Issue 490 Featured Article: Spirituality, Community, Mission
Barry CHEUNG, The General Secretary
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William LAM, Director of Inter-College Department
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In recent years, “spirituality” has become a common concern among believers. These concerns are not only about clarifying a concept, but also about developing an awareness, about knowing oneself and knowing the Lord, and about how the Lord guides one’s path in life. It is when one pursues the journey to a deeper understanding of the Lord that he or she comes closest to their true self and understands best their unique calling and their role and place in the heavenly community.
Fulfillment of Personal Vocation
Therefore, the life of personal vocation cannot be understood only in terms of humanistic self-realization. Spirituality contains a mysterious vertical direction, pointing to the answer to the Lord’s call, but also connecting, validating, and complementing each other in a horizontal community relationship. In other words, one’s personal vocation is to open up his or her irreplaceable “person” to the community to which he or she belongs, to devote one’s life to the areas of meaning given by the Lord, and to actively engage in the responsibilities entrusted to him or her by the Gospel. This is the only way to truly live, and this is the fulfillment of one’s mission.
The Practice of Missional Community
The mission statement of FES declares, “We bear witness to …… the Gospel ……, gathering generations of students and graduates into communities of disciples who heed the Word of God.” This is also the goal of FES in the coming years, to promote the formation of different missional communities. The core of what makes these missional communities possible, however, is listening to the Word.
1. Begin by Listening
The missional community does not gather for itself but is recruited at the calling of the Word. Therefore, the practice of the community is not to satisfy the ideal of self, but to respond to the mission called for by the Word. In this way, the missional community must also be a listening community, in listening to the Word, listening to its own longings and to the cries of the world.
In the parable of the sower, Jesus calls on the disciples twice to “listen” (Mt 13:9, 18) — It is in listening that we create space for our lives to respond to the Word. I remember meeting with one of the graduates earlier, and he was deeply moved that during our conversation, he once again found the passion for pursuing his faith that he had in the campus fellowship in the past. He had long forgotten his faith during his years of work, but it was in this fellowship that the flame of faith was reignited.
Our FES staff often follow the example of Jesus and eat with the students and graduates whom they walk with. The meal is not only about community life, but also about sharing with each other and bringing ourselves to the Lord’s Word, asking about the Lord’s heart in our lives, what kind of journey He is leading us on, and thinking about how we should respond to the world.
2. Stay Faithful to Seeing
In the familiar story of the Samaritan, the Samaritan helps the wounded on the road because “when he saw him, he had compassion” (Lk. 10:33). The listener who walks in the world can “see” and be motivated to outreach. The “mission” begins with a seeing, seeing the needs of the world, and responding to what the Word has entrusted to us in it.
This year’s FES Day explored “Building Missional Communities in Adversity” and we believe that there is still space to practice what we believe in, to connect with people in the community, and to make a difference. The discipleship community begins by listening, stays faithful to seeing, and leads to mission engaging. This is the vision that FES envisages in establishing the discipleship community.