AT the beginning of the year, when I was speaking to the chief editor of CMM, he asked me what my vision for the future of the church was. At the time, I felt that everything that should be done had mostly been done over the past hundred years. What else is new? What more could we learn?
But after fasting and prayer alongside many brothers and sisters, God still had a new vision for us. The Lord Jesus still wanted us to learn new things. The Holy Spirit still moved us to understand and obey the things of the Spirit! Hallelujah!
So as I enter my third year as President of the Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference (SCAC), I can sum it up in one word: “Learn”. Learn what? What is there to learn?
1. Learn “Sufficiency of Scripture; S.O.S.”
In the past year, I have been slowly finishing a book I believe will change the future of the church. It is Rob Rienow’s “Limited Church: Unlimited Kingdom (Uniting Church and Family in the Great Commission)”. This book gave me many opportunities to learn. The author worked full-time among youths for 15 years before he woke up to his negligence of biblical teaching of family discipleship and confessed to the church. There was not much fruit from his 15 years of ministry, and many youths whom he thought were well-trained in the church, still left the church and left God when they grew up. It was because the parents of these youths did not do discipleship training on them from a young age.
In the book, Rienow emphasizes that while we have always admitted the “sufficiency of Scripture”, we do not have a correct and complete understanding. He points out that the challenge of the 20th century was over inerrancy; the challenge in the 21st century is over sufficiency. In this century, churches believe that the Bible alone is not enough for this generation and cannot provide complete answers, hence the church is searching for ways outside the Bible to solve their issues and answer their questions, for example in children ministry, youth ministry, counselling, etc. But in fact, the Bible has already given us solutions. The Bible has already provided complete plans for children ministry, youth ministry, women ministry, singles ministry, marriage ministry, family ministry, counselling ministry, etc.
The Bible says “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16-17)
This passage points out clearly that the Bible is more than enough to lead servants of God in becoming “thoroughly equipped for every good work”. In other words, we do not need principles and methods outside of the Bible to teach us to be thoroughly equipped, nor do we need training outside the Bible to prepare us for every good work. The words of the Bible are perfectly sufficient and more than enough to fully equip us.
Whenever we face any problems or difficulties, we need to first ask, “What is Jesus’ answer? What solution does the Bible give us?” and not to go looking at once outside the Bible for answers and solutions.
In the last chapter of the Bible, which is the last chapter of Revelation, there is a stern warning regarding the sufficiency of Scripture: “18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.”
So we must learn “Sufficiency of Scripture”, and we must also learn “Jurisdiction of Scripture”.
2. Learn “Jurisdiction of Scripture”
Since the Bible has sufficient commands leading us to do God’s will and be thoroughly equipped, the Bible also provides us a boundary for sufficiency, so that we can live happy and holy lives to bless people and glorify God.
“Jurisdiction of Scripture” includes the 4 institutions that God has placed on Earth: Individual, Family, Church, and Government. An individual’s actions and words; marriage, parents and children, master and servant in a family; elders and members in a church; ministers and people in a government – all must play the roles taught by the Bible. If we do not play the roles as in the Bible, these institutions will become a mess.
In other words, the Bible not only gives us commands, but also methods. We often believe that the commands in the Bible cannot be changed, but that the methods can differ and change. But the Bible’s commands and methods have been unchangeable through every age, because the Bible is sufficient.
Let’s take these two commandments as examples: Jesus’ Great Commandment (love God and love others) and Great Commission (make disciples of all nations). In every age, they are commands that we must obey. But many believe that methods for obeying the Great Commandment and Great Commission can be changed. Yet the Bible has already given us the methods, it is only that we forget about using the Bible’s methods and end up on roads to nowhere. Perhaps we would see a little result with our methods, but it is not the best result that the Bible has in store for us.
The Bible’s methods can be found in the Jurisdiction of Scripture.
For example, the Great Commandment commands us to love God and love others. We must obey this commandment, but does the Bible show us the method of obeying the commandment? Yes. In Deuteronomy chapter 6:
“4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
The Bible tells us that the method of loving God and others is to first affirm that the Lord God is our only God. Then we must love God with all our heart, soul, and strength (this love is a love willing to die for God, just as God loves us). Then we are to keep God’s words in our hearts (learn to live for God), and also teach our children (including the first step: leading children to Christ). Teaching methods include sitting, standing, lying down, getting up, tying, binding, writing, etc.
In other words, the Biblical method for the Great Commandment is to first disciple oneself, at the same time disciple family members. This is the jurisdiction of Scripture: individual and family. The Lord Jesus used the commands and methods in Deuteronomy to bring out the greatest commandment:
“29 ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” 31 The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no commandment greater than these.’” (Mark 12)
So what about the command and method for the Great Commission? Let’s take a look:
“18 Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I havecommanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” (Matthew 28)
In fact, from Genesis to Revelation, God has clearly revealed his will. He “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim 2:4) and “[does not want] anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9b). At the beginning of creation, God expressed this desire: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” (Genesis 1:28) And in the last chapter of Revelation, God is still calling on people to Jesus: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” (Revelation 22:17)
The Lord Jesus has fully explained the command and method of the Great Commission. He gave the responsibility and power to the disciples, and through the disciples the responsibility and power to the church, and through the Holy Spirit, each generation of the church until today. His command and method is actually very simple. The command is “Go make disciples of all nations”, the method is “go, baptize, teach”.
1. Go: evangelize, lead people to Christ and to be saved
2. Baptize: Cultivate and lead those who have been saved to give themselves to God, to die, be buried and resurrected with Christ.
3 Teach: Train those who have given themselves to God to be disciples, to obey the Bible, to follow Jesus, to be like Jesus, to be sanctified, and to train others as disciples: Go, baptize, teach.
From the above “Sufficiency of Scripture” and “Jurisdiction of Scripture”, we learn that God’s will is to use the two institutions he created to follow his Great Commandment and complete his Great Commission. These two institutions are the church and the family. Now let us see what the discipleship of loving God and others looks like in these two institutions.
3. Church discipleship
Recently (28 Oct to 3 Nov), 7 of us from SCAC joined the 115th (1st for Chinese) SaRang Church discipleship leaders seminar. We saw that the church began 41 years ago with 9 people led by the late Pastor Han Heum Ok in their first service. By discipling these 9 people, up until today led by Rev Jun-Hyun Oh, they have grown into a megachurch of tens of thousands. Today they have a sanctuary that sits 6700 people and 2 high rise buildings (costing 3 million USD), and they are still holding on the command and method of discipleship training.
In the mid-20th century, because churches were lacking in discipleship training, God raised up many discipleship training parachurch organizations, such as Campus Crusade, Navigators, etc, to fill in the deficiencies of the church. So when the SaRang church (then called Eunpyung Church) from the 70s began obeying the Great Commission right from the very start, using discipleship training to build the church and shepherd the people of God, it was extremely rare.
We can learn discipleship training from this church. Each pastor can begin with around 10 disciples. We don’t need to be too hasty, we don’t need to start training classes of dozens or hundreds of people. We only need to use Jesus’ method. Jesus brought along his 12 students, following his footsteps for more than 3 years, and later they became the apostles that changed the world. Besides local pastors, both local and overseas missionaries should also begin discipleship training in their missions fields, for true and lasting impact.
Last year, I talked about how many members of our church (SCAC) are leaders. Wherever they go, they instantly become leaders in the church, joining fellowship committees and church LCECs. But many members lack the life of a disciple, neglecting even basics like daily reading of the Bible, praying, fellowship, worship, and evangelism.
So for church pastors to begin discipleship training, they must first have a shepherd’s heart like our Lord Jesus, to have compassion on people because they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36) While shepherding the crowds (church members and social masses), do not forget to place majority of time and energy on the few disciples, to train yourself and train these few members into becoming disciples of Christ, so that these disciples can also train other disciples and multiply in this manner, as our church becomes a church of the Great Commandment and Great Commission.
The “Daily Living Water” provided by the Laity Board will help us, because this monthly 6-in- 1 publication from Sa- Rang church i n c l u d e s daily devotions, Bible reading, and prayer; weekly Bible study materials; sermon notes and family devotion etc.
From my own superficial observation and inquiries, the above-mentioned mega SaRang church perhaps has not yet seen the need in family discipleship training. Therefore there is still room for improvement in family discipleship in this church
4. Family discipleship
The church and family, instituted by God, must work together in order to accomplish the Great Commission. If we have only one institution, it will be like a person trying to ride a bicycle with only one pedal, moving with much difficulty.
The church needs to equip members, especially parents and grandparents, to train their children into disciples of Christ. The method that God wants us to obey the Great Commandment and fulfill the Great Commission is close collaboration between family and church.
When Rob Rienow was a youth pastor, he said that his priorities were: 1. God, 2. Wife, 3. Children, 4. Ministry. But this order seemed to only take effect during emergencies. In everyday life, it was 1. Ministry, 2. Children, 3. Wife, 4. God.
His objects of discipleship were the youths, but he often forgot about his own children, and forgot about the parents and grandparents of the youths, who were the true discipleship trainers of their children.
To help family discipleship training in SCAC, we have formed under Board of Executive “Family Discipleship (FD aka D6) Task Force”, to explore the future of FD in SCAC. Hopefully we are all united and courageous in moving forward. On this FD road, we must not simply follow whatever other people are doing; we must not be hasty, for we may end up accomplishing nothing instead. We need to see God’s will, to live out his eternal unchanging commands and methods. With this foundation, no matter the circumstances, feelings, discussions, leaders, members… we as individuals and as a church will hold on to the truth steadfastly.
The early church followed God’s command and model for church and family life, hence they had the favour of the people, and many were added to their number: “46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2)
Let us revisit last year’s presidential address of “Five blessings and perfect 10”, to see if there are any new things to learn:
A. Five Blessings
1. Light
This year, under the Board of Finance, we have formed a committee for financial review. Under Ling’s leadership along with two co-workers, they have visited many local churches and organizations, and created a review system, so that each may use this system to learn good financial management.
2. Transparency
As the children of light of the Father, we must also be transparent and speak the truth in love. Many people when speaking truth end up hurting others, so as the Bible says we must speak the truth in love. We Chinese seem to need to learn more about love. When I was in a preaching class in an American seminary, I learned from my American classmates. No matter how poorly you preached, they would still say “Wonderful!”, only then would they honestly tell you the things you could improve on. Still, they would preface their criticism by blaming themselves first: “I don’t know if I heard wrong, because I am a little deaf…” Speaking the truth in this manner carries love. Let us learn together.
3. Open-mindedness
Two years ago, we tried an openminded thing. That is to allow PPRC members and pastors themselves of each church to fill out a form for the next year’s appointments, as reference for the president and board of appointments, but not as the final decision.
Some believed that this method caused the president and district superintendents to lose their power of appointments, instead transferring the power to pastors and members. Their worry is reasonable, but my thinking is that we are not an organization fighting for power, but a church humbly submitting to one another.
We moved the timeline one month ahead, so that the board of appointments, pastors, and churches all have time to pray, consider, meditate, and speak up. During this process, I and the District Superintendents did undergo quite some suffering, as we faced different requests from pastors and churches. We were hardpressed on both sides, sometimes we even had to think day and night for the best arrangement. Still, since we are willing to die for Christ, this “suffering” counts for nothing. I can only say that I love my fellow pastors, I also love the church members, and I am learning to make the best arrangements in love. I ask for forgiveness in the matters I have let you down in.
4. Wisdom
In the past 3 years, we learned to fast and pray (the yearly Esther fasting and prayer, and the weekly Wesleyan fasting and prayer). Once again, I hope that during these 4 years, as we continue to emphasize fasting and prayer, more and more pastors and brothers and sisters will view fasting and prayer as a part of a normal Christian life, to live a Christian life of wisdom.
This year from December 4 to 6, we will hold the 4th consecutive annual 3-day Esther fasting and prayer, until Friday afternoon 3pm. I call on all those pastors and brothers and sisters who have joined in the past to continue, and I call on those who have not to join us, as we once again experience the power of God with us. The future of the church’s discipleship training and family discipleship training needs you and me to pray even more fervently, as we look to the Father’s protection, Christ’s encouragement, and the leading of the Holy Spirit. In this wicked and ever-changing age, we must depend on God as we unite in following the truth, moving towards the perfection of Jesus, to live out Christ, to spread holiness, to transform the nation, and become a church after God’s own heart.
5. Declaration
The final goal of light, transparency, open-mindedness, and wisdom is declaration. To declare the light of God to the world is the most important goal of the church and family on this earth. We must do church and family discipleship, so that we will become, as mentioned, a church of the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.
In the matter of overseas missions, last year the board of missions was a little worried, because last year we commissioned the most number of missionaries. But God once again showed us that he is Jehovah Jireh, providing for our needs through all the churches, so that we had more than enough. Thank God for his grace, and thanks to everyone for their cheerful offering, as we once again learned to trust in God’s faithfulness.
As for local evangelism, last year we saw that the overall number of church goers had declined. We encouraged everyone to go out looking for the lost sheep. Some churches have already learned how to find lost sheep and have seen results, with church service and fellowship numbers rising.
I hope we can all continue to work hard and not be lazy, to concentrate on doing the things God wants us to do, which are also the things that we can only do on earth – evangelism and missions.
Now that I have spoken on what we learned in the five blessings (light, transparency, open-mindedness, wisdom, and declaration), allow me to continue with what we learned in the “Perfect 10”.
B. Perfect 10
The Perfect 10 expresses that a life in Christ is also a life of loving God and loving others. It is also an exercise in disciple living, whether in prayer, Bible reading, worship service, discipleship, fellowship, meetings, missions, church-planting, evangelism, and social concerns. If we depend on the power of the Holy Spirit to focus on discipleship, we will all learn to be disciples of Christ, to follow Christ, and live out Christ. Then the perfect 10 would not be difficult to achieve.
The Apostle Paul said: “20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4)
Our church father John Wesley said: “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen
or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.”
Together let us learn to be like Christ, to be followers of Christ, to be one of those hundred who desire nothing but God.
By Rev Dr Tie King Tai, President of SCAC