By Elder Lynette Shek
This is the season of new beginnings. It starts with Easter, when we remember the resurrection of our Lord Jesus and His victory over death. This victory over sin and death is available to all who believe in Him, and it is my hope that those who have not accepted Jesus as Lord of their lives would seriously consider what the Bible says, and make a commitment to Him. When you do, you will find that God starts the transformation in your heart to become a new person. God has promised in 2 Cor 5:17 - “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
We have some brothers and sisters getting baptized, and I trust this will mark a new beginning for them as well. Water Baptism symbolizes the dying to one’s old self, and being made new. My prayer is that this will be the start of an even closer walk with the Lord for these brothers and sisters.
From a church point of view, we have a new Vision (V2028), a new council and a new council chairman. What does this mean for each of us? For V2028, I hope that each of us would look at the 3 strategic and 3 core areas, and ask ourselves what we can do to help the church make this vision come true. What are the areas we need to grow in? What are we were willing to give for our prayer lives to be stronger, for us to be a loving community of Jesus, to reach out to others in love and make disciples? Please join us on this journey.
The new council has 2 members who are under the age of 30. This is one step in our efforts towards leadership revitalisation. Please give the new council your support, advice, counsel and prayer. We welcome each of you to talk to us about things on your heart! As a council, we will be discussing important issues like greater community outreach, overseas missions, church finances and our expiring land lease. Most of all, I hope that this council will be a council where we care deeply for each other and pray together regularly.
There are many new initiatives for our church, and this is exciting. But I encourage each of us to dream beyond that. Our church started as a group of young people meeting for Bible Study. Our pioneers had a strong desire to reach out to people with God’s love. They served and gave to this cause with their hearts. Back then, we had many teachers in our midst and they invited their students to church. Quite a number of these students are still in our church today. They rented buses to bring neighbourhood children to church. They invited their family members to church. When the church grew larger, they gave to enable us to own property and meet at five different sites. It was very much a volunteer-led church and church members stepped up to teach in Sunday School, lead the services and preach. Many homes were opened for prayer, for meetings and for fellowship.
Can we dream big for this season of the church? My dream? I do not think I can say it better than the words of this song. Let it indeed be said of us at The Bible Church as God would have us.
LET IT BE SAID OF US
Let it be said of us that the Lord was our passion,
That with gladness we bore every cross we were given;
That we fought the good fight, and we finished the course;
Knowing within us the power of the risen Lord.
Let it be said of us, we were marked by forgiveness;
We were known by our love and delighted in meekness;
We were ruled by His peace, heeding unity’s call,
Joined as one body that Christ would be seen by all.
CHORUS:
Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song!
By mercy made holy, by the Spirit made strong.
Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song!
Till the likeness of Jesus be through us made known.
Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song.