Issue #3

By Amelia Ang

In our first newsletter, I showed where Pathway for Seekers is situated vis-à-vis other groups in CSF. The second newsletter provided details of what the year would look like. Today, I will speak of the ‘why’, by unpacking who CSF is and the values that we hold.

CSF is a spiritual formation resource & learning community of Christians in an ongoing lived experience of growth in becoming Christlike. We take the life and relationship revealed by the triune God as the center and anchor to live out the Christian life.

Learning community of Christians…

In the past 21 years, we have established ourselves as a spiritual formation resource, through the life and work of Ser Choon. There has always been different circles of learning communities at CSF, but that has not been the main emphasis. As I take over the work for the number of years that God allows, my desire is to make space for the internal life and relationships within CSF to grow and deepen. From this place, our offerings will flow out and minister to others.

We want to, and will continue to offer meaningful and needed offerings such as our BeSpace, Spiritual Accompaniment, Spiritual Retreats and Spiritual Formation Courses. But what we see most needed is not another set of well-designed programmes for people to select and attend. Rather, fellow Christ-followers are looking for other persons to journey with in the ups and downs of our faith journey. Like-minded persons who choose to view our daily lives through the larger frame of God’s Story, despite living in the very real circumstances of a broken world.

…in an ongoing lived experience of growth in becoming Christlike

Our formation is ongoing, even for those of us who are have been at CSF for decades. This does not mean we are constantly learning new insights to apply to our Christian lives. It means we live with rhythms that shape our lives in a constant turning towards the life of Christ, regular spaces where we are attentive to the Spirit’s work in our souls, patterns of life which reflect what God desires for His people. In the first few formation circles of the Pathway for Seekers (Jan-Jun 2026), we will share about these rhythms, and you will participate in them. For now, the visual below will give you an overview of the CSF spiritual rhythms.

Image Above: Backdrop of this image is from a painting that Lin Wei did for our 2022 Community Annual Retreat. It reflects the dawn of a new day ~ colours of CSF.

CSF Values

We take the life and relationship revealed by the triune God as the center and anchor to live out the Christian life. This is a big and bold statement. We are nowhere near ‘getting it’, and likely will never fully do so. But we intentionally consider what this means in our community’s lived experience, put in place rhythms and disciplines that help us to live in this manner. For a longer description, refer back to Ser Choon’s articles in Newsletter #1 & #2.

In this newsletter #3, Ser Choon writes about CSF’s 2nd value statement ~ The Word of God: We take God’s Story, as revealed in Scriptures, as the meta-narrative within which we locate all our stories. It is a huge aspect of the life of CSF, I leave you to read his write-up. In upcoming newsletters, Ser Choon will share his thoughts about the other 3 CSF value statements (we have a total of five) ~ The Value of a Person, in Community; Grounding in our Christian spiritual heritage and traditions; Greater integrity of confession and lived experience.

So then, why this Pathway for Seekers?

Many who have interacted with CSF have asked ~ what does it mean to ‘join this community’? How does one join the internal CSF community? The Pathway for Seekers offers a year-long orientation and experience of what it is to be part of the CSF community, and a space to discern if that is what God wants for you.

Most of us came through CSF’s 1.5-year Spiritual Accompaniment Training (SAT) programme. I hope to run a 7th cohort in 2027 (God willing!), but for this season of the shaping of CSF as a learning community, my focus is not on our outward offering of being spiritual companions. My conviction is that through our attention to the spiritual rhythms and values of the CSF community, God will show us what we are to offer to Christians outside of CSF (in the area of spiritual formation).

If you resonate with CSF’s conviction to be intentional in the way that we shape community rhythms to help us live as Christ-followers, and live out our five value statements both internally and in our external offerings, do drop us a note using the link below. This will help us to get a sense of the numbers who are interested. In November, we will write to those who have indicated interest to provide more information about the Pathway for Seekers as well as have a f2f conversation. The Pathway begins in Jan/Feb with another round of discernment, which will give you a more in-depth experience with CSF and time to decide if you want to continue with the rest of the year from March to December 2026.

As always, feel free to reach out to Amelia if you would like a conversation about this.