Stewardship, Service and Surrender

A testimony printed in the bulletin of Hope Brisbane Christian Church, 25 May 2008


    Even since I became a believer, I’ve always felt a desire to serve God and to see others learn more about how to live in such a way that is consistent with knowing the height and wonder of Christ’s glory and supremacy. From the onset, I knew that my primary spiritual giftings were in teaching and intercession. Teaching, because I loved God’s word plus my tertiary studies fostered a passion for Systematic Theology. Intercession, because I felt a burden to discern the specific will of God and how it applied to the health of the church.

   Having been among the aussie Eureka Group’s “veterans”, I’ve seen upfront people rise and fall, come and go. In 2007, I was asked to take on the role of leading the  Burning Bush student ministry. While I already had intermediate skill as a lifegroup discussion leader and had aspirations to perhaps one day be the pastor of my own church, I honestly found the thought of stepping up into leadership to be daunting. I read 1^st and 2^nd Timothy plus the book of Titus intently, sometimes feeling positive, other times pessimistic. How would I ever be able to meet the criteria God set for his leaders within his church? What about those I loved who God would place under my care? Would I become their stepping stone or their stumbling block? To top it off, how would I support myself and my ministry financially since I was still looking for permanent employment? But one thing was certain: God put me in this position for a reason.  

   In the years that I have attended, served and ministered within Hope Brisbane Christian Church, the vision of the Hope Movement has resonated a resolve in my convictions towards evangelism, discipleship, theology and understanding what the gospel truly is.
   Help Fulfill the Great Commission. Build Strong, Biblical Christians. Plant Strong, Biblical Churches.
   Anyone who has been with the Hope Movement long enough would have at least once looked at the above three statements and asked “...How?” Our vision represents not just a call to see the great comission fulfilled through evangelism, discipleship and church planting; but it creates a parameter for the philosophy of ministry wherein scripture not just dictates our theology, but it serves to regulate the resulting methodology in such a way that when a church decides to grow that which is “strong and biblical”, they must immediately confront that which is weak and unbiblical.
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:11-16 (English Standard Version)