Hokay, so how many of us know what Lemmings are? I think a lot of us have played or seen at least one version of the game.
For those who haven’t, Lemmings are mindless little people that you control (sort of). They automatically fall out of a box and walk in a direction until they hit an obstacle and turn and walk the other way; unless they find a cliff, in which case they walk off and die. The goal of the game is to get a set number of these Lemmings to the goal doorway.
In order to do this, you give jobs to different Lemmings for the greater good. Some are blockers - they block the way so others cannot go past them (this can help them to stay away from cliffs). Some are builders – they lay tiles down so that others can walk across a gap in the land (bridging one place to another). Some are diggers – they dig holes so that others will follow him down the hole to the next level down. And so on.
In the same way, God calls us each to play different parts within the church. No part is more important than the other. Some jobs that we think are not important we should pay special attention to. These jobs are typically the ones that are behind the scenes or small (compared to leading the service). Every tiny little part, every little screw and bolt, in the body of Christ is essential. We cannot say that we do not need one of the parts, because the ones we see as important probably cannot function without the smaller ones. God gives great honour to these small parts!
We were not all called to be great leaders and movers of the Church, but we were all called to be part of the body of Christ. And of each part, it should have only one goal: to glorify God in all it does.
How do you feel about the way or the areas in which you serve in the Church? Do you feel that your serving is insignificant or that you just do it week-in and week-out? God gives greater honour to the parts that lack it!
If you'd like to know more about this, check out 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 in your bible!
It’s almost been two months since I’ve last spoken to you all about the “random act of kindness” mission that I assigned to you all.
For those who have forgotten about it, this is a reminder that you still have 11 days to complete your mission. It’s not too late! For those who weren’t present on the night to hear what it was all about, I have assigned you all a small mission to encourage you all to love one another through acts of witnessing and citizenship. The first mission assigned was to do one random act of kindness for a stranger. Eg: offer a seat on the bus or train to a stranger or offer to help an elderly unload their heavy groceries into their car.
One random act of kindness I did over the past 2 months was at a shopping centre elevator. Just as the elevator door was about to close I heard rushing footsteps. So instead of just letting the door close and saving myself some time (sorta late for work) I quickly pressed the "doors open" button just on time and the lift door opened. The lady thanked me/smiled and I felt like I did something good .
For those who have already completed their mission I encourage you to post what you have done here on the website. So post what you did, how they felt and how you felt. I hope your posts may be an encouragement to you all to love one another as Christ has loved you.
John 13:34-35 “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
P.S. The next mission will be debriefed very soon
P.S.S. By the way to post what you have done please just click the "write comment" link just below. Thanks!
At the outset, what are your immediate thoughts when you read these two words “social Christianity”? Breaking it down into its parts, “social” meaning an association with people and “Christianity” being the faith that proclaims Christ as saviour, how do these two words interact as a single phrase?
There is a trend for certain activities to be labelled as “social” with the implied meaning that they are harmless because they are much milder than the pure form of the activity. Examples that are popular enough in society are those of social drinking and social smoking. Those who partake of such activities will claim that their use of alcohol and nicotine, respectively, are less harmful than those drinkers and smokers who use the same substances purely for their effects on the individual. Why is this? It is because the ‘social drinker’ will say that his drinking is done in the presence of friends, and the act of enjoying their company at the same time will mean he is concentrating less on the alcohol, and so he drinks less and this makes it less harmful to him.
Whether or not “social drinking” is actually less unhealthy or not, the fact is that many activities are influenced by the social aspect. I would consider Christianity, or the act of following Christ, to be one of these. We are social beings, and as such spend a great deal of time in the presence of others. But I would say that this greatly influences the way in which our faith is acted upon. And so I would look at two different ways in which we could practise “social Christianity”.
If like the case of “social drinking”, “social Christianity” is just a lighter form of true Christianity, it might be sort of like a person who is a church goer, and serves in the church occasionally, but doesn’t really ever really get into the spirit of Christianity which is focused on reaching those who haven’t heard the gospel. This sort of “social Christianity” is really interesting, because you can spend a lot of time within your Christian circle, and you can enjoy yourself and be immersed in all the activities that can happen in the church environment, but you may come to realise down the track that it’s a life that lacks something from what the Christian values say.
On the other hand, there is a social Christianity that is about being social in the literal sense, where you are willing to put yourself forward and reach each and every person around you, no matter their disposition towards you, their religion or their cultural background. Someone who is able to live out their Christian faith so socially truly believes in the great commission and will not stop at his or her Christian circle of friends and be comfortable there. Instead, this social Christianity will always aim for new contacts, and new people to influence in their faith.
In that sense, both these forms of “social Christianity” serve their purpose. In fact, both can be enjoyable, both are required in some amount in Christian living, so don’t try to go all out in either one on its own, because you’ll never reach new Christians if you’re just the first type, and you’ll just be neglecting the church if you’re the second type who just hangs out with non-Christians all the time. But there is one thing that should be taken from this little spiel I’ve given: there is no such thing as an “unsocial Christianity”, all Christians should learn to interact with people, whether they be people within the church, or out there in the unbelieving community.
It's that time of year again, where we celebrate Christmas - the birth of our saviour, Jesus Christ. As the years go by, as a Christian, you get used to hearing or even saying phrases like "remember the true meaning of Christmas" or "Christmas is about more than just giving/receiving presents". These are indeed true, and serve as a good reminder every year that we shouldn't get too carried away by the secular-type of Christmas hype.
Of course, it is not bad to celebrate Christmas in the typical fashion to exchange gifts and enjoy family time, we should just remember that God has already given us the greatest gift of all: his son Jesus. Yet for some people, this present is still wrapped up, sitting under the tree. Not to mention the scores of people around the world who don't get presents of any kind, let alone had the chance to open the gift of salvation.
So, when you're enjoying Christmas time this year, remember what Pastor David French taught us on Sunday - the spreading of the Gospel is only about half done and also remember that poverty, chaos, violence and starvation still reign in some parts of our world. We should be giving all the time, as this is the example that Jesus gave us, which included attending to both the physical and spiritual needs of those around him!
So, another AMYC is over, and what have we got to show for it? Was it all about sunburn, strange catchphrases and 200 new friend requests on Facebook? As much fun as the events leading to those outcomes may have been, for those of you who didn't go - yes, AMYC is about something more.
The theme: Called to Lead. The speaker: Rev. Dr Brian Harris, Principal of Vose Seminary (that's right, a Bible college principal!) ...for the English side anyway. A snapshot: different examples of leadership in the Bible... from characters such as Moses, who didn't have any direction in his life for 40 years until he stumbled across a certain bush; to Jesus, the ultimate servant leader; to Paul, whose missionary influence spread far and wide, yet who often felt weak and a failure. The conclusion: no matter who or where you are in life, there is something here about Christian leadership that applies to you!
Apart from the talks, there was also one other particularly serious (but exciting) side to AMYC, and that was the election and installation of the new national MYF committee, which only happens every two years. This AMYF committee is a group of local MYF committee members who each represent their own respective MYFs around Australia. It's really important that we foster and build relationships with our sister MYFs all around Australia, because there are so many things that we can learn from each other and do to help each other. Oh, and did I mention? Our new AMYF President is Crosby Chang, from Grace Methodist Church in Perth. Francesis our EMP representative and now holds the position of Citizenship officer on the AMYF committee.
There were also a bunch of activities and games for us to enjoy and to bond with new friends... from ice-breakers, to interesting aerobics moves, to beach trips and Talent Night (i.e. group skits)... all in all, the convention was balanced with a whole lot of fun (I particularly liked the part where I got to throw flour and water on my sister >=D ).
The thing about AMYC is that although it officially ends after 4 days, the craziness doesn't end there... if you should so desire. Many of us chose to stay longer and experience the sights and sounds of Perth in true tourist manner... and once again played catch-up with friends from other states that we had just seen days ago.
So in some ways, AMYC is like one of our own youth camps, yet completely different. If you have the chance, it's something you should really take the opportunity to experience yourself while you still can (the only way you can properly get into AMYC if you regret when you're old and grey is to become a pastor...)! Luckily for most of you, next year, AMYC is being hosted by none other than our very own EMP church. While this also means a great deal of planning and running around wondering how we're going to cope with all the interstate delegates, it's pretty much the once-in-your-MYF(-and maybe JMYF)-lifetime occasion that you're going to get to have this huge event run on HOME GROUND. To sum up, here's a plug for AMYC 2010. Go to the website that has nothing on it yet (but hopefully will soon). http://www.amyc2010.cmca.ws
P.S. If you want photos or less formal, more crazy-sounding posts from AMYC 2009, go check out Facebook or someone's blog. teehee
For those who weren’t present on the night to hear what it was all about, I have assigned you all a small mission to encourage you all to love one another through acts of witnessing and citizenship. The first mission assigned was to do one random act of kindness for a stranger. Eg: offer a seat on the bus or train to a stranger or offer to help an elderly unload their heavy groceries into their car.
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