Their sons were four, seven and nine when Lim Ming Hock and his wife Dawn decided to live in Baguio, Philippines for six months.

The year was 2013. Ming Hock had resigned from his job as a teacher to enrol in Family DTS (Discipleship Training School) by YWAM which was being conducted in the Philippines at the time.

“My mentor asked me to do this to clarify my calling,” explained Ming Hock, 54. “The motivation was when we are out of Singapore, we would not be distracted by what is happening here.”

Dawn, 52, told Salt&Light: “He was very sure that he would go into full-time Christian ministry. The prayer was about what to do.”

Ming Hock and his sons in 2013 demonstrating an ice-breaker during their time in Baguio, Philippines.

The children were being homeschooled so relocating would also pose less of a challenge. But that is not to say the Lims had no reservations.

“Certainly there were concerns. We wondered if our boys could cope with the 10-hour bus ride which was scheduled to arrive at the terminal in the middle of the night. Could the boys cope with the disrupted rest?

“We were also concerned about the plane ride. How would the flight on a single propeller plane be? How’s the safety regulation?’

“I was also worried about our children’s safety as kidnapping of foreign children was not unheard of there,” said Dawn.

God would use an unexpected visit to the family physician to quell their fears.

Blessed assurance

Their second son fell sick before their relocation so Dawn took him to their family doctor. The conversation with the doctor turned to the impending move to the Philippines.

“Without me mentioning the concerns I had written in my journal, our physician patiently shared his experience serving as a medical doctor in missions. He had lived in a foreign land for an extended period of time with his wife and young children.

“Amazingly, his sharing addressed each of the concerns that I had listed. How was that possible if not for God?”

On another occasion, their then fellowship group came together to worship and to pray for the family’s plans. One of the songs they sang was “Shepherd of My Soul”.

Said Dawn: “This brought me to tears as it was the song that I had chosen for our wedding. I was reminded to trust in the Lord. He is the Shepherd of my soul.”

Those two encounters would sustain the Lims during their time in the Philippines.

“It showed me how intimately God knows me and how gentle He is to assure,” said Dawn.

Let the children come

The six months in Baguio was illuminative for Ming Hock.

“At the end of the six months, there was some clarity. I decided I wanted to work with fathers.

“In our work, we saw broken families that lacked a father figure. I wanted to go upstream to build men, disciple the men and fathers to lead their family.”

For the children, it was a transformative experience as well.

While Ming Hock and Dawn attended classes, their two older children went to a local school next door to their training facility. Their youngest son was put in a childcare facility in the same compound as where the lessons were being conducted.

During the missions phase of the course where the couple had to go out to minister to the locals, they took their children with them.

Two of the Lim boys (second and third from left) actively participating in a Sunday School class in the Philippines.

“There was a propellor plane to take us into the rural area. We worked with the urban and rural poor. We ran a youth camp and we stayed in the village for two weeks,” said Ming Hock.

“The children enjoyed the kampung (rural) life. They climbed trees with the locals, caught spiders, swam in the river. They adapted well.”

Dawn agreed: “It was a memorable experience.”

The Lim children playing with a local child.

The children were involved in ministry as well. When there were skits to be performed, games to be demonstrated, song actions to be taught or things to be carried, the children were called upon to assist. When the Lims screened the Jesus film in Tagalog, the children went to the villages to invite the people and helped to set up the screen for the movie.

“Even our four-year-old was involved,” said Dawn.

Ming Hock and his sons travelling by boat to minister in a village in the Philippines.

They also tapped on the children’s unique interests. Their oldest son loved origami, so he taught it to the local children. He also made origami animals that were used to tell the story of Noah’s ark.

Their second son enjoyed coming up with games. He challenged his new friends to an origami frog race.

The Lim children teaching local children origami at an orphanage in the Philippines.

An origami frog race in full swing.

“Credit must go to the YWAM staff. They intentionally involved the children. It might be a little slower than if it was all done by adults, but our experience showed us it was possible for families to do missions with children.

“It also taught us how to pace a mission trip if children were involved,” said Dawn.

Serving as a family

The Lims returned to Singapore and Ming Hock joined Cru Singapore. Dawn followed suit three years later. Today, Ming Hock is the team leader of Cru’s parenting ministry and Dawn works with him.

Dawn and Ming Hock sharing their story at an Art of Marriage retreat.

As part of their jobs, they run the Art of Parenting workshop as a team. Sometime in the early 2020s, they began looking for a big project with which to end off the eight-week course.

Dawn told Salt&Light: “We were praying about our FamilyLife parenting ministry. Besides small groups and previewing resources, what else did God want us to do?”

Ming Hock added: “We recalled our Baguio experience in 2013 and how we were so blessed. So we thought: How nice it would be that the parents could go for a mission trip at the end of the course.”

Dawn and Ming Hock consider their time in Baguio a family milestone.

In 2023 when the borders reopened following the pandemic, Ming Hock and Dawn organised their first family mission trip for others. Five families making up a group of 15 signed up. The five-day trip saw them working with refugees in a neighbouring country.

“It gave the families an opportunity to serve the community as a family and to strengthen family bonds. Parents had the opportunity to know their children and know what their children are able to do,” said Dawn.

One father shared with Dawn after the trip that he had been uncertain about how things would turn out. In the end, he was thankful for the trip. It gave him the opportunity to mend his relationship with his family as he had the chance to talk deeply with them.

Ming Hock explained: “We planned the programme in such a way that there is a daily family convergence and debrief where fathers and mothers can process their thoughts, feelings and experiences with the children.

“From a family discipleship point of view, it is important because the children can see the fathers modelling ministry and the family can see that children and wives don’t have to be tag-alongs. They can be part of the scheme, part of programme.”

Witnessing God at work as a family

This year, there will be trips both in June and December which are open to graduates of the Art of Parenting course.

Those who have not attended the course but are keen to go on the mission trip are required to attend four sessions of Art of Parenting first. They can then complete the course after the mission trip.

Families on a mission trip in 2024.

“The parenting classes give them examples of how to engage the children in the mission field. What happens there is the parents’ decision,” said Dawn.

One of the families engaged their children to assist in marking the work of the local students whom they had taught. Another had their children lead games for the mission team’s own team bonding session. Yet another family’s children conducted a presentation introducing Singapore.

Team devotions are conducted by one family each time. While the younger children get to read the Bible passage for the day, the older ones are invited to share their reflections.

One family discovered how they could use the varied gifts of the children for God’s work. Their oldest child was keen on art and conducted art lessons for the local children. The second child had a nurturing nature and would sit with the children in class to guide them through the activities. The youngest was the sociable one, who was tasked to read to the local children.

“What they took away was the growing assurance that as parents they had to choose to trust God to see each of their children’s unique qualities and to nurture each one into the person God has called them to be,” Dawn told Salt&Light.

“It’s not just about what happens during the trip, but what happens after as well. The trip became part of what God was teaching the parents. It became a constant discipleship journey for the parents as well,” she added.

Beyond the involvement, the mission trips let the families see God at work. One couple faced challenges managing the class they taught, and they prayed as a family. They then saw how God gave ideas on how to restructure the room and tweak the lessons to better engage the class of four- to nine-year-olds.

The Lim family now. Their season on the mission field as a family was so memorable that their sons – now aged 17, 19 and 22 – still join them on the family mission trips that Dawn and Ming Hock organise.

“The children saw how God answered prayers in their second, third and fourth day there. They saw how their parents depended on God in the lesson prep,” said Ming Hock.

The experience so impacted the family that when they returned, they started putting money into a piggy bank to fund missions. They are going on another family mission trip at the end of this year.

The trips are not just opportunities for family discipleship, they are also “safe spaces” for parents to support one another in their parenting journey.

“We are told by some families that they are encouraged that they are able to support one another not just during the mission trip, but in some parenting matters as well, such as how to control use of gadgets,” said Ming Hock.

The trips have so benefitted the families that two of them have volunteered to lead Families-on-Mission teams with Ming Hock and Dawn.

Dawn said: “It is really encouraging to see the growth in their relationship, that closeness and that trust between parent and child.”

For those interested in Families-on Mission, write to familylife@cru.org.sg 

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