A blessed Sunday to everyone. Today is a significant Sunday for Hermon as we have our Annual Congregational Meeting (ACM) after service. We Hermonites gather as one body to review the past year and to affirm our plans going forward. We also look forward to friends of Hermon planting spiritual roots here and joining us in this meeting in the near future.
Although an ACM is a businesslike meeting, may we see it as a stewardship accountability exercise. As we look through the audited financial statements, let us reflect on God’s sustaining hand on us. May we have used His resources wisely for the furtherance of His Kingdom. As we review the ministry reports, may we be encouraged that God has given us the privilege of using our time and talents to be about His mission of disciple-making. In all the areas that we have done well, let us give all glory to God. In areas that need improvement, may we be open to seeking ways in which we can humbly contribute. Our annual meeting is thus a stewardship review of the One Body here in Hermon, the local body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23) that God has planted in Henderson.
With this helpful image of the body, Scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:18 that God has arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He has chosen. It means that none of us are by accident members of Hermon. Each of us is a vital and a critical part of the body here in Hermon. God has arranged it so that in this season of our discipleship journey, our contributions are best suited to support Hermon@Henderson.
Now, this means there is to be inter-dependence in Hermon. Thus, from 1 Corinthians 12:25-26, there should not be any division in the body; instead, the members should care for one another. When one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together. And from 1 Corinthians 12:7, each of us has been given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
This image of one body also tells us that there is distinct identification of a part to the body. There can be no question of whether it is foreign to the body. And this identification in today’s society with regards to the church comes in the form of membership. Membership is the identifier of a person’s accountability with a particular local church community and this same membership means that the local church supports this person’s affirmation of the faith.
In Hermon, this is fleshed out through the five questions we ask at baptism.
Q1 Do you believe the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, to be the Word of God, and its doctrine of salvation to be perfect and only true doctrine of salvation?
Q2 Do you believe that you have sinned against the Lord God in thought, word and deed, and do you sincerely repent of your sins, and forsake all known sins in your life?
Q3 Do you believe in Jesus Christ, both true God and true Man, who saves you from your sins by His blood, shed on the cross, and gives you power to live the new life?
Q4 Do you agree to submit in the Lord, to the government of this Church, Mount Hermon Bible-Presbyterian Church, and should you be found delinquent in your doctrine or conduct, to heed its discipline?
Q5 Do you promise to support the church in its worship and ministry to the best of your ability?
Questions 1 to 3 affirm our faith while Questions 4 and 5 are about our accountability to the local church. This is our pledge before God and His body. So, when we live out our accountability to His body through Question 4 and 5, it is the church that supports us in our faith witness of Question 1 to 3.
Since it is our conviction that we should take membership and its implications seriously, and now that we have fully settled into Henderson, we feel it is important for us to begin the membership status process.
This means that those who do not identify with Hermon over an extended period of time are indicating that they no longer desire to contribute to the body here in Hermon. The body here in Hermon will be poorer for it because every body part is essential. However, in God’s sovereignty, we trust that He has given us all the necessary resources for the ministry He has purposed.
Henderson is our fourth lap in Hermon’s history. Scripture is clear that as His local body, we should be One Hermon@Henderson. As faithful stewards who are accountable to God for the disciples He has brought into Hermon, this means two things.
Firstly, we all need to encourage one another to play our part as members of this one body. And that means supporting and nurturing our fellow Hermonites to live out Questions 4 and 5 of our membership pledge. Secondly, those who have rejected Question 4 and 5 of our membership pledge via their prolonged absence from Hermon should recognise their intentions by changing their membership status.
As we seek to live out all of the five pledges before God, may the residents of Henderson visibly see Psalm 133 in our corporate unity.
Ps 133:1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.
Ps Daniel Tan