Young Adults' Group

A Time To Celebrate Together

by Pastor Mark
August 27, 2015

Celebrating Bethany’s 40 + 2 Anniversary

It is with great joy that I look forward to celebrating our church’s 40 + 2 Anniversary in a few days’ time. We have been actively gearing and preparing ourselves for this special day these last two months. My heart is indeed full as I anticipate being there at the Shangri-La and to give thanks to our God for another wonderful year of ministry. As we draw nearer to this special day of celebration, how do I see the idea of oneness as we gather to worship the Lord?

A time of togetherness

To me, oneness is about being together. It is having this sense of togetherness with each other. While we have a grand place to celebrate our anniversary, it is really more about being together with the people of the Lord that makes the anniversary special.

Togetherness is something that Paul wrote about to the brethren in Ephesus, “From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies,” (Eph 4:16) In the phrase “joined and fitted together”, the idea of togetherness comes from a Greek preposition “sun” which means “with”. Togetherness is about being “with” someone. It is about not leaving anyone alone or behind but rather to be “with” the person. We are joined and fitted together with each other. Let’s look forward to our anniversary as a time of being together.

1. A time to worship together

I am looking forward to worshipping the Lord together with all of you. There is just this very special sense of togetherness when we gather as one church to give praise and thanksgiving to our God for His blessings over these 42 years. We seek to worship the Lord as one.

2. A time to learn together

Our anniversary is also a time for us to learn together from the things that will be shared

…especially from the study the Lord’s Word. We look forward to Pastor bringing the whole series of messages on oneness to a climax. Let us anticipate a good time of learning together.

3. A time to fellowship together

We can look forward to a joyful time of fellowshipping with each other. It is always great to relate to each other and to rejoice together as we share with each other of the Lord’s goodness upon our lives and the church. Let’s look forward to a great time of fellowshipping together.

4. A time to reach out together

Our Anniversary is also a good time for us to collectively reach out to our loved ones and friends. Some of them may not know the Lord and it takes more than one of us to reach out. Some of us will plant and others will water. (1 Cor 3:8) Each one of us can do his part in getting to know those who have yet to know Christ and to reach out to them together.

5. A time to venture forward together

Looking ahead, as we celebrate with a great sense of togetherness as a church, Bethany is venturing to greater things as we enter into our 40 + 3 year of ministry. We look ahead to building Bethany IV in the next year of ministry. This will be a tremendous task but we seek to venture forward together. Let us all together be much in prayer and to do our part in this exciting work of God. Let us continue to keep this sense of togetherness as we venture forward to serving the Lord as one body of Christ.

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