by Steven Chan
6 June 2011
A total of 118 people participated in the 2nd Annual Inter-Congregational Church Camp that was held at the NUBE Center at Port Dickson from 30th May – 1 June 2011. Brethren from 10 congregations (namely: Ipoh, KL, Section 17, Subang Jaya, Kota Kemuning, Kuantan, Melaka, Johor Baru, Lim Ah Pin & Jurong) joined the brethren from Klang in this Camp with the theme, Improving Our Service to God. We record our appreciation to the organizers, especially Bro Richard Lim and Bro Richard Lee, and their team members for their good work.
The main activity of the Camp was the training in singing conducted by bro Paul Goh of the Jurong congregation. He taught the Camp participants on how to improve our singing and within a few hours of training, he succeeded in getting a motley group to sing harmoniously and beautifully – so much so that one recent Christian whispered to me that he now appreciates Acapella singing – i.e. singing from our hearts without the accompaniment of mechanical instruments (Col 3:16, Eph 5:19).
Bro John Grubb taught on the need to transform our lives when we become Christians. Brethren Jonathan Yang (from Lim Ah Pin congregation), Bro Leon Tan (from Jurong) and Bro Khoo Tze Wei (Klang) shared devotional lessons on why we need to praise God as stated in I Cor 14:15: “I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also” and Heb 13:15: “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”(ESV)
What are the benefits of participating in the Inter-Congregational Church Camp?
Firstly, it is a great opportunity to be encouraged by brethren from other congregations as we gather together and get to know each other better. It reminds us that God’s people are much more than our local congregation. We appreciate the faith of many other brethren as we share our common faith with one another and as we praise God together.
Secondly, it fosters greater unity and love among brethren as we learn to love and appreciate the various talents and abilities that God has blessed our brethren with. Following the Camp, I noticed that brethren have been adding many other brethren whom they met at the Camp as their friends on Facebook. This augurs well for the brotherhood as we become more closely associated with one another.
Thirdly, we learn together on how we can truly sing from hearts and praise God in a wonderful way – in such a way that visitors to our assemblies will be so touched in their hearts and minds that they will worship God and declare that God is really among us (I Cor 14:25).
Fourthly, we renew our friendship and strengthen our fellowship with one another as we share with one another the work we do for God in our respective congregations.
Lastly, it really emphasizes the fact that we are truly the family of God (I Tim 3:15) despite the fact that we come from different places (and nationalities), different age groups and different congregations (Gal 3:28) – we share the common faith (Jude 3). The camp activities gave opportunities for young and old to work together – thereby demonstrating that all can work together in God’s work and for God’s glory.
We hope that more brethren will join us at the 3rd Annual Inter-Congregational Church Camp so that our common bond of love for one another may be strengthened further as our circle of friends in the brotherhood may be enlarged thereby giving us greater opportunities to encourage one another and to be encouraged by others as well.
