My family has been heavily involved in both these youth organizations in Malaysia. My dad served as the National President of the Boys' Brigade for a number of years when I was growing up. I enjoyed getting to know a lot of the people serving in these ministries and meeting many, many people from around the world through them.
Due to manpower issues, there came a time when the Girls' Wing of the BBM was established. I will not delve into all the details because it would be very long and my accounts might be inaccurate as I was only 15 then. I remained a member of the Girls' Brigade. I never desired to move up the ranks there as I found the assignments I had to complete redundant and irrelevant to my interests and development. I had no desire to earn my Pioneer Pin. How does discipline and character building not descend into religiosity? That is such a fine line we have to walk.
Everyone has their two cents on issues like this, but lately, I've pondered it more and more. Since I've been involved in mentoring young people especially women, I do see ministry in a different light now. I am not so concerned about the activities than the purposes and goals. I've had to lead a small campus ministry under great opposition. There was no man who would take the job. The pastors who commissioned me said to me, "You know both the price of obedience to this task and the price of disobedience. Both are high prices, one might cost you your job, the other will cost you much more."
I believe that the Lord allows persecution to rise against us so we really lean on me and discern His voice for every move. I prayed for a man who could help me with mentoring some of the young men, and He provided two adult men who were sensitive to the Holy Spirit. I learned a lot from the young people I mentored. They saw me in my difficult days too and upheld me in prayer. They also held me to the responsibility of leadership, since they were present when the command was given by the Lord publicly.
I also learned that in true ministry started and sustained by the Holy Spirit, the religious spirit will attack vehemently. My pastor mentors were not surprised when I told them that my integrity was being questioned and I was slandered by quite a few people. I studied Rick Joyner's Epic Battles of the End Times and John Paul Jackson's Unmasking the Jezebelic Spirit. The battles I was facing were clearly detailed in those two books. When you are judged by what you say, what you do, how you look, etc, you know you are coming under that attack. There were accusations that I was twisting the word, manipulating and controlling my students through the bible studies. Colleagues at school rose against me too from other matters, but it had all been made known to me by the Lord that it will happen.
How do you know that you are acting in accordance to His will? I didn't miss a single devotion, day and night. If something happened during the day, I spent time with Him at lunch too. There was not a time He didn't speak clearly through His word. Every battle plan, every tactical move, every ministry decision, the Lord made it clear what I was to do or say. I surrounded myself with people who also had different prophetic giftings. I had one who could see spiritual things, I had one who could feel and sense, there were worshippers on my team and I could hear and see in dreams. We functioned together. God would never contradict Himself.
He promised a great revival and breakthrough. I thought perhaps He meant a lot of people, but no, He only gave me a group of 12 students. I was happy with that number. Jesus only had 12, so it was plenty for me. There was breakthrough and great revival in the students' lives. All of them. We saw that promise come to pass. I see them serving in different areas of ministry now, two years from that time.
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