28 Aug 2014 by Adeline Lum CM-
On 16th of August, 14 teams from various churches and ministries participated in the 8th annual A Day of Praise & Worship (ADOP), a combined effort of the participating churches organized by Shamini Ruth.
Lasting for 12 hours this year, the attendees in ADOP worshipped God through singing, dancing, drawing, painting, and acting in a drama. Banners, flags, and ribbons filled the church, amidst the lifted hands of the attendees.
“Our vision is towards a 24-hour praise & worship that will bring every denomination to worship God. This is an awesome experience, we get a glimpse of heaven, and that is how diverse our worship in Heaven will be!
“Everyone has a different style and flavor. Everyone is unique in his or her way of praise and worship in various languages. But we are worshiping the One true Living God. We have to come as one before the Lord just as the prayer of Jesus,” said organizer Shamini Ruth of ADOP, quoting John 17:21.
“I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me..” (John 17:21 (NIV)
Next year, Shamini hopes to involve an Orang Asli church and a migrant/foreign ministry in ADOP, in addition to the existing melting pot of English-speaking, Bahasa-speaking, Tamil-speaking, and Mandarin-speaking worshipers this year.
Rev Sean Prasad, ADOP’s Pastoral Advisor, added that they hope to be a catalyst in bringing ADOP to Penang, Johor, and also East Malaysia soon.
Indeed, a Church united in worship represents a powerful spiritual army that marches forward against the dark spiritual forces, and tramples them underfoot. Like the Israelites who wage war behind a group of worshipers, we go to battle by worshiping as well.
Singer and songwriter Patrick Leong added, “It’s a season we need to realize the state of our nation. We see worship as the point of intercession on behalf of the body of Christ. Prayer, intercession, and worship need to come hand-in-hand!”
Skit director Adrian Thomas of Antioch Ministries presented a poignant skit to bid attendees into the heart of worship. The skit depicted three common personas of Christian believers—the faithless, the self-righteous, and the conflicted. From these three personas, only the conflicted one surprisingly offered help to the beggar because he understood what love simply means.
“This skit is personal to our ministry because its not only knowing about theology but you got to be Christ to someone else by showing a simple act of love,” said Veronica Cornelius, administrator of the Antioch Ministries.
George Daniel, a prophetic self-taught painter, also explained how painting is a language of worship because it is the breath of God. This is because when God spoke the Word, creation came into existence with colors. In other words, colors are a part of God. And like how Trinity stands for God the Father, Jesus Christ the son, and the Holy Spirit, all colors in the world also come from three primary colors as well.
“Every color has a meaning and no colors are negative,” quipped George. “Because everything travels in a line, I used a lot of lines in my painting to represent our connectivity to God.”
Shamini Ruth added, “Our worship is not only through songs and music, but worship is something more, especially when it comes to arts. We can express our worship through arts. We need to redeem the arts for Jesus because everything was made for the glory of God.”
On an individual level, Shamini shared that worship is in everything you do. Worship is a lifestyle, the inhaling of His presence and exhaling of the praises of God.
Patrick Leong agreed that the essence of worship comes in abiding in God’s presence. He said, “I worship to a certain level when there is an immeasurable peace that resides in me. It’s something that is unhurried. Sometimes, I worship from 45 minutes to one hour. You just crave more and more for the peace of God because it’s just overwhelming.”
Finally, Rev Sean Prasad shared his vision of the perfect church in the next ADOP. The perfect church is place of worship for the young and old, the rich and the poor, and people of all dialects coming together to worship God in one place. Now, that is what you called as a complete worship unto the Lord.
The organizers of ADOP are planning for a children’s worship (8-10 hours) that will run simultaneously for ADOP 2015.
Would you like to volunteer for ADOP next year, which will be extended to 24 hours? ADOP would like to challenge believers of all ages to worship God with all their talents and skills.
Contact Organizer of ADOP, Shamini Ruth at 012-297-2945.
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Could I know where to purchase the ribbons and banners please?