Annual Church Camp
March 2, 2018
“Life – Put on Love !”
Over 300 brothers and sisters from Hong Kong and overseas gathered together for our Annual Camp to experience what it means by putting on love in our lives.
The camp started with some exciting ice-breaking games. Everyone got to know and bless brothers and sisters from other groups, and we were quickly warmed up.
After dinner and a passionate worship session, Pastor Gavin introduced us to the series of sermons on Colossians 3:12-17, which says “… as the elect of God, holy and beloved… put on love…”. In Christ, our identity is that we are elected, set apart as holy, and dearly loved by God. When we understand this new identity and feel loved, accepted and sufficient, we can naturally put on love in our lives. In the first lesson, we looked at how God “Elected” us to be object of His love since creation. Although man chose to stray away from God, He devised a redemption plan to bring hope into our lives, and even paid the ransom for our sins. No matter who we are, once we choose to wholly follow Christ, we are also chosen by Him as ambassadors of His love to bring blessing to this world. Praise the Lord for His unbiased election !
The next morning, after some joyful worship time, Pastor Gavin gave the second lesson and we looked at how God made us “Holy”. As God sees us as precious treasures, He set us apart from this world to be uncommon. Once we recognise that we are uncommon, we can live differently and will not be affected by worldly values. We are truly special because God’s presence is with us wherever we go and He has given us His holiness through the Spirit. He also gave us a way to be transformed from within and receive “practical holiness” through His Word. When we dwell in His truth and delight in Him, we can be sanctified by His truth and reflect His holiness and shine for His glory in this world. Praise God !
After lunch, it was Hope Fun time! This year, the theme was “Smile, Care, Love – Hope Fun!”. We were split up in teams to play many traditional childhood games like “Eagle and Chicks” and “What’s the time, Mr. Wolf?”. While we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves, brothers and sisters were asked to demonstrate “Smile”, “Care” and “Love” to one another. The outdoor field was filled with joy and excitement as everyone shouted and laughed like little children. Praise the Lord for the wonderful fun time together as a family!
We then had some free time to spend in fellowship with one another. Some brothers played basketball, some groups gathered to play board games together, some went to have a walk together in the beautiful afternoon. Praise God that we have one another in our lives.
In the evening, we had a touching worship session when brothers and sisters simply came before God, lifted up His nameand sang of His love.The Spirit touched each of our hearts. Pastor Gavin then gave the third lesson on how we are God’s “Beloved”. We are all accepted by God in Jesus because of what Jesus has done for us. God sees each one of us as He sees Jesus – His beloved son. In His love, we are more than adequate. We can hold on to this unshakeable truth and trust Him in all circumstances. When our lives are compelled and driven by God’s love, we can bear witness for Him so that people will see His love through us.
At the altar call, Pastor Gavin encouraged us to go around to show love to each other as prompted by the Spirit. As brothers and sisters hugged each other, the love among us touched and healed many of our hearts.
On the third day, it was our Mission Sunday service. Praise God that He opened the way to make the main hall of the campsite available so that the whole church can be gathered together in one place to worship Him in unity. After worship, Pastor Gavin gave the final teaching and explained the true meaning of “Put on Love”. The focus is on how much we are loved by God, as His love is the bond of perfection. When we put on His love, we are complete, and when we feel complete, we need not struggle to fight for ourselves. To put on love for others, we simply have to let the peace of God rule in our hearts, let the word of Christ dwell in us, and do everything in the name of Jesus with an attitude of thanksgiving. Praise God because we are sufficient and abundant in Him !
Brothers and sisters then responded to His love by giving our mission pledge cheerfully with hearts full of thanksgiving.
After lunch, we took a huge group photo as a beloved church. Then, we split up into care groups to enjoy fellowship and deeper sharing time with each other before leaving the campsite.
Praise the Lord for binding us together in His perfect love !
Let us continue to put on His love in our lives !
