The Parish Assembly is a once-a-year gathering to look into pastoral concerns of the Church of the Risen Christ. This year's Parish Assembly was held on 18 November 2007 from 1.30pm to 5.00pm . It was attended by some 100 parishioners. Most of the parishioners were representatives from the various ministries of the Church.

After the opening prayer, Father John Sim began by reminding the participants of the importance of a prayerful life and to radiate Christ to others. This was then followed by a report on the major activities carried out in the year 2007 by the Parish Pastoral Council's (PPC) Chairman David Kwek. The activities were divided into four categories namely, Faith Formation, Social Mission, Outreach, and Youths. PPC also proposed a new theme entitled "We Are The Church" for the future. It's a theme aimed at fostering greater unity, togetherness and ownership of the parish.

After the updates from David, Father Valerian Cheong gave a talk highlighting the path and direction that the parish should take. He was of the view that the ministries should think of the "bigger picture" adding that "We should not think only of the interest of our own ministry”. He raised three questions for the people to ponder upon:

1 How committed are we in our ministry?
2 How much are we growing in our faith?
3 How satisfied are we in our faith journey in life?

Father Valerian quoted from the Vatican Council II that "The Church by its very nature is missionary". To further emphasize the element of mission, he listed all the ministries in the Risen Christ Church and asked the participants to single out those which are missionary in nature. Only a handful was found to be missionary based. Mission, he said, was to see Christ in others and to make Christ known to others.

The participants were then divided into smaller groups. Each group was asked to discuss on certain selected questions The following are the questions that were given to the groups and summaries of their reports:

Q1 - How can ministries be an avenue for members to grow in faith? Are ministries doing it?

Some participants agreed that joining ministries enhances their faith. Those who agreed cited bible sharing, praying the rosary, talks, testimonies and mission trips as examples. However, the groups agreed that "God's agenda" should be above "an individual's agenda" when joining ministries. Those who are not in the ministries can also serve the Lord in their own way.

Q2 - How can communities be an avenue for members to grow in faith? Are communities doing it?

The groups concurred that communities which are Christ-based, help the members grow in faith. Among the examples cited where communities could help in faith growth include Small Christian Communities ("SCC"), Rosary, Divine Mercy, masses, sharing, testimonies, fellowships etc. And these communities serve as examples for others who do not belong to the church. But few communities are doing it. The groups suggested some activities such as faith formation programmes, interactions among parishioners, attachment to other ministries, prayer support, and personalised visit to parishioners via SCC, etc.

Q3 - What are some of the things the Church should stop doing, continue doing, starts doing?

Stop Doing
a. Stop being late for mass
b. Stop making noise in church (alternatively, have a children's room)
c. Stop in-fighting

Continue Doing
a. To identify various communities' needs (eg, elderly, youth, children etc)

Start Doing
a. Overseas mission trips
b. Adopt a charity / home in Singapore
c. Reach out to neighbours through SCC
d. Reach out to migrant workers
e. Booklets on services in church
f. Faith formation courses
g. Publicity of SCC

Q4 - How can we reach out to non-Catholics?
a. More publicity on Risen Christ Church 's free medical and legal clinics, and counselling sessions
b. Free religious-slated / family/ moral themed movie screening
c. Free meals for the poor
d. Publicise mass timings during Easter/Christmas in local newspapers
e. Find out from RCIA candidates what the church can do for them
f. Parish website to host video clips like Youtube
g. Bring-a-non-Catholic friend to church Sunday
h. Be kind, caring, humble, approachable to neighbours in our housing estate
i. Pray for neighbours
j. Visit hospitals / homes
k. Tuition centres for non-Catholics
l. Invitation to church activities / RCIA / Novena
m. Share with others how God has touched us
n. Bigger banners to invite non-Catholics to our mass
o. Distribute cards on our activities / services
p. Classes to open to non-Catholics such as line-dancing, English language, and art and craft
q. Bring our activities outside eg, Christmas on the streets
r. Senior citizen parties etc

Q5 - How to enhance a sense of belonging and community among Catholics?
a. Learn to live like early Christians
b. Merge some ministries
c. Support other ministries
d. For the elderly - Talk to them and organise afternoon masses
e. Reach out to people before mass starts
f. Have fellowships / talks
g. Choir to teach parishioners new songs & not to introduce too many new songs that parishioners can't follow
h. Youth Mass (with different tempo)
i. Children's room
j. Movie screening for parents, while their children attend catechism classes
k. Identify "lapsed" Catholics and reach out to them
l. Know those who are seated next to you in church

The Parish Assembly ended with a closing speech by Fr John Sim. He wrapped up the session, reminding the participants that it is important to be willing to be sent-forth and to love one another.