The season of giving is upon us!

This year, instead of focusing solely on gifts for friends and family, why not share the love of Christ with others who may be struggling?

Here are seven heartfelt ways you can make this season brighter for all.

1. Restore the lives of trafficked girls: Hagar Singapore

Hurt, abused and taken advantage of all her life, Ayesha (not her real name), who was tricked at 14 into becoming a sex worker in Singapore, was deeply moved by the love of God shown to her through Hagar Singapore. Photo courtesy of Hagar Singapore.

At just 16 years old, Ayesha (not her real name) was trafficked from her home country in South Asia to Singapore and forced to be a sex worker in a nightclub along South Bridge Road.

She initially refused, but her traffickers locked her up, starved her and threatened to not let her return home. With no one to turn to, and no knowledge of English, she finally relented.

Though Ayesha was eventually rescued by local authorities, the damage had been done. She withdrew into herself, struggling to cope with all that she had been forced to do.

But when she met with the persistent love of staff members at Hagar Singapore, she gradually began to open up and heal.

“They gave me confidence, talked to me patiently and comforted me. They told me I have value and encouraged me to stand up,” said Ayesha in an interview with Salt&Light.

Today, she is back in her home country and supporting her younger sisters through school. The staff members at Hagar Singapore remain one of her strongest pillars of support.

She told Salt&Light: “I know that my mum gave birth to me, but Hagar gave me a new life.”

Hagar Singapore is a branch of Hagar International, which is dedicated to the recovery of women and children who are survivors of human trafficking, slavery and extreme abuse.

In Singapore, a popular transit point and destination hub for trafficking activities, it works to help and rehabilitate girls like Ayesha. 

If you’d like to help Hagar Singapore rescue trafficked girls and restore their lives, tap here.

2. Love the chronically ill: Singapore Christian Home

Nicholas Tham, 21, who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and has faced multiple life crises, is designing a print (not shown) for merchandise to raise funds for Singapore Christian Home where he lives. Photo courtesy of Nicholas Tham.

When staff members at Singapore Christian Home (SCH) learned about Nicholas Tham’s gift and passion in art, they knew they had to empower him to use it for good.

So this year, they helped Nicholas, a resident who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), to turn his artwork into merchandise for sale. DMD is a genetic disorder in which muscles in the body are progressively lost over time. 

Proceeds from the sale will contribute to his bills at the home, and to support his family.

“We hope that this project will give Nicholas a sense of dignity and financial independence, as he transits into adulthood,” Moses Lim, an SCH staff member who is spearheading the project, told Salt&Light.

Empowered by this opportunity to contribute, Nicholas hopes that his work can encourage others with disabilities to discover their gifts and potential to give. “Don’t focus on something you cannot do, but do something you can do,” Nicholas said.

Founded by four Christian friends in 1960, SCH is a 240-bed nursing home that serves chronically ill patients from all races, religions and social economic status.

Known for accepting difficult and challenging cases that are generally refused by other institutions, SCH is also the only nursing home in Singapore with a dedicated paediatric ward for medically-fragile children and young persons.

If you’d like to love on the chronically ill, tap here. Donations are tax deductible. 

3. Support inclusion in churches: Koinonia Inclusion Network

Elliot, who has Down Syndrome, worshipping in church. The dream of his mother, Sherlyn Quek, is to see him serving actively in church one day. Photo from St James Church Superpower Kids’ Facebook page.

How can children with special needs be included in Sunday School?

How can small groups embrace those who are different? 

How can churches better support caregivers of those with disabilities?

With a heart for those who are differently abled, Koinonia Inclusion Network (KIN) asks and answers these questions as it strives to help Christian communities to be more inclusive.

Set up in 2019 by Leow Wen Pin, it runs courses, publishes resources and conducts research to equip and train churches to welcome those who are different, believing the the Church will be stronger for it. 

For example, its flagship training programme, called the Certificate of Christian Disability Ministry, sees participants learning more about how to include children with special needs in Sunday School, as well as provide pastoral care for persons with disabilities.

Wen Pin told Salt&Light: “Persons with disabilities do not disable the Church. Instead, they enable the Church to be what God wants His Church to be ­– one that reaches out to those at the margins, that bears with each other’s strengths and weaknesses, that loves sacrificially.”

If you’d like to help support inclusion in churches, tap here.

4. Inspire children of inmates to break the cycle: Care Club

Children of inmates often deal with guilt and shame in addition to often being in unstable home environments. Care Club is a ministry that works with these children, offering them counselling, tuition, mentoring and weekly activities. Photo courtesy of Prison Fellowship Singapore.

Ten-year-old Sean (not his real name) was always the life of the party.

But he would never talk about his family, especially his father. If he ever mentioned the man, he would turn aggressive and badmouth him.

As it turned out, the boy was hiding feelings of guilt and shame behind his smiles, as his father had been imprisoned for drug-related crimes.

Through the patient mentorship of his counsellor at Care Club, however, Sean became more accepting of the fact that his father was incarcerated. It helped that the other children at Care Club also had a parent in prison.

Since 2008, the Family Care Ministry arm of Prison Fellowship Singapore has been creating a safe space for children of inmates.

It aims to provide them with holistic support, including mentorship, frequent check-ins, tuition and short-term financial aid. PFS also ministers to their parents, both the ones in prison and the ones left at home.

Care Club staff member Robin Low told Salt&Light: “There are no bad children, only children in bad environments.”

If you’d like to inspire children of inmates to break the cycle, tap here.

5. Take the Gospel to the lost: Antioch21

The greatest gift we can give someone is the gift of Christ. Photo by Bill Wegener on Unsplash.

More than three billion people worldwide have not yet heard of the Christmas story and the hope that Jesus brings.

So this season, why not give them the gift of Christ? One way you can do this is by supporting Antioch21, a united movement by the Singapore Church to take the Gospel to the last, the lost and the least.

Last year, Antioch21 officially launched the Decade of Missions (2023–2033). Its purpose is “to raise a missionary force of all generations, within the next decade, to be launched into the gateway cities and least reached places, to reach the lost, the unreached and the unengaged people groups in Asia and beyond”.

It has three faith goals to be achieved by 2033, which will mark about 2,000 years since the Resurrection and Pentecost: 

• To mobilise 80% of local churches to engage in missions
• To place 1,000 Singaporean missionaries and 300 migrant missionaries in the nations for at least two years
  • To plant 500 new churches that will multiply
  • To adopt and actively engage 50 unreached people groups
  • To pioneer 100 holistic mission initiatives (including medical, education, business and community development)
• To raise S$10 million for missions work (including seed funding smaller churches to deploy missionaries and to provide post-field support for returning missionaries)

“Singapore, as an Antioch of Asia, must participate in this global endeavour, to contribute our part to fulfil Christ’s mandate to the global Church,” said the late Joseph Chean, who was the former Strategic Coordinator of Antioch21.

If you’d like to learn more about Antioch21 and how you can play a part in reaching the nations, drop the team an email here.

6. Treasure the elderly: St Luke’s ElderCare

At SLEC’s 25th anniversary gala dinner on November 7, 2024, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam met a few elders who participated in SLEC’s Golden Memories programme, where generative AI was used to transform their life stories into personalised media formats such as books, audiobooks and AI-generated videos. Photo courtesy of St Luke’s ElderCare.

By 2026, Singapore will be a “super-aged” society with more than one in five Singaporeans aged 65 and above. By 2030, this figure will be one in four, comprising about one million elders.

This is why St Luke’s ElderCare (SLEC), a Christian healthcare provider for the elderly, has launched its S$30 million Community Transformation Fund.

The fund will be used to support various initiatives in six areas, which will benefit more than 45,000 elders in the next five years. The initiatives include:

• Developing cutting-edge robotics rehabilitation equipment and revamping their Active Ageing Centres;
• Providing mentorship to equip existing leaders and attract young people to enter the community care sector;
• Improving programmes to include visual and performing arts, music with therapeutic components, thematic dining experiences and inter-generational activities;
• Continuing their CommCare Symposium, which helps healthcare professionals stay abreast of advancements in community care;
• Connecting with community care partners, like New Life Community Services and SingHealth; and
• Training professionals, volunteers and caregivers through their SLEC CommCare Academy.

Said Professor Ho Yew Kee, Chairman of SLEC’s Board of Directors: “In an impersonable and fast-moving world, human connections are priceless. At SLEC, we treasure each individual as a precious pearl.”

If you’d like to join SLEC in treasuring the elderly, tap here. Donations are tax deductible. 

7. Protect a vulnerable child: World Vision Singapore

In this year’s World Vision Gift Catalogue, you can gift a vulnerable child or family a taste of Christ’s love for Christmas. Photo from Keep the Light Alive.

In this year’s Gift Catalogue by World Vision Singapore, titled Keep the Light Alive, you can give a vulnerable child a leg up in life starting from S$35.

For S$35, you can help to educate 10 pre-schoolers on how to prevent Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, or combat child labour through awareness sessions.

For S$80, you can help 150 children in Bangladesh escape child labour and return to school. 

For S$100, you can help to rehabilitate 100 malnourished children in slums through a nutrition programme. 

For S$400, you can help to train refugees and crisis-affected families to gain new livelihood opportunities.

Lim Kah Seng, World Vision Singapore’s biggest child sponsor who sponsors 159 children around the world, told Salt&Light: “Outside the Singapore bubble, children are suffering out of our sight. It could be starvation, abuse, slavery, sickness and many other things that we don’t see in our city.”

“My prayer is for our hearts to continue to be broken for these things.”

If you’d like to protect a vulnerable child, tap here.

And why not … partner with Salt&Light to publish hope in the digital space?

Salt&Light is passionate about digital outreach and discipleship, and having conversations within the Church and beyond.

Have you been encouraged by an article, video or social media post by Salt&Light?

If you have, we are thankful. It has been our joy and privilege to share inspiring stories of God’s hand at work, and we hope to continue to do so in the years to come.

For those who may not know, Salt&Light is part of the Thirst Collective. The Collective first launched in 2016 with next-generation platform Thir.st, before kickstarting Salt&Light for faith-at-work conversations in 2018.

Over the pandemic years, we’ve added Stories of Hope and 还好吗 hhm.sg, websites publishing stories which share the Good News of Jesus Christ beyond church walls. We also launched Find A Church to help seekers identify churches to visit and settle in.

As you can tell, we are passionate about digital outreach and discipleship, and having conversations within the church and beyond.

The Thirst Collective is an independent organisation funded by the support of like-minded Christians.

If you’d like to support our mission to continue publishing Christ’s love and peace in the digital space, tap here.

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