Lunch reflections
Today was a rather "interesting" day. After 2nd service, for some strange reason, ALMOST everyone split into batch + gender groups for lunch!! What a shock!! How come suddenly everyone did that at the same time? Well, in the end I didn't break the trend... It was quite a fruitful lunch though, reflecting a lot on what I've been doing for months.
The community in a church, not surprisingly, is often quite focused on social needs as well as spiritual needs. Especially for youths, the church community is a community that we learn with, have fun with and grow with. However, as we settle into groups that we are comfortable in, often these groups become the group that we spend most, if not all of our time with. Sunday after Sunday, we spend our free time in church with our own groups. For me, though, life in church has been quite different from most of the youths.
Unlike most of the youths who were born here, I came into the church over 2.5 years ago. Through experiencing numerous trials, facing the pain of loneliness time and again, and nearly leaving church 1 year ago (until God touched my life in a miraculous way), I learned a lot about caring for others, especially those whom no one talked to or mixed with, those who felt alone. I discovered my spiritual gifts of sheperding, mercy, encouragement, hospitality and intercession (some of which I had already been making use of) and deep down, I knew God wanted me to use my life to touch the lives of others.
This effort began with an attempt to reach out to those who had left church. Some didn't respond, but some responded positively, and with some intentional effort on my part, we strengthened this friendship once again.
Over time, I reached out to more people. Those who had left the Youth Ministry, the newcomers and others who had come to our church before. It took more and more effort reaching out to so many people, talking to them on a regular basis, smsing them to remind them that there are others who care for them, sometimes even listening to their problems. But I willingly put in this effort, cos I knew that for some of these people, if I didn't take the initiative to mix around with them regularly, almost no one else would. I cared for them, and didn't want them to face what I had gone through. If they wanted to find God's love and couldn't find it elsewhere, I thought, why not let them find it in me?
In handling much of this alone, the effort did get overwhelming at times. During these times, I would look at the other youths with the groups that they're so comfortable in, and sometimes I wondered whether the effort was worthwhile, sometimes just felt like giving up. But, for the love of these people, I never did, and the results have been extremely rewarding. Many of them come to me automatically, just to talk or sometimes to share problems. I know that I've won their trust and friendship, things which are priceless.
1 John 4:19 says "We love because He first loved us." God touched me with His love and saved me from the brink of leaving church, but He didn't do that to many others who ended up leaving church. Why? It's because He wants me to make a difference in the lives of others. It hasn't been easy to do, but it has been rewarding. My dear WAH team, my answered prayer from God, this is the goal I have for you. Reaching out to others on a personal level takes time and effort, and I've paid this price (doing it alone somemore!), but the rewards are incredible.
For my church youths who have read this, think about our Youth Ministry. Do we truly exhibit God's love? Do we care? My secret is out, the secret that I've kept for SOOO long, the secret that I nearly left church. Maybe someone around you is having problems in this community? Maybe, just maybe, someone around you is feeling alone and wants to leave church? I'll end off here with some 4-word questions for everyone to think about:
Do we really care?
Do we really love?
Where is God's love?
The community in a church, not surprisingly, is often quite focused on social needs as well as spiritual needs. Especially for youths, the church community is a community that we learn with, have fun with and grow with. However, as we settle into groups that we are comfortable in, often these groups become the group that we spend most, if not all of our time with. Sunday after Sunday, we spend our free time in church with our own groups. For me, though, life in church has been quite different from most of the youths.
Unlike most of the youths who were born here, I came into the church over 2.5 years ago. Through experiencing numerous trials, facing the pain of loneliness time and again, and nearly leaving church 1 year ago (until God touched my life in a miraculous way), I learned a lot about caring for others, especially those whom no one talked to or mixed with, those who felt alone. I discovered my spiritual gifts of sheperding, mercy, encouragement, hospitality and intercession (some of which I had already been making use of) and deep down, I knew God wanted me to use my life to touch the lives of others.
This effort began with an attempt to reach out to those who had left church. Some didn't respond, but some responded positively, and with some intentional effort on my part, we strengthened this friendship once again.
Over time, I reached out to more people. Those who had left the Youth Ministry, the newcomers and others who had come to our church before. It took more and more effort reaching out to so many people, talking to them on a regular basis, smsing them to remind them that there are others who care for them, sometimes even listening to their problems. But I willingly put in this effort, cos I knew that for some of these people, if I didn't take the initiative to mix around with them regularly, almost no one else would. I cared for them, and didn't want them to face what I had gone through. If they wanted to find God's love and couldn't find it elsewhere, I thought, why not let them find it in me?
In handling much of this alone, the effort did get overwhelming at times. During these times, I would look at the other youths with the groups that they're so comfortable in, and sometimes I wondered whether the effort was worthwhile, sometimes just felt like giving up. But, for the love of these people, I never did, and the results have been extremely rewarding. Many of them come to me automatically, just to talk or sometimes to share problems. I know that I've won their trust and friendship, things which are priceless.
1 John 4:19 says "We love because He first loved us." God touched me with His love and saved me from the brink of leaving church, but He didn't do that to many others who ended up leaving church. Why? It's because He wants me to make a difference in the lives of others. It hasn't been easy to do, but it has been rewarding. My dear WAH team, my answered prayer from God, this is the goal I have for you. Reaching out to others on a personal level takes time and effort, and I've paid this price (doing it alone somemore!), but the rewards are incredible.
For my church youths who have read this, think about our Youth Ministry. Do we truly exhibit God's love? Do we care? My secret is out, the secret that I've kept for SOOO long, the secret that I nearly left church. Maybe someone around you is having problems in this community? Maybe, just maybe, someone around you is feeling alone and wants to leave church? I'll end off here with some 4-word questions for everyone to think about:
Do we really care?
Do we really love?
Where is God's love?
posted by Guangrong at
11:33 pm
