By Rev Fred David, Acting Vicar
“Go into the world and preach the Good news to all creation (Mark 16:15)
Our theme in this issue focuses on Mission. I pray that God will stir the hearts of every member to be excited over missions through this issue of the “Parish Link”. One of the major hurdles that churches face is communicating a vision for Missions. Vision is imperative for any Mission to be successful as it creates dedication, passion and sacrifice. But vision will also give the church the motivation to perform the task and get the job done.
Mission is therefore considered by some as the task of fulfilling the purpose for which Christ has been sent, firstly as a “servant”, (Mark 10; 45) and as a “sacrifice” (Matt 9:35-38). Mission thus is to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ in all its totality to every people and every generation.
We as a church must also think of mission in terms that it began with God. It was the first beat of God’s heart even before He breathes His Spirit upon the church. Consider this:
- God has always been mission minded.
- The Gospel is always a mission message, concerned with the salvation of every sinner.
- The Great Commission has always been the mission mandate for the church. It is this that makes the local church the centre of world evangelization.
Thus as we think of our church as a Missionary Church, let us consider this from the following perspectives.
1. A COMPASSIONATE GOD.
The Apostle John in his Gospel (John 3:16) was able to see God revealing Himself in 2 ways. John sees the following:
- A Description of God’s love. “God so loved” speaks of an “Extravagant” love that is infinite and everlasting. The prophet Jeremiah also experienced such love as in Jeremiah 31:3. A love that is incomprehensible and one that does not discriminate. God’s message of love is “Exhaustive” because it is directed to the “world” God is not willing that any one should perish (2 Peter 3:9) and that all man shall be saved. (1 Timothy 2:4) It is also an “Expensive” love in that He “gave himself’. God did not hold anything back but sacrificed all He had for us.
- A Demonstration of God’s love: Right there in Genesis 3:15, God promised a Savior who will deal with the sin of man and also provided a Savior to deal with the problem. In a way this is the first pronouncement of the Gospel. His promises are repeated and exemplified in the Old Testament. We need to see all these acts as being done in fulfilling these promises that according to the purpose of God Christ, died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) and that salvation is now offered to ail who believe as Christ’s finished work on the cross.
2.A COMPELLING MESSAGE:
The Apostle Paul is grateful to God (Rom 1:16) that the Gospel that was given to him was a Gospel to the world, Paul heard the message and was compelled to share it. (1 Cor 9:16) “Woe to me if 1 preach not the Gospel”.
- It is a Distinct Message: Every major reli¬gion we have in the world today tries to rely upon performance for salvation. But the dis-tinctiveness of the Gospel centers on a person for salvation, Jesus says, “I am the way,” (John 14:6). The Apostle Peter says “There is no other name” (Acts 4:12) and Paul “Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 13:38). So the Gospel finds its source, content and meaning in one person – Jesus Christ,
- It is a Dynamic message: Paul in Romans 1:16-17 finds that the Gospel is a peculiar message in that there are many messages but one Gospel that is; that Christ died for our sins, He was buried and He rose again on the third day. Paul sees that this is a powerful message. However it is a message for those who believe and those who hear. So our question is: “how?” and “who?” The answer to these will be that the Church must continue to send out her members in mission so as to be able to fulfill the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. A COMMISSIONED PEOPLE:
We must now come back to where we started with the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Two things must bear upon us that: first that “Mission is imperative” This means that every member is to be involved. The command to the disciples is to “Go”. Think of it as your morning walks but with a difference. It means that tomorrow as you walk you are called to speak to someone, share the Gospel with that person and spend time discipling him or her. It’s going to be a long morning walk from now on.
Secondly, Mission is Inclusive: it means that there is no choice. Everyone needs to hear the Gospel message. Therefore Christ command means that we are being sent or we are sending because every person must be evangelized. Christians therefore must be sent out into the world so that every creature will have the opportunity to hear the good news.
CONCLUSION:
We at St. Paul’s can walk in the footsteps of the many great sending churches of the past. But the opportunity to partner with others makes the reality of being a sending or mis¬sionary church more viable. With a vision before us, a passion wanning our hearts and an oneness in the body we are sure to get the job done and see our involvement taking us through some exciting times in Mission.
Remembering God’s Promises
Jeremiah 32:1-3, Jeremiah 32: 6-15
Rev Tan Jin Huat
Dr Bharathi, a Consultant Psychiatrist and Senior Lecturer in UPM, gave a talk on Aging and Memory to more than 60 care givers, invited guests, friends and members of the Golden Circle on 18 September 2010. The talk touched on Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.
More than 190 Anglican pastors and lay people participated in the Diocesan Mission Conference 2010 held at St PaUl’s Church, Petaling Jaya from 16 September to 17 September 2010. Speakers included our Bishop Ng Moon Hing, Rev David Seung-Kwan Yoo, Rev Isak Yoo (both from SaRang Community Church, South Korea), Rev Neil Watkinson, Dean Kuan Kim Seng of st Andrew’s Cathedral Singapore (also Director of Missions of the Diocese of Singapore) and Rev Michael Teh, Vicar of the Chapel the Holy Cross and Director of ACROSS
A surprsie for all fathers, grandfathers, godfathers in St Paul’s Church. The Women’s Fellowship and the Youth treated all fathers to a memorable breakfast. The Youth brought in the roti canai with a grand entrance and served the fathers. May God bless them all for this wonderful gesture and love. (See more photos at Flicker at sidebar)
The new elected members of the PCC and other heads of the ministries of St Paul’s held its first retreat at in the Friday night (18 June ) at St Paul’s Church followed by a full session on Saturady at Peace Community Church. Dr Tan Eng Lee of RBC Ministries gave three sessions of devotion and talks on leadership that depends on God’s strength in us, spiritual health of the leaders in their relationship with God, and the bonding of the leaders with one another through the work of the Holy Spirit, love and grace of God. Dr Tan spoke about the need of the leaders to depend totally on God’s grace and strength for the work of the ministries they are in and to stay connected with God spiritually at all time.
Download Registration Form Here
15th July 2010, Thursday (7.00PM – 10.00PM)
EQUIPPING PARENTS IN THE AREA OF MENTORING THEIR CHILDREN IN THE MODERN WORLD
- What every parent needs to know?
- How to CONNECT with your child
- “Our goal should not be only to understand their generation, but to connect with them, right where they are.”
- Growing up in a Modern world.
- Becoming relevant in your child’s world
- 3 views on culture
- 7 ways to stay relevant
- Gaining the Keys to their hearts
- Getting the keys to their hearts
- Be the SALT of the Earth
- Home security, How to gain INFLUENCE?
16th July 2010, Friday (7.00PM – 10.00PM)
SPIRITUAL MENTORING OF TEENS
- 7 Qualities of Effective Mentoring
- Building a Strong relationship
- Relationship Builder, Relationship Busters
- Becoming Your Teen’s Biggest Fan.
- Learning to be a Great Communicator
- Finding Time For Your Teen
- Appreciate Your Teen’s Uniqueness
- Overcoming conflicts
17th July 2010, Saturday (9.00AM – 5.00PM)
LEADERS/TRAINERS SESSION
- What is mentoring anyway?
- Defining what a developmental Relationship looks like.
- Starting a mentoring Relationship.
- Who to look for as you seek Paul, Barnabas and Timothy.
- Styles and Stereotypes.
- Removing the excuses that keep us from mentoring.
- The Art of Hosting a Discovery.
- Learning the nuts and bolts of the mentoring meeting.
- Connecting mentoring with Local church.
- Church growth.
- How to use the DVD Video and Mentoring Step by Step Guidebook “Successful Youth Mentoring”.
- 24 Practical sessions
FEES
PARENTS SESSION – THURSDAY/FRIDAY
$40 per person $60 per couple
LEADERS/TRAINERS SESSION – SATURDAY
$60.00 per person
Speakers
Sam and Priscilla Balanchander,
EYL International
About the Speakers
Mr. Samuel Balachander was with India Youth for Christ India for 20 years serving as a Area-Director for Eastern and Southern India. He has a strong burden for young people and evangelism, especially in the area of developing young leaders. He was instrumental in raising several young leaders in Nilgiris,Tirunelveli, Tiruvananthapuram, Kolkata and Bangalore.
His wife, Priscilla Balachander has an MTh.Diploma in Counseling & Communication, having served 20 years for Youth For Christ India in five major cities in India. She is a Christian counselor working among the teenage girls with suicidal tendency, mentoring underprivileged girls and teaching in the women’s conferences.
They have two children Aaron and Mark.
For futher information, please call:
St Paul’s Anglican Church, Petaling Jaya
Lorong Utara Kecil, 46200 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-7956 3309: Fax 03-7957 8548
Children from the Sunday School sang and paid tributes to their mothers. Listen to the sermon ” Honoring All Mothers” by Rev Fred David in the Sunday Sermon page.
