What is church? What does it mean to love your church?
Joanne Liaw wrote about the recent Cathedral Fellowship Camp (2-4 October), held at Selesa Hill Resort, Bukit Tinggi, where Andrew Cheah, the main speaker at the camp shared about “Loving Your Church”.
Talks
Is church a religious building with a cross perched on its rooftop? The word “church” finds its origin from the Greek word “ekklesia” that means “a gathering of God’s people”. So loving your church certainly does not mean loving a physical edifice! Andrew shared this theme from the book of Ephesians each day at the camp.
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16)
Christ died to reconcile sinners to God so that we can share in God’s inheritance as His people. Christ is the Head of the church, His body. In response to God’s grace and love, we are to build His body up in love.
Ministry of the Pew
How could we be building God’s church in love? One of the ways is through joyful service. In the Ministry of the Pew session, the campers looked at how Christians can serve one another better, especially on a Sunday. Some of the ways are:
- Coming early to church
- Talking to newcomers
- Encouraging conversations
- Welcoming
- Staying awake during the sermon
Other Programmes
The camp kick-started with fun-filled ice breakers conducted by the Cathedral youth. Campers had the opportunity to attend one of the following electives: Anglicanism (conducted by Vincent Murphy), Marriage (conducted by Andy Ng) and Boy-Girl-Relationships (conducted by Daniel and Marianne Chow). The Kids programme was run by Rubina Henry, Tim Nicholls and Albert Ng. There were even hilarious and creative sketches performed by the campers themselves on the theme of Church.
Conclusion
The campers really enjoyed learning about loving their church and getting to know each other. One of them remarked, “For those who did not join this camp, they missed out big time!”