The value of godly, genuine fellowship

I'm back from the VCF FOC! Wow it sure was a great camp! For me, there was so much to take away from this camp.

One of the things I've learned is how much I've taken life in Singapore for granted. Maybe being able to carry a Bible and go to church on Sundays has become such a common part of my life that it's difficult to imagine how great privileges these are. During the VCF Camp, they showed us what life for Christians in some countries was like. These Christians are persecuted for their faith, so they can't openly go to church. In fact, they can even be arrested for possessing a Bible! Yet, they treasure God's Word so much that they've resorted to memorising Bible verses. How much more we who can just flip open the Bible and refer to it as and when we want!

The greatest takeaway from this camp, though, was experiencing the true value of godly, genuine fellowship. My orientation group was called Jacinth and we only got to know each other on the 1st day of the camp (none of us knew each other beforehand). The group was quite bubbly, cheerful and energetic though.

As we continued with the various sessions in the camp (such as the theme talks), we became more comfortable with one another. During some of the sharing sessions, the group began to share more openly about how some of the things that we learned during the camp were applicable in our own lives. It really amazed me how we could share so openly even though we had only known one another for such a short period of time.

On the last morning, the group woke up early to watch the sunrise. As we sat together and chatted, we also had a long time of sharing during which we shared about some of our personal stuff and some struggles we were facing. Experiencing this time of fellowship where each of us could open up our hearts to one another was a very moving and encouraging moment for me, as I realised how valuable it is when brothers and sisters in Christ can come together to have a time of godly, genuine fellowship, getting to know one another beyond just the surface level.

I pray that this is the kind of fellowship that I can eventually experience in church.

Ties that bind

Wow life sure is busy for me! Came back from Switzerland 2 Sundays ago, then straight away went for Science Camp (aka Scamp) from Monday to Friday. End of this week got a Young Adults Fellowship (YAF) Retreat from Friday to Sunday, followed by a Varsity Christian Fellowship (VCF) Freshmen Orientation Camp (FOC) from Monday to Thursday. Then I'm going for a Rovers Camp called Juntos on the following Monday to Thursday. At least it's been fun so far, and I'm sure there's more fun to come.

Over the Switzerland, my mind has been thinking about the coming YAF Retreat. The theme of this retreat is "Close Enough" and the retreat is going to be focused on us as a community of believers being close enough to God and to one another. This topic is one that's very close to my heart, partly also because of what I've gone through and what I've seen people go through.

Over the years in church, I've seen people come, I've seen people go. Some stayed on in church, some stayed for barely a few weeks and then left. Yet, even some who have spent years in church or are born into church have left. Is it just them?

A godly community is one that cares for each and every one of its members and is willing to put in effort to help everyone fit in. It is a community where everyone has a sense of belonging to and feels that this is a community where they can gain support from. However, the situation we're in is far from there. One of the biggest problems is the divisions in the community, resulting in many small cliques. People who find that they don't belong to any of these cliques eventually disappear from church and fade out of the picture. On the other hand, people in the cliques become comfortable with just those in their clique and don't often mix with others, which greatly hinders fellowship as a community. Indeed, how different are we from any other community? Is this a community that's so different from the outside world around it, or is it "just another community of people"? It's sometimes so painful looking at how things are.

As I look towards this upcoming retreat, I know that one retreat is not going to change our YAF community overnight. There's so much that needs to be done to improve the situation. Building the communal ties that will bind us together as one community and not just as many small groups will take time, but with a conscious effort on everyone's part, I'm sure things can change for the better. God, touch this community, but above all, touch each person's heart and fill them with a passion to want to see this community transformed into a truly godly and united community.