It is already more than a year since the WARM programme of our church was launched. It is heartening to see the fruits that it has borne in our midst, as many Lifers have not only got to know one another better, but are now also actively ministering to one another and praying together.

A couple who joined our church as new members last month shared with me that the WARM programme has helped them to feel at home and they are now attending a fellowship group. At our church prayer meeting last Tuesday, a brother testified how his family was touched by the loving care and concern that his wife received from many church brethren when he suddenly became ill a few weeks ago. Their prayers and SMSes have been a great blessing to both of them. In recent days we heard that several prayer fellowships have started spontaneously among members. One sister has just opened her home to start a weekly prayer fellowship for our church ladies to pray for the Beulah project and for the church. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes!

While we are thankful for the love that Lifers are showing to one another, there is still much more to be done. We are still far short of the goal of becoming a warm church.

When the apostle Paul wrote his first epistle to the Thessalonians, he commended them for their labour of love (1:3) and for their active love for the brethren in all Macedonia. But he urged them to do better than that in 4:9-10 – "But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more."

Paul also exhorted them in 4:18 to "comfort one another with these words." The word for ‘comfort’ here has a continuous or repeated idea. In other words the Thessalonian Christians were to keep on comforting one another with God’s Word to keep each other’s hopes in Christ alive.

Dear brethren, we may have started to comfort and encourage one another and show caring love and concern for one another. That is very good and we can thank the Lord for enabling us to do His will. But let us not be satisfied with this. There is still room for improvement. We can do more to exercise brotherly love. The word for ‘brotherly love’ here is the Greek word, philadelphia. This word was often used to describe the mutual love and affection between family members, such as parents and children, husbands and wives. And so, this verse tells us that the devotion that Christians should have toward one another in the Body of Christ should be like the devotion that members in a close-knit family have for one another.

It is for this reason that Christians are called ‘brethren’ (as Paul addresses the Thessalonians in 4:1) this term means "brothers and sisters." It is used in the Bible approximately 230 times and literally means "from the same womb." This implies that we are related to each other through a shared Christian heritage and a common birth and more precisely, the experience of being born again. Those who are so closely related should not have to be told to love one another. That is why Paul did not elaborate further on how Christians should love one another and he says in verse 9, "ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another."

There are many practical ways of showing love for one another, e.g. giving to help those who are in need, expressing warm appreciation and thanks, enquiring after the welfare of others, comforting those who are in sorrow, correcting those who are going astray, and forgiving those who have offended you. Brotherly love is not a love that consists of mere sentimental feelings alone, but it is practical and filled with action. We must be sensitive to the needs of fellow Christians and be ready to love them with the love of Christ.

Go out of your way to help those who are in need. For by doing this you are in effect doing the same to our Lord Himself. Jesus said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." (Matthew 25:40) There is no better way to please our Lord than to show brotherly love one for another. By this, the world will know that we are truly His disciples!

So, however much you have done this, please take heed to increase more and more. Listen to the exhortation Paul gave in 1 Thessalonians 4:1 – "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more."

The testimonies below are gleaned from articles on the WARM programme over the past year. May they encourage all of us to keep on practicing brotherly love in our church! —CS

EVEN THOUGH I have been in Life Church for more than 30 years, I still find difficulty in remembering some of the names of Lifers, especially the Chinese names. As my memory is not getting better, I need the WARM Programme Cards to help me remember names. I can now freely ask for Lifers’ names to be written with their contact number or email address. I would personally like to keep in touch with them, especially the new members and the WARM cards have assisted me in this. Now, I have WARM Programme cards with me always, ready to be exchanged. Just pray that this programme will help Lifers and visitors to know each other better, beyond the usual ‘Hi’ and ‘Bye’ greetings. May our Lord bless this effort. – Annie Heng

AT FIRST, the WARM programme sounded a little unnatural or superficial to me. However, since I started on it, it had helped me to go beyond my Asian self-consciousness and get to know people better at a deeper level. Thank God for this opportunity to exercise the ‘One Another Principle’ towards God’s people. – Mei Li

THE WARM Programme has taught me to go out of my comfort circle and go beyond the age gap to explore different levels of friendship. I did not even know that I could have some common interests with someone who is not my age. It is comforting to know that "I am not alone". – Jun Ng

THE WARM programme was very useful to me. It helped me to know the church members by name because church-going in itself does not provide many opportunities for members to fellowship with one another…This programme has given me the benefit of reaching out to other people, and also the chance to encourage one another and to pray for their needs. I thank God that I have learned a lot of things from this church. – Lynda Kwan

I’d like to express my thanks to Life Church for this initiative. May the Lord bless this effort to knit our ‘large’ church of many disparate members into one Body that is "fitly joined together" and which are actively and earnestly engaged in "making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love". – Sau Toh

I hope that this WARM programme will not only let fellow church members know each other at an acquaintance level, but at a level where we can support and edify one another. "Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do." (1 Th 5:11) - Jiazhen

THIS WARM Programme has definitely taught us that fellowshipping with God’s people is also very important. We thank God that we can use the WARM Programme as an instrument to help us to learn to fellowship. J - Caritas, Dewi, Hannah & Nadia

THE WARM Programme has succeeded in many ways in creating the awareness that as a church family, every member needs to know one another and also our visitors too. Instead of just the usual "Hi and Bye!" the WARM cards allow me to jot down some details of the person I got to know and quite often including his/her spouse’s and children’s names/age. I will try and remember the names and call them when I see them in church. – Dn Victor Loo

THE WARM programme is a great catalyst to help church members get to know each other, mutually support and edify one another. It will help steer us all towards greater involvement in the activities of the members and the church. This is one area that many feel our Church can improve on. – Dn Choong Chan Yong

How blessed we are, to belong to God’s family, to be "United in Christ’s love, actively ministering one to another." This theme for the WARM Programme is a good reminder of the Christian bond we share in Christ. How wonderful it is to have koinonia, to enjoy sweet fellowship with one another, and to build up one another in our faith. Spending time with God’s people is most delightful. This is especially so when we are Christ-centred in our interaction and we touch others as they do us, as we share with one another of His love and goodness in our lives. While the Lord tarries, may we continue to make time to minister to one another, that God may be glorified. Do come for the WARM fellowship gathering.

Colossians 3:16 teaches us: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."

One way we can support each other in our Christian walk is to help one another hide God’s word in our hearts. The Church has had a list of scripture memory verses for two years, and for 2008, the 28 memory verses selected have been put to the tune of familiar hymns, so that remembering and recalling them accurately may be easier and even more enjoyable. At the WARM fellowship gathering, besides the carols, we will be singing one of the memory verses for 2008, to commit it to memory. Come and learn this verse together.

May we not stop there. Praise God the Ladies’ Fellowship has already begun their singing practice of the first few memory verses of 2008. How about others? Would you like to meet together for a blessed time of memory verse singing fellowship? Who would host one of the memory verse singing fellowship sessions next year? Pray about this and may the Lord work in us to increase our zeal for His Word and use us to strengthen the body of Christ.

May God bless the WARM fellowship gathering as we celebrate the birth of our Saviour and strive to remember His Word. All glory to Him.

1) The Golden Age Fellowship Mtg has been changed to Sat, 1 Dec 07.

2) Career Seminar for Young Adults, this Sat, 17 Nov 07, 3-6 pm, CS Hall. Being a Godly Christian Worker by Eld Ng Beng Kiong and Knowing God’s Will For Career Changes by Eld Sherman Ong.

3) Sunday Lunch Fellowship: Lunch Coupons for the Sunday Lunch on 18 Nov 07 will be on sale today at $2.50 a packet (vegetable rice, nasi lemak and mee siam).

4) Infant Baptism on Christmas Sunday, 23 Dec 07. Parents who intend to have their infants baptised must register by 18 Nov 07. Please call the Church office (6254-5433) or email Yin Chan giving child’s name, date of birth and parents’ names.

5) Vacancy for full time programme/teaching staff for a period of 3 months urgently needed for the SCC. Interested, please contact Dn Victor Chan HP 96690781 or Sis Linda Chan HP 93676789.

6) LTF Camp 2007. 3-7 Dec 07. Venue : Life BP Church. Speaker : Rev Jack Sin. Theme : Loving Fellow Sheep. A booth is set up at the front of the church for registration. For more information, please call Aunty Poh Yok @96881766 or Dn Ching Wah @91836783.

7) Mission Trip to Cambodia, 10-17 Dec 07. Sister Poh Yok will be leading a team to assist our missionary, Rev David Koo’s ministry in Kompong Som. The goal of this mission trip is to reach out to the children who attend the Christian school as well as the children in the villages. Those who are interested may contact sister Poh Yok at pohyok at gmail dot com or 9688-1766.

8) Youth Camp. 16-20 Dec 07. Camp Theme: Pressing On! Speaker: Rev. Colin Wong. Venue: Galilee BPC. Cost: $30 per camper. Ages 16-25. Contact Ian (94784121) if there are any queries.

9) Library Opening Hours: 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month, 7:30am to 7:55am. Every Sunday, 12:15 - 12:45 pm. There are about 3,000 Christian books for all ages!