Newsletter #6

Dear friends,

Apologies for this rather overdue newsletter! Hope this update finds you well! Since my last newsletter, a couple of exciting things have happened.

Baby Amy!

There’s a new addition in the house! My housemates, Jonathan and Soong Leng have just had their first baby girl born on the 1st of September 2008. The baby is growing well (5.1 kg now since her birth weight of 2.7 kg!) and has been a source of joy (and nappies!) for the whole household. Praise God for her safe arrival & steady growth! :)

Overseas Christian Fellowship
As mentioned in my e-mail, I’ve been recently involved in facilitating a Discovery Group (DG) for pre-believers with an apprentice, Melody. We’ve been going through a DVD series called “Introducing God” which has been very good in outlining and explaining the gospel.

S and L are both regular participants in the Discovery Group. S is a student from Hong Kong while L is a short term exchange student from the USA. They have been very interactive during the discussions and we’ve been having a great time exploring different views and opinions.

Please pray especially for L to continue on his journey of seeking God as he returns to the USA in a few weeks time. Pray for Christians to reach out to him in California and for a church he can attend and grow in.

I was recently very encouraged during the OCF Murdoch’s Thanksgiving Night, a time when the students shared about how God has blessed them this semester. All 3 of the Discovery group members (i.e. Melody, S & L) shared about their journey of discovering God and being one step closer in their understanding of God this semester. It was very exciting to see how God has been working in them to draw them closer to Himself. Please pray that they will continue to grow and mature in Christ!

Other activities I have been up to:

• Facilitating a preparation study for some Bible study leaders from UWA.
• Running a workshop for student leaders – looking at areas of personal spiritual discipline, managing burnout, and looking out for people in the group.
• Giving an evangelistic talk in OCF Murdoch. The passage was from Luke 15:11-32 – the prodigal son, or a better title: “The loving Father”. One of the reflections from this is just how humbling it is to give such talks, because no matter how well one can prepare for it and deliver it, ultimately God is the one who makes the connection and “switches on the light bulb” in a person’s heart.
• Preparing a short summary of issues to think about concerning full time ministry. This was for my friends in OCF Canberra as part of their program for their graduates.
• Organising a prayer meeting during the exam period, though the turnout was very small. I prepared a short sharing on the subject of “stress” and spent time praying for students who were having exams.

Upcoming events/activities:

• 1st -5th Dec: OCF Convention 2008 in Adelaide (Theme: The King’s Return)
• 8th Dec: Back in Malaysia.
• 16th – 23rd Dec: OCF Mission trip to Jakarta. I will not be joining the students on this trip, but please do pray for them.

Vose Seminary
This semester, I started a new course at Seminary – a Graduate Diploma of Divinity (which is a postgraduate course). This is transferable to a Masters of Divinity if I would like to pursue it in the future. Some exciting units include Christian Apologetics & Principles of Evangelism, which really go hand-in-hand quite well!

One of the assignments from the Evangelism unit was a field-work report, in which students had to actually get down to doing 20 hours of evangelistic activity. Fortunately for me, my involvement in the DG was suitable for this task and therefore was able to “kill two birds with one stone”.

My Seminary also had a special 4-week training in administering the Prepare-Enrich Course, which is a marriage preparation course for couples. The course originates from the USA and is popularly used by ministers here in Australia. As a result of the training, I am now qualified to administer this course for couples who would like to be married. It includes a questionnaire in which the couple fill out, and I’ll interpret the computer-generated results to highlight strengths & potential challenges that a couple may face in their relationship. To date, I have yet to use it, but it sure is a handy tool to have in my “portfolio”. Never know what God may have in store for me in the future!

What’s next?
It has been 1.5 years since I started on this traineeship and I have only another 6 months left (excluding summer holidays). The “what’s next” question has never been so pertinent, but the answer is still far from being evident. The long term plan is for cross-cultural missions, possibly to Cambodia. But in the meantime, there are many options. Please continue to pray as I wait upon the Lord for his leading and direction.

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Praise & Prayer Needs

Praise God for:

• My new housemate - baby Amy!
• Encouraging semester in the DG
• Opportunities to run workshops and give talks

Please pray for:

• DG members: S, L and M
• Especially for L as he returns to the USA – may he continue to find that Jesus is the way, the truth & the life
• OCFers during their mission trip to Jakarta from 16th to 23rd Dec.
• Future plans: Final 6 months till the end of this traineeship. Pray for God’s direction & leading

Baby Amy at 2+ months

Yes, it's been more than 2 months since Amy was born! Here is how she looks like now! (I think she still looks the same.. only chubbier! hehe..)

Awwwwwww.......


A smile attempt? haha...


Honey suit... and kungfu suit!


For a cold day... brrrr...

And a slideshow of baby exercising! or dancing???

Post exam activities

• packing my room into roller containers to be stored away for the summer
• finally getting down to some preparations for the wedding, e.g. budgeting, flower hunting etc.
• secretly trying to learn some Greek for next semester's Greek unit... haha kiasu, want to have a head start
• running some errands for David (now that I have no exams, I have no more excuses... haha..)
• visit to the dentist for regular check up. No cavities. Yay!
• Trying out some new chicken recipes. Yumm...!
  
• Hmm... I need to get my newsletter done!
  

Musings...

After a week of hot weather, the rain has decided to make a comeback! So it's been a rainy couple of days now, much to my delight... though the gloomy weather makes me want to stay in bed & not study for my exams!

Australian Idol:
Yes, I'm still watching it!!! Ah, I'm so sad that Chrislyn has left the show! Thought she'd at least make it to the final 2! Drats, my SMS votes weren't enough! Well, now that she's gone, my next favourite would have to be Wes, especially after that stunning performance on the Michael Jackson theme night. He can really do the Jackson moves! Ow! Haha... Nobz & Popz, go check it out on Aust Idol website... hehe...

One Heart, One Mind, One Lord
Subiaco Church of Christ (i.e. the church I go to here in Perth) has prepared a 5 week devotional material for the whole church to use for this month. The idea is that everyone reads & meditates & prays on the same passage, reflection, etc. for 6 days of the week, and on Sunday, the service celebrates the theme for the week and the sermon to reinforce it. Even the small groups/Bible study groups will be going through these topics on the weekday (mine just did on Tuesday night!).

You can check it out at: http://www.subiacochurch.com/main_site/file_uploads/downloads/ONEjournal.pdf

The idea is that the whole church moves in the same direction for this whole month in terms of our thinking of issues, as well as for it to be an accountability exercise for each other. There's an encouragement to share what we've learnt/resolved with someone else for the purpose of spurring one another on & keeping each other accountable for it.

I've found it really enjoyable and thought-provoking. We've only finished the 1st week's theme which is on "spiritual growth", but I've found both the devotional & the questions at the end challenging. It's really about taking the next step in our spiritual growth, and putting into place practices & disciplines to help us grow, not just in knowledge but in our lifestyle. As part of the materials says:

"Christian maturity is not measured by one's capacity to articulate one's faith & interact with the doctrine on an intellectual level but one's capacity to put that faith into practice."

That's definitely my sentiment this whole year, reinforced by my time at seminary (which is pretty surprising given that a lot of what we do in class & assignments is "head"/academic stuff). Or as John Stott puts it, "We're not to be 'tadpole' Christians, i.e. big in the head but small in the body & arms etc." (or something like that.. haha..)

Reflections on studies at Seminary
Seminary, though still strong in producing doctrinally sound academic quality, has definitely challenged areas of my spirituality (or simply put, my relationship with God). I cherish the way it has forced upon me to re-evaluate my prior beliefs, whether about God, myself, priorities in ministry and evangelism, preaching etc.

If anything, I hope that Seminary will make me a more charitable person, particularly in light of other people's beliefs; to be more careful about being dogmatic on certain doctrines when there is clear ambiguity in the biblical text; or to not insist that there is only one way of doing ministry, when clearly God has equipped his church in so many creative ways beyond comprehension; and to also recognise that the way I read Scripture is coloured in many ways by my own culture & pre-conceived beliefs, while seeking to minimise them as much as possible, I'd rarely be able to be completely free from it.

It has also definitely challenged me to see that I was & still am very much a 'tadpole' Christian. That my spiritual growth these years have focused very much on the acquiring of knowledge... which is not a bad thing in itself. Our relationship with God IS very much dependent on our knowledge of him. If we don't know him, how can we relate to him in the right manner?

But I think I'm at the point where this knowledge needs to be translated into something far deeper & more meaningful. I yearn & long for a 'wholesome faith', in the sense that my whole being is caught up in my relationship with God - head, heart, hands; or mind, emotions, actions.

Another quote (from my apologetics lecture)
Faith in man answers to grace in God. As such, it affects the whole of man's nature. It commences with the conviction of the mind based on adequate evidence; it continues in the confidence of the heart or emotions based on the above conviction, and it is crowned in the consent of the will, by means of which the conviction and confidence are expressed in conduct. - G. Thomas -

Just a short one for now, need to hit my books again.. exam next week!