Updated : 28/11/2004

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There is something palpably different in the atmosphere of Klang South's chapter meetings. There is an undercurrent of expectancy and joy wrapped by a strong sense of fellowship. People appear excited to be present and they are always bringing friends - believers and unbelievers - to the meeting.

The chapter has been in existence for about 16 years. What has turned a moribund chapter into a vibrant one in which members take pride in and eagerly invites friends and even strangers they meet to attend?

In looking back over the last four years, we discovered that in following the vision stated, we have actually unconsciously adopted the following five approaches to chapter vibrancy.

Servanthood-Leadership
Chapter vibrancy begins with passionate and compassionate leadership because passionate and compassionate leadership births passionate and compassionate followers.

The chapter leadership must have a servant's heart - the willingness to serve without any thought of personal gain. It demands servant-leaders who are God-centred in order to be others-centred. It also demands the ability to relate to people. How else can one lead if one doesn't even like people or if people cannot relate to us?

The leadership must also be able to provide a `contagious' vision for members to catch. So, the leadership must constantly draw the people's attention to the chapter's vision as Prov. 29:18 - 'Where there is no vision, the people perish advises. To put in another way to relate to our ministry: without vision, a chapter just drifts along.

Some questions the chapter leadership must ask constantly are: Am I a servant-leader or merely a chapter president? Have I a vision for my chapter or do I lead from meeting to meeting? And most importantly, do I lead or do I love first?

Relationship
Can there be genuine and strong fellowship without first establishing relationships? Any vision, however inspiring, must be built upon strong relationship. Do people feel the warmth of genuine Christian fellowship when they come to our meeting? Do they feel belonged?

A chapter can create strong bonds of fellowship when we go beyond the one-hour chapter meetings. We must be creative in providing opportunities for bonding - either in big or small groups or individually.

We celebrate birthdays and wedding anniversaries of members during chapter meetings. Then we stumbled into what has now become regular sessions when we started off by having the occasional get-together on Saturdays or public holidays. Now our regular bak kut teh fellowship, teh tarik fellowship or lunch fellowship have become a key feature of our chapter. And in the process of developing friendship, we have a lot of fun too!

Why are such extra-meeting fellowships so important? Because it helps to bond people. We used to have people attending chapter meetings week after week and yet not even knowing one another's name. Now, genuine friendships have developed and the chapter is not only strengthened but it also attracts those - believers and unbelievers - who are looking for such fellowship.

Are we genuinely interested in the people our Lord brings to our chapter? Are we interested in people as beloved of God or do we see people merely as statistics that make our chapter looks good?

Relevance
Relationship must also be packaged with relevance because when our chapter meetings have relevance to a person's life, he will be a faithful member and he will be the best promoter of the chapter. Nothing beats word-of-mouth advertising and when you have a member who has been blessed in one way or another, he is the best advertisement your chapter can ever have.

Leaders especially need to ask: how relevant is my chapter in terms of addressing spiritual and other needs? Is there an emphasis on addressing the spiritual and physical needs of our people? Do we showcase the reality of a prayer-answering God? Is praying for one another and testifying to answered prayers a key feature of a chapter meeting?

But it isn't enough to make nice-sounding prayers when someone requests for prayer. To address the physical needs of people in the chapter means that our responsibility does not end with saying amen. It isn't enough to pray for one another, we need to look out for one another as well. And that often means backing our prayer for the other person by action (James 2: 14-25).

We must grasp this vital truth: the people who attend our chapter meetings are not present by chance but have divine appointments with God in our chapter meetings. Therefore, we must prayerfully seek His direction in ensuring that the purpose of that brother's appointment is fulfilled.

Persistence
Do we care enough for our chapter members never to give up on them? Do we care enough to always be on the look out for their well-being even if we are rebuffed?

The chapter leadership has the awesome responsibility of caring for the people the Lord brings to it and we can never take this responsibility lightly. If we have grasped this awesome truth, we cannot help but be persistent in looking out for our people.

Persistence is a symptom of dedication to a cause. We never give up in inviting someone to our meeting even if we are continually rejected. We keep in constant communication with our people and that's one of the ways we tell people they are important and worthy of our attention.

The message Klang South delivers to all who comes is: you are important; we don't care whether you are regular or occasional in attendance but we are thinking of you. So, we keep them all informed on weekly meetings through regular communications either through weekly e-mail or SMS or phone calls.

By being persistent in invitation and follow-up, we have seen backsliders restored, unbelievers redeemed and even those not entirely convinced returning to our meetings again and again.

Are we following the Lost Sheep Principle as in Luke 15? Do I care enough not to give up?

Protection
Discerning leadership is vital in protecting the chapter. We should not allow just anyone available to speak at our chapter meeting, keeping in mind our Lord's injunction in John 21: 15-17 to Peter about feeding the sheep and lambs. What is shared must be scriptural and edifying otherwise it can be dangerous to our spiritual health.

We must also protect our chapter against irrelevant, dubious and even boring speakers! First impression counts. If a first-time visitor to our meeting is put off by irrelevant sharing as some are prone to do or are simply boring, we might never be able to convince him to return.

The five points mentioned are not chapter growth techniques but rather an overflow of the work of the Holy Spirit within. Our greatest blessing is to see lives transformed after encountering God through our meetings.

It's not about being a lively chapter but it's about being a chapter that is alive. It's not about having programmes per year but it's absolutely about possessing spiritual dynamite.

The ultimate message Klang South can proclaim is: when we become as passionate about living the Great Commandment - love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbour as yourself - as we are about fulfilling the Great Commission, we will see much fruit. That is the promise of our Lord and by His grace, Klang South have seen the fruits. All Glory to God!

(the above was recently presented at the Central Region AMC)