Planning ... SFC in retrospect

"For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope" - Jeremiah 29:11

God is a God of good order. He likes to make sense of our lives. But we have to do our part too. For God helps those that help themselves.

Last January, we had a very blessed planning session for the Singles for Christ in Geneva. Not one but four mission volunteers came to help us. Kuya Jerry Rivera (UK), Tessa Sarmiento, Chicong Laput, Raynard (Vienna) blessed us with their presence so that we could identify our SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats).

The two-day planning session was a time for worship and fellowship and coming before the Lord and offering all our plans for the upcoming year. Indeed, God proved to be a God of good order as we were able to undertake most of our activities and on time.

It was a memorable experience because we were not too dependent on our coordinators for planning our events but that we had a say too in what would happen to our ministry. It was a year of many firsts - we had our own SFC General Assembly, our own Covenant Orientation and our own Household Leaders' Training tailored and given by SFCs. It was an exercise in independence as well as empowerment. We had grown wings and it was up to us to do our part to make the changes necessary and to be the pillars of strength for our members. It was our turn to fly and test our wings.

And so a year has passed and many Christian Life Programmes after, we are thriving. We may not have achieved the Vision we set out to do which was 150 active SFCs in Central Europe but it is enough to know that the members here have taken new responsibilities and that old members have gone out of their comfort zones to plunge into the active life of SFC. It is thanks to God who has promised that our future is secure in Him as long as we serve Him faithfully.

We lift up our coming year as we embrace our service and face the new challenges ahead.

I claim the promise of God in Jeremiah, for indeed God's ways are not our ways and if we leave our plans in His hands, it will blossom into the marvelous future that He has prepared for us. It may not come in the package we asked it to be, but surely, it will be the best for us. For God is the best planner there is.

I pray that SFC Geneva will continue to grow in number, in service, in faith and in God.