HARVEST FORCE 2023 ISSUE 3
COMMUNITY WORK AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
Prof Dennis Lee
Director, Strategic Planning and Capacity Building. He was a Visiting Professor with Copenhagen Business School, a Fellow with Singapore University of Social Sciences, and an alumnus of Regent College (MTS ‘88 & MDiv ‘89). He worships at Kum Yan Methodist Church.
We need a Godly boldness that will enable us to work tirelessly, and to persevere in our missions and ministry of reconciliation— reconciling the fallen world to our Creator.
Community work is a concept that we are not unfamiliar with, be it school-based community service projects or volunteering in our spare time. In this article, the theological underpinnings of Christian and church-based community work will be discussed.
TYPES OF COMMUNITY WORK Firstly, what is community work? Here are four different, if somewhat overlapping, types of community work in churches, some of which you might have participated in yourself.
COMMUNITY SERVICE Some churches set up projects which help specific groups such as soup kitchens for the homeless and youth clubs. Church members may volunteer to participate, or provide the occasional prayer or gift.
CHRISTIAN ADVOCACY Christians have a duty to speak and act against social ills and unfair practices for those unable to fend for themselves, as we grapple what it means to be salt and light (Mt 5:13-16).
Editor’s Note: This article was first published in the August 2023 issue of Methodist Message.
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PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT A new profession of community work has emerged, complete with training courses, qualifications, and recognised salary scales. Some
