Sunday Worship Service | 19 January 2025 | 10:00 AM

The morning service was opened with a worship session. Elder Khamkhanpau then dedicated the offerings of the service to the Lord. The mass prayer segment was led by Pastor T. Lamkhanthang, who shared some prayer points including keeping in prayer the church’s various departments’ future endeavors as well as our Manipur Crisis. Regarding the latter, the prayer points consisted of thanksgiving to the Lord for His faithfulness and continuous guidance in our struggle. He also mentioned to remember the three new divisions in our church, the general secretary, directors as well as those who have had to move places for their work in the church. And lastly, to ask the Lord for new and enhanced ways of managing the church structure and to remember those physically and mentally ill. After the mass prayer, the pastor announced that Sunday School exam papers could be taken after the service and urged anyone willing, to volunteer in the Worship or Media Team.

After the pastor, Pastor Thawnkhanlian gave a report on his mission journey in Sikkim. He read from Matthew 9:37-38 and started his segment with a prayer. The pastor then extended his thanks to the EBCC Missions Committee for their efforts and the Christmas gifts the missionaries in Sikkim received, after which, he introduced his family. He briefly talked about his history with various missionary fields and announced that currently, there were about 30 believers now in Jorethang, Sikkim. He elaborated on the kind of work they were engaged in and highlighted that in the current sociopolitical context of India, they have decided to share the Gospel and have personal interactions with people in their houses hence, working more privately. The pastor also shared a few anecdotes from his encounters in the field that consisted of the regional gods of the people, how their prayed over them as they removed the gods from the houses after the people converted, exorcisms and as a whole, the battlefield with demons in the mission-field. The pastor then blessed the congregation and that was the end of his segment. Nancy Niangmuankim followed up with a beautiful song as a special item for the service.

Pastor T. Lamkhanthang took over the sermon for the day. He and the church read from Psalms 119: 105 and Acts 19, 20: 1-31. After a short prayer, the pastor began his sermon by explaining that the book of Ephesians was highly associated with themes of building a Christian family. He also talked of the debates about whether Paul wrote the letters or not and to which church it was sent to. Furthermore, he highlighted that the Ephesians is centered around the question- “Does my life align with my faith?”. The pastor then described Ephesus and its history. The book of Ephesians, he explained, covered the responsibilities of family roles to the extent of covering roles even for christian masters and slaves. Furthermore, the book also emphasized on the permanence and importance of heavenly goods over earthy goods. The pastor shared that under the context of Ephesus being an area infested with sin, through Christ, the Lord worked to build a Christian family even in such an atmosphere and linked it to its relevance in India. The book of Ephesians thus, reminds us that even in a corrupted world, we are still able to live a righteous life.

After his sermon, the pastor briefed the congregation on the media team’s initiative of a new website for the church. This was followed by a short worship session and the morning service was then closed by Elder H Kam Suanthang.