Church Life

Check out all of YMI’s content pieces tagged under Church Life. We hope you’d benefit from the written and visual content we have under this topic: Church Life.

Posts

What If There Was No Church?

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What if the building we called church were to be torn down by the authorities or destroyed by nature? What if there were no more “church” organizations? What if there were no more leaders to organized regular services or no preachers who wanted to teach? What would you do?

My Struggles as a Second-Generation Christian

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I am a “second-generation” Christian and for a large part of my life, I have felt trapped by this label. I believe anyone who is a second-generation Christian will be able to identify with what I’m about to share.

God Provided . . . So I Could Tithe

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Tithing: the practice of giving 10 percent of one’s income to the Lord. “Tithing” is a sensitive word, especially to someone like me, who has been unemployed for almost 10 months.

ODJ: loving beyond borders

I first experienced the beauty of the global body of Christ when I traveled from South Africa to Malaysia as a teacher. In that country, with its varying religions and cultural beliefs, I found a spiritual home away from home. From the moment I stepped into the little church down the road, I was warmly welcomed and treated like family. Thousands of kilometers away from where I grew up, I met peopl

ODJ: coffee house


A pastor wanted to break his church out of their formal traditions and nudge them in a fresh direction. He sensed that the congregation’s formality was discouraging the local community from walking through the church’s doors. So he began to take small steps to help them change. 


One Sunday morning he replaced the lectern with a small, café-style table. Cup of coffee in hand, he

ODJ: planted

Accompanied by a cool breeze, the sunlight slowly spread over the horizon. It was a beautiful morning to plant. Grabbing various tools, my husband and I set out to rake back mulch and dig some holes. We had carefully selected plants that would work in the various growing environments our garden offered. Though the work had been strenuous, I later found it rewarding to stand back and see the fruits

ODJ: learning from each other

Our young daughter Katelyn enjoys playing the card game solitaire, but she lacks the patience to persist through the difficult points in the game. Instead of trying to solve being ‘stuck’, she’ll simply start a new game. I’ve challenged her not to give up but to seek the next available move.

In my brief moment of motherly advice, I gained two timely life lessons: (1) Instead o

Swimming and Church

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After not swimming for ages, I enjoyed my recent dip in the pool. The water slid against my skin, bidding me to stay in the pool for a longer time. As I swam, I used my hands and legs to push against the water,

ODJ: leaving church

Poised at the door of the church auditorium, I hesitated. Why? I realised that I didn’t want to go to church. It’s not that I didn’t want to go to any church at all. I simply no longer wanted to go to this church. My wife felt the same way. A few weeks later, after 20 years as members, we made the agonisingly painful decision to leave. But leaving is not the same