So sometimes, it seems really difficult to do my part for the church or for God. I know you're going to tell me that I should be preaching to my friends but that's not really a strong point for me. I haven't got that big a circle of friends. Of my secondary school mates, about 10 of them I don't really see anymore, one is in US and the remaining two I see only once in two or three months. Of my university mates, well... it's hard to talk about this sort of thing with them because they aren't really interested in talking to me unless it's school-related (my being the top student is not helping this).
Yeah, I have a group of about nine close friends and we watch movies together and mamak together but religion isn't a big part of their lives (except for two who are already Christians and one who is a Muslim) so I've never quite known how to introduce the topic to them.
Well, I've gone a really roundabout way to what I want to share but here goes.
About three weeks ago, the sermon on Sunday was about how people could contribute to church work. I was so delighted because the speaker (bless him) was so practical he gave us a list of things we could do. I want to share it with you all because it inspired me so much and opened my eyes to things that were actually in my power:
- Worship session - preaching, song leading, prayer, planning the men-to-serve list
- Bible session - train teachers, take responsibility for different classes and needs
- Record keeping - attendance, accounts, charting trends
- Building - maintenance, painting
- Guests - greeters, guest cards, show hospitality, follow-up
- Teaching the gospel to the lost - performing baptisms
- Edifying the weak - encourage, admonish, strengthen
- Benevolence
- Technology - help the church in using technology, teach adults how to use it
- Communication - bulletins, Web sites
- Serve others - food, professional help e.g. medicine, law, finance
5 comments:
once in a while, i think we need to feel noticed (or appreciated, or paid attention to).
not necessarily because we're vain and self-seeking, but rather because we don't feel like an integral part of an entity you're SUPPOSED to belong to.
contributing to the work of the church could be as simple as just reading your bible daily and getting your family to do the same.
building up yourself in the faith is as important as bringing others to God.
Just some food for thought... any comments?
One of the biggest problems with the churches of Christ is that we are highly academic. We can write scholarly articles and discuss doctrines for ages, but to openly express our faith or emotions towards one another is difficult.
Maybe people in the church do care for you and appreciate you, it’s just that they don’t express it. But maybe they really don’t care. I don't know.
I face very much the same problems in that the youth in Klang seem indifferent to me. It can be very discouraging. It's worse when they don't tell me what's going on. I often feel that church has become a routine, because I find it difficult to bond with the youth in Klang. Not that it's their fault, it may well be my own personality. But I remind myself that I come for God, not others or myself.
What I do is basically ignore this feeling and contribute to the work of God in my own way. It doesn't have to be direct, I believe that helping out in this blog (for example) is part of my work in God even if Klang does not exclusively enjoy the benefits.
I feel sometimes when I do things for the youth in Klang, I am just wasting my time because they don’t appreciate or don’t care (pr don't show it if they do). This isn’t to speak badly of them, like I said, it’s just my impression, and maybe it’s because we don’t express our faith or love to one another. I openly tell them this sometimes.
I have often wondered how we are supposed to be bonded by the same faith, but yet treat each other so indifferently. It's something we need to work on. We need to get close beyond the few days of the YDP, etc.
Perhaps we need to spend more time with them and perhaps we just need to work on relationships in church that matter. It might not work, I don't know. I am still looking for the answers...
mmmm... yeah you've got a point. But it's never a waste of time bro! =)
Working for longer periods could build bonds, but the old adage of "familiarity breeds contempt" is also quite prevalent in many cases.
Perhaps it could just be a lack of agape love that is commanded by God for each other.
I find that sometimes why people don't express appreciation is because they don't really know how to? not so much as they don't care but perhaps they don't know how to put it across?
It's not, but when it seems like it is, our (my) emotions cloud our thinking and we can't tell the diff between the two, so we assume that it is a waste of time.
Well, yes, it could be familiarity, but I never tire of some people! Haha. I think the latter reason (simple lack of love) to be more likely.
Don't know how? There are so so many ways. It need not be drastic. A few simple words will do. Hmm...I think I will write a post on how to do that...
esp for females, there's a limit to what we can do without going against the Bible. We can't preach publicly etc... bt I believe that we should just serve as much as possible within our limits...
regarding friendships within the curch, I do feel that some of us have better friends in the world than in the church... this may pose a prob when it comes to seeking advice and stuff... I think its important to build up strong bonds as these are the people we expect to spend eternity with!
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