When we arrived the overnight temperature dropped close to zero. Coming from warm Cairns we had the shock of our lives. It is the first time I have seen Michael’s lips turn blue.

We are in Perth for a working holiday so to speak.

I have pulpit ministry along with some leadership training workshops. It has been nice to have the family here and I get to juggle day trips, sermon prep and some jogs around the Swan River.

I have been impressed with the ‘new’ and ‘fresh’ feeling that Perth exudes as a city. It does not seem to have the ‘weariness’ that parts of Sydney or Brisbane have. Perth is easy to navigate around and one wrong turn does not consign you to geographical purgatory.

The food is second to none with fantastic restaurants wherever you turn.

WA has some food chains that I have not seen on the East Coast, like Chicken Treat and Miami Bakehouse. Even the IGA’s are more like gourmet deli’s than just a plain old super market. You can even can get sushi there. Glory!

We are ministering to a largely Asian congregation who have settled in Perth from places such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. We have enjoyed their fellowship and have felt an immediate unity that only the Gospel can bring.

At our mid-week meeting I was talking to a young guy who has been saved only a year. He is in Perth for Uni. He told me of his desire to come to prayer meeting despite his heavy study routine. So he decided to trust the Lord, come to prayer meeting anyway and get up the next morning at 2am to hit the books again.

My brother told me of the blessing this has brought him and how the Lord still enabled him to get good marks. He said he felt like Daniel who asked the king permission to eat vegetables and after 10 days to see if he was as strong and healthy as the others in his court.

I was reminded again that whenever we are willing to take the yoke of sacrificial service the Lord blesses above all that we can ask or think.

On the teaching front, one seminar that I prepared was about moving from spiritual passivity to active ministry.

Here is the outline:-

Recognise that lasting change must happen from within the heart and often takes time;

Lead by example;

Emphasise the ‘servant’ truths of Scripture;

Teach often on ‘stewardship’ of our lives to counter the false ‘ownership’ concept;

Rally the troops around Biblical and aspirational goals with achievable plans;

Learn to delegate to maximise involvement;

Develop the men in your church;

Encourage believers to become church members and set out expectations of them.

If can think of any others I would appreciate your comments. So with those thoughts, have an active week serving our great God!

Robert Apps

• 7,500 online shoppers unknowingly sold their souls: Fox News.
• This puts our financial woes in perspective.
• James Steinbach’s got a brilliant post on Associations (and why they might not be as important as you’ve been told).
• A pointed letter from John Newton.

“Of all people who engage in controversy, we who are called Calvinists are most expressly bound by our own principles to the exercise of gentleness and moderation.”

• Russell Moore: How much do I need to know about my potential spouse’s sexual past?

“Jesus was a virgin. His Bride wasn’t. He loved us anyway.”

• Michael Jenson: Five reasons why I don’t like lists of Bible verses.

I’ve posted some of the more transient (and funny) links on my Twitter account.

If I had seen the same presentation a year earlier, I would not have given it much thought.  But my situation had recently changed.  At that time, Di and I were living in the US and applying to join a mission agency.  If we were approved, we would soon begin raising support.  So we were no longer casual spectators — we were prospective missionaries with many questions.  As I considered that night’s dramatic presentation, I wondered: “What are we getting ourselves into?”

Deputation, anyone?

Generally, deputation is the process of appointing someone to act for the needs of another.  When a missionary family is “on deputation,” they are presenting the spiritual needs of another people or country to fellow believers.  Churches may then decide to “deputise” or appoint that missionary family to go and reach those people for Christ.  When the appointed family has sufficient financial support, they leave for their field of service.  Another term for deputation is pre-field ministry, which helps to describe deputation as a time of special preparation.

Before beginning pre-field ministry, I had privately felt deputation was an impossible mission because of the challenges of raising support from independent churches.  One challenge is the upheaval: pre-field time usually involves changing jobs, selling house, and moving.  It is normal for missionary candidates to travel to over 100 churches to present their mission, seeking support.  Imagine visiting that many churches!  Increased living by faith is another challenge.  As a candidate makes the transition from regular employment to mission support, he is trusting that God will provide through sponsors, rather than directly through corporate paychecks for his labour.  To be supported for ministry work is a privilege, but it also requires a healthy trust in the Provider.

Other difficulties include the struggle to schedule meetings with churches and the length of time needed to raise financial support.  This last factor is the most ponderous.  Spending two years (or more) to raise support seems so long.  Many believers consider these realities of pre-field ministry and conclude that deputation is “not for me.”

Our pre-field experience

After careful consideration, advice, and prayer, Di and I determined to raise support in the US before serving the Lord in Australia.  We joined a mission agency, Biblical Ministries Worldwide, and began deputation.  As it turned out, our experience was not the typical pre-field experience.  We did not need to travel extensively and spent more time with fewer churches.  Eventually, God provided enough support through these churches and friends, so we could begin work in Sydney.

While I thank God for His incredible goodness, I am concerned for prospective missionaries and believers in general who may harbour the same attitude toward deputation as I did previously.  What changed my opinion toward deputation?  It was the realisation that pre-field ministry is more than fundraising.  It is a special time of ministry preparation.

Deputation = preparation

After completing the Master of Divinity degree (also known as the “Master of Infinity” because of the time required), I was thankful for the ministry preparation along the way.  School and local church ministry are important in preparing for vocational ministry.  The ordination process confirms that a man called by God is set apart and adequately equipped for ministry.  The pre-field process continues and enhances the preparation for service, shaping and developing you in ways that formal instruction and home church involvement may not provide.

Exposure to multiple churches and ministries: The pre-field process is like being on a ministry team, where you can interact with many churches.  It is fascinating to personally observe and evaluate how other like-minded churches are worshiping, learning the Word, and reaching out to their communities.

More experience in the school of prayer: The challenges of deputation chipped away at our self-reliance.  Those who need to raise support find themselves constantly turning in prayer to the Lord of the harvest.  The power of friends’ prayers also becomes more apparent.  I found that a stronger prayer lifestyle is the most common reality for men and women who have spent time in deputation.

Confidence that God has gone before you: Related to prayer is the joy of discovering answers to prayers.  It is challenging to find supporting churches.  But God answered prayers in ways we never imagined.  Every missionary can share unconventional stories, because we serve an unconventional God!

New opportunities to serve: Pre-field is a time of promotion: we promote our vision, the specific mission field, and the needs of the people we intend to reach.  But pre-field work is essentially a ministry to others—for God’s glory, not ours.  How is deputation a ministry?  As missionaries present their mission to churches, they get to share testimonies of God redeeming and calling them to serve Him.  They serve by encouraging other believers to lift up their eyes to God’s harvest and to join in His work, locally or elsewhere in the world.  Serving also means preparing sermons and special talks, listening patiently to others in churches and homes, and managing correspondence and paperwork.

For most missionaries, pre-field ministry seems disjointed because of the constant traveling to multiple churches.  It’s also hard for them to keep involved in their home church when they are away.  But deputation is more enjoyable when you go as servants.  A businessman might look at the typical process of visiting many churches and think, “How inefficient!”  True enough, but a servant thanks God for another opportunity to serve this way, whether a church supports him or not.

If you are considering mission work, don’t be deterred by deputation.  God uses this experience to prepare more effective, God-dependent servants for His kingdom.

“Depend upon it, God’s work, done in God’s way, will never lack God’s supplies.” Hudson Taylor

Ben Kwok

I think we generally find it easy enough to minister in the body. We are part of the family and we expect to do our part. It’s easy enough being the biceps of the body, but what about when you’re the broken arm?

The humility of helplessness

There are seasons in our lives when we cannot minister to others as much as we’d like. There can be many reasons for this:

• We may be physically ill.
• We may be mentally or emotionally unable to function.
• We may be in all out warfare with our own sinful desires.
• We may be legitimately overworked in other areas.
• We may be seeking to address some sinful habits in our lives.
• We may be facing a trial that is threatening to overwhelm us.

There is something deeply humbling about meeting with the body and not ministering to others but instead letting others minister to us. So humbling, in fact, that sometimes we refuse to do it.

.

The frustrating patient

It’s a classic scenario. The teenage boy with a broken arm who’s climbing trees and playing sport. Mum keeps telling him he’s got to go easy on the arm, but he just can’t slow down.

When ministry is pride

To refuse to admit our weakness in moments of helplessness is pride. To insist on carrying on meeting the needs of others while avoiding the help of the body is to fail to admit our own need for the ministry of God’s grace through the body.

In other words, to focus on ministering when we should be focusing on our relationship with God is a deep offence against God.

• It is a practical denial of the gospel which rests on our admission of helplessness.
• It is a response of pride that avoids admitting weakness and helplessness.
• Worst of all, it assumes that Christianity is about what we do for God instead of what God has done for us.

Can helpless people minister?

I am not suggesting that helpless people shouldn’t minister. If helpless people couldn’t minister, Christians couldn’t minister because admitting our helplessness is the foundation of gospel living.

What I am saying is that there are seasons of life when we should probably step out of our role as creche worker or usher or teacher for a time. There are seasons when we should not, or cannot, minister as we would like to.

In those times, our hearts may condemn us. We may feel guilty for not doing as much as we used to. But we need to see the deep-seated pride that drives that thinking. We need to recognise that if God has put us in a place of helplessness for a time, that healing will come as we allow the body to minister to us in our need.

By and by, the broken arm will heal. And we will once again do the heavy lifting for a while.

A good friend and mentor taught this personal life lesson to me.

NO VISION, NO ABILITY TO EXECUTE

“We’ve tried it before.”  “That won’t work here.”  “I’m too busy.”

It can be very disheartening to meet people who have no vision for God’s work and no heart to see it accomplished.  The Ephesians were partly culpable of this in Revelation – “you have abandoned the love you had at first.”  Like the Ephesians, people don’t start off like this – they grow into it.  Mighty rivers grow stagnant without the continual flow of water.  What makes this problem particularly difficult in church ministry is that these people are often the strongest voice against vision and process.  Responding to this issue requires prayer, humility and servanthood.

GREAT VISION, NO ABILITY TO EXECUTE

“I have a great idea!”  “I really have a burden for this.”

A few years ago I offered to help with a Bible club.  My new job took up significantly more time than I thought and my good intentions and vision ultimately had no effect on the club and I had to apologise to the people that I was supposed to work with.  Young Turks in the church may be anxious to change everything – but do you have the ability actually do what you want to do?  Have you quantified your great idea?  Does the church share your vision?  What are you going to do once the initial excitement has worn off?  And most importantly – have you prayerfully infused your idea with truth and Biblical principles?  Remember that a great vision without the ability to follow up leads to bitterness and potentially disaster (cf. 1980s scandals).

NO VISION, GREAT ABILITY TO EXECUTE

“I guess it’s your turn to teach Sunday School again.”

What’s the difference between a liturgical service and a Baptist service?  The liturgical service has one less song before the announcements.   Being able to do things in an orderly fashion is an excellent goal.  Being mechanically disconnected with your church ministry is very dangerous.  What percentage of your church community is actively participating versus passively receiving?  People will act on an opportunity when they are inspired.  Wholehearted enthusiasm is infectious.

Here’s a closing exercise for you to think on: 1) pick one “visionary” opportunity that’s within your God-given talents, 2) list out what steps it would take to achieve that vision, 3) prayerfully ask God to increase your vision and your ability to execute.  You might not act immediately – but it’s a step in the right direction.

Two young American soldiers visited our church. They were on leave from many months serving in Iraq.

They left the hell of the deserts of ancient Babylon to find some relief in Cairns. They found our church on the web and wanted to come.

They had not been able to go to church for a long time and perhaps just as bad, had enjoyed no home cooked meals.

They were two believers hungry for fellowship and the Word of God.

It was our privilege to have them with us for lunch afterwards and enjoy some fellowship.

Thankfully, we also had family staying, who like the Master, were able to multiply the bread and fishes for our surprise visitors.

I learned again that you never know what a ‘Sunday can bring forth’.

God can bring us visitors, whether locals or from the ends of the earth, even Iraq.

We need to be available for them. Treat them well, for these labours are not forgotten by Christ.

Some of our visitors will find the demands of Bible preaching onerous, the traditional music boring, but at least they shouldn’t fault us for being unfriendly.

At least we can love them.

I also learned that we should value every sermon we hear.

No, not the sermons you download and put on your IPod.

The real sermons.

The ones you hear when you assemble with God’s people and there is a pulpit at the front and centre and a Bible passage is being proclaimed and explained.

Our visitors were thirsty souls had not heard a sermon while gathered with the brethren for months.

How many sermons do I listen to that I treat so flippantly?

So whatever you do next Sunday, look out for any visitors, especially the first timers.

‘Us’ regulars should be lining up to meet and greet them.

For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. Hebrews 6:10

Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. Hebrews 13:1-2

By Robert Apps

The iPad makes your research tools more accessible. Logos has a version for the iPad which gives you access to your books in the iPad form factor.  This is one step closer to the resolution of the debate between paper vs. digital commentaries.  PDF documents are common in pastoral libraries.  Many of the original sources have been converted to PDF thanks the ceaseless work of the people at Ages Digital Library and other groups such as CCEL.  I like to print out my PDFs and mark them up with a yellow highlighter and red pen.  iAnnotate for the iPad gives you the same functionality with the ability to correlate your annotations for easy reference when you’re trying to remember where you got that incredible quote or illustration from.   Another neat feature in iAnnotate is the ability to open multiple PDFs in a tabbed interface allowing for cross referencing.  The convergence of Apple iBooks, Amazon Kindle, B&N eReader, and free programs like Stanza onto one device is a great benefit for book lovers.  I’m reading Os Guiness’ The Call through Kindle and a book on the history of China through B&N.

The iPad can change the context of your working environment.  The evangelists of the Great Awakening used to study and pray on horseback.  Ministers now have the opportunity with a form factor that fits somewhere between a traditional notepad and a smart phone.  I see a lot of benefit in the prepaid 3G plans for Australian readers.  It allows you to use the Internet and email in the native form factor when you are out of the office.

Taking notes on the iPad produces mixed results. As a touch typist, I find that if I trust the flat interface it produces excellent results.  At this point I am still double guessing myself as my hammer-fingers look for some form of tacticity on the glass screen.  I might get used to it – but the Bluetooth keyboard is a great addition.

Most of the ministers that I know adopted some form of PDA (palm, pocket pc, etc) prior to the adoption of smartphones.  I don’t think that you can classify the iPad in the same category.  Give it a try and let’s get some more ministry-related feedback on its potential.  I’ll be happy to answer your specific questions as well.  By the way – don’t think that the iPad will magically cure daydreaming, tiredness or difficult textual problems.  It’s only a tool.

“…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”      Matthew 5:16

Each month, volunteers from our church spend a Saturday morning working in bushland near Rouse Hill.  We are part of the local council’s Bushcare program, which includes training and supervision.

The bushland reserve is located in a residential area.  Most of the time is spent removing weeds by hand, so that native plants can thrive.  A thicket of prickly lantana covers the whole area and we have gradually cut a swathe into it.  I hate lantana.  It’s toilsome work and will probably take years to complete the project.

As we sweat, many dog walkers and joggers pass by on the footpath, watching.  People normally do yard work if they own the place or if they are paid to work.  We’re serving because we want to love the community and “let our light shine.”

Often, locals have expressed appreciation for the project.  Some have recently applied to join in.  This is the first church ministry I’ve worked in where strangers want to help.

Community service does not replace the Gospel.  There are more threatening weeds to uproot!  Yet there are many ways for people to see our good works and glorify the Father.

Ben Kwok

“He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.”   I Corinthians chapter 3, verse 8

In church culture, it seems that the one who actually leads a person to Christ is the one who gets the most credit.  In God’s eyes, the one who plants and the one who waters are the same.

This does not mean that your work doesn’t matter in the end.  Some workers plant the Gospel — they will be rewarded according to their labour.  Some workers see growth arising from the Gospel and they nurture that growth — they will be rewarded according to their labour.  Some workers get to reap a plentiful harvest — they too will be rewarded according to their labour.

It’s interesting that in God’s economy, there is perfect equality among workers that communism could never achieve, yet there is also opportunity to be rewarded on an individual level.

Ultimately, all the credit goes to God.  He gives the opportunities and causes the growth.  In contrast, we are not “anything” (v. 7); we are “servants” (v. 5).

But God also calls us his “fellow workers.”  This word is used only one other time in the New Testament, in I Thessalonians 3:2, where Paul calls Timothy “God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ.”  The word “fellow” is the word for synergy, where you have two working together for more productivity.

How would you evaluate your own labour for the Gospel?  When was the last time you mentioned gospel truths to a non-Christian?

It’s encouraging to know that as you share your faith with someone, you are never by yourself — you are working alongside God!  How gracious He is to consider us as partners.  He will bless your work.

Ben Kwok

Do you remember the first time you had the opportunity to teach the Bible in a public setting?  Preparing for your first teaching opportunity introduces a strange mixture of fear and anxiety.  Beyond public speaking itself – you might be nervous about your content or who will be listening (for example – the pastor in the back of the church).  Chances are that you will write down exactly what you want to say and spend far too long saying it.

Unfortunately, there can be an inverse relationship between your personal comfort with the teaching opportunity and your preparation for the opportunity.  Imagine that you are a Sunday School teacher looking at a ten week opportunity.  For weeks 1-3, you imbibe the message of the text through careful study, mediation, and prayer.  Week 4 is a review week.  Week 5+ comes in on a wing and a prayer.  Why is it that we always have time to watch Masterchef and no time to spend 30 minutes preparing for the bi-weekly group Bible study?

I’ve had all of these opportunities and experienced all of these pitfalls.  Here are some suggestions for making the most of your teaching opportunity:

1) Start with the big picture – If you don’t know where to start, try reading the five chapters before and after your text.  Understanding the context is crucial to good exegesis.  Prayer for illumination and meditation is very valuable at this point as well.  Well-defined context goes a long way to answering the “why is this applicable to me” question.  Don’t rush to the commentaries on Logos – breath the Word.

2) Think carefully about your audience - Have you ever delivered an inspiring quote only to be met with blank stares?  It is very possible that your audience wasn’t reading Spurgeon, Guiness, or Dever in the week leading up to this teaching opportunity.  Make sure you think specifically about the appropriateness of your message.

3) Break up your prep time into manageable chunks - Saturday night is a tough time to prepare for a teaching opportunity.  It’s a great time to review what you have prepared.  15 minutes per weekday with prayer and mediation will lead to thoughtful, efficient preparation.

4) Don’t apologise for your lack of preparation – It’s actually quite insulting to apologise and then take up an hour of someone’s time with teaching that you yourself have labeled as suspect.  It’s like offering someone the mango seed after eating the cheeks.  The best thing you can do is to tell people honestly and then facilitate an inductive Bible study that is focused on the actual text itself.  Break down the sentence structure and marvel together at the power of the Word spoken.

5) Watch out for these teaching pitfalls - Don’t spend too much time repeating what you said last week.  Don’t spend too much time talking about your own life and/or soliciting examples from other people’s lives (keep it closely tied to the text).  Don’t be a sluice gate by spending all of your time on the early text without addressing the whole text.