Compiled here are short summaries/reflections from participants of the 5 workshops during EP Missions Fest. The participants came together for one workshop, titled 'Call Waiting', by Reb Rodney Hui from OM.
Subsequently, they attended 2 out of 4 of the workshops as listed below:
Digital Missions by Reggie Ng (SYFC/Indigitous)
Community development and transformation by Dr Alvin Tey (EAST)
'Why plant churches in cities' by Ps Guna Raman (City to City)
The Biblical basis for arts in missions by Ling Zi (OMF)
Call Waiting (Rev Rodney Hui)
Rev Rodney Hui, who is missions mentor at Operation Mobilisation (OM) East Asia, helmed a workshop entitled "Call Waiting". He first stated that missions is something we are called to by Jesus, not something we do out of our own initiative.
Yet, he asked, how would we know whether we have been called?
The church should de-emphasise “calling”
Rev Hui advanced his belief that the church should de-emphasise the idea of “calling”.
To begin with, the Bible doesn’t really talk about what “calling” means. Beyond that, the notion of “calling” is often inconsistently applied in the church, mostly referring only to specific callings, such as full-time ministry.
What’s more, an overemphasis on the need to be “called” can leave no room for the Christian’s personal responsibility to obey God, and drown out the valuable counsel of other believers. An excessive sense of one’s calling can also make a missionary individualistic and inflexible.
Possible objections
Rev Hui listed three objections to his suggestion to de-emphasise calling.
“Without a call, you will not last long in missions.” Responding to this, Rev Hui pointed out that many Christians have lasted in their area of service even without a sense of calling.
“Receiving a call is a biblical idea.” To this, Rev Hui reiterated his earlier point that “calling” is discussed in different ways in the Bible and can be misinterpreted out of context.
“So many people can’t be wrong in believing that they have a calling.” Rev Hui responded by saying that there’s nothing wrong with people who sense a strong calling. At the same time, the overemphasis on calling needs to be moderated for the sake of those who do not experience the same thing.
How the church should think about “calling”
Rev Hui called on the church to recognise that whether someone has been “called” is a problem of semantics and isn’t the most helpful way of thinking about going on missions.
Rev Hui suggested an alternative to the language of “calling”. Instead, he said, the language of “commitment” should be used. Wrapping up, he made several points:
The support of the church is essential to a missionary’s endeavours.
Missions is not optional for all believers but a command to them.
God’s will is that missions should involve teamwork—members of the church may be “senders” or “goers” and not everyone is suited to be an overseas missionary.
Personal reflections
Rev Hui convicted me of the importance of missions in the life of every Christian.
I had to confess, right after the workshop, that missions was often peripheral to my concerns. I may never have felt directly “called” to missions, but I can still be “committed” to missions through my areas of service at church, namely music and writing.
For instance, I could choose songs for corporate worship that would help the congregation express a commitment to missions, be it by “sending” or “going” into the field. Or I could help prepare materials to be used on mission trips or at evangelistic events.
God is good. The talents He bestows on us are many. May we, the labourers, be willing to participate in His missions!
Jakin Heng (TWPC-EC)
Digital Missions (Reggie Ng)
The sharing by Reggie from Indigitous started with the basic understanding that it is our mission to love others as God has loved us. And digital spaces and technology is simply a means to an end goal of loving others.
He then proceed to give 3 ways that digital means can be used to reach God’s people and spread love. The first is to use platforms such Instagram and Discord to create Communities in Digital Spaces. Through articles, podcasts and other content creation we can attract people groups to engage and connect with one another, with the end goal of creating new channels for churches to be involved in outreach as well as personal befriending.
The second is Borderless Mission Trips. Digital Mission Trips could be a new way to share resources to multiple countries at the same time by holding training sessions for partners overseas. This could also be a way to expose and educate Christians about missions.
The third is through collaborations like Hackathons hosted by Indigitous. By gathering like minded individuals who wish to use their personal skills to serve God, such Hackathons can answer questions on how digital solutions can be applied to some of the issues our missions organizations and churches are facing today. This also creates spaces and opportunities for Inter-gen and interchurch work.
After the sharing, I had 2 main takeaways. The first being that the way people interact has changed, and we should not avoid it. Instead we can harness it and utilize its perks to explore new ways to engage with and create communities. For example, Discord channels might be a good way for youth leaders to engage youths who are more open and comfortable spending time with one another on an online platform.
Secondly, churches should use opportunities to tap on some of the more technical / niche skills that people have. This will give members more ways to serve and diversify the church's outreach capabilities.
Lam Jie Xin (KPC)
Community Development and Transformation (Dr Alvin Tey)
The engaging talk by Dr Tey focused on the following 4 points on community development and transformation:
Where does community development fit in missions?
What does Christian community development look like?
What are the issues faced in Christian community development?
How do churches, mission agencies, local communities and missionaries address these issues?
In his talk as he addresses the points above, Dr Tey brought in the Micah Declaration (2001) as the basis for Christian community development work. With that as the introduction, Dr Tey set the foundation on how doing secular community work differs from Christian development work, where we need to understand that transformation development means a holistic positive change in individuals which must include a spiritual transformation. (Martinez JT, 2018)
Dr Tey then delves into the 3 tiers of community assistance, starting from disaster relief, leading to community development and lastly, transformational development. The tier we start with depends on the needs of the community, and Dr Tey then elaborated on the issues facing transformational development today and some of the solutions for these challenges.
What was emphasised by Dr Tey was the importance to always co-create solutions with the locals. As they have much to offer, it is important to acknowledge their expertise and wisdom, and to build up their capability and capacity to ensure there is an eventual exit plan, with the project being handed over to their leadership.
Dr Tey’s talk provided much insights to the realities of community work in the mission field today, as he explains the issues faced by missionaries on the ground. However, even though there are challenges, Dr Tey also provided some wise solutions to navigate them and what stood out for me is his emphasis on how every project should be aimed to be temporary. What is key is handing over the leadership roles and responsibilities to the locals at some juncture so they can continue the work. This means the locals must be trained so they may eventually lead the development project. This is sustainable and indeed biblical when we think of how Jesus Himself had set up for us the intentional discipleship model. This is for us to grow and extend the kingdom of God and to spur one another on towards Christian maturity in our faith.
Another personal reflection for me is to remember that in all the community work I do, to always keep the cross as the focus. Dr Tey reminded me on what transformational development is and why it is crucial to reach out to the communities and meet their spiritual needs. I have been involved in past humanitarian projects overseas and sometimes forge that in feeding or sheltering the people, I have only met their physical needs. What counts more is the spiritual void that needs to be filled by hearing that there is God who loves and is waiting to enter their lives.
Anna Phua (TWPC-EC)
'Why Plant churches in Cities' (Ps Guna Raman)
In the workshop entitled “Why Plant Churches in Cities?”, Pastor Guna Raman, CEO of City to City (CTC) Asia Pacific shares the vision behind the organisation, convincingly buttressing it with sound numerical, cultural, and biblical reasons for church planting in urban centres.
The main motivating force of CTC’s strategy is that despite the apparent saturation of churches in many cities, human population in urban centres have been and are projected to increase both in numbers and proportion. By 2050, 8 out of every 10 persons will be living in a city from the current 1 in 2. More churches are needed to reach this influx of “God’s image-bearers” with Christ’s gospel. Furthermore, compared to reaching them through older congregations, CTC believes that the better way to bring many new Christians into the body of Christ is through church planting. This is because new church plants, not being bound to existing ways of ministry, often bring new and creative ideas which are more effective at reaching the young people who enter cities for work and studies. Due to its nascence, a new church is likely to be more concerned and intentional with evangelism. Additionally, planting new churches help develop new leaders who will ultimately serve and benefit the whole body in the city. Finally, Pastor Guna argues that planting churches also has the effect of revitalising established churches to sow the gospel in new ways. The new converts who first came to Christ through new church plants may also eventually join the more established churches, contributing to their numerical growth.
I was amazed and thankful to learn that since its inception in 2009, CTC has planted about 600 churches to date. Through the strategy and efforts of CTC, God has shown me that he is continuing to work his power in saving a people for himself. Even as the world is undergoing dramatic changes, the work of the gospel continues to advance in new and creative ways. May this encourage us all to be faithful and innovative in sowing the seeds of the gospel in the hearts of men!
Pr Ho Wei Liang (ORPC)
The Biblical Basis for Arts in Missions
Ling zhi, an OM short-term coordinator, initially knew little about the use of arts for missions. The Biblical basis is that God's act of creation reflects His value for creativity: when we create, we display his creativity. In worship, we are using the talents that He has given us (Ephesians 2:10).
Those with creative talent and passion should see their talents as valuable for God's kingdom, and can use them to accomplish God’s kingdom goals.
The Bible includes various art forms—poetry, song, literature, and drama—and mentions decorative arts (Exodus 31, 36-39), performing arts (Exodus 15:20-21, 2 Samuel 6), and theater (Ezekiel 4-5).
The current generation wants to know what is truly beautiful amidst all the brokenness and suffering in the world; they long for a God who brings beauty out of suffering. Through the use of the arts in evangelism, people can experience the beauty of the gospel.
Examples include night market booths and family programs related to the arts in a Taiwan Mission Trip. Visual aids were used to share the gospel. In a Vietnam Mission trip, Children made crafts that were inspired by nature, and they learnt about God’s creation. Artworks can help encourage the children to memorize related verses. In short, the arts allow for an unprecedented means of evangelism.
For trauma cases, art therapy can be used. When verbal communication is challenging, visual expression can facilitate communication between the client and counselor.
Understanding the arts from different cultures helps us to understand other cultures better, thus enabling better ministry. For instance, it is important to understand how different cultures understand love in order to show them that Jesus loves them.
Rachel Teo (GPC)
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