Rev. Edmund Chan, SP of Covenant EFC Singapore
“Ministry is the outflow of your life… Take care the depth of your life and let God take care of the breadth of your ministry.” –Rev. Edmund Chan
This quote caught me thinking even before I joined the IDMC (Intentional Disciple-making Churches) Conference. Depth of one’s life, something we get over with all too briefly in our daily conversations and ministry evaluation. Living in a culture where personal dignity is highly respected and ministry result is highly valued, issues like these are always being sidelined, intentionally or unintentionally. I saw a decline in my personal walk with God when no one around me see me as a spiritual being that hungers for correction, love, acceptance, guidance, and spiritual company. I saw how hard I try to look good on the outside while I know I’m a dead soul trying to look alive. No one dared to ask about my heart. No one dared to rebuke me. They seemed satisfied with my superficial answers! Superficiality in Christianity today is poisonous! That is why we go around looking for answers for questions like why our ministry is not going anywhere but found none. We’ve missed the main issue!
Attending the conference helped me identify this crisis. God used the conference to help me deal with my heart issues. Things discussed like: intimacy with God, choose truth over lies, spiritual disciplines, overcoming sins by the power of the Holy Spirit and becoming a spiritual friend to someone else etc. prepared me deeply to be a true follower of Christ. I heard God said: “Son, don’t go any further before you get these things right!” Every session confirms my need to go deeper into Him and hide myself in Him, because apart from Him, I can do nothing. Nothing! It’s a refreshing soul-searching experience. God, being so loving and faithful, has NEVER FAILED to draw my heart back to Him when I need Him to.
I also realize the importance of cultivating spiritual friendship. Being a long-time struggler of becoming a friend to someone, I realize that unless I am intimate with the friend of all friends, Jesus Christ, I can never be a true friend to others. I long to be someone who come to my friend’s mind whenever they need someone who accepts them for who they really are. Spiritual friendship is what we need in the world today!
I want to close with this sharing. I still remember on the 1st morning of the conference, a pastor actually asked all of us in the conference: “What are you looking for in IDMC?” I remembered my prompt answer was: “Another life changing experience.” But the Spirit of God asked again in my heart: “What are you looking for, REALLY?” …and I found myself saying from my innermost being: “God, I come and look for You. Yes, it is You that I seek”
What are you looking for in your life, really? What really matters?
Unless we constantly plunge ourselves in the sweet fellowship with our Lord, people will never see the beauty of God from our lives. It is His desire to draw close to us, why don’t we take Him at His Word?
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