by Flor Esteban
We’ve been blessed recently with Pastor Timothy Loh’s (Senior Pastor of Eaglepoint based in KL) visit to our church last Sunday (Sept. 26). During the morning service he introduced the next preaching series “Connected”. God wants our lives to be connected – the God kind of church. He shared the 4 key words that apostle Paul used for being connected (Ephesians 4:16) : fitted, joined, supplies and working. He said that for the church to be meaningful, one must be connected with one another (for food to be meaningful, we have to eat it). Connectedness precedes change. He shared a testimony about an answered prayer because many people prayed about it.
Then, Pastor Tim spoke about 4 things that he wants everyone in the church to be connected to: purpose, pattern, practice and people. He talked at length about purpose (the first in the series) and its power. Purpose defines why we exist, it clarifies and focuses the way we live, it fuels, rallies and unleashes resources to accomplish that one thing and shakes off every distractions and noise in our lives. He emphasized that we exist to serve God, therefore, after we discern God’s purpose for our lives, we must align our ambition to it. Pastor Tim also mentioned the 3 dimensions to God’s purpose, namely, eternal, time and space and personalized. And the way we personalized the purpose of one’s life is to make disciples (what our movement is all about). Jesus makes disciples (Matthew 5:1), Jesus wants us to be a disciple (Matthew 14:27) and Jesus commands us to make disciples (Matthew 28:19). Let’s choose to be a disciple everyday!
But what is a disciple? A disciple is a follower of Jesus (not a borrower of Jesus!). A disciple is one who spreads the gospel, changes the world, trusts in God despite setbacks, hangs on in the midst of persecution and eventually martyrs for Christ. Thank you Lord, for your Word!
The Leaders Meeting with Pastor Tim took place in the afternoon. Once again, he shared his leadership wisdom with us but not before asking the attendees to answer 4 questions pertaining to the health of our church in Penang (what we think are our strengths, weaknesses, what changes we’d like to see and thoughts/feedback for Pastors Tim and GP).
After that, he discussed a study about some factors that define a church (worship, preaching, small group, etc.) and the importance of addressing the weakest link to achieve growth. In addition, he talked about another study regarding church orientation and pastor’s role vis a vis church size. For a church our size (0-150 attendees), relationship is of paramount importance and the pastor’s role is more like a shepherd. As the church grows, other components such as structures and programs need to take place and the pastor takes on additional roles (planner, communicator) for the church to be successful. Pastor Tim asked, “So how good are we at relationship?” He stressed that there can be no shortcut; a structure can’t hold for a long time without relationship at the core.
Moreover, he gave us a glimpse of next week’s preaching series #2, Pattern. A pattern is reproducible and transferrable. He reminded us of Eaglepoint and Every Nation’s purpose to make disciples and the need to align our culture (the pattern) to it: Believe (discover a life with God), Belong (discover a life with others) and Become (discover a life with a purpose).
My other take aways from the said meeting are:
1) Leader = servant
2) Bring 3Bs into the life of others
3) Relationship = Care
4) CARE is Concern, Acceptance, Remember, Encourage
5) 3Cs for new comers to church – care, connect, contact
6) Connect by generation, geography, gifting or grace
7) Chemistry is important in Life group
8) Why Life Group? Discover life with God, life with others and life with a purpose
9) In Life Group, share about life, heart, truth and vision (church)
10) Be a disciple first, then, make disciples.
Thanks, Pastor Tim, for the leadership nuggets that you imparted to us!
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