound that one-quarter of those surveyedturned to Protestant Christianity beforethey were 20 – easily surpassing conver-sions to Catholicism (11 per cent), Bud-

CONTINUEDON PAGE D4

BY LEE SIEW HUASENIOR WRITER

FROM GANGSTO RELIGION:

For writer’s blogon youth

conversions,go to

straitstimes.com

BAHA’I: (From left) Venkatesan Somesh, 11, sharing a story with Mr Oliver Oxenham, 29, Mr Darren Chua, 20, and Mr Ben Morris, 25, at their weekly small group book study at Pinnacle@Duxton. ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

MORE ONLINE

Makingfaithcool ISLAM: Nur Nadhira Yunos (left), 15, and Nurin Sofiya Sri Rosfadil, 14, engaged in an opening

prayer before their interactive aL.I.V.E. class, conducted in English for young people aged 13 to 16at Al-Mawaddah Mosque in Sengkang. ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

CHRISTIANITY: Young dancers at a performance at Heart of God Church in Paya Lebar, where young people exceed adults fourfold. PHOTO: HEART OF GOD CHURCH

saturday� god wants youth

THE STRAITS TIMES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27 2010 PAGE D2

dhism (7 per cent), Taoism (4 per cent),Hinduism (2 per cent) and Islam (1 percent).

Such a conversion success rate has ledother faiths to view Protestant Christiani-ty as the “benchmark”, according to soci-ologist Mathew Mathews, a research fel-low at the Institute of Policy Studies.

“In most churches, young people areseen as energetic. They organise events;it’s empowering. And fast-growingchurches tend to have substantial num-bers of young people.”

Christianity, with its long-time focuson pastoral work, has also been fairly suc-cessful with adolescents who need guid-ance, he adds.

Says Ms Madhu Vala, secretary of theHindu Advisory Board: “We are alwaysvery impressed with the Christians whotrain their young and organise well.”

The Hindus now stage lively 12-weekProject Bakthi courses that make Hindu-ism hip with Amazing Race-like games,skits and quizzes. Like Sunday School,the classes are taught in English. Twentyyouth volunteers double up as instructorsand mentors to children aged four to 14 atsix temples islandwide on Sundays.

The Muslims, too, have taken a leafout of the book of visiting Christianyouth workers from New Zealand, whowere brought here to address religiousand social organisations by the NationalCouncil of Social Service in 2007.

Instructors such as Ms Seri QadijahKamir, 27, head of education at theAl-Mawaddah Mosque, were inspired byhow the Christian trainers make learningappealing and how much they believe inthe young.

“It was an eye-opener,” she recalls.“The course gave the trainees a sense ofexcitement and possibility – that it’s notso difficult to reach out to teens and beclose to them.”

The Muslims are now experiencing a“youth bulge”, with young people form-ing 33 per cent of their community lastyear. In contrast, those in the 15 to 29 agegroup make up only 21 per cent of the pop-ulation nationally.

In its 2005 Mosque Convention report,the Islamic Religious Council of Singa-pore (Muis) vowed to harness both the“assets” and “aspirations” of young peo-ple to inject “new dynamism” in theMalay-Muslim world.

Since then, it has hired 32 youth devel-opment officers who do youth outreachin mosques. It also rolled out interactiveaL.I.V.E. classes for youngsters aged fiveto 24. The year-long weekend classes cov-er topics from Allah’s “oneness” and lifeskills to Islam in the news, and are held inabout half of the 69 mosques here.

By all accounts, all these efforts atholding on to their flocks are paying off.

The 2008 Straits Times survey foundthat 97 per cent of Muslims and Hindusstill embraced the religion they were borninto. Another 3 per cent of Muslims andHindus were converts who made theswitch in their teens and 20s.

In contrast, Taoism, once the bedrockof the Chinese population, is now tryingto stem a youth exodus. Figures from Sta-tistics Singapore chart its soberingdecline: In 1980, about one in three peo-ple here, or 30 per cent, was a Taoist. By1990, it was fewer than one in four, or22.4 per cent. And by 2000, it plummet-ed to below one in 10, or 8.5 per cent.

To reach the young and sceptical, theTaoist Federation Youth Group waslaunched in 2007, followed by the TaoistCollege a year later. The youth group’s100 active members host leadershipcamps and weekly discussions. It alsoworks with interfaith groups on environ-mental issues and supports the SingaporeAnti-Narcotics Association in its preven-tive work with young people, says MasterChung Kwang Tong, 26, its secre-tary-general.

The bilingual Taoist priest – whoseblog acts as a bridge between young seek-ers and the ancient faith – has a bach-elor’s degree in mass communications

from Oklahoma City University, thanksto the sponsorship of his San Qing GongTemple in Bedok North.

Upsized responsibilitiesA KEY ingredient in attracting the youngto religion is the handing down of respon-sibility.

The Baha’i encourage young people toperform a year of service abroad, such asconducting Baha’i study circles in Zam-bia, says Miss Sarih Leng, 21, director ofthe Baha’i Youth Office till last month.

Similarly, service is a key tenet of theSikh faith. “It imbues in us a sense ofresponsibility,” says Mr Jasbir Singh, 25,a juris doctor candidate at Singapore Man-

agement University and an active Sikhvolunteer since the age of 14, when hehelped run high-energy youth camps.

Roping youth into service also forms amajor strategic plank at Singapore’s larg-est church, City Harvest Church, whichhas an average weekly attendance of33,000. Senior Pastor Kong Hee, aformer youth pastor in Bethany ChristianCentre, was just 24 in 1989 when he start-ed the church with 20 young people.

Mr Lim, the youth pastor trainer, saysCity Harvest’s success lies in how it “chal-lenges people to give of themselves”.Youngsters, especially, rise up to the chal-lenge when they see that their contribu-tion makes a difference.

It is a big mistake to leave young peo-

ple in their comfort zone. “I have seenstruggling youth ministries that try sohard to make young people feel cushy inthe congregation, and afterwards struggleto understand why they seem so apathet-ic and self-centred,” he notes.

He points to the example of Christ,who actively engaged his disciples in actsof service when they were still bumblingworks-in-progress: “Believe in youngpeople even before they clean up theiract.

“If you view them as rascals, they willmeet your expectations. But if you seethem as leaders, they will rise up to yourvision of them.”

Cultivating deeper relationships withthe young is also paramount. Pastor Chua

of The City Church says 10 years workingwith young people has taught him thatflashy lights and multimedia attract themonly for a few weeks. “But ultimatelythey value relationships and love – eventhe loving confrontation that bringschange in them.”

Young people yearn for a strong familyidentity. So he offers good fathering andinvites them to dine at his Tampinesfive-room flat. Other families at the15-month-old church – 30 per cent of itsflock of 200 are young people – also dothe same.

Rap and rapportOF COURSE, successful youth ministriesalso engage with young people in theirnative languages: new media and popularculture.

For Muslims, that means youngsterstrying their hand at songwriting conteststhat embody the Prophet’s teachings witha surprise touch of rap, hip-hop or blues.

Mr Mohamad Helmy, assistant direc-tor of mosques at Muis, adds that imamsembrace young people who show up withwildly coloured hair and denim for Fridayprayers and youth programmes.

The Taoist Federation Youth Grouphosts barbecues on the rooftop of SanQing Gong Temple. And questions can beposed to the bilingual Master Chung onFacebook.

On their iPhones and iPads, young peo-ple can read electronic books on how LaoTze’s wisdom applies to the workplace.

Master Chung, who was 16 when hestarted his discipleship with a visitingmaster from Hong Kong, says: “Youngpeople give Taoism a very fresh image.They can find ways to relate what LaoTze said 2,000 years ago to present life.”

The Hindus are taking a fun, modernapproach too. Recently, Hindu youthvolunteers hosted an Amazing Race for

FROMPAGE D2

CONTINUEDON PAGE D5

BUDDHISM: Planting the seed of religion – young people greet the Venerable Bodhi at the Singapore Buddhist Mission. ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

HINDUISM: Learning about the religion is made hip through skits and quizzes. Above, youngsters performing a skit at the Srinivasa Perumal Temple Wedding Hall in Serangoon. ST PHOTO: AIDAH RAUF

Young people rise up to the challengesaturday� god wants youth

THE STRAITS TIMES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27 2010 PAGE D4

children at the Srinivasa Perumal Templein Serangoon Road, devising props withthemes of good and evil.

At the National University of Singa-pore, Sikhs make overtures by sharingtheir culture. Mr Harminder Singh, 25,has tied turbans for non-Sikh students,when the university hosted culturalbazaars.

For the past year, a group of 10 to 15Sikhs have been discussing Sikh literaryworks and contemporary issues over tea

at a campus canteen, says Mr Singh, whograduated in July and is now working atthe Defence Science Organisation.

In many churches, young people shineat music, drama and multimedia – thecreative side of church life, says PastorChua.

They stage drama productions and cre-ate videos and multimedia to accompanysermons and “are highly talented and atthe forefront of innovation”, he says.

In August, during the Youth OlympicGames, Mr Chua and other youth pastorsmobilised several churches to host thefamilies of athletes. They also staged a

Loudfest youth festival that included bicy-cle stunts and bands at Ngee Ann City.

Just a phase?BUT the huge investment in youth oftenraises the question of whether religion isjust a rite of passage for some. After ex-pending so many resources on reachingyoung people, do they stay the course?

After all, youth programmes do notcome cheap. Any organisation servingyouth is never rich, says Senior PastorTan Seow How, 40, of Heart of GodChurch.

Sociologist Dr Mathews, who has stud-

ied church growth here for many years,notes: “Among young people who go tochurch, conservatively, at least half dropout.”

“Anecdotally,” he adds, “they maycome back in their 40s or 50s. Maybe astheir own kids enter the teen years, theyfeel the children need religious guidance.Or towards their 50s, health becomes anissue and existential concerns comeback,” he says. “People revisit the spiritu-ality of their youth.”

Many religious leaders prefer to over-look this possibility and say the infusionof life that the young bring to any place

of worship should be prized – whateverits duration.

Miss Mabel Ong, 19, a Nanyang Tech-nological University psychology student,says young people drift in and out of herSingapore Buddhist Mission youth groupof 100 members, and it’s a “bonus” ifthey stay on. “Our motivation is that whe-ther they are here for one year or one ses-sion, we plant the seed of Buddhism inthem.”

Similarly, Father Brian D’Souza, 41, isat peace if his young Catholic parishion-ers venture into vibrant Protestantchurches – even as he pitches youth pro-grammes such as a six-week School ofWitness on character formation and thesharing of the Gospel through music anddance. The camp for young potential lead-ers aged 17 to 25 is held at the CatholicArchdiocesan Youth Centre off UpperSerangoon Road.

“Rather than attend Catholic mass as aroutine, if a young person decides toattend a Christian church and is ferventfor Christ, I am happy,” he says.

The youth chaplain of the CatholicYouth Ministry Office, set up by Arch-bishop Nicholas Chia in 2003 to coordi-nate resources for youth work, is buoyedby the hope that wandering youth willone day return to the Catholic fold.

Pastor Chua of The City Church pointsout that young people are a very powerfulforce in evangelism – both in class and inco-curricular activities (CCAs).

“Their social structures are bigger,” hesays. “Because they’re more experimentaland daring, they are quicker to reach outto friends and ask them to come along tosee for themselves. It’s an expression oftheir new-found zeal and passion.”

Churches have found that youth begetmore youth – speedily. Without any blue-print to build a youth church, the Heartof God Church started a youth group in2000 with nine youngsters aged nine to13. They were too old for Sunday Schooland therefore bored, but too young forthe adult service.

“Over the next 10 years, they outpacedthe growth of the adult church,” he says.Now, the church has 1,250 members,with youngsters exceeding adults four-fold.

So, as Pastor Tan puts it, the patienceand love needed when working withyouth is well worth the effort.

“They will hang out late, be unwise, beimmature, have a bad attitude and makebad decisions. Sometimes they willneglect their studies and family time. AtHeart Of God, we call them ‘excellence-in-progress’.

“How to work with youth? In a fewwords: Love youth, respect youth,believe in youth.”siewhua@sph.com.sg

FROMPAGE D4

TAOISM: Taoist Federation Youth Group members at China’s Mount Hua in Shaanxi province, one of five sacred mountains in Taoism. PHOTO: TAOIST FEDERATION YOUTH GROUP

They’ve come, but will they stay?

saturday� god wants youth

THE STRAITS TIMES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27 2010 PAGE D5

SUNDAY worship starts at the leisurely hourof three in the afternoon at the Heart of GodChurch.

Most members of the church, which has1,000 youth and 250 adult members, are

young “digital natives” who live online orstudy into the early hours. The late start al-lows them to sleep in, and gives them time toenjoy brunch or dinner with their families.

But the laid-back start of Sunday service

could give the wrong impression. Itmasks a very upright attitude to educa-tion and attainment.

The independent Protestant churchin Paya Lebar – started in 1999 by Sen-ior Pastor Tan Seow How and his wifeCecilia Chan, both 40 – has a big fo-cus on academic excellence and thecreative expression of young people.

Pastor Tan says: “I have observedChristian youth who are very commit-ted to their faith but neglect their stud-ies, work and even family. When theyreach their 20s, they realise they arefar behind in life, career and finances.Tragically, some blame God and leave

church or even the faith.”He and his church leaders “aggres-

sively push education”, as 70 per centof their youth members come fromneighbourhood schools, said the pas-tor, an Anglo-Chinese School alum-nus with a finance degree from SantaClara University in the United States.

iPods are given to those with goodgrades, if they achieve an aggregatescore of 200 and above in the PrimarySchool Leaving Examination or makeit to university. In the past five years,

CONTINUEDON PAGE D8

Young members of the Heart of God Church put on a dance performance. The church encourages artistic self-expression among its members, many of whom go on to enjoy success in their chosen fields. PHOTOS: HEART OF GOD CHURCH

Independent churchoffers gifts like iPods tospur academic excellence

Pushing education with a creative touch

Multimedia-savvy youth at the Heart of God Church create a dynamic worship experiencebut are taught to be responsible and frugal with purchases of equipment.

saturday� god wants youth

THE STRAITS TIMES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27 2010 PAGE D6

awards worth more than $23,000 havebeen disbursed.

During examination season, studentsare urged to study for at least 10 to 20hours a week before they attend church.As a result, Pastor Tan says the studentshave outperformed the national averagefor five years running, and several haveeven made it to the medicine faculty atthe National University of Singapore.

Full-time national serviceman TanJian Ming, 22, who has a polytechnic di-

ploma in business computing, used to getF9 in his subjects and shone only inmaths.

His marks shot up when Pastor Tan en-couraged him and launched the iPodgifts. He now plans to study for a degree.

Church manager Yasmeen Chan, 26,points out that under the church’s sys-tem, students “set their own standards”and take ownership of their desired aca-demic scores and goals by stating themon a pledge card.

Unsurprisingly, parents love the aca-demic focus, and even those who are notChristians pitch in with Nike vouchers or

cheques for the award scheme, she adds.Some drop their children off at church,then go shopping.

Alongside the academic incentives, thechurch also encourages young people toexcel in creative pursuits. “Singaporeyouth are very creative, smart, innova-tive and even entrepreneurial,” PastorTan observes. But these talents are buriedwhen they lack confidence or do not com-municate well, he says.

The church provides the environmentand equipment for young people toexplore what they are good at – music,multimedia, lighting, dance, fashion and

art.They have become musicians and sing-

ers in four worship teams, video cameraoperators and multimedia creators.

Before long, Pastor Tan says, theyoung people end up managing the audio-visuals better than their adult supervisorswho first showed them the ropes.

Some years back, an introverted15-year-old was allowed to tinker withthe church office’s Apple Mac computer.Now 22, and newly employed in apost-production company, Mr Chua FengXu created the introductory video for theopening ceremony of the Youth Olympic

Games in August.Pastor Tan says any organisation serv-

ing young people is unlikely to be rich.Churches survive on cash tithes by mem-bers, and with such a concentration ofyouth, most of whom are not yet work-ing, the collection box does not overflow.

“For very practical reasons, I do notsee many youth churches arising in Singa-pore. It’s like raising a family of 10 kids,”he said.

But he looks far into the future: “If Ican teach, grow and mature a thousandyoung people into responsible, godly, lov-ing citizens, in 20 years there will be1,000 great families, 1,000 good fathersand mothers, and 1,000 responsible citi-zens.”LEE SIEW HUA

FROMPAGE D6

The Heart of God Church focuses on strong academic performance, along with emphasis on creative pursuits, and offers group tuition to its young members. PHOTO: HEART OF GOD CHURCH

Encouraging a passion for study and creativity

saturday� god wants youth

THE STRAITS TIMES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27 2010 PAGE D8