BCN 2025 - Kasihilah Tuhan dan Pimpinan Roh Kudus

 Hello! It's been four months since the last blog. When I started a year ago, one of the first blogs was about BCN 2024. It is the next year already, and now we have BCN 2025. This will be a full summary - last time we did it in 3 parts. 

Introduction - What is BCN?

BCN, or Bible Camp Nasional (Bible Camp National) is a 3-day 2-night event held by Gereja Reformed Injili Indonesia. While most people who attend are from GRII, everyone can join, though it is limited to grades four to seven. Since it is held in June and after the time students typically graduate from a grade, a "seventh grader" means a sixth grader who had recently graduated, and is now considered a seventh grader, for example. BCN is a summer camp, with its main focus on teaching the Bible to children. Before grade four, most people go to Bible Trip, and after grade seven to NRETC. BCN has seventeen sessions (sermons), this year over a dozen speakers. The event costs 800,000 rupiahs to enter for  early bird, outside that one million. The main speaker of Bible Camp is Pdt. Dr (H.C) Stephen Tong, but has many other speakers, both male and female. It is held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in GRII Pusat, or RMCI. 

SECTION ONE - RUNDOWN 

Similar to BCN 2024's rundown - we register in the Lapangan Basket, an area outside the church but in the complex. You have to queue, but it's around 15-20 minutes only. Then, participants put their luggage in their respective rooms. The rooms can be in Tower Calvin (Menara Calvin), or Gereja, inside the main church building. This year, I got to be in the Gereja, which is in my opinion lucky. Then, you wait for a while before entering the opening sessions. Lunch and dinner is provided, as well as breakfast for Day 2 and 3, and snacks (around three times per day) on all days. The first day is packed with session. Most sessions are regular sessions, but there is also a split session on day 1 & 2, where the entire BCN is divided into two groups, one of them is called "pos diskusi" and another "mengenal tokoh". Pos diskusi is mostly discussion and some other activities, and mengenal tokoh is being introduced to Christian figures throughout church history.. For example, the characters this year were Felix Mendelssohn (musician), George Whitefield (evangelist) and John Sung (evangelist). Not always are they pastors or missionaries, however. The first day has seven sessions, each around 30-60 minutes. There are snacks in between and also meals. The first day has a night session, which is longer, lead by Stephen Tong, and parents can join. The second day has 7 sessions too, a morning devotion, and a classical music concert. In the night after the concert, it is mostly the same as the first day, with a night session. The third day is the last, as you wake up there is a morning devotion, then breakfast, then some sessions, including a QnA, provided lunch to bring home, and going home. Many people travel with the church to Jakarta if they are not from Jabodetabek, and the church does organize transportation groups. 

SECTION TWO - MESSAGE

The central theme of this BCN is the Holy Spirit's leadership. This theme is a very interesting one. The BCN begins with introducing that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. It has conscience, and can remind us, rebuke us, relieve us, etc. It's job is to lead us to Jesus Christ, our Savior. Jesus Christ points us to the Father, and the Holy Spirit's mission in this world is to remind people of Christ. Without the Spirit, nobody would believe in Him, and the Gospel would never reach people. We need God the Holy Spirit. Many sessions are about characters who have been shaped and transformed by the Holy Spirit. For example, Joseph: the Holy Spirit can work through suffering and bad times - in Joseph's case, the Holy Spirit worked in him during his time as a slave and prisoner, and people could notice God was in him: Potiphar, the prison warden, and even Pharaoh. The Holy Spirit also worked in many other biblical figures: Paul, who was called by God in the road to Damascus was converted through the Holy Spirit, through the Holy Spirit, David was shaped by the Holy Spirit to not kill Saul when he was in the cave, and the Holy Spirit shaped many other people to go to Christ. Stephen Tong composed a song for this BCN: Roh Kudus Pimpin Aku Datang Pada Yesus. I will share the lyrics and the english translation. 

Stephen Tong: Roh Kudus Pimpin Aku Datang Pada Yesus:

---- (stanza 1).

Roh Kudus memimpinku, datang pada Tuhan Yesus.

Roh Kudus, memimpinku, kepada Tuhanku.

Roh Kudus, memimpinku, datang pada Tuhan Yesus.

Roh Kudus, memimpinku, kepada Tuhanku.

Marilah, Tuhanku, masuklah dalam hatiku,

Marilah, Tuhanku, jadi Tuhan hidupku.

---

(Direct english translation, so syllables do not fit)

Holy Spirit, lead me, toward my Lord Jesus Christ. 

Holy Spirit, lead me, toward my Lord,

Holy Spirit, lead me, toward my Lord Jesus Christ

Holy Spirit, lead me, toward my Lord.

God, enter in my heart,

God, become the Lord of my life.

--- (stanza 2)

Roh Kudus, menolongku, bertumbuh dalam Firman Hu

Roh Kudus, menolongku, bertumbuh dalam  Hu!

Roh Kudus, menolongku, bertumbuh dalam Firman Hu

Roh Kudus, menolongku, bertumbuh dalam  Hu!

Marilah, Tuhanku, tolongku tumbuh dalamHu

Marilah, Tuhanku, tolongku bertumbuh trus...

---

(Direct english translation)

Holy Spirit, help me, to grow in your Word

Holy Spirit, help me, to grow in you

Holy Spirit, help me, to grow in your Word

Holy Spirit, help me, to grow in you

God, help me grow in you

God, help me to keep growing

--- (stanza 3)

Roh Kudus memimpinku kabarkan Injil Tuhanku

Roh Kudus memimpinku kabarkan Injil Hu

Roh Kudus memimpinku kabarkan Injil Tuhanku

Roh Kudus memimpinku kabarkan Injil Hu

Marilah, Tuhanku, kini bakarlah hatiku

Marilah, Tuhanku, pimpin ['ku kabar Injil] (3x more, getting slower and slower)

--- (direct translation)

Holy spirit, lead me to tell the Lord's Gospel

Holy spirit, lead me to tell Your Gospel

Holy spirit, lead me to tell the Lord's Gospel

Holy spirit, lead me to tell Your Gospel

God, now burn on in my heart

God, lead me to tell Your Word

Lead me to tell your word

Lead me to tell your word

Lead me to tell your word!!!

---

The first one was about the Holy Spirit leading is to Christ our Lord. The second one was about growing with the Holy Spirit and the third one about evangelizing. These topics each are related to the sermons of Pak Tong - stanza 1 is about the topic of the first night sermon: Holy Spirit pointing to Christ, second night sermon is related to the second stanza: about growing continously, and the  sermon on the third day is related to the third stanza: about being fruitful by evangelizing.

This song has been especially created for BCN, and the melody is tailored to be interesting for children. This song shows the message of this BCN: that the Holy Spirit guides us towards Jesus. We cannot understand the Scripture and our hearts will be empty without the Holy Spirit. Stephen Tong during the second night session also had talked about how his mother was shaped by the Holy Spirit: an old person tried to evangelize to young Stephen Tong's house, but was often rejected. Eventually, the mother, when one of Stephen Tong's siblings was badly sick, finally reluctantly agreed for the old person to pray for them, as it seemed like the old person really cared and loved. The next day, Solomon Tong (the sick child) recovered, and Stephen Tong's mom became a Christian. Stephen Tong's three sermons all are connected: the first day was about the Spirit pointing unto Christ, (who, in turn, points to the Father) and the second day we cannot stop, but we continue to grow from a small seed, and water it by the Scripture and prayer, the third day we are taught to be fruitful possibly by evangelizing. 

In the Mengenal Tokoh session, other characters are also shaped by the Holy Spirit: George Whitefield graduated from Oxford University, but his heart was empty. What filled his heart? He became a Christian again after meeting with John and Charles Wesley, and was touched by God to evangelize the Word, and even journeyed 3000 kilometers to preach in North America. The Holy Spirit also directs us to spread God's Word, without the Spirit we would never be able to do this. Another evangelist , John Sung, was shaped from throwing a bowl of hot rice to his sister to studying the Bible and becoming a great evangelist, even when people were against him, and even had him go to a mental hospital because they thought he was crazy, as they were unhappy with his messages.

The Holy Spirit does not work in ways like the Charismatic might suggest - casting out demons and speaking meaningless talk (the Charismatic do not speak in tongues: they speak meaningless speech. In the Pentecost, the apostles were speaking in tongues so people can understand - so that the people from different places can understand in their own language - the Charismatic are wrong) the  Holy Spirit leads us toward Jesus Christ, not anything like that. The Holy Spirit does not leave anyone who has God in them, and if we put Jesus as the priority of our lives, that means He is in our hearts. Another important note is to never interpret the Trinity wrong - that is heresy. Some people think God is one God, and also one person. No, He is one God, three persons - He does not manifest in different ways at different situations. That concludes my summary for the message of the BCN 2025.