Promise Keepers: life-changing experience
Having read reports from our ministers who have attended Promise Keepers conferences, I would like to share the following comments about the Promise Keepers conference I attended May 24 and 25 in Washington, D.C.
I went to the conference with two purposes: (1) To find out what PK is all about, and (2) To learn what I need to change to become a better Christian man.
Having grown up in Taiwan and becoming converted after coming to America, the only church services I am used to have been those of the Worldwide Church of God.
I felt uncomfortable in the beginning with the open expression of worship such as standing up and clapping hands as we sang worship music, or people raising one hand or two hands during prayers. Since I couldn't see anything wrong with this kind of worship, I joined the fun and learned to enjoy it totally.
I came home determined to put into action three points: (1) As a Christian man I need to be quick to listen (to my wife especially), slow to speak and slow to anger (James 1:19). (2) As a Christian man I need not be afraid of showing my vulnerability to have true relationships with family members and friends. (3) As a Christian man I need to confess to people the wrongs I have done and to forgive others.
One thing that was refreshing for me was the fact that even after one whole day of participating in the conference, I was not tired or energy-drained at all. Instead, I was excited, inspired and energized. These kinds of worship services involve our total being, including our heads, our minds, our spirits and our emotions. Maybe we can learn something from these types of worship services and incorporate some of them into ours.
George Kuo
Melford, New Jersey
Bold step into the future
Over the past few years since I joined WCG, I have seen it grow from a church that was self-righteous; a trite too arrogant; and legalistic, though sincere; to a church that is still `groping in the dark' toward the light--Christ.
Doctrinally speaking, the WCG has grown tremendously. I find it encouraging to know that despite the cost that the WCG knows it must bear, it still takes the bold step of moving forward into the future.
Still, there is an element surfacing that is of concern. Some in the local WCG are still in the process of grieving over the past. Not many have left, but for those who stay, the years of sacrifices, of certainty--all these have apparently been wiped out. They question: Why were we so wrong? What does this mean for the future? How do I know that the church isn't still wrong? This leads to uncertainty and a decline of interest in God and the church as a whole. Work, hobbies and family take precedence over God. Some focus on what is negative and not on the positive.
Correcting this malaise will take time. Printing more articles certainly isn't the sole solution. The solution can only be provided by God. Please pray with me for the future and the growth of all Christians, that we might become instruments useful to the furtherance of the gospel.
Let us strive instead to hear God say: "Well done good and faithful servants. Enter the kingdom which has been prepared for you since the foundation of the world."
Chew Hock Leong
hlchew1@pacific.net.sg
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