On 28 May 2019, ten bright-eyed Presbyterian  young people spent a morning at TTC as part of the three-week  Synod Training and Exposure Programme (STEP)—an internship programme to expose young adults to church and lay ministry.  Most of these youth were enjoying their university break or waiting to enter tertiary education.   During their morning visit to TTC, they were given a taste of how theological education is necessary for ministry and social engagement.   This year’s theme was ‘Fake News’, and Presbyterian lecturers amongst the TTC  faculty covered it from the Old Testament (Rev Dr Maggie Low), New Testament (Rev Dr James Lim), Theology (Rev Dr Edmund Fong), Pastoral Theology (Rev Dr Jimmy Tan) and Missions (Rev Yap Seok Chin) angles.

This multi-faceted approach clearly won the youths’ attention.  On her part, Old Testament lecturer Dr Maggie Low talked about the fake news of the ‘discovery of Goliath’s skeleton’, while Dr James Lim explained the NT ‘exhortation’ on snake handling.  Despite the content-heavy presentation, the young people wanted to keep on learning and asked many insightful questions during the Q & A.  Which of them would have guessed that anything interesting could come from within the walls of a seminary?  From the animated discussions that carried past the lectures into lunch, the short time the youth spent at TTC was well-spent.

Participant Wayne Goh, who had just finished his National Service stint, shared his experience about STEP … “The program is beneficial for me in terms of knowing a few things about what theological studies is about… It sets us thinking about things we wouldn’t have thought about before…”