Toongabbie Anglican Church Blog

Mission Mission Matters Newsletter - March 2005

Mission Matters Newsletter - March 2005

Thursday 31 March, 2005 · Posted by Neil Atwood

This occassional newsletter will focus on one aspect of our church’s mission.
It will seek to explain some of the thinking behind why we are doing or not doing certain ministries or activities., and seek to provide a source of up to date prayer points for evangelistic work happening in our area.

This Issue...

Or, read offline: download as a PDF (155Kb). Requires Adobe Reader.

T = Training...

As I am sure most of you are aware, I am involved in a program called MTS this year. MTS stands for Ministry Training Scheme, thus a lot of my time is spent training for ministry!

But is training for ministry limited to those involved in MTS? Certainly not!

All of us (whether full time vocational ministers or everyday congregational
members) are called to ministry (Mark 16:15). We are to proclaim the good news to our workmates, our friends, our spouses, our children. But how do we learn to do that so that we are making the most of every opportunity? Training!

Consider the biblical model: Jesus trained his disciples, Paul trained Timothy. We should be looking to others with skills or knowledge we don't possess, to help sharpen our own ministry skills.

Before MTS was even a spec on my horizon, I had done a lot of training! You could almost call me a training fanatic! I went to training workshops on: bible study preparation, bible overviews, giving your testimony, writing a Christian drama, puppetry, youth ministry, child protection, how to be a Christian drummer, children's ministry, writing an evangelistic talk, two ways to live, and the list goes on!

I didn't expect to walk out of each training workshop as an expert in each of these fields. In some cases, I walked in with no pre-existing knowledge of the topic area! But with all of the training I did, I expected to walk out having been encouraged from the word, encouraged by other Christians seeking similar skills, and empowered with some new skills or knowledge for ministry

There are plenty of training opportunities available at the moment that anyone can get involved in. Here are some suggestions:

Training Tuesdays

Training Tuesdays are an initiative of the Ministry Strategy Group to help with the "Build" aspect of our "Bringing, Building, Sending" aims. As the name suggests, they are training sessions held on Tuesday nights (usually no longer that 2 hours), that offer topics helpful to all of us. So far this year there have been training session for "Praying in public" and "Reading the Bible in public". I personally attended the Bible reading training and found it very helpful. Another aspect of training Tuesdays is...

PTC

PTC stands for Preliminary Theological Certificate, which is essentially a correspondence course offered by Moore Theological College. The course is designed to be as flexible as possible, allowing students to go at their own pace, with or without exams.

There are no prior educational requirements. The 'average' person could successfully complete the courses with appropriate study.
Our church is currently offering the subject "New Testament 1" which explores God's purposes in sending Christ, through looking at the Gospel of Mark.

PTC is on Tuesday nights, run by Philip. But don't feel constrained to attend the subject offered by our church. Other churches in the area are running different subjects. See Philip for more information.

Child Protection

Would you like to be involved in the Childrens and Youth ministry at our Church? If yes, then Child Protection training is a great way to look at the biblical background to ministering to youth, as well as learning the protocols that our denomination endorses. See Neil for more information.

Two Ways to Live

Want to tell your friends the gospel but don't know where to start? Two Ways to Live is a simple gospel presentation that is easy to remember, and presentable to anyone. The training course looks at the biblical background to evangelism, and explores our motives to do it. I personally first learnt Two Ways to Live over 10 years ago, and have found it helpful ever since. See Neil for more information on the upcoming Two Ways to Live training course.

Youthworks Childrens Ministry Training

This was mentioned by Diana in last months "Mission Matters" but its worth a mention again. Anglican Youthworks offers a great variety of courses to help equip people for children's ministry in both schools and churches. I have attended a few of these and found them helpful. See Diana Hinchliffe for more information.

These are just some of the training opportunities available to you. We are privileged to live in a country, that is so gifted with people available and willing to train us in ministry. Let's embrace this privilege and spread the
good news!

Tim Adams

Prayer for those in training...

  • Give thanks to God for our two MTS Apprentics, Tim & Judy, that as they train, we benfit from their commitment to ministry
  • Pray for energy and passion as they share the Good News of Jesus in school
  • Pray for the groups they lead - One80, Thumb TACS, One80 Growth Groups
  • Pray for all who are doing some training this year - that they may grow in their desire to serve, and be better equipped to do so

Mission Prayer

Our Gracious God, we pray that you will help us to proclaim our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that everyone around us will hear his call to repent, trust and serve Christ in love, and be established in the fellowship of his disciples while we await his return. May we continue to pray, to depend on your Holy Spirit, and to glorify you.
Amen.