A refreshing weekend

After a tiring first week of school, I left for Malaysia on a church retreat. It was a wonderful weekend of worship, fun, rest, and learning. On our way there, God answered prayers by clearing the roads so we could get there quickly. We were the only ones at the border crossing!!

As a church, we were reminded of the 5 pillars on which our church was built. The pastor talked about being intentionally gospel centered and we played a game in which we were to apply the gospel to real-life situations.

After a sermon on the importance of knowing God's word deeply, we answered some Bible trivia and after a sermon about being a community on mission, we played a game called the underground church. This game involved Roman soldiers trying to capture Christians and stop them from building a church, Christians who were trying to convert all the non-Christians through 'prayer' and build an underground church, church planters who planned where the church would be, and non-Christians who were focused on gaining 10 treasures (one of which ended up being true joy, which they could only gain by becoming a Christian). We also got to hear the mission plan of the church that is focused on planting churches in cities in the surrounding area.

My favorite service was about experiential faith and the importance of not only knowing about God through his word, but through a relationship with him. Through this relationship, God blesses us with Spiritual gifts that we are to use to bless others. As believers, we are to be desperately dependent on God, eagerly expecting him to work, diligent in our pursuit of godliness, and desiring of God.

Finally, we ended our retreat hearing about the importance of city renewal. we were reminded of the truth of Tim Keller's quote: "In cities you have more image of God per square inch than anywhere else in the world." How awesome it is that we get to invest in the image of God! We watched a video about Singapore and the huge ministry opportunities this small nation has. Some statistics: Singapore is in the top 10 most wealthy nations in the world, but it is one of the top countries for economic disparity between the rich and the poor. 26% of the national budget goes to national defense, while only 0.6% goes to social services. These are the only ones I remember, since I am not good with statistics, but it makes me really excited to be living in a country where there are so many needs to be met. Oh! and Singapore is #2 in Asia for most unhappy working people.