Posted on 17 Aug 2011 by Daniel Lu
Dear supporters and friends,
I am really glad that you are reading this blog as what I am sharing with you comes from my heart and reflects how things are going in CERC, from my side.
It has been more than a month since I was formally inducted as Pastor Robin’s apprentice. So much has happened during this period! Feelings of joy, anger, excitement, disappointment well-up in me when I think of all that has happened.
Being fully involved in Christian ministry has really challenged me on what it means to be a true Christian, one that totally depends on God for strength and one that totally trusts God’s providence even when the worst circumstances happens. Being young, it can be very discouraging because I do not have the life experience that enables me to relate better to others. I face various difficulties in my lack of skills and qualifications in many areas of the workforce, such as IT programming, graphics design, building rafts or managing accounts. MTS involves doing all these things because it is a ministry that involves people and managing them. Some appeal is required. Yet, in all these struggles, I have learnt to trust and depend on God because this is His ministry and I am His servant.
“Trust God!” and “Let’s work very hard!” can sometimes seem contradictory (as some of you know), but in truth, that is what God expects of us. We are to trust God completely and yet, at the same time serve Him with everything we have, holding nothing back for our own comfort. Giving up all comfort might sound wrong to some people, just as it did to me, because my personal philosophy used to be that we must learn to enjoy the life God has given us. However, I have learnt that only by letting go all of my comfort may I gain true comfort in Christ, just as Jesus said in Mark 8:34-38,
“For whosoever would save his life will lose it, but whosoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel will save it..”
I pray for all of you reading my blog that you too may take up the cross and follow Christ. I know how hard it is to struggle in this world, but our life is for the new heavens and new earth. Our King died to bring us to His true kingdom and he calls us to deny ourselves and die to our selves. So let us strive together in spreading the gospel!
Do pray for CERC as we continue our gospel work. We are involved in a lot of campus work and with the renting and renovation of our new shoplot, we will definitely need a lot of support in order for good gospel work to continue, whether it be from prayer, manpower or finance, but finance will always be an issue for a small, persevering church like ours. I personally would benefit from more space to work in, which money can purchase for me, seeing how the current area I am staying in is very small. It is hard to find space to move about, let alone store books, reports, data sheets, etcetera.
Oh, by the way, I have one last thing to share with you! There is an awesome conference coming up on 31st Aug to 3 Sep called ‘Thinking Theologically Conference (TTC): Providence’, hosted by Gospel Growth Fellowship (GGF) in Sepang, Malaysia. I will be attending it and giving an elective there. This is the website if you are interested to find out more and attend the conference: http://www.gospelgrowth.com.my/ . I hope you can come for it as I am sure it will benefit you as you learn daily what it means to trust God in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, be it suffering, pain, brokenness, success, wealth, etc.
For now, that is all I that I have to share. I will try to update this blog when I can to share more with you that you may experience the excitement, tiredness, tears and joys of ministry at CERC! Pray for us to be faithful to Christ and His Word, not being tossed to and fro by every wave and wind of doctrine, human cunning, craftiness and human schemes, but holding firm to what we have learnt and received in revealed Scripture.
Soli deo Gloria!
