Tag: Church service

Emmanuel?


  • Little Ezra. Ms SS. Madam Lee. Madam Lim. One little boy and three elderly ladies.
  • 2 elderly men, both tethered on life’s edge and back again. Back again to give thanks to God in a church service.
  • Ms BS. Smart, educated and looked like awarm loving lady, incapacitated by long term illness. Gave thanks to God for others who could live normal lives.
  • Ms YLT. Strong willed lady who willed her family through storms. Husband fought against stage 4 cancer and came out healed. Willed her children through poignant moments of challenges.
  • Mr MS. Smart, successful, educated and warm and loving man who carried his family strongly in support.
  • Ms N and Mr A J. Smart, energetic and sacrificial servants of God. Qualified business people, they headed offshore and have had to deal with wide range of challenges in serving God in obedience.

God has blessed us with a journey that helped us come into connection with such people in the past few weeks. Some closer than others, some more distant. Every one of those people touched us in ways which made us reflect on life, God and our journey on earth. These connections, whether by merely listening to them in a public forum or sitting in their kitchen listening to them, deepened my conviction that engagement and a desire to be there with and for someone is fundamental to ministry.

This is against type for me. I have been one for being by myself – in a corner at home reading a book, listening to a CD or watching a movie has always been a preferred activity for me. Yet this wasn’t what God did. He always wanted to engage with His people – be among them, eat, work, weep, teach and make lives better by being with His people. Jesus died so that God’s people can be with Him in perpetuity.

With about 4 weeks to Christmas, this message of Emmanuel is a timely one perhaps…

Related articles

Truth? No Longer Fashionable?


There were a couple of stories in The Age this week about the involvement of Access Ministries in schools. Other than the qualifications of volunteer teachers working through Access Ministries, especially in the CRE program, the chief concern was proselytizing. I guess the idea that proselytizing is unacceptable is based on the idea that everyone’s religion is right to him or her and one has no right to try to convince the other to switch his religious affinity.

I think therein lies the danger of downplaying the emphasis on truth. One should not poke fun at the importance of right and wrong, of truth and falsehood. Too many contemporary Christian teachers want so much to be ecumenical or perhaps more accurately, to accept religious plurality. It has become unfashionable to say “what you are saying is wrong”.  I understand the need to be accepting and to bridge any gaps between groups to overcome differences and achieve a harmonious society but that must be done by accepting differences, not glossing over them or refusing to analyse the truth or veracity of an idea, a proposition or a teaching.

When the focus on accepting each other becomes more important than an examination of whether something is true or false or whether it is right or wrong, then I think that form of acceptance is not one which builds up. Acceptance can become a problem for true construction of a body, instead of a solution. If numbers in church and vibrancy in services are more important elements than people being taught the right stuff, then I also think we have a problem. It is not about how many are responding to church services, it is also about what they are responding to and what church goers are vibrant and excited about. Truth should never be sacrificed or compromised for the sake of being fashionable.

Related articles