Hey One and All.
Very excited by the fact that there is less than a month until I start at church. I'm actually on holiday (self-imposed) until
I do start. So no blogs until the 1st of February. But I'm always available for talking on my phone, or fb or any of the other numerous ways the internet has given us to communicate. A massive praise is that I have commitments for about 90% of the
support I'll need for the next two years. I'd love prayer that I raise the rest, and that I always remember to place God's will
first.
Hope you have a fantastic new years.
Tim
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Serving.
Hey people who read this! Just a short one today. I spent the weekend looking after seven kids between the ages of 6 and 8. They were delightful and it was a great weekend (I planned crafts that weren’t just colouring in!) but it was a reminder of why I prefer working with youth…Although I am truly grateful that God placed me in children’s ministry for three years because I learnt so much. This weekend was a reminder of how God sets things up for the best. Since high school I’d wanted to work with youth but when I decided to start doing that in a Christian environment my first ministry involvement was with children.
And it was a real blessing. I learnt from both the kids and my fellow leaders that leadership takes patience, compassion, kindness, a willingness to listen but most of all a desire to serve. Kids Alive was in many ways a crucible for me. Growing up I had great leaders and I had this desire to be like them, but in many ways it was a corrupt desire, one for prestige and a desire to be served. I failed to realise that my leaders they leading because they got any material reward from it but because they had a desire that we were looked after, and that we learnt, and the Christian leaders also desired that we would come to know God. Kids alive swept aside that notion pretty quickly. There was no real reward for looking after the kids each Sunday. The real reward was that God had chosen to use a clay jar for his purposes. I slowly came to realise that leadership was about serving others and making sure that they’re needs were met not mine.
Being reminded of that this weekend was awesome. I am incredibly thankful that God placed me in a position where I would be able to learn so much from so many people. God really does work in unexpected and wonderful ways. I’d appreciate prayer this week that as I lead at church, especially next year, that I have a servant heart, and that my desires are those that God has for me. For fundraising next I have commitments for about 66% of the total for the next two years so that’s great (although continued prayer that I can raise the rest would also be appreciated!)
As always if you want to chat or ask me any questions: timlearningtoserve@gmail.com.
And it was a real blessing. I learnt from both the kids and my fellow leaders that leadership takes patience, compassion, kindness, a willingness to listen but most of all a desire to serve. Kids Alive was in many ways a crucible for me. Growing up I had great leaders and I had this desire to be like them, but in many ways it was a corrupt desire, one for prestige and a desire to be served. I failed to realise that my leaders they leading because they got any material reward from it but because they had a desire that we were looked after, and that we learnt, and the Christian leaders also desired that we would come to know God. Kids alive swept aside that notion pretty quickly. There was no real reward for looking after the kids each Sunday. The real reward was that God had chosen to use a clay jar for his purposes. I slowly came to realise that leadership was about serving others and making sure that they’re needs were met not mine.
Being reminded of that this weekend was awesome. I am incredibly thankful that God placed me in a position where I would be able to learn so much from so many people. God really does work in unexpected and wonderful ways. I’d appreciate prayer this week that as I lead at church, especially next year, that I have a servant heart, and that my desires are those that God has for me. For fundraising next I have commitments for about 66% of the total for the next two years so that’s great (although continued prayer that I can raise the rest would also be appreciated!)
As always if you want to chat or ask me any questions: timlearningtoserve@gmail.com.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Doings...
Hey Reader. I hope you’re not as dozy reading this as when I wrote it. But then I’m only dozy because I just woke up from an afternoon nap. I’m a big fan of the Spanish Siesta and I figure the only way I can introduce it to Australia is by modelling it. Hopefully by the time I start working at church they’ll all have caught on. Jokes.
Anyway, enough of the silliness, and onto real stuff. I’ve now got an official start date for when I start at church, Wednesday the 27th of January which is very exciting. Almost two weeks have passed since my information night which went very well. My thanks go to everyone who came. The three new interns for next year, myself included, were all interviewed by our trainers about what we’ll be doing next year. It was encouraging to have friends and family there to support me. I’ve also started calling people to ask if they’ll consider financially supporting me next year, and this has also been encouraging to see that people are really willing to support me in this. So you’ll probably get a call as well sometime in the next month.
One of the good things in my life at the moment is the fact that I’m starting to get ready to help lead on the year 9 and 10 team at Summer School. It’s great because we’ll be doing 1 Timothy and it’s been really good to go through that again because it’s so focused on how God wants us to work in churches. Also great has been the preparation for ImpacKt and looking at Revelation. I’m really excited to be on both those camps and just see how the Lord works.
The other exciting thing in the last couple of weeks has been my rediscovery of one of my favourite Bible chapters. I read through the Bible from beginning to end and occasionally come across something that really strikes me. Then I forget the reference after about a month and it turns into Atlantis. But last week I found it again, it’s Ezekial chapter 16, It’s this incredibly powerful portrayal of Israel as this little girl God raises up, who turns into a beautiful woman, who then prostitutes herself out in the worst way, paying others to use her. She is so bad that she makes Sodom look good in comparison. Then at the end of the chapter God says that he will make atonement for Israel’s sin so that he can keep his covenant with her. This picture of Israel really reminds me of how much I turn away from God, but that he still made atonement for me. God is totally amazing.
Prayer Stuff: That I would keep on being in the Word and spending time with God. That I will be humble as I prepare myself for next year. Also prayer for raising money would be great. Praise God that I’ve raised 42 percent for the next couple of years but also pray that I’ll continue to be bold in asking people if they’ll support me.
Have a great week.
Anyway, enough of the silliness, and onto real stuff. I’ve now got an official start date for when I start at church, Wednesday the 27th of January which is very exciting. Almost two weeks have passed since my information night which went very well. My thanks go to everyone who came. The three new interns for next year, myself included, were all interviewed by our trainers about what we’ll be doing next year. It was encouraging to have friends and family there to support me. I’ve also started calling people to ask if they’ll consider financially supporting me next year, and this has also been encouraging to see that people are really willing to support me in this. So you’ll probably get a call as well sometime in the next month.
One of the good things in my life at the moment is the fact that I’m starting to get ready to help lead on the year 9 and 10 team at Summer School. It’s great because we’ll be doing 1 Timothy and it’s been really good to go through that again because it’s so focused on how God wants us to work in churches. Also great has been the preparation for ImpacKt and looking at Revelation. I’m really excited to be on both those camps and just see how the Lord works.
The other exciting thing in the last couple of weeks has been my rediscovery of one of my favourite Bible chapters. I read through the Bible from beginning to end and occasionally come across something that really strikes me. Then I forget the reference after about a month and it turns into Atlantis. But last week I found it again, it’s Ezekial chapter 16, It’s this incredibly powerful portrayal of Israel as this little girl God raises up, who turns into a beautiful woman, who then prostitutes herself out in the worst way, paying others to use her. She is so bad that she makes Sodom look good in comparison. Then at the end of the chapter God says that he will make atonement for Israel’s sin so that he can keep his covenant with her. This picture of Israel really reminds me of how much I turn away from God, but that he still made atonement for me. God is totally amazing.
Prayer Stuff: That I would keep on being in the Word and spending time with God. That I will be humble as I prepare myself for next year. Also prayer for raising money would be great. Praise God that I’ve raised 42 percent for the next couple of years but also pray that I’ll continue to be bold in asking people if they’ll support me.
Have a great week.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
What's been going on...
Hey to the three people who read this! Here’s new blog. A little late admittedly, but that’s because I’ve decided to post every two weeks. This was on the advice of a good friend, who suggested that this would probably improve the quality and save me time and stress. Not sure about the quality (hopefully) but the time and stress should be good. I do promise that I will update roughly every fortnight though, and if I learn anything super helpful I’ll update sooner than that.
Anyway, nothing much exciting happened in the last couple of weeks anyway. I did go to a pool party, but I’m not sure that that’s what this blog is about. Although I do like a good bbq. On a more serious note, I started putting my application for Bible College together, and that should get sent off this week. I realised that I’m getting quite excited about Bible College, especially the fact that it’s going to really open up God’s Word to me. I’m looking forward to learning more about the context, the author’s backgrounds and, even, hopefully come out with an understanding, however vague of Ezekiel.
I’m also looking forward to the Intern support raising night on Wednesday (it’s at 7:45 pm, St. Paul’s Castle Hill), where I’ll get to share about why I feel that ministry is where God is calling me and what I’ll be doing over the next couple of years. One of the things that I’ll be discussing I guess is how you guys can support me. Prayer is definitely important, especially that I really listen and pay attention to what God would have me do. Also, and this is very important, that I would never be too busy doing ministry to be doing ministry. By this, I just mean that I’ll never put off a friend or something important, because I’m working in the church office or because I’m too tired from college. Relationships are really what God uses to bring people to Him, and I just never want to be so busy doing “ministry work” that I fail to see the people around me.
The other way to support is financial. I’ll be looking at raising 20,800 dollars for the next two years, so 200 dollars a week. This should just about keep me in petrol, college books, and camps. It doesn’t sound like much but since my parents are being very generous and allowing me to live at home for another two years, it should work out. If you feel that God is leading you to support me financially that’d be really cool, and I’ll certainly appreciate it. Please, however, pray about giving to me, because while God wants us to support ministry He may have some other ministry that He is really calling you to encourage financially. Yeah, so that’s about the next week for me, and as a final plug if you can please come along on Wednesday night!
As always, questions, comments and any feedback really can be sent to me at timlearningtoserve@gmail.com.
Anyway, nothing much exciting happened in the last couple of weeks anyway. I did go to a pool party, but I’m not sure that that’s what this blog is about. Although I do like a good bbq. On a more serious note, I started putting my application for Bible College together, and that should get sent off this week. I realised that I’m getting quite excited about Bible College, especially the fact that it’s going to really open up God’s Word to me. I’m looking forward to learning more about the context, the author’s backgrounds and, even, hopefully come out with an understanding, however vague of Ezekiel.
I’m also looking forward to the Intern support raising night on Wednesday (it’s at 7:45 pm, St. Paul’s Castle Hill), where I’ll get to share about why I feel that ministry is where God is calling me and what I’ll be doing over the next couple of years. One of the things that I’ll be discussing I guess is how you guys can support me. Prayer is definitely important, especially that I really listen and pay attention to what God would have me do. Also, and this is very important, that I would never be too busy doing ministry to be doing ministry. By this, I just mean that I’ll never put off a friend or something important, because I’m working in the church office or because I’m too tired from college. Relationships are really what God uses to bring people to Him, and I just never want to be so busy doing “ministry work” that I fail to see the people around me.
The other way to support is financial. I’ll be looking at raising 20,800 dollars for the next two years, so 200 dollars a week. This should just about keep me in petrol, college books, and camps. It doesn’t sound like much but since my parents are being very generous and allowing me to live at home for another two years, it should work out. If you feel that God is leading you to support me financially that’d be really cool, and I’ll certainly appreciate it. Please, however, pray about giving to me, because while God wants us to support ministry He may have some other ministry that He is really calling you to encourage financially. Yeah, so that’s about the next week for me, and as a final plug if you can please come along on Wednesday night!
As always, questions, comments and any feedback really can be sent to me at timlearningtoserve@gmail.com.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Theory...
So today I thought I'd write about what my concept of ministry is, and then halfway through my internship/mts and at the end of the mts come back and see if my ideas about ministry had changed. They may not! Who knows? I guess God would be the answer to that!
First of all I probably need to be clear about what I mean when I say ministry. Because clearly all Christians are called to full time service of Jesus, whether this happens to be in their job as a techie, or as a missionary, or as an economist, or in the army. Jesus never goes, “some of you can serve me full time in the church and some of you can serve me whenever it fits in with your life,” rather he commissions all of us to go and make disciples of all the nations (Mttw 28:19). So ministry is not restricted to people who are paid to work in a church. The model we are presented with is one body, many parts, where everyone is equal in the eyes of God, but not where everyone has an identical role (1 Cor. 12:12-31). Having said all this, however, generally when I refer to ministry in this blog I’m referring to the formal type where someone is paid by a church.
Phew. Now that’s all cleared up…Here’s what I think ministry entails. I see ministers, youth pastors and really anyone who works in a church as an enabler. Their job is not to do all the work but to equip, encourage and teach the body of Christ, the church. The church’s role is then to go out in the community and fulfill the great commission, and also Jesus’ call to feed the poor, look after the sick and visit prisoners. Not that church workers are exempt from doing any or all of those things. Of course not. It’s simply a matter of numbers really. No church leadership team, even big ones, can efficiently reach into their local communities that number many thousands. But a congregation that lives and works in that community can reach their neighbors, friends and colleagues much more effectively than a few pastors can. Which is why I see the leadership team being called to equip the other members of the body.
Too often, at least in my experience, it seems that our churches aren’t functioning this way, that instead of the congregation being equipped to minister to the community, it’s about the congregation equipping the ministers to reach out to community. It’s a backward and top heavy view of the body of Christ. Rather than the body working as a unit, the body just carries the head around so that it can do all the work, and the arms, legs, feet and hands (spleen too!) are neglected. I hope that made sense. So essentially I guess over the next few years I want to learn how to be a youth pastor who enables and equips the people I work with to reach out to their friends and neighbors.
Things to pray for this week:
: that I remember that I’m a clay jar and it’s God in me doing His work.
: that I continuously seek to be a servant of God
: that I raise the money needed for next year
Also apparently there was a problem with commenting, but anyone should be able to now. If you want to ask something (like how to support me!) or just something you don’t want to leave as a comment: timlearningtoserve@gmail.com.
God Bless.
First of all I probably need to be clear about what I mean when I say ministry. Because clearly all Christians are called to full time service of Jesus, whether this happens to be in their job as a techie, or as a missionary, or as an economist, or in the army. Jesus never goes, “some of you can serve me full time in the church and some of you can serve me whenever it fits in with your life,” rather he commissions all of us to go and make disciples of all the nations (Mttw 28:19). So ministry is not restricted to people who are paid to work in a church. The model we are presented with is one body, many parts, where everyone is equal in the eyes of God, but not where everyone has an identical role (1 Cor. 12:12-31). Having said all this, however, generally when I refer to ministry in this blog I’m referring to the formal type where someone is paid by a church.
Phew. Now that’s all cleared up…Here’s what I think ministry entails. I see ministers, youth pastors and really anyone who works in a church as an enabler. Their job is not to do all the work but to equip, encourage and teach the body of Christ, the church. The church’s role is then to go out in the community and fulfill the great commission, and also Jesus’ call to feed the poor, look after the sick and visit prisoners. Not that church workers are exempt from doing any or all of those things. Of course not. It’s simply a matter of numbers really. No church leadership team, even big ones, can efficiently reach into their local communities that number many thousands. But a congregation that lives and works in that community can reach their neighbors, friends and colleagues much more effectively than a few pastors can. Which is why I see the leadership team being called to equip the other members of the body.
Too often, at least in my experience, it seems that our churches aren’t functioning this way, that instead of the congregation being equipped to minister to the community, it’s about the congregation equipping the ministers to reach out to community. It’s a backward and top heavy view of the body of Christ. Rather than the body working as a unit, the body just carries the head around so that it can do all the work, and the arms, legs, feet and hands (spleen too!) are neglected. I hope that made sense. So essentially I guess over the next few years I want to learn how to be a youth pastor who enables and equips the people I work with to reach out to their friends and neighbors.
Things to pray for this week:
: that I remember that I’m a clay jar and it’s God in me doing His work.
: that I continuously seek to be a servant of God
: that I raise the money needed for next year
Also apparently there was a problem with commenting, but anyone should be able to now. If you want to ask something (like how to support me!) or just something you don’t want to leave as a comment: timlearningtoserve@gmail.com.
God Bless.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Setting Off.
Hey! Welcome to my blog. In case you've stumbled across this blog I'm basically writing it as a way to let people know what's going in my ministry life. My ministry life being the fact that I feel God is calling me to ministry (most likely youth) as my career. And next year I'll be setting off! By doing part time MTS (Ministry Training Strategy) at St. Paul's Castle Hill, my local church, and going to Bible College part time. MTS is basically like an internship. I'll be learning how different ministries happen, how churches are run and how to serve God by working in a church. Sometimes this will mean giving talks and sometimes this will mean cleaning storerooms!
I've started a blog now so that I can let people who want to support me know what's happening and how planning for MTS next year is happening. Next year I'll be using it let supporters know what I'm doing and what I'm learning and what they can be praying for. I've called the blog "Learning to Serve" because I see pastors as enablers of the body of Christ, allowing the body of Christ to function as God intended. And as basically I'm learning to be a pastor or minister or leader or teacher or whatever other label you'd like to attach to it, I see myself as learning to serve the body of Christ and so hence the title.
So why am I going into MTS? It's basically happening because almost two years ago I first heard God calling me to serve him in youth ministry as a vocation. So I prayed about this, talked to Godly friends and family about this and the decision arrived at was that it made sense for me to finish my degree and work for awhile and then make the transition. But recently at a conference (engage if you're interested) one of the speakers, William Taylor, pretty much said that if we're gifted in gospel ministry that's what we should be doing. And I felt that God was pretty much saying to me that I should start heading towards what He's called me to do sooner, rather than later. And this made me angry because I thought I had it all sorted with God. Then I realized that God is the one who sorts things out, not me! Then I was less angry. Then I got excited about the fact that God is going to use a simple clay jar like me to speak and serve people. It's an amazing privilege and I'm looking forward to it. So that's why MTS and college next year.
It'd be epic if you could pray for these:
: that I have the right attitude
: that I will honour God in all I do
: that I'll raise enough money
On that note if you think God's calling you to support me financially please do!
If you want to do that or even just ask me a question send an email to timlearningtoserve@gmail.com.
Oh yeah and I'm having an information night to let you know more about it and how you can
support me on the 18th of November at St. Paul's Castle Hill from 1945 to 2100 hours. I'd love to see you there.
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