[S] 2 Timothy 4:5 --
5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
[O] In contrast to those who are merely interested in listening to good words according to their own desires, Paul preaches to those followers of Christ to be sober, endure, work, and fulfill their ministries. Following Christ's ways is not a walk in a park but demands a dedicated effort with proper goals to move forward.
[A] As we embark on the new level of our small group ministry, I am convicted by this passage that we have to endure some hardships, do the work of evangelists, in order to fulfill our ministry. We just had the Upward, Inward, Outward, and Forward seminar where we were to draw out 4 month plans for each group. I'd like to follow up and support each group to set some goals to follow through in the upcoming months for expanding our ministry.
[P] Dear Father, grant us the victory from the complacency into hard-working to pursue Your ministry that you entrusted to us. May our small group ministry move onward through our dedicated hearts working together in Your name. In Jesus' name. Amen.
From my Life devotional journaling and more (Read Today's Passage)
Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
Showing posts with label Growth of Ministry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Growth of Ministry. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
When God Scales Up the Ministry
[S] Acts 6:2-4 --
2So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. 3"Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. 4"But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
[O] As the ministry of the twelve disciples expanded they were up against stretching themselves to cover not only the increased number of followers but also the expanded areas of ministry beyond the preaching and teaching of the Word. In today's lingo, they needed to "scale up" and God gave them the wisdom to install seven deacons who were men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom. There weren't just taskmasters but those who may extend the core ministry of the disciples in the same and complementary spirit. Our church is going through this expansion at the moment and God is also leading through the similar wisdom of establishing the core ministry foundations to build up the overall ministry at large. Just like how it must have been exciting period during this early "Acts" phase, God is showering the same excitements as we grow in Him.
[A] Try my best not to get too distracted with the amount of work ahead overwhelming me, but to stay focused on building up those who I'll be collaborating closely with so that there will be a similar sense of co-laboring while sold-out for Christ as with these seven deacons. Although Stephen's ministry seemed to have been aborted "prematurely" what he stood up for transcended through the years up to today. So, it is not what it appears now that's important but how we would stay true to His shepherding and conviction that will bring lasting impact.
[P] Dear Father, I praise You for expanding our ministry at our church. It comes with its own set of challenges and I ask that the leadership of the new expansion of ministry would be wise to lead the congregation to its next level of coming closer to You instead of being lost in the larger crowd. May Your name be lifted up as we go through this transitional phase. In Jesus' name I ask. Amen.devo
2So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. 3"Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. 4"But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
[O] As the ministry of the twelve disciples expanded they were up against stretching themselves to cover not only the increased number of followers but also the expanded areas of ministry beyond the preaching and teaching of the Word. In today's lingo, they needed to "scale up" and God gave them the wisdom to install seven deacons who were men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom. There weren't just taskmasters but those who may extend the core ministry of the disciples in the same and complementary spirit. Our church is going through this expansion at the moment and God is also leading through the similar wisdom of establishing the core ministry foundations to build up the overall ministry at large. Just like how it must have been exciting period during this early "Acts" phase, God is showering the same excitements as we grow in Him.
[A] Try my best not to get too distracted with the amount of work ahead overwhelming me, but to stay focused on building up those who I'll be collaborating closely with so that there will be a similar sense of co-laboring while sold-out for Christ as with these seven deacons. Although Stephen's ministry seemed to have been aborted "prematurely" what he stood up for transcended through the years up to today. So, it is not what it appears now that's important but how we would stay true to His shepherding and conviction that will bring lasting impact.
[P] Dear Father, I praise You for expanding our ministry at our church. It comes with its own set of challenges and I ask that the leadership of the new expansion of ministry would be wise to lead the congregation to its next level of coming closer to You instead of being lost in the larger crowd. May Your name be lifted up as we go through this transitional phase. In Jesus' name I ask. Amen.devo
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Keep on Meetin'
[S] Acts 2:46-47 --
46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
[O] What a beautiful picture of a community of believers. The part I envy the most is how they continued to meet together at church and at home and enjoyed each others company. They just didn't have enough of each other! These days it seems like our schedules are so tight just trying to meet once in a while is challenging enough meeting any often than that seems impossible. When they met, they ate, shared sincerely, praised God, and fed off each others Godly characters. This alone resulted in growth.
[A] With a slightly updated small group structure, promote doing just this -- meeting often and regularly everywhere we are. Just go all out crazy without being too caught up on other processes.
[P] Dear God, I ask that as we embark on a new structure of small group, we'd follow this model of continuously meeting together at church and at homes and when we meet we would simply share, eat, praise You. We will leave adding of numbers to You as that's Your business :-) In Jesus' name. Amen.
46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
[O] What a beautiful picture of a community of believers. The part I envy the most is how they continued to meet together at church and at home and enjoyed each others company. They just didn't have enough of each other! These days it seems like our schedules are so tight just trying to meet once in a while is challenging enough meeting any often than that seems impossible. When they met, they ate, shared sincerely, praised God, and fed off each others Godly characters. This alone resulted in growth.
[A] With a slightly updated small group structure, promote doing just this -- meeting often and regularly everywhere we are. Just go all out crazy without being too caught up on other processes.
[P] Dear God, I ask that as we embark on a new structure of small group, we'd follow this model of continuously meeting together at church and at homes and when we meet we would simply share, eat, praise You. We will leave adding of numbers to You as that's Your business :-) In Jesus' name. Amen.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Ministry is Sown in Tears
[S] Psalm 126:5-6 --
5Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.
6He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
[O] The word "ministry" tend to sound big because we think of a church, or large organizations like World Vision or Red Cross, but from today's passage my orientation of ministry simplified to "sowing in tears" where you pour out your heart into caring for others through tears. Unfortunately, even though the content of what is being carried forth is "bag of seed" which means good news, it is being rejected and thus causes the carrier of this "seed" to sow in tears. But not all is in vain because God promises us reaping with joyful shouting in the end.
[A] As I do God's ministry, I need to remember that it is inevitable to sow in tears. This both implies the difficulty of participating in God's ministry as well as staying humble as I carry out the ministry because this is not about starting up a company to succeed in achieving goals & profits but submitting to God's call and staying faithful to the ultimate purpose regardless of the circumstances knowing that the "shouts of joy" will come in the end.
[P] Dear God, thank you for inviting me into Your ministry. May I not be scared to "sow Your ministry with tears" as I face challenges and even when challenges seem minimal. I will train myself to cry out for the people whom You put under my care and I will continue to pray for them. In Jesus' name. Amen.
5Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.
6He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
[O] The word "ministry" tend to sound big because we think of a church, or large organizations like World Vision or Red Cross, but from today's passage my orientation of ministry simplified to "sowing in tears" where you pour out your heart into caring for others through tears. Unfortunately, even though the content of what is being carried forth is "bag of seed" which means good news, it is being rejected and thus causes the carrier of this "seed" to sow in tears. But not all is in vain because God promises us reaping with joyful shouting in the end.
[A] As I do God's ministry, I need to remember that it is inevitable to sow in tears. This both implies the difficulty of participating in God's ministry as well as staying humble as I carry out the ministry because this is not about starting up a company to succeed in achieving goals & profits but submitting to God's call and staying faithful to the ultimate purpose regardless of the circumstances knowing that the "shouts of joy" will come in the end.
[P] Dear God, thank you for inviting me into Your ministry. May I not be scared to "sow Your ministry with tears" as I face challenges and even when challenges seem minimal. I will train myself to cry out for the people whom You put under my care and I will continue to pray for them. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Every Joint Counts
[S] Ephesians 4:16 --
15but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
16from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
[O] In order for my whole body to function properly in its tip-top shape, every joint in my body must function at their best condition. There is no such thing as a more important joint when it comes to the well being of the whole body. Paul uses that analogy to explain the same effect in the body of Christ which is knit together by multiple parts connected by the joints in order to interact in unison to function as a whole body. Here also, there is no joint that is more important than another when it comes to the benefit of the overall body. The part about "proper working of each individual part" causing the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love provided an in-depth perspective of the vision for our small group ministry. No great plan or execution of such a plan is not going to be the answer to a building up of our ministry but the key lies with each individuals "properly working" to build up the body in love. This may be a bit vague but ultimately we need to build up the leadership group such that they can nurture and engage each member into the "whole body" of our church. This should be the driving factor more so than the weekly meeting format itself, or which materials to use for discussion.
[A] This is another guidance from God for the small group ministry's vision. This chapter's always been inspiring for mobilizing the community in the right direction and this passage is not an exception. I am going to make "each individuals working properly => causes the growth of the body => building up in love" one of the pillars for building up our small group ministry.
[P] Dear God, thank You so much for continuing to pour into my heart Your vision for our ministry. It's been a little discouraging moment due to some changes in the leadership group but there's never a shortage of Your wisdom and guidance for me to move on with energy and strength. So I carry onward in Your Spirit's leadership as I pray in Your name. Amen.
15but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
16from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
[O] In order for my whole body to function properly in its tip-top shape, every joint in my body must function at their best condition. There is no such thing as a more important joint when it comes to the well being of the whole body. Paul uses that analogy to explain the same effect in the body of Christ which is knit together by multiple parts connected by the joints in order to interact in unison to function as a whole body. Here also, there is no joint that is more important than another when it comes to the benefit of the overall body. The part about "proper working of each individual part" causing the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love provided an in-depth perspective of the vision for our small group ministry. No great plan or execution of such a plan is not going to be the answer to a building up of our ministry but the key lies with each individuals "properly working" to build up the body in love. This may be a bit vague but ultimately we need to build up the leadership group such that they can nurture and engage each member into the "whole body" of our church. This should be the driving factor more so than the weekly meeting format itself, or which materials to use for discussion.
[A] This is another guidance from God for the small group ministry's vision. This chapter's always been inspiring for mobilizing the community in the right direction and this passage is not an exception. I am going to make "each individuals working properly => causes the growth of the body => building up in love" one of the pillars for building up our small group ministry.
[P] Dear God, thank You so much for continuing to pour into my heart Your vision for our ministry. It's been a little discouraging moment due to some changes in the leadership group but there's never a shortage of Your wisdom and guidance for me to move on with energy and strength. So I carry onward in Your Spirit's leadership as I pray in Your name. Amen.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
What Is In My Prayer?
[S] 1 Thessalonians 1:2 --
2We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;
[O] Leading up to writing this letter was much prayer by Paul for the Thessalonian Church. Paul wasn't some leader sitting at the top of the castle commanding others to do this and that but he led his followers very practically by thinking of them all the time, which I'm sure led to prayer for them continually. And if you think about it, in order to pray for others you must know what's happening with them so he had open communication with them (even before the Internet days) to fully aware of their conditions. Paul was the pioneer of bi-vocational minister (or the term he started: a tent maker) and he was right at the ground level running with the folks he is leading as he ministers to them. So in order for him to write this sentence, he was for sure living up to what he wrote.
[A] Caring and nurturing for others in God's ministry not only takes time but energy to constantly keep in touch and openly communicate. So, I need to set my own expectation for leading and caring for others will demand a good chunk of my life. Don't get exhausted too quickly. Pray for them all the time like Paul.
[P] Dear God, Paul's example inspires me to lead others in Your ministry at church. Please continue to energize me through Your word and Holy Spirit's indwelling. Thank You for always leading me with encouragements whenever I'm desperately needing it. In Jesus' name. Amen.
2We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;
[O] Leading up to writing this letter was much prayer by Paul for the Thessalonian Church. Paul wasn't some leader sitting at the top of the castle commanding others to do this and that but he led his followers very practically by thinking of them all the time, which I'm sure led to prayer for them continually. And if you think about it, in order to pray for others you must know what's happening with them so he had open communication with them (even before the Internet days) to fully aware of their conditions. Paul was the pioneer of bi-vocational minister (or the term he started: a tent maker) and he was right at the ground level running with the folks he is leading as he ministers to them. So in order for him to write this sentence, he was for sure living up to what he wrote.
[A] Caring and nurturing for others in God's ministry not only takes time but energy to constantly keep in touch and openly communicate. So, I need to set my own expectation for leading and caring for others will demand a good chunk of my life. Don't get exhausted too quickly. Pray for them all the time like Paul.
[P] Dear God, Paul's example inspires me to lead others in Your ministry at church. Please continue to energize me through Your word and Holy Spirit's indwelling. Thank You for always leading me with encouragements whenever I'm desperately needing it. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Scaling Up Grace
[S] Deuteronomy 19:8-9 --
8"If the LORD your God enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He promised to give your fathers--
9if you carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in His ways always--then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three.
[O] In any business model, a plan for scaling up with the increase of business demand is a must because otherwise it will cap itself to a small operation and will not be able to grow further. Many of the global companies we know did this very well (for example, Apple, IBM, Nike, etc.). Having said this we can easily transfer this concept into church growth to be the physical size of the congregation and the infrastructure to support it. However, based on this passage the wisdom behind church growth (or scaling up) is to scale up exercising God's grace First of all, the growth (enlarging territory in v. 8) is the outcome of our obedience to God's commands, not of our great plans and execution of them. God says that when they obey God's commands and when He expands their territory they are to also scale up the Cities of Refuge. Where there is God's growth, there should also be growth of His grace.
[A] Not to focus too much on the size of the ministry but the size of "grace" within the ministry.
[P] Dear God, may Your grace overflow out of our small group ministry. May we be sure to scale up to provide the dose of grace needed for everyone as we all need TLCs in the Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen.
8"If the LORD your God enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He promised to give your fathers--
9if you carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in His ways always--then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three.
[O] In any business model, a plan for scaling up with the increase of business demand is a must because otherwise it will cap itself to a small operation and will not be able to grow further. Many of the global companies we know did this very well (for example, Apple, IBM, Nike, etc.). Having said this we can easily transfer this concept into church growth to be the physical size of the congregation and the infrastructure to support it. However, based on this passage the wisdom behind church growth (or scaling up) is to scale up exercising God's grace First of all, the growth (enlarging territory in v. 8) is the outcome of our obedience to God's commands, not of our great plans and execution of them. God says that when they obey God's commands and when He expands their territory they are to also scale up the Cities of Refuge. Where there is God's growth, there should also be growth of His grace.
[A] Not to focus too much on the size of the ministry but the size of "grace" within the ministry.
[P] Dear God, may Your grace overflow out of our small group ministry. May we be sure to scale up to provide the dose of grace needed for everyone as we all need TLCs in the Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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