What is your most challenging and painful encounter in Christian service and ministry?
Like it or not, doing God’s work is no easy task. Elijah had to run for his life. Moses had to face many rebellious Hebrews. Likewise for Apostle Paul as we read today’s devotional passages from 2 Corinthians 6:3-11 from Our Daily Bread.
This passage brings back memory of the time when I somehow volunteer to “work” with the Youth Alive! some 11 years ago. At that time, I had just completed my course work on Youth Ministry in the Singapore Bible College and written a good proposal about youth ministry, which earn me an A-, I thought it might be a good time to implement it in the church. And so with my big mouth, I requested the Pastor to let me serve in the Youth Ministry for 3 years. I was a bit naïve then, not knowing that he had already appointed a youth president who was running the whole youth ministry.
As it turned out, I could not do much in the youth ministry. Since all the programs were carried out by the youth president and the youth committee, some parents were very unhappy because they were not informed of what their kids were doing. After many such incidents, one parent confronted me and questioned my handling of the youth. I was dumbfounded as I was actually quite helpless. Another sad moment was when one parent told me in the face, “When my children reached secondary school age, I do not want them to join the youth ministry”.
During my time in the ministry, I would look at the youth and visualized how they would turn out when they grow into adulthood. On most occasions, I was right. Many of them are not with us in the church now. I sensed the youth ministry lack vision and direction and after 3 years disappeared from the ministry quietly.
From then on, I never will volunteer for service in Bethany PCES.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Judgmental or Analyzing?!
Self-righteous, judgmental, superiority complex, … these are some of the flawed perceptions we tend to unknowingly harbor when we climb up in the corporate and life “ladder”.
To hide our feelings and motives, we tend to say that we are just evaluating or analyzing the situations.
In today’s Our Daily Bread ,Luke 7:37-49,
That was what the Pharisee; Simon did when he saw the prostitute washing Jesus’ feet. Unknowing of his self-righteous feeling, he thought he was analyzing Jesus encounter with the woman and concluded that Jesus could not be a prophet. To be sure, Simon the Pharisee was not a good host for he did not welcome Jesus by having his servant to wash Jesus’ feet when he arrived. In those ancient days, the road was usually dusty and people wore sandals, it's a norm to get one’s feet washed when entering a house. But the woman did just that. And her intention was to seek forgiveness for her sins.
There is always this conflict when our point of view is different from others. I see the church as not growing, complacent, apathy. To me, that is analyzing, and I want to do something to change the situation. But to others, they see me as critical; there is no need to change. To some, I am like Simon the Pharisee. So, it is better to keep quiet and remain status quo in church thingy.
Stay and keep silence. OR leave quietly.
“The challenge is clear. Lulled into thinking how good we are, our love for Jesus wanes because we have forgotten that we too are among the ones “forgiven much.” And when that happens, ready or not, it’s time for a change! — Joe Stowell “
To hide our feelings and motives, we tend to say that we are just evaluating or analyzing the situations.
In today’s Our Daily Bread ,Luke 7:37-49,
That was what the Pharisee; Simon did when he saw the prostitute washing Jesus’ feet. Unknowing of his self-righteous feeling, he thought he was analyzing Jesus encounter with the woman and concluded that Jesus could not be a prophet. To be sure, Simon the Pharisee was not a good host for he did not welcome Jesus by having his servant to wash Jesus’ feet when he arrived. In those ancient days, the road was usually dusty and people wore sandals, it's a norm to get one’s feet washed when entering a house. But the woman did just that. And her intention was to seek forgiveness for her sins.
There is always this conflict when our point of view is different from others. I see the church as not growing, complacent, apathy. To me, that is analyzing, and I want to do something to change the situation. But to others, they see me as critical; there is no need to change. To some, I am like Simon the Pharisee. So, it is better to keep quiet and remain status quo in church thingy.
Stay and keep silence. OR leave quietly.
“The challenge is clear. Lulled into thinking how good we are, our love for Jesus wanes because we have forgotten that we too are among the ones “forgiven much.” And when that happens, ready or not, it’s time for a change! — Joe Stowell “
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