Reaching The Community, The New, The Young & The Unchurched

Posted by on Jan 4, 2012 in Keeping in Step

In case you missed what I shared on the first Sunday of 2012 …

From Isaiah 54:1-3 and 44:3-5 the Lord has given us a promise and a challenge. The promise of fruitfulness, especially among the young, and the challenge to “enlarge our tent”.

Isa 54:2-3 is a Scripture that the Lord has brought to the church leadership again and again (notwithstanding that the Lord has also done this for other Christian leaders and churches). It was the Scripture that encouraged the church to pray for the extension of our premises from one to two to three shop-lots during our Taman Megah days. Then again, when the church embarked on the ambitious move to our present facility in Section 13.

However, “enlarging our tent” today, for us, cannot mean enlarging our facilities further. As it is, we have more than enough space to house all our activities. Clearly, it must mean extending our reach and enlarging our influence—to the communities where the Lord has placed us, in Section 13 and Kampung Sungai Kayu Ara. In particular, to the new, the young and the unchurched.

The promise of Isa 44:3-5, the changing face of Section 13 with its master-plan for mixed development, and which includes residential apartment units, the colleges around us, and our concern of being an aging-church—are all clear signs from the Lord who we are to reach.

We must reach the new because they are not yet part of the church. The young because they are the influencers of their own generation, and also the future of the church. The unchurched  because they need Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

Knowing the what, the who and the why, begs the question how? How do we reach the community, the new, the young and the unchurched? I have to admit that that’s the tough part. All the more we need everyone in the church to do his or her part. Help us strategize. Help us carry out what needs to be done. I welcome your ideas and involvement. Just don’t be an armchair theoretician or give instructions from the side-lines. Get into the field and help us score goals.

Here are some simple steps you can take to start with:

  1. All of us can reach out to people. Let’s make it a point to deliberately and consistently reach out to one or more persons this year. Start this week
  2. All of us can take someone younger under our wings. Start this month

Then, for your prayer:

  1. We are seriously looking into starting a contemporary service, where the new, the young and the unchurched can more easily connect with. Pray that we have the wisdom, resources and resolve to do this.
  2. Further down the road, we’ll want to get into church planting or establish multi-sites facilities. This won’t happen anytime soon; maybe some time in the next phase in 2013-2016. Pray for God’s clear leading in terms of place/s and timing.

I know that the task ahead is huge and there is a need for us to be empowered. In Isa 54:2-3, we are not only told to “lengthen our cords” but also to “strengthen our stakes”.

Here are a few things we can, and must, start to do:

  1. Be the wood behind the arrowhead (to quote Pr Edmund Chan). Be united with the leadership of the church, be in alignment with what the Lord is doing in PJEFC, and let’s all thrust ahead together as a team.
  2. Strengthen your personal spiritual life. The Growth Process is already in place—make the best use of it.
  3. Empower the young in their spiritual lives, ministry roles and leadership potential. As I said in my sermon; to the young people: Show me that you are serious and we’ll provide you with the opportunities.
  4. Grow the prayer power of the church. In the final analysis it is not us but God; and prayer is the key to see God at work. “Above everything else—pray!”—is not a cliché, but an imperative.

 

Soldiering with you

PrSH