2009 Church Theme: 'Growing in Christ'

The theme verse for the 2009 ECBC church theme 'Growing in Christ' is taken from 2 Peter 3:18 and is written in the New International Version, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." Related verses include Luke 2:52; 2 Peter 1:3-11; Ephesians 4:11-16; Colossians 1:23, 2:7; and Hebrews 6:1-3.

According to the ministry plan, the objective of the theme is to "To allow more people to be saved by grace, to allow more people who are saved to know Jesus, our Saviour, to experience him more. To allow the relationship between God and Christians to deepen and grow."

To be able to accomplish this objective, there are two main focuses: To deepen their knowledge of Christ as Lord and Savior; and to grow by the grace of Christ. The former focus is to encourage brothers and sisters to read the Bible and pray daily, deepen their relationship with Christ, and to memorize and meditate on key theme verses. The latter is to help brothers and sisters to build a spiritual relationship by establishing prayer, celebration, and sharing time during worship service.

Breaking down all this into seven ways to grow in Christ, the ministry plan lists the following as goals for congregation members this year:

1. Attend worship regularly
2. Establish regular personal devotional time 6 times a wk
3. Attend fellowship or small group regularly
4. Attend Sunday School regularly as a teacher or student
5. Participate in tithing and offering (monthly is listed)
6. Willingly share the grace of God and share the gospel (any form of evangelism)
7. Grow and develop individually (Read or listen to Christian literature)