I got an e-mail from a church member today that made me stop and think.  This dear lady is involved in one of the church's ministries, one in which I'm also active.  She had taken a leave of absence from the ministry due to some health and other personal problems.

I saw her in church a couple weeks ago (I don't see everybody every week as our English adult congregation is about 1300 people spread out over 2 services.  It's just not physically possible to touch base with everyone you want to every week!) and since it was still a few minutes before service started, I walked over and asked her how she was doing.  She joyfully shared how things were looking up for her and her family, and I congratulated her, and quickly got to my seat as the service was beginning.

The moment was forgotten until I got her e-mail today.  She thanked me for asking about her, and said that in the six months that she had taken leave, nobody else from the ministry had spoken to her or asked about her various situations.  She was grateful to me that I cared enough to ask.

Oof!  Punch-me-in-the-stomach-guilt!  I had thought of this dear lady a number of times, and prayed for her family often, and spoken to her whenever I saw her (which as I've said is not every week, perhaps not even every month!) but never once did I drop her an e-mail, a card, or pick up the phone to just ask her how she was, or to give her a word of encouragement.

Now, please don't think I come from a church of heartless, self-centered beasts, because I don't.  But she really made me think about how busy we can get in our day-to-day "stuff".  So busy that we don't take a few minutes to call or write someone who may desperately need a word of encouragement.  And, while it's true that the pace of life here in Singapore is really intense, it should never become so busy that we fail to notice those who are hurting around us.

I mean, isn't that what being a part of the local church is all about?  We are all members of one body, and if one part suffers, we all suffer.

Why shouldn't we all be "Lone Christians", riding off into the sunset, each on our own horses, off in our own directions, heading for our own little homesteads?  Because God didn't call us to a life of aloneness.  He called us to be a family.  He wants us to love each other, care for each other, and depend on each other.  When one of us hurts, the rest of us should gather around that hurting one, offering comfort, care and concern.  When one rejoices, we all should rejoice together, and we can all be encouraged at God's hand at work in the life of that one.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says this:

"Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

Thank God, He used that precious sister to be His gentle voice convicting me and prodding me in the right direction.  As a pastor's wife, and as a part of a ministry, and not least of all, simply as a sister-in-Christ, it's my privilege and responsibility to uplift and encourage those around me.  What better place to start than those who are involved in the same ministry as me?  How many times have I been blessed by a timely word from someone?  I can't even begin to count! 

So now, it's time to share the blessing!  Pray for me that I will take this lesson to heart and truly care for the hurting and lonely ones, living lives of silent desperation, in need of a word of encouragement in their wilderness time.

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I've been teaching a course at my church about doctrine.  Basically I wrote the course based on our church's statement of doctrines and practices.  It's been really hard work.

I've been working on writing this course for many, many months, including lots of reading, thinking, processing, synthesizing, etc. before I actually sit down and do any writing.  I just e-mailed the last lesson to my senior pastor for his approval before I teach it in a couple weeks.  Woo-hoo!

Writing this course, which I called, "Knowing What I Believe" has been a good exercise for me in taking all the deep stuff that we study in seminary and making it digestible for relatively new believers.  I'm pleased that we have about 30 attending the course, but I wish it were more,  because I'm realizing just how important it is for us to know what we believe on various issues.

"The D* V*nc* C*de", (the book and movie) is one good example of a very real, current and relevant reason to know a bit about doctrine.  Among other things, this book challenges the divinity of Jesus, the reliability of the Bible, particularly the Gospels, and the attitude of the church toward women.

At first, it was amazing to me that so many Christians could actually believe the ridiculous premises presented in this fictional novel.  But then, I began to realize that so few people know much about early church history, so that the historical inaccuracies (read "lies") in the novel would be taken as historical fact simply because most people assume that when you read historical fiction, that the historical facts that provide the setting are properly researched and are accurate.  Not!!

More and more I'm convinced at the deep need we have in the church for strong foundational teaching that will ground Christians in their faith and in the Word of God so that every wind of teaching won't be able to knock them over.  Doctrine is so relevant to us in this post-modern society we live in!  How well do you know what you believe?

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