“Enlarge the place of your tent. Strengthen your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cord, strengthen your stakes” Is 54:2
The Cell and Pastoral Care Ministry takes this opportunity to praise God for taking us through this year, difficult though it has been, and for enabling many cells to continue fellowshipping, praying together and caring for one another especially those in need. Thank you cell leaders, cell hosts and members who have continued to serve the Lord faithfully. “So my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is in vain” 1 Cor. 15:58
We stand with those who have particularly faced trying times during the year, losing loved ones, falling sick (maybe even now in hospital). We pray that the Lord who is ever present in our sorrows will comfort and strengthen you and wipe away your tears. We also know that some people are feeling a sense of loneliness and isolation even spiritual decline during this time, because of not meeting with others.
Dear friends it is in this context of these prevailing challenges that we see great opportunities for ministry. There are many parishioners and non parishioners who, more than ever before and because of these many challenges, are looking for fellowship, care and the love of Christ. Indeed in the New Year, the church will be looking at how to empower Christians through cell ministry and pastoral care. It is time to enlarge the places of our tents, to strengthen our tent curtains wide and not hold back.
The word of God encourages us in Heb 12:12 saying “take a new grip with your hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong”. So we must press on in the coming year and ask God to strengthen us especially in our key pillars of cell and pastoral care ministry i) growing in our relationship with God, ii) caring for one another, iii) reaching out with the love of Christ to those around us, iv) multiplying ourselves and producing new cells. Let us ask ourselves as cell leaders and members ‘where’ and ‘why’ the cell has not been active and commit to strengthening the cell.
We know that the end of a year and beginning of another year is an opportunity for a fresh start and God is giving us this privilege to partner with him in the New Year.
The believers “devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer . . . . They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts . … and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” Acts 2:42, 46, and 47.
HAPPY NEW YEAR