Life Online with Life Teen SFX PJ

Sep 19, 2020

PETALING JAYA: After a brief hiatus, the Life Teen Ministry of the Church of St Francis Xavier (SFX) re-launched on Feb 15 this year.

The ministry is part of Life Teen Inc, an international Catholic ministry that strives to lead teens closer to Christ by providing resources and formation that encourage vibrant Eucharistic celebrations and opportunities for teens to grow in their faith.

The first of its kind in both Malaysia and Asia, the Life Teen Ministry in SFX, remains unique as it adapts and aligns its programmes and structure from the international office to suit the needs of the local parish teens to complement the local Church’s vision and mission.

However, their plans to organise fortnightly gatherings (called “Life Nights”) as well as various other activities postlaunch, ground to a halt when the Malaysian government announced the Movement Control Order (MCO) on March 18.

As face-to-face meetings were not permitted and are still not encouraged, they had resorted to hosting meetings with the teens of the parish as well as their Core  Team members online.

The ministry’s Chief Coordinator, AnnMarie Khor, was adamant that ministry work should still be done amidst a pandemic, drawing inspiration from other youth ministries like the Empowered  Ministry in Kuching and the St Ignatius Church Youth Ministry who continued to actively reach out to teens through social media during this time.

“We may have to be physically distant, but thanks to social media and Zoom, we  can still gather virtually,” she said.

And gather they did!

Other than hosting a prayer box and virtual prayer gatherings, they have also organised virtual Life Nights, now called Life Online sessions, aimed at equipping the parish’s teens with sound knowledge of the Bible and the Church’s teachings.

This Life Teen Ministry has also hosted lepak sessions which they called “Come to the BOAT”. The figurative BOAT stands for the ministry’s aspirations: which is to be a place for Bonding where people can be Open, Accepting and True with one another.

Parish Priest Fr Norris Seenivasan, SJ, commented that the youth of the parish have certainly adapted to the new normal.

For the rest of the year, this Life Teen Ministry plans to continue its work virtually to lead teens closer to Christ. Stay connected and follow their adventures @ lifeteensfxpj on Facebook and Instagram!

www.facebook.com/lifeteensfxpj

www.instagram.com/lifeteensfxpj