Being Together as A Family
If you want to run fast, go alone. If you want to run far, go together.
I heard of this African proverb when I attended a Diocesan Youth pastors training retreat recently. It does capture in one sentence much of our observations on team or community values and outcomes.
Take the family for example. The true strength of a family is often seen or experienced only with time. Patience is needed if we want the family to grow closer and move together. Spouses need to spend enough time to understand each other. Children need to be patience with their “BC” (before computers) parents.
The same is true for any community, including the church. It takes effort to keep pace together. It means communication, counting each other as important, planning carefully for the long-term etc. In fact, good church planning needs to have 2 or even 3 generations in mind. We are starting Alpha this week. It is great to have many guests and my prayer is that they will meet the Lord. But a greater prayer is that 10 years from now, many of them are still in church and growing. Patient and careful follow-up is indispensable if we want to go beyond short-term fruitfulness. Building a deep community will need time and patient commitment.
As we celebrate our 100th year anniversary as an Anglican Church, we should also be proud of the fact that we have run this far. Apart from the parishes, the Anglican Church here is involved and blessing our nation in all sorts of ways. And we are also involved in regional countries. There is nothing wrong with fast growth itself. It is exciting! However, the true significance of a church is not just measured by attendance growth. There are many blessings in the Anglican Church which will only surface with time, and we are fortunate to be living now to celebrate her 100th year.
Coming back to family life, as we focus on this for this Sunday and the next two, let’s patiently build a strong foundation here for families to grow. Every family is imperfect (Including mine – I should know as it begins with me!). But growth and change will come as we learn to ‘run together.’
I end of with a Scripture carrying a similar truth:
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12