Metropolitan Henry Paul Kontor's Visit: Raising
Christian leaders to develop communities (report
by courtesy of Christian Today
India )
Some
directions
Looking
to the tasks facing the witness of the
Church, he said: "We need to look
for people who are committed to do the
Lord's work. We need to seek to strengthen
fellowship among believer. We need to
collect information on the needs of
the people and we also seek to impart
skills to the people so that such needs
could be met. We need to run workshops
and international conferences and arrange
exchange of visits. We must put efforts
into believing prayer and into bringing
people to the fold of faith. Preaching
and action should go together".
He emphasized that the individualistic
tendencies should be challenged and
transformed.
He
concluded: "It is necessary to
encourage fellowship and life in the
community. The evangelistic emphasis
on personal salvation must be matched
by the individual's responsibility towards
society. Likewise the social Gospel
and the spiritual Gospel must go together.
The full Gospel must be preached and
implemented. Several Christian NGOs
are good in action but not effective
in the proclamation of the Gospel. We
need to be good preachers and men of
action, willing to share the blessings
of God".