A slice of Heaven?

I love my bible study group.
Last night was rare, to have all men - our study on 2 Corinthians 13:12 on giving each other "Holy Kiss" didn't go so well....

As we were sharing prayer points with each other, it occurred to me that just in our midst, us 9 guys were folks from 7 different countries! England; US; Japan, Holland; Iraq; Indonesia (of course)... and even Singapore!

Over the many Sundays, I've met people from Iran; Australians; Nigerians; Afghanistan; South Americans; Canadians; Scottish; Irish; Chinese; Malaysian; Bulgarians; even a Russian of Korean decent.

There are many things which I think could be better at church, but that diversity is something which I've never quite experienced before.

And it seems that right there (back to my bible study) - it is perhaps a picture of what Heaven will be like. And it'll be pretty neat.


After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Revelation 7:9-10 (ESV) 

The Switch

I flirted with doing BSF whilst in Vietnam -but the traveling demands were rough, and there was no way for me to commit.


The 2 months lull in Singapore in July/August 2011, was... a bit chaotic, and certainly disruptive. Towards the end, I felt like I lost the discipline of wanting to read God's word, and slipping on the edge of complacency.

Coming to Jakarta, besides trying to find a good church, which I wrote here, one of the 2 things I was to start a read the bible in a year, which in my 20 years of being a follower of Jesus, I never did (ok, I started just before coming to Jakarta, but details details...), and thought to; and the other was to enroll my self in BSF, also to see what it is about, and get me into the discipline of reading the Word of God.

Read the Bible in a Year

The thing I like about this, is that whilst you don't really study the Word of God in depth, you read chunks of the bible at a go. Sometimes, breaking a book into tiny bits to study, you lose the whole flow of what the author is saying. And some books are really, really long.

I do confess that after about 7 or 8 months doing this, I'm kinda behind about 6-7 weeks. I read when I can... hmm, maybe I should be reading when I should - but that's another story... I'll try and catch up next week!

BSF

BSF is interesting. You have daily homework, meet up, and over 40 minutes, go through the answers, gather for a 40 min talk, then you take home notes on that passage to read.
You go over that passage in 4 different ways. It's a great way to get someone to start reading your bible, with a "guide" along the way to help you navigate.

No "format" is perfect. Strangely, I don't think it teachers a person how to read/study the bible; maybe a bit too much ground in a week. And fellowship time is quite limited. 

Being Efficient and Effective?

It's terrible to think of ministry in terms of secular concepts of being efficient and effective - but I'm going to try and think out loud in these terms for a while.

Time is limited. Weeknights with the family/kids are precious. I think committing to something that involves sacrificing that, the limit for me now is probably 1 weeknight.

I've enjoyed being part of the church (All Saints) we go to now. The people are nice, welcoming, I see lots of potential in terms of ministry and fellowship. So the question I ask is, what can I do, be serve the body of Christ at All Saints? One of the things I've stepped up on, is to be part of the "worship" team, in leading/playing the piano. There are a few more things, I'm mulling over, which involves me to be much more involved in serving.

But at the end of the day, it's about fellowships and relationships - not about "activity". (One of my "regrets" in my time in Vietnam is to have lots of Christian activity, but not a lot of deep meaningful relationships).

So one of the things for me to be more "efficient" in my ministry at All Saints, is to build bridges/friendships/relationships. I wasn't building any at BSF (we meet once a week, go through questions, then leave). I've been praying about this for a few weeks, and realize that one way was to be part of the All Saints bible study group/cell group. Time on Sundays are great! But the way we interact is also limited. Studying the word of God, praying for each other, is a way to really get to know people and fellowship with them. It builds a bond, quite different from just meeting and saying "hi" on Sundays.
So I gave it a go last week, and I'm quite pleased to say that I did "like" "Sweddish" method of studying the bible which was used, and just getting to know others on a deeper level.

So I'm making the switch, dropping BSF, and joining an All Saints cell group. It's more "efficient" and "effective" in building relationships in my humble opinion.

Hebrews 10:24-25

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

DG 101

New material
After a year of having to write our own studies, the church (Adam Road Presbyterian Centre) has decided to give us a break, and try out study guides again. Ironically, whilst initially thot it a "drag" coz of time commitment, I enjoyed writing my own studies, like my Uni days.
Now I have to fight the temptation of a lazy prep, the questions are all there, and even the answers!

But I do like these Pathway Bible guides we're using for Discipleship Group, this time covering Luke 9-12 over 7 studies.

PrimaFacie, it is theologically simple. Questions/material provided not as cheem/detailed as the normal Mathias Media studies we've been using. It even comes with leader's notes (maybe i should remove that section from everyone else, so that i can really appear smart - ha!)

Well, where it does well, is in the application part - where it gives us the opportunity to hit it home, and let the rubber hit the road - and that's the hard part. I've had a good opportunity to meditate on it myself, as well as drill this in the DG.
The starter questions are also pretty good - considering most others are pretty cliche, and i've always had trouble thinking up of good ones when writing my own.

New members
We've had a few nearly new members last year, but some reasons or other didn't work out. So we stayed pretty much the same numbers - which is good, coz we got to know each other, and were able to share more.

This year Athena, hubby SoonMeng and mom Ann, decided to join us, after their JFN group moved to Tuesday - and they prefer a Sunday. Whilst it does change the dynamics a little, it's good for the group I think, that it forces us out of our comfort zone - especially me, coz I'm "forced" to observe, listen, and see how we can integrate.
Well, it's a great encourage to me, for Ann, who is more "matured" than the rest of us - that she recently came to know Jesus, and now hungry to learn lots. It's great that our new friends are open, asking questions, and willing to share.

[19Feb update: Getting another couple from same DG as Athena & gang. Thanks Marie!]

Old workplace bible study group
Been trying to encourage my old workplace DG to meet up (stopped since I left abt 3 months ago... and I feel partly responsible...).
I must learn to trust in the Lord, that He will look after His flock, and that it isn't up to me 100% (thank God!) - Faithful we must be, but Trusting even more.

[19Feb update: sigh... this has died an unnatural death. Somehow, trying to meet up isn't working, and I have given up "nagging" - but not giving up on praying for em!]

oh yes, must remember to work on consistency of prayer life.
Just covered study in Luke on Parable of Annoying friend (my words), just after Lord's prayer. Need to be persistent.