About 2 months back, we
attended a briefing at RiverLife church for new membership. I guess, it is
about time for me to think seriously where I should have a more permanent home
rather than just be a worshipper. It has been almost 7 years when I came to RIverLife Church, which is less than 2km from my
house. There are strong and weak points in this church, as with all churches
for we are not perfect.
The strong emphasis of RiverLife Church of being a missional church is
perhaps what makes it a vibrant and growing church. Throughout the year, there
are many mission trips to various part of Asia,
each with different objectives, be it training of church leaders, medical
helps, evangelism, youth outreach & ministries, or even training Children
ministries. These mission trips are also inter-generations. It was the 2015
mission trip to Saragani in the Philippines
that help me to better understand how RiverLife Church
operates their mission events. Also, by participating in this mission trip, I
got to know more people and hence it is about time to seriously consider being
part of the new family.
Evangelism is quite common and there is
nothing about “fear” as we always heard
it being mentioned in the previous church whenever we talked about evangelism.
As such, the church is a growing church. New members and baptism classes are
conducted regularly, about 3 times a year. However, for some reasons which is
not mention, the recent worship attendance showed that there is a drop in
worshipper. Guess, RiverLife
Church may be strong in
opening their “front door”, the “back door” is also quite wide! I think they
may not have realized this yet and there is no mentioning of how to retain
membership.
This year, I joined the
Word ministry as a facilitator / Bible study leader in the PRECEPT ministry.
The leader of my study group approached me and invited me to be a
facilitator. It is in this ministry
where we get participant to do Inductive Bible Study. So, I think I have
finally found what I have always wanted to do – to study the Word of God – in RiverLife Church.
Without the proper studying of the Word, there is really no Spiritual
food in RiverLife to feed the flock. Sunday sermons are usually more like
public speaking speeches, and picking verses from the Bibles to substantiate
what the preachers want to say. For me, it is not really a sermon but rather a
pep talk. Some speakers share their stories, others try to make it look like a
sermons but it is just sharing of their devotional thoughts, like our own
“Quiet Time” every morning. So, for the undiscerning, the speakers seem
“anointing”, a word that we commonly hear in RiverLife. In any case, I don’t
really rely on the Sunday Sermons to grow in the Lord. I do have my own
Study-the-Bible plan, even before I came to RiverLife church. Now that I am in the Precept Ministry, it is
more in-line with my plan of growing in the Word.
Hopefully, with a new cell
group which I joined in 2016 and now being in a bigger family, may Heb 10:24,25
be living in my life:
“And let us consider how
to stir up one another in love and good works. No neglecting to meet together,
as is the habit of some, but encourage one another and all the more as you see
the Day drawing near”
Agape
