Highlights
This latter part of the year has flown by quickly! Ministries have largely continued as usual, with a couple of recent highlights: we 4 MTS apprentices were invited to attend the Spring Celebration event for Easy English classes which kicked off last term at St John’s. This was a great encouragement, to see 40+ students from all over the world gathered together, hearing the story of Jesus calming the storm and learning Christian songs together. Another great highlight was our church’s Celebration Sunday event, at which 27 candidates from 8 congregations and 4 language backgrounds were baptised and confirmed. I was involved in organising music teams from the English, Chinese, and Persian congregations to play during the day.
Pray to thank God for the great day we had together as a church family, and for those who publicly affirmed their faith. Ask that he would continue to grow them in knowledge of, and love for, their lord and saviour Jesus Christ.
In September I got to give a talk at Engage, our church youth group. I gave the final topical talk in a series titled “Jesus and…”, ending with the topic Jesus and Family (following on from Jesus and Love, Identity, Science, History etc.). It was the first opportunity I’ve had to give a Bible talk to our youth, and I found it to be a helpful challenge to consider how Jesus shapes our big-picture view of families.
Pray to thank God that I had the opportunity to prepare and deliver this talk. Pray also that our youth would know God’s love for them as their heavenly father, and seek in turn to display this love in their own lives as children of God.
Over the October long weekend, our church staff and apprentices had the opportunity to attend MTS Recruit along with 15 other church members. We spent this time considering the challenge to gospel work which is part and parcel of our calling as a Christian. It was a great encouragement to chat with my church peers, and new friends, and to hear the ways that they were convicted to set aside personal challenges and prioritise God. As an apprentice, I was able to share my experiences (albeit brief) of full time ministry with these peers, in addition to attending sessions on “Passing the Baton” to consider how we train others and multiply ministry in our churches.
Pray to thank God that he is multiplying ministry and growing his disciples at St John’s. Pray that he would continue to raise up faithful leaders to serve him and utilise their talents for his kingdom, and that I will continue seeking opportunities to grow and training church members.
Learnings
My trainer (Bruce) is keen to remind the staff that “ministry is a marathon, not a sprint”. With the busyness of the past weeks leading up to our Celebration Sunday event at church, and other ministries I’ve been involved in since my last newsletter (3 months ago now, wow!), it was a joy to spend 2 weeks in South Korea during October for annual leave. I was able to intentionally set aside my ministries for that block of time, and to remember that God is able to continue his work in my absence. I had opportunity to see the beauty of another part of God’s creation, and also to be reminded of the unity between fellow believers while attending a church service there. Seung Dong Presbyterian Church (승동교회) only ran services in Korean, yet we were welcomed by a kind usher who sourced bi-lingual hymnbooks for us so we could sing praises together to God.
Yet I also continue to learn that I must say no to good things, because my capacity is limited. I have had to pass up playing organ for external church events, and also involvement in summer mission this January, in order to prioritise other ministry responsibilities.
Pray to thank God for good rest during my annual leave, and a safe time away. Praise God that his gospel has gone out to all nations and for the unity of fellow believers in Jesus Christ. Ask that he would grow me in sustainability and learn to say no when I don’t have capacity.
I also continue to learn to depend on God, and to trust that his Spirit is the one at work to move hearts – not my own preparation. Rob, one of our student ministers, recently ran a training for our apprentices on “Confidence in Preaching & Teaching”. He reminded us that our confidence must rest firstly on God, who works to convict and grow our hearers in his Word. Our confidence in God, and conviction that he will use our efforts, will then flow into a secondary confidence of thoughtful preparation for preaching and teaching.
I was reminded of this in practice at an SRE lesson I taught last week: after my preparation, I felt quietly confident that I had put together a good lesson and that it would go over well with my class. However, that week the students were particularly restless and I could not get them to settle. I felt thoroughly distracted, and soon rather frustrated, that things seemed to have fallen apart. Yet after I had taught the lesson from Acts 16 on Paul and Lydia we sat down to do a colouring sheet; and as co-teacher and fellow apprentice Preeti chatted with the students about the lesson, they were able to recall important details about the characters and the way they displayed their faith through sharing the gospel. It was deeply encouraging yet humbling to be reminded that God was in control, not me.
Pray to thank God for the students in our SRE class, and that he continues to grow them in his Word. Pray that I would continue to depend on God and teach others with humility and patience.
The Marsden Fund 