Welcome

Dear Friends and Partners-in Ministry,

Meditating again on the life of Joseph recently, a little passage caught my eye:

‘When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph should bear a grudge against us and pay us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!?So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father charged before he died, saying, “Thus you shall say to Joseph, “Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.?(Gen 50: 15-17)

It appears that these brothers never truly felt secure after maliciously selling off their brother Joseph and concocting the circumstances of his death (Gen 37: 31-34; cf. 45:3). Even after Joseph had forgiven them, preserved their lives and provided for their needs, they continued to doubt Joseph’s magnanimous attitude towards them. Upon Jacob’s death, they alleged that their father had charged Joseph to forgive them for their past treachery; this seems motivated by their need for self-preservation. They had not grown! By contrast, Joseph had grown from an insensitive dreamer to a trusted steward, an abandoned prisoner to a preeminent and powerful administrator. The difference: Joseph knows Yahweh and views Him as sovereign over the circumstances of humankind (see Gen 50: 19-21).

At EAST, we want our students to grow. The theme adopted by the student council for this new academic year is ‘Grow deeper, build wider? This is most appropriate as we want EAST to become a school that would develop our students to grow more deeply in the Lord, and to minister effectively and extensively beyond the school. To this end, we have strengthened our field education programme through F.I.R.M. (Formation, Integration, Reflection, and Ministry) and will continue to emphasize the mentoring and internship of our students. Please pray for us.

It is therefore timely to feature four articles that reflect this theme: two students took a year out from their studies to pioneer a ministry in a creative access country; another two reported on their internship experience, one local and another cross-cultural; and the fourth features the story of our alumni serving in Indonesia.

Thank you for your continued partnership. May you be blessed reading this issue of EASTnews!

Serving the Lord with you,

Ho Chiao Ek
Principal