This is a call

Today, I will be discoursing upon a subject that has become very close to my heart lately, namely the issue of Christian fellowship.

I had been passionate about this issue for a long time, believing that this is what God wants and indeed, requires of us! Against her will, I would like to dedicate this entry to Janice, who encouraged me to share this, which is a daunting task with lots of potential pitfalls! :) However, although I wanted to stick to her advice of keeping it relatively short, and breaking it up into easy to read paragraphs, as I wrote, I found that I had an enormous amount on my mind and heart to share. I really hope, pray and humbly request that anyone from LCCC please take the time to read this and feel free to leave comments or contact me directly to discuss or criticise constructively if you feel the urge!

So, a few points. When we become a Christian, we become part of the family of God. Becoming a born again Christian can be, over the first few months, a very internal thing.. we are surprised by outpourings of the Holy Spirit, moved from tears to joy, and everything tends to focus on our own experience of becoming a Christian.

But God did not design us for solitude, or self-sufficiency. Not only are we to draw our strength from Him, but He has provided us with a spiritual family, not only to support, teach, rebuke, encourage and care for us and to help us grow, but also to test us and force us out of our comfort zones; to give us an opportunity to take our first ‘baby steps’ in showing the love of Christ to the world.

A quick disclaimer: there is nothing I am discussing here that I claim to be doing any better than any other people in the church. Everything here comes from the way I feel God has challenged me over the last year or so, building up to a critical point when I read those chapters in the Purpose Driven Life. I truly believe in our church. I love this church. And I want to see our church grow, and all of us growing in Love for one another.

And I believe we need to do two things: root ourselves deeper in God’s word, and in our relationship with Jesus Christ, learning to live according to the Spirit, rather than the flesh and how the world tells us we should live. The second is that we need to re-think our whole behaviour as members of this church, myself included.

Next time you are in church or cell group, take a minute or two to look around the room at those around you. God has bought you to this church for a reason. You think it’s just because you are of Chinese descent (or not even that, in my case, and a few others!)? God planned everything out. Look around you. How many are your close friends? Some, are probably well known to you due to their more exuberant personalities (although do you know who is the real person under the surface?)..

Then there are people you used to know, but you are now in different cells, and rarely get time to speak, and you have grown further and further apart. Then, there are other people, new and old.. they seem quiet and perhaps withdrawn.. you never really get round to chatting to them, or if you do, it is just the usual small talk. There may be some who actively annoy you (myself perhaps? hehe) or who you just feel you really don’t have anything in common with, or can’t think of anything to say to them.

Welcome to the family that God, in His wisdom and His plans for you, has chosen you to be a part of. He has placed you here. Are you wondering about your purpose in life? Do you wonder about how close/far you are to God? How spiritually mature?
Do you struggle to do your ‘quiet time’? Do you feel guilty about not doing enough Good Deeds? Well, here’s a newsflash: it all starts here, in the family of God.

I have been reaching out to a homeless guy in Leeds. This guy has suffered great emotional trauma in his life. Years of living on the street, a subsistent life that most of us can barely imagine the depths of, have taken their toll. He has no social grace. When he speaks, it is always at the top of his voice. He smells. He swears all the time. In the street, it is not tough for me to speak with him. But, what if I were to bring him to dinner with my friends? What if that guy were not homeless, but instead a ‘proud to be gay’ guy? A racist? A criminal? Someone from another country who could only communicate in the most broken of English? Do we have what it takes to treat these people non-judgementally? Can we show them the love of Christ? Do we tell ourselves that if it came to it, we could? But then how do we treat our church family?

People generally learn by doing easy things first, then progressing onto more difficult things. God has given us a church family for a reason. There will be people there whom we struggle to understand when they speak. There will be people there who have obvious issues and problems. Though you might never guess it to look at us, I am sure there are those among us who are struggling (and failing regularly) in battles with sexual sin. Not to mention being judgemental, opinionated, inconsiderate, bad tempered etc. There are those we might not feel comfortable around. We have awkward conversation, exchange pleasantries, then move off to chat with those we know and love. There will be many who, if we are honest, are total strangers to us. Just a face we recognise from seeing them each week in the same building.

Galatians 6:10 “therefore, when we get the chance, let us do good to all, especially to those who are in the family of believers”. It may seem strange that God emphasises helping other Christians even more than non-Christians, but in John 13: 35, Jesus tells us “your love for each other will prove to the world that you are My disciples”!

When I first came to this church (in fact, to a new year’s eve party), here is what struck me:

1) Everyone seemed to be really friendly to everyone else. No one seemed left out, and everyone seemed to be having a great time

2) They all seemed somehow more genuine and real than I was used to seeing in groups of people of any nationality. When later people shared about their year, the highlights and lowlights, and their hopes and fears for the new year, some cried openly, others were full of joy.

3) Even though I was the only white guy in the room, I felt totally at home within a few minutes and had a feeling of belonging. People were friendly and chatty. I was encouraged to talk deeply about myself, to open up to people, not just to be superficial, or make small talk. I was free to be my true self, if I chose to accept that challenge.

Why did I choose to join our church? It was not because of any great spiritual leanings; it wasn’t because I felt God was calling me (although He surely was). I didn't become a Christian for another 3 months!

It wasn’t even because of the powerful and passionate worship music.

It was because I found a place where people could be themselves and yet still be loved and not judged. It was because I came to a place where nationality or background didn’t matter. It was because I came and I met a FAMILY, who showed love for each other in their behaviour. So, in the way you treat your fellow church members, especially those you are not close to (yet!), do bear in mind what the newcomers to the church are going to see and experience.

Our church has grown in size since then. And a few people who were deeply passionate about living for God, and leading a Spirit filled life have gone back to their home countries. Whatever the reason, I do feel that those things which first drew me as an outsider to the church are not so strong as they were. This could just be my own perception and not fact. But rest assured, before I start thinking of ‘blaming’ anyone, God has challenged ME:

“What are you going to do about it?”. I can’t change the world, I can’t make other people change, but I CAN change myself. I can choose to try to behave in a new way from now on, and ask the Holy Spirit to give me the strength and courage to do those things which I could not otherwise do on my own.

What were your first impressions of this church? What are your impressions now?

What can you do about it? Before we can be like Brother Yun or like Tony Anthony, showing fearlessly the love of Christ to murderers, prisoners, and the dregs of society, we need to learn to start with each other.

Matthew 25: 40 “I tell you, the way you treat the least of the members of My Family, is the way you treat Me”. Are you making small talk with Jesus? Leaving him feeling secretly lonely, isolated, unloved? How many people in our church are wanting something deeper than we currently have? How many people have wondered “is this how Christians are supposed to treat each other”? Can we start building the family of God today?

Let us start making a difference today. If there is someone in your cell group whose hobbies and interests you don’t know, whose prayer needs you don’t know, whose life you know little about, go to them this time. Sit down and talk with them. Better still, invite them out for coffee or dinner. Take along someone you do know well if you are nervous, but focus the conversation on getting to know that person you don’t yet know well enough. Pray for each other. Keep a little note book or a folded up bit of paper and a pencil in your coat pocket, and when someone needs prayer for something, write it down so you actually remember.

Try to reach out to, get to know, someone each week who is NOT in your cell group, or even in your section of the church! And you probably know people who are at different levels of faith to yourself. New Christians, seek out the advice and guidance of those more mature in faith and knowledge than you.

And those mature ones, ACTIVELY approach the newer Christians, and show them your support and encouragement! Offer to meet up with them outside of church when you can both find time, even for a 15min coffee, just to chat about their Christian life, and answer any questions they may have. And don’t just fob them off to Elder Kim or Wee Leon. Yes, they may have greater knowledge and faith, but this is how we ourselves will learn.

If someone asks us a question about baptism or some aspect of what we believe, and we don’t know the answer, we should tell that person we will meet them again later to help them. Then we can go and ask an elder (or whichever more mature Christian WE have fostered a relationship with) or include research on to that topic into our quiet time, and then go back to the person with the answer.

And DO go out of your way to make sure that newer Christians know that it’s absolutely ok to open up to you, and be themselves. To know that they can tell you anything they are struggling with, and that you’ll do whatever you can to help them and support them, and show them that they are not alone! Let guys talk to guys, and girls talk to girls, but most of all, let us actually TALK and support each other!

And what of the youth? As mentioned in NEEC, (something I support and agree with 100%) we, the adult section, should be reaching out to them. We should each try to find ourselves someone from the youth section, and just help them in any way we can; with homework, with prayer, with guidance and advice. Remember though, trust and respect have to be earned. If you just walk up and say “I want you to tell me all about who you really are, and let me help to guide you into becoming a mature Christian” you can imagine what the response will be.. :P

But, can’t we invite them for dinners? Take them out in small groups for coffee? Just do some completely random things to bless them, like making cakes for them, serving them, treating them to cinema tickets, just to let them know that we DO know they exist, and we DO value them and support them as an important part of our church?!

Anyone who reads this, feel free to nag me to do any or all of the above! If I could do it all by myself or on my own strength, I surely would have done so by now. This type of new commitment and action involves us working TOGETHER.

But, don’t fool yourself.. if we just try to do this on our own strength, we will likely start well, then backslide again later, or even never get around to trying!

But God has told us that He will give us the strength through the Holy Spirit to do what he requires of us, especially when we may struggle otherwise.

But, rather than praying and waiting for a miracle, let us step out in faith, starting today, and pray that God will help us, as we seek to obey His commands to us and honour Him in the way we treat His people!

Can you imagine how amazing our church could be? Where the Youth and Adult sections know each other well and treat one another with respect and kindness. Where we can laugh and joke together, and learn from each other and grow together?

Where we in our own section can start dropping the masks we wear, and being honest with each other, without fear of blame or embarrassment? Where no-one is left feeling left-out or lonely, where people aren’t saying "everything’s great" while inside they are struggling alone with confusion, depression, despair or even facing loss of faith?

Isaiah 61: 1 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring the good news to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to bring liberty to those who are captive, and to free those who are imprisoned”

As disciples of Jesus, we are commanded to do as He did.

And are there people amongst us who are suffering from a broken heart? Whether from a failed relationship or feelings of hurt or betrayal by friends or family?

And the captives? I don’t believe he just meant actual prisoners! Are there people among us who are struggling with lust, pornography, pressure from their families to be successful, fear of failure, loneliness, shyness, guilt, shame, feelings of inadequacy or unworthiness? Wondering about relationships?

All of these things are burdens, weighing us down, and sucking the joy out of our lives and preventing us from enjoying fully a relationship with God. And for those who don’t yet have the faith or relationship with Jesus to just come to Him and be set free, we are the ambassadors of Christ, His living representatives to the world and he has placed those people within His family.

So, let us start being real with each other. If you are struggling with any of those things, find someone you feel you could trust, and talk to them about it in confidence. Let them pray for you, advise you, guide you. You're part of the family of Christ now, and you don't have to struggle alone anymore! And if you have struggled with any of those things in the past, and have been set free or found practical or spiritual ways to cope, don’t keep that God-glorifying experience to yourself!

Many of us will have read books which helped us enormously in our previous struggles with certain issues. Don’t just let the book gather dust on your shelf; share it and help someone else to see what freedom in Christ means!

A journey will start with a single step. Let’s step out in faith together. Feel free to contact me (ask my friends if you don’t know my details) to discuss ideas or organise something or just to get to know each other more as members of the same family! :)