How about Ministry off the schedule?

I reflect myself after reading the church bulletin last sunday. Don't get me wrong, these ministries are wonderful and it is very significant for the congregration in the church. Inside, i find a long list of ministry that is actively been carry out in church. Not only that, I have also obeserved that the current CE program is consistent that and at almost every saturday's Church calendar, it seems there are programs that will last from 9am to 5pm.

I used to get the impression that in order to be ministry, my effort has to be on the church calendar and part of a church program.

But wait! Something doesn’t seem right. Is this all there is to ministry? I get the impression that in order to be part of the ministry, my effort has to be on the church calendar and part of a church program. What about helping a neighbour? Or, helping a student with his studies? Or, making sure my work is done in a God-honoring way? Where does that fit in?
If we only see ministry as something that we can schedule, or program, then we have a very incomplete picture.

When church programs are scheduled officially, the church will observe how active each christians participated in and the any other which is not listed in program, is not recognized no matter how much active we are involve to share Gods work in it. The notion that things that happen in the church, or are part of a church program, are ministry and that the rest are not, is false. In part this is a result of the old Greek and Roman culture that the idea that some activities are sacred and others are secular. I strongly think this needs to be challenged and corrected.

I believe there is another reason for this misconception. Christians will practice the activities that are recognized and appreciated in the church. When was the last time someone was recognized for helping a neighbor, teaching bible study with the ex-prisoners, or conducting his business in a God-honoring way, unless it was part of a formal church program? Instead we have Cell Group leaders, youth leaders or the Sunday School teachers recognized from the platform. We have a mission team do a presentation when they return from their trip. These are exciting to report and they should be reported. But if we only tell these kinds of stories we fail to show people that ministry can happen in the everyday pathways of life too.

The Church needs to tell the stories about how God uses everyday activities that come along as teaching moments to share faith in natural everyday settings. In that way she will be showing Christians how to take Christ into every corner of their lives – their homes, their communities and their workplace.

Ministry is a lifestyle choice, not a scheduling choice. It is about the relationships we create. It’s about bringing God’s blessing to those he puts in our way. I believe our fellow members in church are too focus on the scheduled programs in Church. We should reflect back with our relationship with God and seek where we can serve God in a more flexible way towards our minitry with our neighbors, our communities and workplace, many who may not know God personally or opportunity is waiting among us to do that. Flexible in a way that allows God to call us out of the comfort zone as many of us are enjoying serving in the comfort zone areas in church.
Matt 5.16" In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. "

You can find Brian’s article “Is the church telling the complete story?” to find the similar story shared above.
http://brianmosleyblog.com/2011/01/28/is-the-church-telling-the-complete-story/

The Church is not a hospital

"The church is not a hospital; it's a military outpost under orders to storm the gates of hell. Every believer is on active duty, called to take part in fulfilling the Great Commission (Mt 28:19, 20). Thankfully the church has a clinic where we can minister to the weak n wounded, n tat ministry is necessary. But our real purpose is to be change agents in d world & enforce d victory of Christ!" from Bro Ong http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=553277922&v=info

What would Jesus do in Politics?

I have been struggling on how to prioritize my burden between God's ministry and politics/worldly affairs that is currently happening in our beloved country, 'MALAYSIA'. Should I continue to ignore the injustice, racist and corrupted government and being political neutral of what is going on today and continue serving God as if the worldly affair today has nothing to do with God's ministry? Also, having to consider in migrating to Australia/UK/Cambodia to seek a 'greener pasture' seems tempting. I just can't help it but explore and to share some views on how did Jesus deal in politics during His time and how we can walk like Him.

So I ask myself this popular quote 'What would Jesus do? When we read the bible and interpret the passages of bible, we will normally participate to have inward, spiritual and private relationship with God. As we read and understand the bible passages closely, Jesus truly had social political concerns that went beyond an individual indicates the bible passages in spiritualism and having a close intimate relationship with God.

We usually read these from Matthew's version contained in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-11). But let's hear them from Luke's, which we don’t often read. Luke has it this way (Luke 6:20-25 “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.”)

Jirair Tashjian, from Jirair Tashjian and The Christian Resource Institute further elaborates “It is in a time of economic and political oppression that that we hear Jesus saying, "Blessed are you poor, blessed are you who are hungry, who weep and mourn, who long for righteousness and justice, who are persecuted for righteousness. Yours is the kingdom of God. Don’t worry about what you will eat and what you will wear; God knows all about you and cares" (Matthew 6). There would be no problem for us in affluent America to listen to these words of Jesus. But Jesus was saying those words to folks who were in a desperate economic environment. To them, he proclaimed that the year of Jubilee had arrived, and so they should start living accordingly.
Later in Luke 16 Jesus tells the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, which perfectly illustrates these beatitudes. Perhaps one reason why we have a tendency to want to spiritualize the beatitudes of Jesus is that we can thereby escape their sting, or at least we think we can. So we have thought of Jesus in purely spiritual terms, as Savior, Redeemer, Son of God, with no social or political agenda. I don’t think we can read the gospels that way. Jesus did not divorce a social vision from religion. The message of Jesus was both spiritual and political. His political agenda was God’s agenda from all levels of the Old Testament—the Exodus from Egypt (slaves), Leviticus 25 (Jubilee), the OT prophets (passionate concern for the orphan and the widow).
In fact, the message of Jesus and his actions were so politically provocative that the Gospel of John tells us that at one point when Jesus had fed the five thousand with bread and fish, the crowd was about to come and take him by force to make him king. Of course, they misunderstood the nature of his political agenda, but they did perceive quite correctly that the message of Jesus had political implications and consequences.”

We may have thought we can separate issues between spiritual thing and worldly affair. But God cares about this world and wants a world where there is justice, peace, goodness and well-being. God is never pleased when children in Haiti go to bed hungry, while we throw food away into dustbins. God is never pleased when dictators in the world oppress powerless people. Salvation is not simply an individual matter. It also means a social order that is pleasing to God. When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God on earth, he had a political agenda, which was God’s agenda.
But this kind of talk about another kingdom that is based on mercy, justice, and concern for the oppressed obviously made the powerful very suspicious and nervous. Those in places of power did not care for anyone who disturbed the status quo because that threatened their position of power.

No wonder, then, that Caiaphas wanted Jesus arrested. No wonder Pilate had Jesus crucified. And even Herod Antipas earlier in the ministry of Jesus wanted to have Jesus killed. The politics of Jesus empowered the weak, the poor, the needy. It gave them hope. It reassured them that God was here and that God was on their side. The politics of Jesus liberated people. Jesus empowered people, and that was a threat to people already in power.Jesus believed that there was a big difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the world, and he wanted the kingdom of God to become a reality in the world. And when that happens, it turns the world upside down. Jesus said to his disciples, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all" (Mark 10:42-44).

Likewise, we should do as what Jesus would do in the political arena. As for our current political situation, we children of God should rise up and represent Christ to fight injustice, to bring peace, goodness and well being of our rakyat by being a walking testimony and to proclaim God’s love and mercy to all rakyat in Malaysia. God gives us discernment and wisdom, to do our part by not being political neutral, to address and rebuke individuals who perform injustice, oppressing the poor and anything obvious which do not pleases God just like how Jesus would do.

Prosperity - Laodicean Church

I have attended a Young Adult Fellowship in early Dec 09, the First Grace Church in Tai Po, Hong Kong and would like to share the bible study session. The fellowship was conducted in cantonese. However, I have managed to understand the message and would like to share with you guys. Below is the summary I have concluded during the fellowship that I have understood in the cantonese fellowship.

What is the greatest challenge facing the church today? Many suggest that it is Christian persecution. Yet persecution is not the greatest challenge. It is actually quite the opposite, persecution is the fastest way to grow a healthy and vibrant church. The greatest challenge to any church is not persecution but prosperity.

Consider most of us who are doing averagely alright and most of us christian in the Klang Valley are being blessed by God. Let us look at this way, God has bless Malaysia with a lot of churches especially in the Klang Valley area , each christian will at least have more than 1 bible in our book shelves than other nations in the world. In spite of all these blessings, we are not influencing our society.

Why is this? The answer is simple, we cannot handle prosperity. We may not be super wealthy compare to people like Tony Fernandez, AnanthanKrishnan, Mahathir, Michelle Yeoh and etc, but we are not thankful and contended with what we have right now. Currently, in our desire in achieving utmost prosperity in our lives, it comes the temptation to trust in our blessings rather than in the Blesser. We become fat, comfortable, and self-sufficient. If we have plenty, we tend to think we have need of nothing. If we think that we don’t have enough looking at the wealth around us we tend to think that what we need is what others have. Both extremes lead us to seek happiness in things and security in wealth. The result is that we fail to rely on the Lord and our ministry to the world is blunted.

In Revelation 3:14-22, Jesus Christ warns and instructs us against the lukewarm effects of trusting in material wealth rather than pursuing a vital faith relationship with Jesus Christ. The Laodicean church was a church that had lost its impact on the world because it had become occupied with the world and had left Christ standing outside the church. We must not make the same mistakes as the Laodicean church did.

Chicken ala carte

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte

Chicken a la Carte : Director: Ferdinand Dimadura Genre: Drama Produced In: 2005

This film is about the hunger and poverty brought about by Globalization. There are 10,000 people dying everyday due to hunger and malnutrition. This short film shows a forgotten portion of the society. The people who live on the refuse of men to survive. What is inspiring is the hope and spirituality that never left this people.