1. Often we use the language “because it works” in regards to a certain outcome or result we are aiming for.  Unfortunately a lot of the time this outcome revolves around numbers.  If there is numerical growth, particularly through conversions, we think that the ministry is ‘working’.  Whilst this is not the place to discuss the ‘numbers’ debate, it is worth mentioning that numbers are not always a good indication of a healthy or biblical ministry.  There are plenty of ministry examples with large numbers and people being ‘saved’ without the slightest mention of the Gospel, the very means by which people are saved.  There are also many examples of ministry around the world where faithful people have shared the Gospel for many years without seeing numerical growth.  Numerical growth is not reason enough to continue doing the things you are doing.
2. The second reason is that God uses even sinful means to achieve His purposes.  This is one of the great encouragements of ministry.  We see this consistently throughout the Bible.  We see the fall of humanity as a means of God revealing his salvific nature through Christ.  We see the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart as a means to bring forth a miraculous deliverance for God’s people.  We see the Babylonians rising up against Israel to fulfil God’s judgment.  We see Judas’ betrayal of Jesus being used as part of God’s plan to redeem His people through the cross.  Whilst God will not endorse our sinful activities, His plans will certainly not be thwarted by them.  God’s work amongst our ministries needs to be received as a sign of grace from God rather than a sign that we’ve got it ‘right’.

“Because it works” can be the greatest deception in achieving a ministry that honours God.  As ministers of the Gospel there should be only one driving reason that shapes the way we do ministry.  That reason is, “because that’s how God wants me to do ministry”.  We find out how God wants us to serve Him by digging deep into His Word and asking questions such as, “What does the Bible say about:

• How and what I should preach;
• The role of family in raising children in the faith;
• The importance of mentoring relationships;
• The shape and nature of the church;
• How to evangelise the community;
• The purpose and expression of gifts in the church; and
• How to train and equip others?”

The great trap in our society today is to jump on the pragmatic ministry bandwagon.  For God desires that we would seek His will for our ministries rather than chasing after the latest and greatest ministry fad.

Lisa Brown is the Lecturer in Youth Ministry and Coordinator of CYCM at Ridley Melbourne: Mission & Ministry College.

To give a bit of context, I help to lead the English congregation called Embrace English Fellowship in a small church called Melbourne Chinese Bible Church (MCBC) in West Footscray. Our vision is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Western suburbs, particularly to our friends, family and the wider community in the West. At the moment we are pastor-less as a Church and we run off lay-preachers and some guest preachers. Without a pastor we face tremendous challenges. I believe we have arrived at the most critical point in the history of MCBC in terms of direction and any potential growth. I believe there is so much potential because strategically, we are situated almost within walking distance from Victoria University, we are young, we are English speaking Asians within a pretty large community of Asians and we have a core group that love Jesus and His Word. God has blessed us with some really gifted and hard working leaders. They are a joy to work with and given the right leadership and training, could really thrive!

Our biggest problem is finding the right pastor who is culturally-sensitive, commands respect, is Gospel-focussed, godly and loving, and can teach and pioneer this church into the future (Titus 1, 1 Timothy 3).  Speaking of the right fit, I believe this person would need to be someone who is flexible, who can capitalise on the potential influx of university students at Victoria Uni, and has a passion for doing cross-cultural ministry and youth ministry. At this point I would ask for prayer for our leadership teams and our Deacons board, for prayers in wisdom in our search for the right Pastor to see shepherd the flock.

Given the search will take a while and the desperate shortage of Pastors already, even less attractive because we live in the West, the immediate but more controllable challenge we face is really equipping our leaders to teach the Bible well and understand how to do ministry. But the difficulty with this is that because we are small, much of the work falls on the shoulders of too few leaders, so they don’t have the capacity to keep being innovative with ministry, keep up the energy and keep their passion burning for Christ because they are already buried with administration and ministry already. So we need to keep an eye out for and begin training up the next generation of leaders.

From my two years of experience, I believe Connect helps to address this more controllable challenge. From what I have seen, it helps to equip the leaders we already have by training and guiding them with the right tools and right methods to run Bible Studies that meets them on their level, teach leaders about how to do mentoring, how to run a Youth Group, how to understand other religions, and generally how to think strategically about ministry as a deacon/lay leader/pastor. It gives leaders the rare opportunity to ‘feast’ on great Bible talks as well. One of the big encouragements for me was the fantastic time to meet together as Christians with different leaders at Asian churches who face the same issues to encourage each other, to network, and to point each other to Christ. We are running a combined Church Camp with another larger Asian church this year, spurned off the back of meeting and making new Christian friends/partners as a result of Connect. As a small church in the West, without much support, this type of encouragement, sharing of ideas and prayers definitely encouraged me over the past year.

So while I pray God provides us with a Pastor, and I believe He is good, that He will provide, I believe it’s equally important to train up the leaders we have now in ministry, how to think strategically about ministry, where to focus the resources so that we can truly burn for Christ and not burn out. I ask for your prayers for Melbourne Chinese Bible Church, that God will give us everything we need to do His work, for love, for wisdom, for growth in maturity and number and for a Pastor in the short to medium term because there are exciting times that lay ahead for the Gospel in the Western Suburbs.

Brian Luong is Leader of Embrace English Fellowship, Melbourne Chinese Bible Church (West Footscray).

This is the first of a series of monthly online articles that Connect Ministry intends to publish for the life and ministry of the churches in Melbourne.

The feedback (yes, we’ve read every single form) has been overwhelmingly positive and we are humbled to be part of God’s work in the ministry.

Special thanks to all the Mike Raiter for challenging us all from his word (we hope many renewed lattes will be shared) and the God’s message shared was, dare we say, ‘awesome’. Thank you also to all the strand leaders for faithfully teaching us how to better read and teach the bibles.

It is our humble prayer that this is merely the beginning of a Melbourne wide movement, and only one small part of a global movement, to see God’s word taught, leaders and teachers grown and lives transformed for the sake of the gospel. We want to encourage all those who attended to not keep the lessons learned bottled up, but to share it. Teach it. Preach it. So that His kingdom might increase in your immediate circles and throughout the generations.

We’re still organising the details for Connect Training Conference 2010, but the dates are already locked in: Friday 17 Sept (evening) to Monday 20 Sept (afternoon). Register your interest and we’ll let you know when more details become available. Also if you think this would be of benefit for the leaders of your whole church, let us know and we’ll be more than happy to arrange for someone to share about Connect Ministry with your pastors.

Finally, thank you God – for rescuing us from death to life. May we be faithful and fruitful with what you have entrusted to us. Amen.