Combined Zion Serangoon and Bishan Family Camp

A petition for ZS and ZB to continue having combined Church Family Camps

We, the signees of this petition, would like to appeal to the leadership of the two churches, Zion Serangoon (ZS) and Zion Bishan (ZB), to continue organising the annual combined Church Family Camp. These are the reasons why:

1. Resource management
A family camp is a huge logistical undertaking and requires much manpower. A larger combined camp, rather than two smaller individual camps, would requite proportionately less manpower. More time and effort can then be channelled to other church priorities.

2. Financial economies of scale
When you buy in bulk, you get a better rate per item. A larger combined camp would allow the church to negotiate a better rate for each camper and family, making camp financially more manageable in these uncertain economic times. The money saved can thus be channelled to other church ministries and activities in the respective sister churches..

3. Heritage and identity
Who we are is a sum total of all the experiences we have had, and of the people we have interacted with in the past. For second generation Zion members, (i.e. those who have grown up in Zion), or for those who spent a great part of their younger days in YF, the friendships built over the years for members who are now attending sister churches run long and deep. Family Camp will allow us an annual opportunity to renew our friendships and reacquaint ourselves with those who impacted our early Christian life.

4. New friendships
A combined Family Camp will also allow us to form new friendships with those from a like-minded BP sister church, and with those whom we may not have the opportunity to befriend during the rest of the year, bearing in mind that there will be no more combined services or other mutually-attended activities.

5. Conundrum for those with dual memberships
If there are separate Family Camps, which camp would those with dual memberships attend? Most would not have adequate financial resources nor vacation time/annual leave to attend both camps. A combined Family Camp would allow those with dual membership to be able to connect with the members of the two sisters churches that they jointly attend.

6. Parents and children attending different sister churches
Some ZS members have their children attending ZB or vice versa. If there were two separate camps, then family members would have to attend separate camps, defeating the purpose of having family camps. Combined Family Camps also serve the purpose of a family reunion of sorts for the numerous families in this situation.

7. Time and money
As Sister Lena Goh said to me, All we ask is 5 [or perhaps 4] days out of 365. Family Camp is an investment of time and money for many families. Those who work spend a bulk of their annual leave attending camp. Those doing contract work even forfeit their income. A family of four would spend more than a thousand dollars attending Family Camp. Family Camp is an extra-curricular activity, outside of the usual realm of church activities, which people need to take especial effort to attend and pay for. Church members should logically have a say in how they spend their money and time.

The writer of Hebrews, in 10: 24-25, exhorts us to consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. While we function the rest of the year as two independent churches, planting the gospel seeds in the surrounding neighbourhoods of Serangoon Gardens and Bishan, please let the annual Family Camp be a time when we can spend with one another, to meet, encourage, pray and be renewed together in our service and our Christian walk.

As Sister Judy Chow reminded us in her Family Camp testimony:
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.
Progress in church planting is well-served by an occasional glance into the rear-view mirror, to remember our heritage and to secure ourselves in the future by recalling our past. While you, our appointed leadership, look to God for the final decision, please do so with one ear to the ground.


Note to those signing the petition:
We want to present a clean petition to the church leadership. So please put in your real name, and any relevant (sensible) comments that you might have.

If you oppose the petition, then please refrain from signing it. (A petition, by definition, is a list of people making a particular request, so please find some other avenue to communicate your sentiments to the church leadership.)