My Ecclesia #3 Experience

By: Gloria Kim

             Having gone to Ecclesia #2 this past summer as a candidate, it was my duty to serve at the next one for my “Ecclesia experience” to be complete. When asked if I wanted to serve as a small group leader, I was definitely honored but also hesitant at the same time. Not only did I not want to give up my Thanksgiving break, but I also did not feel spiritually mature enough to fulfill such role. My mom helped me cure my selfishness though when she made a good point by saying, “After being so blessed in the summer through Ecclesia, it is only right that you should give back those blessings to the next candidates.” As for my feelings of being inadequate, I realized that it wouldn’t be through my strength or wisdom that I’d be serving anyways. So instead, with my love for God that I knew for sure that I had, I decided to take on the role and be a small group leader for Ecclesia #3.

             Being a server was definitely different from being a candidate. Unlike last time, Ecclesia #3 required me to come to prep meetings for three weeks before, which took place every Saturday and Sundays for three hours. Although the small group leaders prep meetings only consisted of sharing how we were doing spiritually and praying for Ecclesia, it was truly a blessing to spend that intimate time together having one passionate purpose for God.

             When it finally came time for Ecclesia to actually take place, my experience only got better. For God to have entrusted me with seven teenage girls (my small group) and use me as an instrument to show His care and love for them truly made me feel like the luckiest girl ever. My only desire for these girls, as well as all the other candidates, was to know God in a more intimate way and for Him to become so real in their lives as He has in mine, and through Ecclesia that was made possible. My experience being a server at Ecclesia #3 was definitely different from being a candidate at Ecclesia #2, but I now understand why Jesus says in Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”