#connect group

[apinchofrkmh]

Thanksgiving

It's my first time celebrating thanksgiving. Not really an asian culture. But because my connect members are mostly Americans, they decided to have one!

We had potluck, with a twist of each person bringing a food with the initial of our name.

It's all about food and sharing! We had a great time together and getting to know more people in this country!

[apinchofrkmh]

Connect Group

[dwuerch-blog]

Camp Brave Heart

Don’t you just love that title? It is more than a title. It is a place of hope and refuge. My friend asked if I’d like to volunteer with him to help with getting children and teens off to their summer camp. I wasn’t hesitant at all, but WOW, did I get a boatload of inspiration when those kids were making their way to our table to register them. The parents and children from ages 6-17 started…

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[cancerian-95]

A wider imagination

A new perspective to the way I think perhaps...it comes from a secondary feeling, it gives me a new type of freedom that allows me to be more open and social with new people. I guess it’s through meeting more new people at work and going to connect group at my friends’ place recently where I’ve learned to appreciate where other people get their views from and how they live their lives.

Sometimes, you don’t have to buy into one’s story to be transformed in how you think in the world. Just listening to other people’s experiences and how they approach their lives is refreshening already and I guess I have the patience to just sit there and listen. Simple. Throughout my life, whether that’s been at secondary school (QE) or at university (QMUL), I have never come across one family like this one, so many inspirations, so many pathways, so many leads, so many beliefs that I guess I was overwhelmed at first. I have gone through different cultures before but this was slightly different that I guess that’s why it took me a while longer to get used to it. All started just before the New Year where I was invited around to her place for lunch. It was a small birthday celebration, one where I enjoyed the food and the occasion very much and it was such a nice day where we just chilled and talked. Effective. More than that though, also got the chance to speak to other family members which was rare but the whole family made everyone feel welcome, the atmosphere was warm and it was “just the moment” moment, no problems!

It is however recent events where I have learned most about. I have grown to respect one so much and it is the talk and the experiences that have led to this. Having learned to move on, to actually face it so that better days lie ahead, I have to thank one for telling me...we did it together and she was there for me for support. Then the following day with connect group, I wanted to dedicate something as a thank you and even though I’m atheist, it filled me with great happiness, pleasure and comfort saying the prayer, to a close friend of mine, to someone I love as a friend. Also, it being my first connect group, I experienced something new, it was a chance for me to understand more about the culture and the beliefs, take an interest and embrace being a part of it. It was lovely and I feel new, fresh, like a new beginning has started in my adventure and I can’t wait for what it has in store to offer me in the future.

Recently, I have had a small other worldly feeling that fills me sometimes when I’ve most needed it...I wouldn’t say I believe in God or am now religious but there’s that feeling of someone or something pushing me along and getting me through this difficult time. Approaching things with a wider perspective, wider imagination and I’m getting things done, so getting there. Been better and with time, things can only improve, I just hope one keeps in touch a bit more and just good luck from me regarding her internship several thousand miles away! :)

[chasingthousands]

labourers for God

During pre-service prayer meeting as I prayed for the connect group, God spoke 2 verses to me:

1. Luke 10:2

“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.”

Every single time I look at our connect group, I feel like the harvest is so plentiful and the labourers are never enough and the revival is out there to grab, we just need more labourers. 

The connect group is big– and it’s time we started growing people to grow people because that is how the revival comes. Like Pastor Phil said, we don’t start a revival by looking for fruits, we start a revival by planting the roots where the living water (Holy Spirit) is (paraphrased). And it’s time for the labourers to start building and growing more labourers– time for the disciples to start discipling disciples– because this is how the multiplication will come.

2. Psalm 127:1

“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it.”

Having said #1, we’ve to remember that everything in life– especially ministry– comes back to God. I’ve to remember not to get too busy in ministry that I forget that the best ministry is the ministry of intercession. To both seek the Lord for them and to seek the Lord for myself.

If we can follow these two verses, that’s how revival can come and I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty excited about revival!

[chasingthousands]

now hope does not disappoint

5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Tonight as I pray I really feel like God is telling me– the biggest challenge you will face in 2015 is not physical exhaustion or anything that the world can throw at you; the biggest challenge you will face in 2015 is whether you can continue to trust in My Word. 

PK always says the fight is not a physical fight, but it's a fight of faith, and only tonight do I understand what he means.

Phine, I answer the prayers of My children and I hear the cries of My beloved.

It's such a basic, fundamental truth that we learn early on in our Christian walk and everybody expects that this is the first thing that Christians learn and the first thing they live by, but in reality– is so difficult to believe in and act on.

And as I pray for the connect group tonight, I feel God telling me that what happens in 2015 is contingent on whether we as a people can believe– that God answers prayers. That our prayers carry more weight than we often realise. 2015 is going to be a fight of faith.

I don't think it'll be an easy year ahead, but that's okay. That's exciting, actually. I don't think it'll be easy– but I know that the hand of God will be more evident in our lives than ever before. God has never failed me, and I don't think He's about to start now. His answers may not come in the way that I'm expecting, but I know that they will come and when they come it will be so much better than what I expected.

I believe in a God who is loving and who is kind, a God who is merciful and is faithful. I believe in a God who is so much more– more than me, more than what I can ever say or do, more than life itself. And God, today, I choose to believe in You.

(Today and tomorrow and as many tomorrows as it takes.) 

[chasingthousands]

rooted

My vision for the connect group is summed up in one word: rooted. Like PK said on Sunday: rooted in love, rooted in Christ, rooted in the Word. In our love for one another, our love for God, and God's love for us. That we'll be strong in the Word. And that we will each know our identity in Christ. Even when storms come and seasons change, these roots will keep us connected to the will of God. And I am believing that those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. With the roots, come the fruits. Hee super excited for the future.