Dedication, zeal, commitment and spiritual giftedness cannot sustain Christians who are engaged in mission.
We need an intimate relationship with Christ. Paul reminded the Philippians to forget the past and look forward to what lay ahead. The goal is to know Christ more intimately.
We can grow in the knowledge of Christ through prayer, the study of God’s living Word, spiritual disciplines, Christian witness, and fellowship with other Christians in the church community.
We know that building a Christ-like character is important. This can be achieved by personal spiritual formation. Otherwise, we can become man-pleasers rather than God-pleasers, glorifying self instead of glorifying God. When things go against us, we tend to indulge in self-pity rather than identify with Christ. If we can find spiritual mentors early in our faith, that will be ideal. With more time one can build up a solid foundation to last a lifetime.
We need to grow in Christ, as well as in the Body of Christ. Christians become part of a larger Christian family when they accept Jesus Christ as Lord. The Bible teaches that Christians are to be in fellowship with one another. Romans 12 and 1Corinthian 12 tell us that we are part of one another. We are all members of the Body of Christ. We are vitally connected to one another like parts of the human body.
Making disciples in our native culture (our Jerusalem) will sharpen our ministry skills and we can then hone-in our spiritual gifts for mission in a cross-culture setting.
People do not really understand themselves or their culture until they have stepped outside their culture and reflect on their own culture. We do have cross-cultural opportunities in our home country. In Singapore there are different ethnic people groups with their own cultures. God has brought these unreached peoples to our backyard. We can start by meeting and visiting members of these ethnic people groups who gather in different parts of our city.
Caleb Ang
