2016ustrip

Personal reflection of Rev Elijah Chew
A few great quotes…
‘We protect ourselves by excluding others…’ Harold Good
‘Gospel has to relearn how to critique culture…the church has to
be robust and responding to where we have becoming weak…’ MC
Tenet
‘It is not enough, 1. The Word spoke, 2. The Word communicated,
3. but the Word incarnated.’ Ben Witherington
“It is through Dr Tumblin
that I learned that nothing
which is good is denied us.
They gave us the best in five
days four nights. No words
can adequately describe
what we have received from
the love of God through ATS.
I know that God is at work in
His people called Methodist
today.”
What an extraordinary experience with an exhilarating trip to
Houston, to be able to travel with Bishop and co-workers in Christ
to attend the World Methodist Conference and participate in the
special Asbury trip. Without the support of the Annual Conference
and the church, I don’t think we could have gone. I would like to
share a few thoughts and reflection on what I have gained from this
amazing journey. To gain something precious, you have to pay the
price by spending money, time and effort. This journey took me 20
hours to arrive in Houston. I read books and I prayed. I chatted with
people and I was trying to write. I watched movies, and I slept. All
in this one single, self-contained space in an Airbus 380. I had been
looking forward to the World Methodist Conference. I now know
that the Methodist movement is a global phenomenon, a connected
group, people who sing. I never felt it was truly real, and at times
you do feel like you are a stranger in a strange country. Finally, I
found myself to be standing in their midst.
Though our God is not Methodist, God raised up the Methodist
movement in the 18th century for His sovereign purpose and His
powerful vision for our world today. To me, then, Methodist is
almost synonymous to Christian, or Christian is Methodist. I am not
a person who worships a denomination above God, but I am
committed to the most Scriptural vision of the Wesleyan way of life
and Mission for the world. There are four parts of the WMC that
speaks to me: first and foremost is the theme, ‘One’. Nothing is more
damaging than Christian unity compromised and disrupted by our
own views of the Scripture. The songs we sung were to encourage
us to be as one people singing and worshiping God. Nothing was
more powerful than when we sang together with the worship leaders
in each session. The voices, the music, and people are united
together in worship. The familiar hymns, as well as new songs from
other countries, brought me joy in God, and showed me the people
called Methodist who sing together. I know well that to regain the
power of the early Methodist movement, we need to be one in Christ,
and be the testimony of God in Christ through our communal
Scriptural holiness. It is the experience of being together that
changed the way I see Methodists in the world today.
The second aspect is the morning devotion, plenary talks and
workshops. Though I feel that the conference did not hold all things
together very well, I benefited from most of them, whether it was a
good experience or a bad experience. At the very least, I was
challenged and I learned how love can be found in the most unlikely
place if we are willing to let the love of Christ move us across the
street. Rudy and Vashti both made a deep impression on my heart
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