Hong Kong is a stressful place to live – long work hours, small apartments, busy streets, a high cost of living and a 24/7 culture. These things take their toll on us, but it can be difficult to share our struggles – we don’t want to be a burden to others and sometimes we can’t be sure that even the people we are closest to, like our family, will understand how we feel. Unsurprisingly, Hong Kong is a city with a mental health problem that we don’t want to talk about.

That’s part of the reason why the community is so important. God created us to live in community – we are not mean to try and function as independent islands, and when we do, life gets too stressful! We all have our limitations – physical, mental and emotional. We all have different gifts and characters. It’s as we work together that we can achieve more as we share our burdens.

It’s essential that we never see our faith as something which is independent of others. Instead, we express it with the Church. The most important time we do that is on Sundays. It’s easy to view Sundays as simply a time for receiving personally, but it is also a time to give. As we take part in the service, we are encouraging those around us through our presence and participation.

Although we should take every opportunity to connect with others on Sundays, it can be hard to get to know people well because there are a lot of people in the service. For this reason, we encourage all members at St Andrew’s to join a growth group. A growth group is a smaller group that meets regularly to study the Bible and pray. Growth groups are the best way to connect more deeply with other Christians at St Andrew’s. It is as we live out our lives in community with God’s word at the centre that we grow in maturity and can help each other through times of hardship.

If you would like to join a growth group, sign up for either the Partnership course or the Habits course – you can find these both on our website.