Sneak Peek: Reach Out, Build Up, Send Back
by Lim May Kuan
After four years of research, interviewing and writing, the OCF history book Reach Out, Build Up, Send Back has finally been published. Based on 70 oral history interviews, several boxes of documents from the Moore College archives, and donations of OCF material collected over two years, we had a wealth of material. As the lead researcher and writer, my problem was how to fit it into a cohesive narrative, preferably one that readers could slip in and out of, and it would still make sense.
Early Writing Approach
I had written up the first ten years of OCF (1959-1969) as a chronological narrative, part of my Bible College research project. However, as I looked into the 1970s and beyond, I saw that OCF went through a period of diversification and expansion. With the number of centres growing from four in 1959 to twenty four in 1999, I realised that had to find another way to understand and present the overarching narrative of this student organisation that spans several Australian cities.
A Phrase Sparks an Idea
Then, in 2021, a phrase in an email from Archdeacon Yong Chen Fah (EXCO chairperson 1972) sparked an idea. He had written that his term of one year as OCF Sydney president (1969-1970), that ‘was almost the last stage of early years of OCF Sydney history.’ He went on to elaborate how concerns in the early years, were different to the later concerns when OCF Sydney transitioned from one main public meeting for the whole of Sydney to multiple smaller District Bible Study Groups. This one line prompted me to think of the history of OCF in stages.
The eventual shape of the narrative
This line of thinking developed so that I eventually divided the entire narrative into three periods: early days, middle years, and recent times. There are eight chapters in each section. The chapters are chronological, as well as topical; each chapter deals with a question, typically the question or concern that student leaders were grappling with at the time, for example, how do leaders plan when only God knows the future? (Chapter 4) Then the narrative explores the question through several sub-sections, by looking at events in that time period. You can read an excerpt from each of the three sections below. But first, to help you place where you are in the narrative: Table of Contents
Excerpts from Reach Out, Build Up, Send Back
Section One, Early Days: 1950s to early 1970s
Chapter 4 Vision and Leadership
Section Two, Middle Years: mid 1970s to late 1990s
Section Three, Recent Times: 2000 and beyond
What current students think about ‘Reach Out, Build Up, Send Back’
Hear reviews by current OCF student leaders on our YouTube channel.
Carrie from OCF UQ on Chapter 1 in Section One.
Anna from OCF Clayton on Chapter 13 in Section Two.
Caleb from OCF UNSW on Chapter 24 in Section Three.