ON New Year’s morn, my neighbour and I were talking on our back patios. We confessed to each other that we were not attending the church New Year service.

“52 Sundays plus prayer meetings, and many other activities. That’s a lot of times for an old man like me to be driving to church,” he said. He lives more than half an hour away from his church.

“Maybe the church feels that more activities draw people closer to God,” I said.

“No,” my neighbour told me. “It’s the church leaders living by example and in this way, they show God’s love.”

We carried on talking about rambutans and durians but his statement left a big impact on me. Yes, pastors have drummed into us that we should talk with God and listen to Him (i.e. pray and read the Bible). This is about getting close to God. But my neighbour’s statement reminds me how to be close to people.

Currently I am in LCEC. Sometimes we are in LCEC not because we are living out Christ’s example but because we can perform certain tasks in ministries. Even if it is the latter, I am reminded that as long as I carry the title of a “church leader”, I should live by example and be a channel of God’s love – and be able to respond to people’s needs and cries. For me, this reminder of the “real deal” of being a Christian was reaffirmed in the first 2019 FMC prayer meeting.

It is a tough call and I know I will fail but with God’s help, I will try to live by example and “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.”

By Ting Su Hie, Faith Methodist Church, Kuching