We’re into our second year here in this city. Although we encountered tough challenges and disappointments along the way, God is faithful, and through Him we emerge triumphant. We are full of gratitude to Him as we review and reflect on our time here. Under His divine arrangement, we met a local pastor who came to us for counseling. After the session he was challenged to recommit to God’s call over his life as a church planter. He even invited us to be his spiritual mentor.
This time before we plunged in, we asked ourselves, “How do we begin to mentor and guide him in a Spirit-led way? How do we know if he’s the right person to work with? Will we be able to develop this into a long term partnership?” As we pondered over these questions, I felt the Lord prompting us to visit his home. I remember a pastor once commented “He who knows how to manage his household will know how to manage the house of God.” Thus, we visited his home and found it to be filled with love and mutual respect. Even though this pastor is already in his 40s, less creative in leadership style and rigid in mindset, we find him humble and teachable.
Our first months of partnership was marked with excitement and tension. Many people attend his newly opened house church and we soon discovered all of them indulge in some or all of the following habits – drinking, smoking, cohabiting and gambling. As we discuss these unacceptable traits with him, we realized that he used 1 Cor 9:22 – “I have become all things to all men” to justify drinking as a cultural norm which can be used as a common language to share the Gospel. After studying 1 Cor 10:23 – “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything is constructive,” he was humble enough to admit his misinterpretation.
This challenge is but one of many, with more thorny issues like cohabiting and smoking that also need to be tackled. Due to space constraints, we’ll share more in the next issue.
Please pray along with us:
- Most pastors do not know how to design and execute plans. Pray that we can effectively help them in this area.
- Churches do not teach on tithing and for this reason, short-change believers from the blessings of God. Pray that God will show us how to guide pastors to preach on the topic of giving.
- Pray for God’s protection as we encourage pastors to hold their services openly so that more people will hear the Good News.
- Besides LifeSpring Church, we are also working with another local pastor in a new work. Pray that God will grant us the wisdom and strength to mentor these two pastors well. Presently the total monthly support for these 2 works is S$2,000. Pray that our Lord will provide.
- Thank God for sending us a 3rd local pastor to work with. Due to budget constraints, pray that He will show us how to best partner with him.
