Coming Up

Honour God through unity in the Body

Monday, October 6, 2014 (public holiday) 7.30 – 10 pm
Aldersgate Methodist Church

Organised by the Ad Hoc Catholic Committee led by Fr Michael Arro, MEP, the Ad Hoc Protestant Team and Alpha Singapore.

This year’s Ecumenical Charismatic Healing Service – the second one after the inaugural Service held last year in August – will honour the presence of Christ in the midst of those gathered.

This is an opportunity for Protestants and Roman Catholics to come together as the Body of Christ to worship God, commit to love one another, walk together and serve, and to pray and minister the Lord’s healing – as ONE.

Roman Catholic Archbishop William Goh will share the homily. Bishop Terry Kee of the Lutheran Church will give the altar call and serve on the healing ministry team, and Methodist Bishop Dr Wee Boon Hup will give the benediction.

Thirty pairs of ministry team members made up of pastors, priests and lay leaders from the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches will be available to pray for the sick. After the service, the congregation would be invited to stay on for fellowship over light refreshments and pray for each other using guided liturgy.

This is a wonderful opportunity to come together in unity – so that we can harness our resources and energy to be engaged more effectively in Kingdom work. Christ prayed for His disciples to “be one”, to love one another as He has loved them.

For years, there have been efforts to bridge the divisions especially between the two major bodies of the Christian faith – the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches. In his “Letter to a Roman Catholic”, John Wesley, father of the Methodist movement, affirmed that both sides shared the same Nicene Creed’s declaration of faith, and he called upon both to resolve, “…not to hurt one another,… to speak nothing harsh or unkind of each other… to harbour no unkind thought, no unfriendly temper towards each other… to help each other on in whatever we are agreed leads to the Kingdom, to rejoice to strengthen each other’s hands in God.”

Roman Catholic priest, Paul Couturier (1881-1953), a pioneer in the ecumenical movement, emphasised that unity can never be achieved by praying for one side to convert to the other but by “spiritual ecumenism” – the willingness to grow Christ-like in holiness, mutually sharing spiritual gifts with each other.

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Rev Dr Lorna Khoo has been Pastor-in-Charge of Aldersgate Methodist Church since 2011. She has been an advocate of ecumenism since the start of her ministry 35 years ago. She is also a keen animal activist, and especially loves dogs and cats.

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