Opening of the One In Love 2024 Programme

In December, a spirit of excitement and togetherness prevailed among the volunteers of Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia (LAI) who attended the opening of the Satu Dalam Kasih (SDK) 2024 Programme at the Bible Centre Building (GPA), Salemba, Central Jakarta. This event also concluded a series of fundraising activities throughout 2023. A total of 94 people attended the meeting both in person at GPA and through the Zoom room.

“ God does great things!” explained Pastor Lithos Sitorus Pane who was the minister of the Word at this event. Indeed, it is God who always does great deeds, not us. Many people see themselves as important, doing great things. Almost everyone likes praise from others. Many people rejoice in the praise of others. For a person who likes to be praised, he only remembers the great deeds he has done. And forgets God's work and inclusion. His happiness depends on the praise of others.

In reality, it is not every day that someone comes to give us praise. So, if our joy is only waiting for praise to come, we will rarely or never rejoice. Psalm 126 provides an important teaching for us: It is God who has done great things. Not us. We give thanks and rejoice because God never stops working and doing great things in our lives. We are never forsaken by Him.

The LAI partners who attended this event were volunteers who came from various churches and had various struggles.In the ministry in God's field, the reality is that it is not easy to do great work even though the ministry has been done for years. "If you want to work, if you want to volunteer, if you want to spread the Bible, remember the great works of God," explained Pastor Lithos who described that this great work is described as the joy of the Israelites who made a pilgrimage together to the city of Jerusalem. "That is the picture if we are on a pilgrimage together to the holy city, the Kingdom of Heaven," added Pastor Lithos.

Marching actions by volunteers and faithful fundraisers have graced the journey of the SDK programme that began in 1988. The camaraderie showed their solidarity and determination to support the mission of making the Bible available to all. The event concluded with a call to all participants to work together to achieve the fundraising target for 2023 while uniting hearts and spirits for the 2024 ministry year. This ministry is not ours. God has done great things. Let us continue to rely on His miraculous power and provision.