Chosen - Bearing Fruit, Embracing Christ

by Elder Alex Lo, Chairman. BFEC

Everyone has a hobby and mine is to feed my family. It could be going out to the open sea to fish or planting edibles in my garden. Today, these activities are for leisure but during Jesus’ time, if you did not fish nor work in the field, you did not eat. It was that simple.

“You did not choose me, but I CHOSE you and appointed you that you should go and BEAR FRUIT and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” John 15:16

These thoughts weighed on my mind when I selected the theme verse for our Church – John 15:16. My prayer was for the feeding and growth of our church. The Lord’s word is very clear – He chose us to go and bear fruit, fruit that lasts. Bearing fruit starts with planting and caring for the plant till it is ready for harvest. Jesus gave this a huge boost when he said that He is the vine (John 15:5) and that we are the branches. If we do not abide in Him and bear fruit, he will prune us. We do not want to be cut off either as an individual or as a church, that’s why I challenged the church to focus on discipleship and on helping each other grow in Christ.

Then COVID-19 happened.

Everything changed within weeks. Circuit breaker measures locked us out of church doors. How were we to bear fruit if we could not meet? How would we evangelise or disciple? How would we obey the Lord if we could not even gather?

But God always provides a way out. The early Christians had to live in caves and hidden communities away from the authorities who were persecuting them. Epistles and letters were written and hand-carried to encourage and edify the believers. Today, we have it good with technology. With a tap on our phones, we can communicate with someone on the other side of the earth. Our church, like many other churches, started online services and we could still meet through video conferencing platforms. Suddenly, our church multiplied and we had many pockets of believers worshipping together from their different homes. Some even joined us from various locations around the globe.

Alpha Online was something we would never imagine organising and yet, praise God, we had many seekers join our weekly messages and discussions, all from the comfort of their homes. I thank God for those who finished the sessions and gave their lives to Jesus. God’s word cannot and must not ever be stopped from being propagated. We need to move with the times in answering that call to bear fruit, whatever the season.

In this issue, you will find these and other signs of life and fruitfulness despite the tough year 2020 was. For some, it has meant a time of pruning to overcome personal challenges. Others share how staying faithful in sowing and learning despite not seeing immediate fruit is the key.

Dear friends, let us “keep on keeping on” for His glory and for His Name’s sake. Let us always be bearing fruit and embracing Christ!

Elder Alex Lo Chairman. BFEC

Elder Alex Lo and wife Corinne