Dear BPCWA worshipper, Next week, we will be having Rededication Sunday. It has been a practice in BPCWA whereby those serving are encouraged to renew their vows annually. However, any practice should not simply be a ritual nor continued only for the sake of continuity. Since it is coming up next Lord’s Day, I thought it would be a good opportunity to explain to and remind everyone this week why we are having it.

Why do we have it annually? We need to be reminded about why we serve at least yearly. Otherwise, we can serve with the wrong motives.Even for those who may be aware of why we have Rededication Sunday, it is a good reminder for us as we are often forgetful people. We can get so caught up in the everyday grind and busyness of life that service can be just “something I do because I signed up (or somebody signed me up) for it”. Typically, there are people new to the church who may be less accustomed to how or why things are done in the church. At the same time, there are many areas wherein even non-members can serve in the church, such as in clean-ups or busy bee activities, or even helping in the nursing homes. We encourage everyone to serve together with us in these general areas of service that are open to all. But as we’ve always stressed (and more recently in our Church Study Series on “The Christian and Social Concerns”), service in the church is not community work. It is not just a means of getting everyone involved so they stay in the church and have a sense of not being left out. It is also not just something I do because my friends in the church are doing it, and so I “serve” because I want to have time with them.

Why should we rededicate ourselves?  A rededication of ourselves to service is basically a renewal of our commitment to dedicate the time, energy, and resources God gave us. When God gives these to us as stewards for Him, He reminds and warns us, “Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church” (1Co 14:12). Why they are in our hands is because He intends them to be used in service to Him. It is essential that those vowing understand the seriousness of a vow before God. Though done collectively as God’s people, it must be very personal for everyone standing to vow before God. It is a time to consider if He has been pleased to accept our service. It is a time to reflect with thankful hearts on how God has helped us and given us the strength to do what He wants and will continue to do so, according to His will and purpose.

Who is it for? The rededication vow is for everyone who serves with us in any area and capacity in BPCWA. It may be your first year joining us to take the vow together on Rededication Sunday, or you may have been serving for some time and are familiar with what we do. I truly thank God at every remembrance for the many of you who serve in BPCWA in so many areas, in the foreground and the background. We are a small church, yet there are still indeed many things that need to be done in BPCWA for God. BPCWA does not have paid administrative or full-time staff in the church, other than the pastor. We often think of service as the forefront roles like chairing, musician, or teaching. The fact is, there are so many more areas of service in behind-the-scenes work that some may not even realise. Those who come for the busy bee, clean up after our events, participate in our university and nursing home outreaches, perform many logistical and administrative tasks in the church, drive others to church, serve in our AV, media, technology, and website ministries, do the “manual labour” in maintaining so many areas in our church and grounds, to name but a few among the numerous other which are unnamed. We must also remember those who labour in earnest prayer and supplication for the church for God to bless the labours, without which all we do physically avails to nothing. “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you” (Php 1:3), who co-labour together for the progress of God’s kingdom’s work through BPCWA.

Indeed, as we take the vow together next week, let us remember that each of us is but one small part of God’s great work.  We can have our private times of recommitment to our LORD, but on this Lord’s Day as God’s people, we do it together because we are all in it for the same purpose, for the same goal, that is for God’s glory as we forward His kingdom’s work on earth. It is a serious time, but it is a joyful time as we remember that God has placed us in BPCWA according to His will to fulfill His plan and work here. We have our individual work, but no great work can be accomplished by one person. Let us with one voice and one heart vow to serve our God together with all that He has given us, for all that He has put in our hands to do for Him. This is doing God’s will for us individually and collectively as His people, His church, His redeemed. “And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all” (1Cor 12:5-6), “For the body is not one member, but many” (1Cor 12:14 ).  Even as we have just celebrated our 39^th anniversary and look forward to another, and God willing many more years of service “for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Re 1:9), it is God working in and through us in BPCWA to achieve His grand purposes.  It is God equipping His church to do for Him what He intends the church to do.  

Jos 24:24-25 And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.  25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor