It seems like most of my thoughts in the past couple of days have dwelt much on the issue of church and a host of other ecclesial considerations. But I’ve been talking mostly about the church universal – or at the most specific points, the Protestant Church in general. So in this post, I want to talk about my own local church community. I don’t think I’ve said much about my own local church community before in this blog.

Over a year ago, I relocated to this town for vocational reasons. And of course, I had to settle down in a new local church community here. I’m not all the time at my local church services because of the physical mobility required by the nature of my work, but I’m there whenever I’m around in town. After having experienced the way life is in this local church community for over a year, there are things I can affirm about her with a reasonable sense of confidence.

So what’s my local church community like?

We don’t have the most vibrant worship ministry in town. We usually sing older songs and are mostly accompanied by an old piano and a guitar. Nothing impressive. But when the people sing, they sing (provided they know the song, of course). When I see the elderly ladies and some men lifting their hands in all kinds of postures as they sing, I think it must touch the heart of God, because they need no voluminously embellished accompaniment to charge them up just so they can sing sincerely.

We don’t have the best preachers in town (absolutely, since I’m one of the preachers!) Our preachers have nothing new to say, really. And they don’t have the most convincing power of rhetorics compared to many other preachers I’ve seen before. But I’ve yet to hear a slipshod delivery of a sermon from our preachers before. Every single sermon I’ve heard so far has been the result of serious study and the weaving of intricately written points to be delivered to the listeners. The sermons have never been bad. But more than that, the efforts under-girding those sermons have spoken even louder than their sermons themselves.

We don’t have hundreds upon hundreds of people queuing up each week to participate in the services. We’re a very small community. In fact, most often, when the service starts, most of the seats are still vacant and people eventually start trickling in (okay, that is a bad habit). But it’s deeply heart-warming when I see how people seem to just surround someone when he/she faces a crisis or has an urgent need for assistance. It’s also strangely unfamiliar to see how the small community actually takes the trouble to get to know visitors in their midst on a more personal level. It just puts a smile on the face (and maybe some hidden drops of happy tears) to see that people care.

We don’t have leaders full of charisma. Most our leaders are actually seen smiling more than they’re talking, which is a strange sight in a church. Most church leaders I know can’t wait to be heard, whilst mine are happy being silent unnoticed workers. But I’ve honestly never seen leaders who’re so open to embracing groups of people in the larger community beyond the local church that may be in need. It strikes a Kingdomic chord within the heart when we see how they’re concerned for the welfare of people like foreign labourers and refugees in the society. It’s not that they’re not worried that our church budget can’t carry us that far, but rather, that they try their utter best to work something out despite the church budget not being able to carry us that far – yes, even at their own financial expense, silently. I’ve seen them doing things “unbecoming” of church leaders – like driving vans to fetch people and carrying heavy chairs and tables for the benefit of others. I’ve seen them reaching out to listen earnestly to voices of dissent which might have previously hurt them deeply with cutting words. And in all this, I’ve never heard them making a claim of perfection regarding themselves. There’s utterly not a single speck of self-righteousness about them. (*pause to salute*)

Yeah, this is my local church community. There’s nothing very spectacular about this church, because they’re mostly just doing their best to be followers of Jesus in the best way they know how, and they don’t make a big deal out of it. It’s the kind of community I’m happy being in (short of saying it’s the best church I’ve ever seen).

I don't come from a rich church with a captivating preacher standing behind a transparent pulpit under glittering stage lightings in a multi-million auditorium speaking to a crowd of thousands that has just sung a series of songs from the international Christian charts accompanied by a spectacular band of musicians which puts the Eagles to shame. And I'm proud I belong here.