Sharing of information and knowledge is vital for growth.
This is what happens in my workplace.
Every Wednesday, 5:30pm, an engineer will do a half-hour presentation on any topics of his interest or expertise to the company. They will be assessed for their presentation. An award will be given to the best presenter. I am one of the judges. Last Wednesday (29 July), a mechanical engineer gave a talk on SCREW. Like he said, we need to know about screws and how they screw up our lives.
In a working environment, we can enforce compulsory learning and training. But can we do that in a church?
In my younger days as a Christian with the Polytechnic Navigators, studying and reading the Bible was normal. Not memorizing Bible verses was abnormal. Everyone who was with the Navigators for one year would have memorised a minimum of 60 verses. It is common to ask one another, “How’s your Quiet Time?” This is what we term a discipleship environment.
We can never survive spiritually alone; there is a tendency to follow the crowd. It is very easy to memorise Bible verses when everybody is doing it. Even in every Bible camp, we had Bible quiz and memory verses quiz. So that created excitement and encouragement.
BPCES does not have a tradition of Bible reading and memorizing Bible verses. Very seldom do we hear or read about each others devotion (except my blog, maybe). So I would say there is no discipleship environment in BPCES. As such, you don’t expect worshippers to be excited about bringing friends to evangelistic events.
How the church grows and move will depend on the leaders and committee members to set an example. They need to lead by example. How the BSG moves will also depend on the BSG leaders. They need to create a learning environment by sharing their lives openly, how they integrate their spiritual learning with their daily life.
In order to grow, it all starts with a healthy discipleship environment.
Create one. It is never too late.
It is him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ (Col 1:28 NRSV)
This is what happens in my workplace.
Every Wednesday, 5:30pm, an engineer will do a half-hour presentation on any topics of his interest or expertise to the company. They will be assessed for their presentation. An award will be given to the best presenter. I am one of the judges. Last Wednesday (29 July), a mechanical engineer gave a talk on SCREW. Like he said, we need to know about screws and how they screw up our lives.
In a working environment, we can enforce compulsory learning and training. But can we do that in a church?
In my younger days as a Christian with the Polytechnic Navigators, studying and reading the Bible was normal. Not memorizing Bible verses was abnormal. Everyone who was with the Navigators for one year would have memorised a minimum of 60 verses. It is common to ask one another, “How’s your Quiet Time?” This is what we term a discipleship environment.
We can never survive spiritually alone; there is a tendency to follow the crowd. It is very easy to memorise Bible verses when everybody is doing it. Even in every Bible camp, we had Bible quiz and memory verses quiz. So that created excitement and encouragement.
BPCES does not have a tradition of Bible reading and memorizing Bible verses. Very seldom do we hear or read about each others devotion (except my blog, maybe). So I would say there is no discipleship environment in BPCES. As such, you don’t expect worshippers to be excited about bringing friends to evangelistic events.
How the church grows and move will depend on the leaders and committee members to set an example. They need to lead by example. How the BSG moves will also depend on the BSG leaders. They need to create a learning environment by sharing their lives openly, how they integrate their spiritual learning with their daily life.
In order to grow, it all starts with a healthy discipleship environment.
Create one. It is never too late.
It is him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ (Col 1:28 NRSV)
3 comments:
totally agree!!! wasn't Jesus' ministry focused alot on discipleship? that was how His legacy (correct me if i use this term wrongly)lived on. that was how the Gospel was spread to the ends of the earth. i wonder what it's like to be nurtured in an environment where christians are zealous for the Lord and immersing themselves in His Word (like u mentioned in your post), and being holy or "over-enthusiastic" doesn't make u an oddball. i'm just wondering though..if there is any solution to this particular problem, or are we destined to be content with a mediocre faith? Seems like everyone is so content with what the situation is like now: could it be complacency and nonchalance, or mere ignorance of the possibility of something greater?
Thanks for commenting, Wei Lin.
Actually, I feel that most new Christians, if they have no mentors or follow-up would not know how to integrate the spiritual lessons learn from sermons, devotions and Bible studies into their daily living. Much of my spiritual growth comes from a one-to-one follow up leaders who spent time with me guiding me and setting an example for me to follow.
In church, we don't do that and try to keep people's private life in privacy. So that is where BPCES is now.
You are right that Jesus' ministry focus on discipleship. He spent time with the twelve, teaching them, training them to evangelise two by two, and engage in many occasion of what we call "teaching moments".
hmm..then why isnt the church leadership doing anything about this? :( why is everyone so private in BPCES? anyways i went to Su Lynn and Daniel's church this sunday and it was so refreshing to hear the entire congregation, young and very old, all singing their hearts out. realized how awesome it is to be part of a body of Christ that sings together, felt like it was a sneak preview of how Heaven wld be like. sometimes i wonder, if people in church don't really seem to enjoy worshipping God, are they going to dislike eternity? just food for thought..
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