12 Years a Servant: Here’s to Forevermore
ft. Pastor-in-Training Daniel Lu
As a church with a primary concern for Christ-centered, God-glorifying ministry, Christ Evangelical Reformed Church (CERC) reflects this in our commitment to quality word ministry, which flows from the pulpit all the way to our growth groups, various ministries and the individuals being discipled one-on-one. Being a church without compromise for God’s gospel means an active defense of the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and staying faithful to the tenets of historic orthodox Christianity by placing the Bible in its rightful place above any notion of culture and institution, including the church’s.
This Foundation Day, we look to honor and celebrate the ministry of our pastors-in-training and elders, who, as word ministers, humbly derive their authority from Christ’s authority as they work to nurture healthy Christian growth in the people of His church. The life of a word minister is one of full dedication to producing Gospel-committed Christians through creative and sacrificial evangelism by the work of His Spirit, including speaking the truth in love, at every level of word ministry and church operations such that it reflects God’s glorious goals for His kingdom.
PASTOR-IN-TRAINING
DANIEL LU
Pastor-in-Training, Christ Evangelical Reformed Church (2019-present)
Reformed University Fellowship (2019-present)
Bachelors in Theological Education, Trinity Theological College (2016-18)
Ministry Training Strategy (2011-2015)
Gospel Growth Fellowship Partner (2011-present)
As Pastor-in-Training in CERC, Daniel began his ministry training 9 years ago through the Christian Ministers’ Apprenticeship in CERC, previously known as the Ministry Training Strategy program.
“I started my apprenticeship in CERC in 2011, and it has been immensely helpful in building my character, conviction and competence in ministry. Those few years of training have greatly humbled me as a person to understand my areas of weakness and inabilities, but have also been a great help in nurturing a servant-hearted devotion to God and His glory. It has also taught me how to improve on my weaknesses for His sake!”
Continuing on with 3 years of formal theological education with a Bachelors in Theological Education at Trinity Theological College in Perth, Australia has equipped Daniel with essential skills that will enable him to lead faithfully.
“Seminary has expanded my thinking of how ministry can work in a different cultural context, and taught me how to handle Scripture well. I think Australia has helped me see a different world of doing ministry and it has expanded what I understand to be possible in ministry. I’ve learnt quite a lot from my time there in terms of how to think and relate to people from a different culture, but I have also seen cultural drawbacks – which has led me to think about how I can minister better in Malaysia given the culture here.”
As a leader in Chinese ministry, Daniel’s upbringing, skills, experience and training enables him to lead in a meaningful way towards fulfilling the vision CERC has for the Chinese ministry.
“I grew up in a bilingual family and studied Chinese from young till Form 5. I grew up speaking both Chinese and English to my family members and friends, and that’s been helpful to start the kind of Chinese ministry that CERC plans to have, which is a Chinese congregation that is equipped to have the best of both worlds in terms of thinking and doing for the gospel.”
His current work involves teaching biblical theology (“BT”) through the Chinese ministry as well as preaching in campus ministry at various universities. You’ll also find Daniel keeping up with thought leadership of the day through the books he reads.
“I’m working on building the Chinese ministry in CERC. We’re going through According to Plan in Chinese and we’ve been working on training up Chinese preachers and small group leaders. I’m also in charge of a few university ministries as well as preparing to preach some of the church sermons on biblical theology. Recently I’ve been reading up on books by David Wells (i.e. No Place for Truth, God in the Wasteland, Courage to be Protestant) to understand better how modernity has changed culture and ministry today so that I can better teach and respond to it with the Gospel.”
As campus ministry involves many hours of personal Bible study and discipleship, Daniel’s theological training and experience has enabled him to nurture many young adults and budding ministers for the gospel.
“Daniel taught me how to read the Bible. I used to read it by flipping to a random page and trying to read my own experiences and thoughts into the text. And if it didn’t make sense, I would just flip to another page! I struggled to know the God of the Bible, but Daniel helped me see that in order to read the Bible rightly, it is essential to have biblical literacy. He started to introduce me to tools such as exegesis, biblical theology, systematic theology, historical theology, and theological thinking. Daniel said these tools are not just for pastors, but for every Bible-believing Christian. I once read Romans 5:6-11 with him using Just For Starters, and I understood sin, God’s sovereignty and assurance through careful exegesis and attention to tenses, conjunctions, and the surrounding context. It was mind-blowing because I finally understood what it means to say that “God speaks to us by His Word”. – Yin Ying, member candidate
We see that faithful leadership involves concern for both the small and large things – from teaching others how to read the Bible better, to helping them to contextualise God’s work in our world through a historical and biblical theological lens. Daniel’s work in Chinese ministry has also helped to evangelise those who have Chinese as their mother tongue.
[Biblical literacy] is not just for pastors, but for every Bible-believing Christian.
“Chinese ministry has been helpful in reaching out to Chinese-speaking persons and equipping them in their understanding of biblical theology in their mother tongue. Through this ministry, some participants learn about biblical theology for the very first time and understand God, themselves, and their sin much more clearly. Many are thinking more seriously about applying and living out God’s Word in their lives too. Personally, this is the first time I’m leading a group on my own, and Daniel’s ministry has modeled for me what it means to help others grow through their understanding and reflection of God’s greater reality.” – Chua Jia Ying, member candidate
“Let this be to you the mark of true gospel preaching – where Christ is everything, and the creature is nothing; where it is salvation all of grace, through the work of the Holy Spirit applying to the soul the precious blood of Jesus.” – C.H. Spurgeon
This Foundation Day, we celebrate and thank God for the quality of the preaching in CERC, as we treasure the gospel that has been passed down to us. We are committed to preserving its purity and to fight against heresy and the false gospels of today. We thank God in his sovereignty, and are grateful to men and women who have invested much of their time and resources in their love for this church in a small region of the Klang Valley.
