ABCs of Handling Zoom Fatigue (Part 1)
It has been nearly half a year since EAST moved our classes and meetings, including weekly Chapel services online. The tsunami of online meetings and webinars have taken a toll on the health of our students, faculty, and staff. Since the intensity of online engagements will be here to stay for a while, we all need to learn to deal and cope with this fatigue.
Research has been done in this area and we want to share tips which you might find helpful. We want to thank Dr Lau Ying Kheng for collating the A,B,Cs tips on handling Zoom Fatigue below:
“A” refers to adjusting our screen “views” to “speaker’s view” (when we are attending class or meeting), and not looking at your own view.
“B” refers to taking a break regularly for the brain to rest, or using a “Backstretch”.
“C” refers to cutting down on virtual meetings.
#SaturdayGoodRead #ZoomReliefTips
Part 2 can be found here.
MG Ministry Weekend 2020 – Thanksgivings
We give thanks for the privilege of serving together as Mentoring Groups in the recent season of Ministry Weekend in September 2020! This is an annual time of coming together as Mentoring Groups to serve in ministry together either locally or abroad. We have gone online to reach communities in this unique season of safe distancing.
Our 9 Mentoring Groups and PIM (Partners in Ministry) team hosted 704 people at our webinars, which covered topics such as the discipling of our youth in today’s gadget world, the process of grieving, involving our whole family in worship at home, preparing and facilitating Bible study online, Biblical parenting and reaching out digitally.
A number of the webinars were collaborations with ministry practitioners and churches in India and Medan. We thank God for these partnerships abroad in this season of travel restrictions.
We also had collaborations with Cru Singapore staff for technical support and the equipping of our students with webinar hosting and emceeing skills. We are thankful for this training which has provided many of us with a much-needed familiarization with webinar platforms.
To everyone who has played a part in this years’ Ministry Weekend, a big THANK YOU to you for serving God in this ministry! The blessings of God be with you as you continue to journey with Him.
Here’s a video put together as our thanksgiving for Ministry Weekend 2020:
Mission Hub Renovation Update – September 2020
EAST is truly entering into an exciting phase of ministry. God has led us to purchase a permanent facility at 118 Joo Chiat Road which we fondly call EAST Mission Hub for its future endeavour to equip and raise servant leaders for the Great Commission.
The pandemic has shaken everything worldwide. For us at EAST, the Mission Hub renovations had been affected…a delay of at least three months. Thankfully, renovation work has resumed!
The 4th level of the building will house the administration and provide the dedicated space for faculty to study and prepare for courses. It will be completed ready for the office shift by Mid October.
Levels 3 and 5 housing the recording studios, meeting rooms, auditorium, library, and lounge are shaping up nicely.
God willing, the shift into 118 Mission Hub will be fully done by November. We look forward to inviting you and all who have given to make this dream possible. It will be a beautiful celebration to God’s faithfulness to EAST for 28 years!
We want to thank so many of you who have given sacrificially toward the cost of the purchase and renovation of EAST Mission Hub. Purchased at cost of $18 million including renovations, God has blessed us with donations of $5.8 m. Cru Sg has kindly taken up 60% of the building so that we can raise the rest of $18m at “our own time”.
We have launched in faith and are trusting God to move you and others He will lead to give generously and sacrificially to service the loan, and help us buy up the rest of the building. Once again, thank you for being our treasured partners in ministry and in our journey of faith. May the Lord bless you richly for your special part to EAST.
Getting to know Dr Benson and Mrs Josephine Goh
Dr Benson Goh (professor of Greek and New Testament studies) and his wife, Josephine (Mentoring Group coordinator), helped organize the “Discipling the Young in Today’s Digital World” webinar. They also spoke at the webinar together with the keynote speaker, Dr Felicia Tay, a clinical psychologist from a public hospital. It was attended by more than 280 participants. Recently, we got up close and personal with Ben and Jo, as they are called by friends and colleagues.
To begin with, how did they meet? In school, where else!
Ben and Jo met as undergraduates during their respective Engineering and Business studies on Nanyang Technological University (NTU). As they got to know each other more through their love for Christ and involvement with Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ), friendship blossomed into love.
Asking the Right Questions in Facilitating Bible Study
In one of our recent Ministry Weekend webinars, our faculty Amy Lau spoke on using helpful questions as a way of engaging the text in Bible study. This was organised as part of an equipping series on the preparation and facilitation of online bible study.
One of the tips given was to use ‘who, what, why, when, where and how’ questions as a way of directing attention and facilitating the understanding of certain key points within the text in the Bible.
Here’s the video of this webinar for more details on this tip:
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