1 Chronicles 22:5
David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the LORD
should be of great magnificence and fame and splendour in the sight of all the nations. Therefore I will
make preparations for it.” So David made extensive preparations before his death.
Dedication Service to commemorate completion of main sanctuary’s renovationDinner to celebrate 18thAnniversary of the churchNew Year’s Eve dinner
CHARIS Methodist Church held a New Year’s Eve Dinner-cum-Dedication Service on Dec 31, 2006 to commemorate the successful completion of the renovation of its main sanctuary and to celebrate the 18th Anniversary of the church.
The Charis Methodist Church Sanctuary building was bought over from Pentecost Methodist Church in 1993. At that time, the church had expended all its available resources to pay for the property and had little left to renovate its interior.
In 1999, during Phase II of our Church Development Project, renovations were made to the main sanctuary. However all the resources were used for the installation of a hydraulic lift, a new roof, a stained glass panel to the anterior facade and a footbridge at the back entrance to the church. These were completed in 2001.
Again the main sanctuary was left untouched. So up till August last year, we had been using the old sanctuary in its “as-is” condition since 1993.
This time around, we were amply provided for by the grace of God and were glad to get to the interior so that it can be better fitted for the worship of our magnificent and splendid God. With the experience collected over the years, we were able to start the project in earnest on Aug 14, 2006 and completed it on Oct 30.
Over the seven weeks, church members had to worship in the other rooms within the church but everyone was supportive and cooperative.
The renovation project included the installation of new ceiling, air-conditioning system, oak timber flooring, altar backdrop and LCD back-lit cross, sound and projection system and AV room and new teak pews.
To commemorate the successful completion of the renovation project and to celebrate the 18th Anniversary of the church, Charis held the New Year’s Eve Dinner-cum-Dedication Service on Dec 31, 2006.
The dinner was well attended. About 450 church members from the three congregations came together for a good and sumptuous dinner and a wonderful fellowship.
It was hard to part with the delectable “Or Ni” (yam paste) at the end of the dinner to proceed to the main sanctuary for the Dedication Service.
But what a joy it was to be able give back to the Lord what He has given to us: the refurbished sanctuary.
It was also a special honour to have Bishop Dr Robert Solomon, the Chinese Annual Conference President, the Rev Khoo Cheng Hoot, and our District Superintendent (East), the Rev Chong Chin Chung, with us to share the momentous evening.
Preaching from Luke 6, Bishop Dr Solomon gave the message on “What It Means To Be A Church”. It was a reminder that we do not just improve the place of our worship but that we must become better worshippers together in this place. The evening closed with our participation in the Holy Communion. A very meaningful closure indeed as we re-dedicated ourselves unto the Lord on the eves of our 18th Anniversary and the New Year of 2007.
Everyone was much refreshed by both food for the body and the soul on that evening. All glory be to God!