By Mr Lim Eng
Missions is not an optional extra to the plethora of church programmes. Missions is intricately interwoven into the redemptive script of the Gospel story. It is meant to be lived out by us, as followers of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. The clarion charge of our Lord: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations….” (Matthew 28:19) and “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21) is loud and clear. According to John Piper, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” We the church, individually and corporately, must be the engine to fulfil the Great Commission and not be lulled into regrettable omission!
Against this backdrop, we launched the EquipAsia (EA) Programme in 2017. EA’s intent is to equip church planters, pastors, leaders in less evangelised Asia countries so that they can in turn train their own countrymen. The teaching medium is in English with PowerPoint slides prepared by our trainers. The 1st batch participants (Bhutan, Cambodia and Laos) had to translate these materials into their respective indigenous languages. We completed our first run over 2 years (2017 and 2018), teaching 4 modules each year in Singapore and flying out our trainers to teach the remaining 2 modules in-country. The initial cohort totalled some 11 participants. The graduates or master trainers, as we called them, undertook to conduct 2 rounds of training in their home-country, using the translated materials.
While planning for the 2nd EA intake, Covid-19 pandemic derailed our scheduled training in 2020. Consequently, we adapted and adopted a hybrid approach. In the first 2 years, the participants gathered in-country and the trainers taught remotely from Singapore. For the 3rd year, we had 20 participants from Bhutan, Mongolia, India, Indonesia and Laos physically coming into Singapore. We tried out a 4-3-3 modules approach over the 3 years to complete the 10-module EA Programme in 2023.
With the 2 EA runs behind us, it was time to reflect and recalibrate our next course of action. EA was the fruition of God’s impressed idea of the ingathering and equipping of His people from less evangelised countries in addition to the erstwhile approach of sending out missionaries from within. We rallied the church. CARE Groups hosted and befriended the participants, prayer warriors rallied and interceded before heaven’s gates, individuals provided food and fruits and Christian fellowship to our guests. We roped in more teachers from within the church to co-teach the modules whenever possible. The programme was funded by the church. In addition, individuals gave spontaneously to meet various needs of the programme and the EA trainees. Members from the church flew out to participate at the graduation ceremonies of the training programmes conducted by our master trainers. EA is a family affair. Thank you, church, for being an integral part of this initiative.
After the 2nd run, we surveyed all active EA master trainers on the relevance and efficacy of the curriculum. Overall, those who responded endorsed the teaching materials with some requests to equip pastors with some practical skills in financial planning. As for the module on Ethics, more pertinent contextual issues relating to the cultures of our participants would be used. The leadership team also felt that it would be prudent to look into the harmonization and combination of 2 modules (Uniqueness of Christ and Evangelism) into one so that we could teach 3 modules each year instead of having 4 modules in the 1st year which is a stretch. We would continue with the hybrid approach (first 2 years in-country and the 3rd year in Singapore). Rather than looking into a new Asian footprint, we decided to focus on the current inroads into India and Indonesia with their huge populations and Mongolia with many unreached people groups for the 3rd EA intake, possibly in 2025. Taking a step of faith, we envision organising alumni gathering in Cambodia where the master trainers have faithfully conducted training over the years. We even thought of the possible ingathering of all master trainers into Singapore with some renewal and developmental programme when EA celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2027.
To-date, we have a total of 26 active master trainers, 282 in-country graduates and 164 current trainees. We implore you to partner us in our mission endeavours, to come alongside us as you have been doing so. Join the EA Prayer Support WhatsApp Group, fellowship with our EA master trainers and Asian mission partners through our bi-monthly Asian Missions Fellowship Zoom meeting. Come and be connected with them, some of whom also attend our Men’s Ministry Zoom meetings showing their desire to be connected and encouraged by the fellowship and to grow in God’s word. Consider going to celebrate with any of the in-country EA graduating class and encourage them by your presence. Teach, for those with the gifting. Be a part of the leadership team. Options abound. (Click here for more information on how to be a part of the EA ministry.)
Our hearts are warmed when we see the EA master trainers upholding each other regularly in intercessory prayers and mutual encouragement through WhatsApp. They share their losses, pains, tears, needs and urgent requests in an enlarged community of Kingdom people with a shared calling and purpose. They are the embracers of The Great Commission, walking and growing into their destiny in Christ. Likewise, let us press on and respond to our Lord’s clarion call, lest we lapse into inadvertent omission.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Comentários