ISO 2024, Inter-School Department (Issue 500) Carmen Lai, Director of Inter-School Department
On the day of the Inter-School Orientation (ISO) for fellowship committee members, some people were eagerly anticipating the event, others were having social fear moments, some were taking immediate action, and others were observing with their eyes. …… An internal drama is constantly unfolding in the brain……
“This event is so special, over 200 people come together to participate, and all are fellowship committee members from different schools!”
“Um…… why are there so many people here today? Why am I here? ……”
Theme “MBTI at the Table?”
This year’s Inter-School Orientation (ISO) for fellowship committee members featured MBTI, the trending topic, which again aroused the enthusiasm of students, with a total of nearly 250 students and teachers from 29 secondary schools participating in the day. They were all searching to find out whether they were one of the rare or one of the many among the alphabets. In the community of Christians, is he an individual or a symbiotic being?Let them see it together right there at the “table” – “Together in Diversity and Unity, Building the Body of Christ”.
Imagination at the Communion Table
We adopted the 4 elements of Communion (Mk. 14:22-23), Took [offer myself], Bless, Broke, and Gave [share], using MBTI as an entry point, and a variety of hand bands (which visualize personal characteristics) to bring out the message that we are all part of the same Christian community at the table. Each person does not stop at being blessed and molded for oneself, but can be built up together in Christ for others.
Therefore, we not only used the hand bands to show the characteristics of each person that were shaped by their gifts or circumstances, but also invited students to take out their hand bands to show that they were willing to offer more gifts this year, and link them with the hand bands of the other participants to form a round table for 12 people, and all of us made a commitment to serve the Lord together.
Become an IWF-C Christian
In the community of Christ, each one lays down his or her own part, no matter how common or rare our character traits are, and whether the group may be homogeneous or heterogeneous, all of us can be linked together in the Lord, and together we can lay down our part for the Lord, and sit together with the Lord at the communion table, and In Christ / With Christ / For Christ: become IWF-C Christians.
Workshop Attempts
There were 9 student workshops and 1 instructor workshop at ISO this year, including the popular Fellowship (Games, Worship, Bible Study Workshops) and Culture (Emotional Reception, Community Roaming, Art Squad) categories. This year, we also made a new attempt by adding: multi-media random thoughts and Christ-like lying flat, enabling students to discover their attributes more and more, and to practice their faith in different aspects.
The following is the sharing of a participant from the Joint-schools fellowship leader team:
“The most memorable part of the event is the game that we participated in with the team leaders.
Round 1 – We used the method suggested by one of the team members.
Round 2 – We used the traditional method and played slowly ……
These two situations are similar to my fellowship’s orientation year. In the past, the decision of the fellowship was made by a student with strong leadership ability, and we did not spend time to discuss …… Now each person in our fellowship expresses our own views. Different people have different thinking patterns and ideas, which can be combined and become the content of innovative activities. This little game reminds us that working together is what makes a team better.
In the group, I told everyone about my worries that I am not as talented as my former leader and I am afraid that I can’t keep up with many things. One of the leaders said, “If you really can’t handle it, just admit that you are still learning. You don’t need to put too much pressure on yourself”. This really put my mind at ease, and I was brave enough to talk to the other team members about my problems, so that we could solve them together!
Apart from the rewarding experience of leading the fellowship, I also found myself feeling braver, having the opportunity to talk to strangers more often that builds up my courage!
Yannis (Ying Wa Girls’ School)
Finally, we are thankful for the Joint School Worship Team for leading us in worship, and for the assistance of more than 10 student volunteers (most of them were participants of previous DSE discipleship programs), which helped to make this Joint School event with more dimension and become multi-layered. May the Lord bless all teachers and students as they walk together in unity and diversity on campus to build up the Body of Christ. Glory be to the Lord.
