Where Community Meets Courage

In August 2025, Angel Chiang’s Cell group collaborated with Cornerstone Community Services (CCS) to conduct a community outreach programme for the residents at Gladiolus Place, a rehabilitation home for at-risk teenage girls with child protection concerns. She tells us more about their volunteering experience.

Gladiolus Place aims to provide care and healing for vulnerable girls and, in the process, empower them with hope and confidence for the future. In line with our Cell’s vision to share God’s love with the community, we developed this initiative with CCS to reach out to these girls more actively, above and beyond the monthly commitment we had made.

What was initially perceived as a befuddling and daunting task, especially since many of us had limited experience interacting with at-risk youths, turned out to be both an edifying and enriching experience. Identifying their specific needs and concerns was the first step; this would then give us an entry point to forge meaningful connections with the young people through workshops and activities.

On the day of our outreach, members of Gladiolus Place filed into one of the Children’s Church classrooms, transforming the room into a vibrant hub of cheer. A simple initiative gradually evolved into an impactful morning that truly blessed and empowered these girls.

“We felt that they were already dealing with rather heartbreaking circumstances, and we hope that through our interaction times, we will be able to bring some light into their lives,” shared Abigail Pua, our Cell group coordinator. “Our mission has been to show them how God reaches out to people in tangible ways and to help them look beyond their current situations.”

The session commenced with a light-hearted ice-breaker game that created opportunities for our Cell members and the girls to get to know one another better. This was followed by workshops focused on discovering their personal identities, as well as styling and thrifting sessions. Some girls shared that no one had ever asked them about their hobbies or folded their clothes for them. For many girls, it was their first time engaging in a discussion about their personalities and redefining their self-worth.

The highlight of the day was the communal lunch, where everyone sat around tables and candidly shared testimonies about overcoming challenges in their lives. It was during this time that one of the girls, lauded for her guitar skills by her peers, was encouraged to play a song. We truly felt God’s presence in the room when she started strumming to “Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me”; as if by divine intervention, an unassuming lunch event transpired into a spontaneous worship session.

As the outreach event concluded with heartfelt goodbyes, their warmth was evident. While the morning began with apprehensive expressions, we could see smiles of gratitude and gestures of appreciation by noon. The girls may not have been the most articulate in expressing themselves, but their simple “I like you” and “You are still listening to me” conveyed more than any of us could imagine.

“This will be our third year running this event, and we do feel that this is a meaningful partnership that we want to continue. Over the last two years, the girls have told us that they feel blessed by the love we have for them and the time spent with them,” said our Cell group leader, Chng Hui Min.

This is not just a recount of a one-day event. Through collective action, we hope they will experience God’s unconditional love and acceptance of them.