Time flies! Now we’re more than halfway through this year’s summer vacation. Have you and your family enjoyed this summer? Have you travelled to somewhere for a vacation? Or conversely, are you waiting for post-summer holiday discounts to embark on a trip?
During the traditional summer vacation, it’s a common phenomenon of a decrease in attendance at church gatherings. In the past few years, due to the impact of COVID-19, many families decided to stay in the local area rather than go out. However, this year, with more people traveling due to the eased restrictions, the situation has changed. At MAC (Trafford), we have a form for the students in Sunday School and Youth Team to request leave in advance. We encourage parents to take leave early if possible, so that teachers can prepare materials and plan activities accordingly. Therefore, even before the summer vacation began, we estimated that our regular congregation would be reduced by around 30%-40%.
However, as the summer vacation started, the attendance at worship gatherings didn’t drop significantly. It wasn’t because the church members canceled their trips, but because many friends and relatives visited Manchester. They joined us in worship, some coming from Hong Kong to reunite with family and friends, while others, residing in different cities across the UK, gathered in Manchester for the summer break.
I had an interesting experience among these occurrences. Some church members brought friends to worship, and during conversations, I discovered that these friends live in the same city in southern England of my good friend, who had just visited my home the night before. Further conversation revealed that their children are in the same school, and they are even classmates in a same class of my friends’ children. What a coincident! I think there were loads of similar stories of people discovered common friends among the interactions in church.
These summer experiences made me think, as Hong Kongers or Chinese Christians living in the UK, regardless of which city we are in, we believe in God and received the same Holy Spirit. Do we uphold the principle of watching over each other in the love of the Lord? Are we also watching over our fellow brothers and sisters in Hong Kong? Regardless of where we are, in the current global environment, we all face various challenges. Can we keep our brothers and sisters in our prayers? Just as in the letters of Paul, he often mentioned, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you” (Colossians 1:3), “We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers” (1 Thessalonians 1:2). As the summer vacation draws to a close and we return to our daily routines, let’s maintain this heart of watching over each other. Because in the Lord, we love one another!
Rev. Louis Yeung