while the elected reps came (not full force, i think, but 15 is a great number), not much could be said about the church leaders! only 6 pastors present, namely, pastor paulus from agape, pastor lim cheng tuan, pastor goo siew lai from cac, pastor eddy from sib, pastor from neighbourhood grace community, and the reb representing STM and TUMC. some laymen from a smattering number of churches also came!
limited christian presence shows a lot of our mindset - politics is dirty etc and we as good Christians should not be involved lest we get polluted etc. the reb sincerely hoped that this wasn't the case for the low turnout.
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limited christian presence shows a lot of our mindset - politics is dirty etc and we as good Christians should not be involved lest we get polluted etc. the reb sincerely hoped that this wasn't the case for the low turnout.
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Comments
can't say about the others. maybe they were busy!
I think this dialogue is a golden opportunity to network and shine for Christ.
But sadly it seems the situation is not just limited to Seremban!
Last year the local council (here in West Auckland)advertised (leaflets, through schools and the local papers) a community meeting to discuss community based issues.
I was the only pastor that turned up for the meeting - where a council woman told me that in my small housing area and the adjacent one (both considered the poorest and most neglected neighbourhood in the West Auckland) she knew there were at least 20 churches in the area (many meet in school halls etc)!
Needless to say, the lack of support from pastors was disappointing ... but the plus side for me is that the local council community worker thinks very highly of me and will be visiting, my church in a couple of weeks to give us a community update ... and I also have been invited to be part of a council organized community BBQ, picnic and games activity in March (and I get to do a magic show as well) so it is a good opportunity for the wider non churched community to know more about my church.
a local church is a community that is supposed to work within the large community, but very often it ends up a ghetto or a holy huddle. that's when it begins to lose its saltiness. the church may have fine programs but for what purpose. to make the members more spiritual 'fat'? time and energy not used to reach out to wider community.