Dr Jarred Jung: EAST 32rd Commencement’s Reflection

The reflection below is written by Dr Jarred Jung, both an EAST resident faculty and coordinator for the EAST 32nd Commencement.

On 16 May, EAST celebrated the sending of another class of students into the harvest fields of countries throughout Asia with our 32^nd commencement ceremony. As a faculty member at EAST, commencement is one of my favorite days of the year. In many careers, it can be difficult to see the fruit of one’s labour, but we get to celebrate this every year in a tangible way. It fills us with great joy to see students who we have invested in for two, three, sometimes up to four years receive their hard-earned degrees. Perhaps it is the festive atmosphere that brings about this joy, but from my experience, there is something deeper than the morning of festivities.

One deeper source of joy is our love for the students who are graduating. At EAST, a student is not merely a seat filled in a classroom, an empty bucket to fill with our own knowledge. Rather, we see our students as ministers of the gospel that desire transformation. As faculty, we make every effort to invest in their lives, their ministries, their families. Ask any EAST faculty about one of our resident students and they most likely can tell you not only the student’s name, but the names of their spouse and children, the church where they attend, the ministry for which they are preparing, and maybe even about the struggles they have overcome in their studies at EAST. Commencement is a time where we get to celebrate the transformation that the Lord has brought about in the lives of these students who we have not only taught, but also shared meals with, invited to our homes, and prayed with.

Another source of joy is the beautiful tapestry of nations that is represented year after year at commencement that is a reminder of the scope of the Great Commission. This year alone, we saw students graduate from nine nations from every corner of Asia. This not only included students who come to campus in Singapore, but the students who are a part of our extension centres throughout Asia. In particular, we graduated our first cohort from our Mongolian extension centre, three students who studied through our Impact program in the Philippines, two doctoral candidates from our program cohort in Korea, and a doctoral candidate from our program in Indonesia. As the primary facilitator of the ceremonies this year, I was particularly delighted to bring this to the forefront of the commencement. Visually, we were able to see the flags of the many nations represented by our EAST students, staff, and faculty. Many students came dressed in the celebratory dress of their cultural ethnic background. Audibly, we worshiped together in four different languages and heard student performances in five languages. It was a joy to honour these students’ accomplishments while looking (and singing) outward to the multifaceted harvest fields into which we send them.

Finally, we get joy from knowing the ministries into which these students are moving. Here is a quick sample of some of the ministries of our graduates from this year alone:

• a graduate who will return to Thailand for refugee children from war-torn areas of Myanmar,
• a graduating couple who will move with their kids from Korea to be campus ministers in southeast Asia,
• two graduates who will serve in campus ministry in East Asia,
• a youth pastor who will serve young people from Myanmar living in Singapore,
• and graduates who seek to plant churches among nomadic herders in Mongolia.

As faculty it gives us great joy to see not only the students walking across the stage at commencement, but to look beyond the celebratory day to the impact that these students will have. It is a source of joy to know that the Lord has used us as an institution to be even a small part of the great impact that these students will have.

As a faculty member and the facilitator of our 32^nd commencement, I was filled with great joy to see the work of these students pay off as they walked across the stage to receive their diplomas, to be reminded of the scope of our ministry to these students as I watched them lead us in worship in languages I cannot speak, and to look to the future knowing the impact that they will have. Along with the celebratory atmosphere, these deeper joys are what make commencement one of my favorite days of the year, and to help facilitate a ceremony that I hope brought the graduating student the same joy that we are filled with as faculty.