A church held a meeting dinner for single believers in the Spring Festival who wouldn't come back home as they were encouraged by the government to live for the Lunar New Year under the resurgence of coronavirus cases.
Two weeks ago, church group leaders started gathering and arranging the list of individual members who did not return to their hometown.
There are many individual believers for over ten years and hundreds of church members, so the leaders decided to celebrate a banquet.
When the lunar New Year arrived, many of our faithful felt distressed. Some might not want to take up spiritual warfare alone in the Spring Festival. For the Chinese New Year, people want to recruit a boyfriend or a girlfriend to marry. Some people desire to stop being alone but still face the annual holiday each year alone.
On the festival night, the pastor and his family waited early for the believers in a large private dining area.
The roof was decorated with balloons and other festive decorations, while the center of the table was a holy and beautiful lotus. With single believers' arrival, dishes were served one by one, including Sichuan cuisine, seafood, soup, desserts, dim sum, and red wine from Israel.
After praying with thanksgiving while eating, the pastor directed them to share their plans for 2021 openly. A male believer shared his experiences with COVID-19 in 2020 to do safety work during unemployment. Another one said that his ex-girlfriend, who had not yet trusted in the Lord, was facing reconciliation. Some women shared their victories at work and some spoke of their witnesses. In the Bible study group, others spoke about inspiring one another to learn. Some male faithful addressed their concerns about Christ's truth about marriage. Some talked about their desire to get out of singleness in the New Year.
When responding to their words, the pastor first empathized with the single members in the face of difficulties and struggles in their lives, then using Genesis 2:18 and Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 to inspire them.
He shared his true testimony of entering into love and marriage after his single life, encouraging them to enjoy the single time and devote themselves to serving the Lord. He also invited them to learn to set the boundaries of marriage and love.
(The original article is published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
