By Not Known
At its heart, the Bible is about relationships: how God relates with us (the vertical relationship), and how we relate to each other (the horizontal relationship).
In fact, Jesus reminds us in John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.“
However, we live in an imperfect world, struggling in imperfect relationships with imperfect people. Thus this love does not come naturally to us. Yet, God never intended that we should live solo Christian lives. He intended for us to be parts of a mighty orchestra playing in harmony. Through the Holy Spirit, God has given believers the ability to possess such a love and the responsibility to act in that love.
Thus the community of faith ― the congregation ― becomes the place where we lovingly encourage, admonish, rejoice, weep and pick each other up when we fall down. In other words, our congregation provides the environment for learning what God has to say about how we relate to him and to each other; and prepares us to live faithful lives by hearing God’s call to go and serve him.
The congregation is necessary for nurturing our growth in faith. This happens when the Gospel is lived out: some becoming teachers to teach the young, others becoming facilitators in small groups to help fellow believers in their practice of faith, and yet others taking on leadership positions in ministries to build up the church. The inter-relationships within the congregation provide the ‘space’ to practice and grow in their faith journey.
Being part of a congregation reminds us that faith does not happen in a vacuum, for God works through other people to help us grow. So as Jesus works through us to help each other, we would make sense of our lives within the Gospel and be individually transformed into his likeness.
Over the next three weeks of Christian Education Emphasis month, I encourage you to prayerfully consider being involved in the ministries that are featured.
Amos Lau