JOURNEY OUTSIDE THE CAMP

Worldview evangelism workshops in March 2012

GoodSeed, New Tribes Mission Singapore and TWR Asia are organising two workshops in Singapore. Both are aimed at equipping believers to share the gospel with others. The workshops are aimed at helping believers explain the gospel clearly and simply without confusion. We often start by assuming too much of our listeners, or else starting in the middle of the story or we don't take the time to define words like faith, righteousness and holiness. The following two workshops helps believers avoid pitfalls and provides tools to make the gospel message clear.

 

WORLDVIEW RETHINK

 

Place: New Life Baptist Church
Date: 17 March 2012
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Cost: Free
Download the flyer

This is a one-day workshop aimed at helping us understand how a person's worldview affects the way he thinks and lives. We run the real risk of miscommunication in a multi-racial and multi-religious society if we don't consider the listener's worldview. So how do explain the gospel clearly? This workshop explains how to do it in 7 one-hour sessions.

 

 

TERM SEMINAR

 

Place: New Life Baptist Church
Date: 21 - 23 March 2012
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Cost: $80
Download the flyer

TERM is an acronym for The Emmaus Road Message. It was how Jesus explained the gospel to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter morning (Luke 24:13-25). The TERM seminar is a three-day seminar uniquely designed to train participants how to conduct worldview evangelism with neighbours, friends, colleagues and in Bible studies. The seminar goes by the principle of "as you are taught, so you will teach". Participants will be taught the material first and then trained on how to teach. Over 70 visual aids will be used to make the gospel message clearer.

Do take a look at the flyers. If you have any questions, send me a message on Twitter: @amsk.

 

 

By This Name class: Good turnout at the first session

God did a jaw-dropping work in drawing 75 people to the first session of the By This Name 2012 class. Our team was astonished by the number of people who signed up. We realised that we needed a bigger space, especially since we needed to have tables for all the participants. The social hall of our church was the only space large enough to accomodate everyone so with some effort, the space was set up.

It was really exciting to start the session. There were different types of participants. Some were believers who wanted a better understanding the gospel; others were hearing it for the first time. Still others were getting trained so they could teach it back at their own churches; and the fourth group were men and women who volunteered to be trained so they could continue these classes once we moved to Canada.

By This Name Class (January 2012)

Would you like to have a clear and thorough understanding of the Bible’s main message? Have you ever struggled to fit together the different books of the Bible to get an overall picture of salvation?

Or would you like to know how to share the gospel message one-on-one or to a small group? Then the By This Name class is for you.

Meaning of YHWH

With every "Stranger on the Road to Emmaus" class that my wife and I teach, we realise we always bring something new to the participants. That's because we ourselves are constantly learning and God is constantly revealing himself more and more as we delve deeper into his Word. We are really humbled and reminded that the Word is living and active. There are great depths to plumb and just as God is infinite, there is more to learn from even familiar passages of scripture.

We have finished five sessions out of seven and the participants have been pretty regular in their attendance. The folks are a mix of new or pre-believers and some who have walked quite a while with the Lord. So my wife and I are mindful of sticking to the text so as not to rabbit trail during the class but yet we strive to draw out deeper insights for those who are familiar with the sections of the Bible that we are teaching.

Stranger on the Road to Emmaus Class (Second run for 2011)

How can I get a good understanding of the Bible? What do you mean when you talk about the gospel of Jesus? How does the Old Testament relate to the New? Is the Old Testament even relevant any longer?

If you've asked these questions and others like it, then the Stranger on the Road to Emmaus Class is for you. Starting from how the Bible was put together, then beginning at Genesis and working our way till the resurrection of Jesus, the Stranger Class will take you through the Bible chronologically, helping you to see the main message of the Bible with clarity.

Designed for those who want to understand Christianity better and for Christians who just want a clear idea of scripture's main story, you will be able to get a firm grasp of how all scripture points to Jesus. In seven sessions, we'll walk participants step by step through the Bible, building understanding event by event.

This second run of the class for this year starts on Friday nights at 7:30 pm. from 1 July till 12 August 2011. The class is free but participants are encouraged to own a copy of The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus by John R. Cross. You can pick up a copy at the class.

The details once again:

Class: The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus
Venue: Kampong Kapor Methodist Church (Location map)
Dates: Every Friday, from 1 July - 12 August 2011 (7 sessions)
Time: 7:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Cost: Free (But you'll need to pay for the book if you're getting a copy)

You can indicate your interest to the class on the Facebook event invitation.

Easter: Our lives are changed. Forever.

Whenever we get to present the gospel in its entirety, I always get goosebumps. The prayer of my heart is that the Holy Spirit would give understanding to those who are hearing the message. Especially when presenting to children, my deep desire is that the kids will connect the dots and realise that all the Bible stories that they've learnt in Sunday School are actually part of the continuous revelation of God's purpose in salvation. The history of the Old Testament and the narratives of Jesus in the New Testament are two parts of the same story of how we can be reconciled with God through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

What's Easter all about?

(Illustration from "The Lamb" by John R. Cross. Illustrated by Ian Mastin. © GoodSeed International.)

At our Sunday School, we try to give the children the complete gospel message once or twice each year. What we mean by this is that we tell the gospel message not by starting in the middle with the New Testament but where God himself began it: from Genesis. Over the years, we've learnt that telling the gospel story chronologically, the way God himself revealed it through history, helps greatly in a child's understanding of who Jesus is and what he came to do.

We've also learnt that hearing the gospel once is not enough. And this is doubly true for children. And triply true for children whose parents don't actively explain their faith to their children. That's why we try to give the complete gospel message every year.

The Tabernacle model

For more than two years now, we've been pondering on whether or not to bring in the Tabernacle model from Goodseed.com to help in teaching our Stranger class. The challenge was that it was heavy. 10.2 kg! We couldn't ask anyone to lug something so heavy back from the States for us. But realising that the model we did have (also from GoodSeed) was too small for a large class, we decided to ship it.

I'm glad we did. When we first opened it, we had a sense of how the Israelites must have felt when they first saw it. There was a sense of awe as we laid our eyes on it. It was so shiny! We could see our reflection in it. We knew the set we had wasn't the real thing and it was small. But the attention to detail and how real it looks just caused us to stare at it.

How did the class respond to it? They were excited too. They gathered round the middle of the classroom to view it. A number of them whipped out iPhones to take photos of the Tabernacle furniture. We really think that the impact of the lesson was far greater thanks to the highly accurate scale model. We're glad we brought it in.

At the halfway mark in the Stranger Class

My wife and I never tire of teaching the Stranger class. It is a joy and a form of worship for us to walk a whole group of people through the main message of the Bible and of God's salvation plan. We've been teaching at a brisk pace and we hope the class participants are following along just fine. Our youngest class member is just six! His parents brought the entire family and they've been listening attentively and participating in the object lessons.

This week we finished off right at the Passover. We thought we would provide a really tactile experience and serve a Passover meal to cap off the lesson. My wife had looked up how to make the matzah, the unleavened bread, and also learnt to roast the lamb and make the charoset. All the elements turned out rather well.

The class is something I look forward to and I thank God that He uses both of us in this manner. Our prayer is that the truth of God's Word is planted deep into their hearts, takes root and bears much fruit. I am reminded to Psalm 145:4 every time we teach this class:

One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.

 

Stranger on the Road to Emmaus Class

Have you ever tried reading the Bible but didn't understand what it was saying? Have you ever wondered what the big message of the Bible is?

The Bible is a big book. It has a lot to say about our lives and the world around us. Most importantly, it has a lot of to say about God, about life and death and about life after death. The Bible is God's message to us.

If you want to have a solid overview of the main message of the Bible, here's your chance. My wife and I are conducting another round of The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus class. This six-session class will walk participants through the Bible chronologically. The class is based on the book, "The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus" by John Cross.  Starting from Genesis and moving all the way to the resurrection, we'll walk participants step by step through the Bible, building understanding event by event.

At the end of the walk-through, participants will gain a good understanding of who God is, who man is, what sin is, and what God did to redeem man from sin.

Questions that will be addressed include:

• Can we trust the text of the Bible?
• Why is there so much blood and sacrifice in the Old Testament?
• Why did Noah's ark only have one door?
• Was there rain before the flood?
• Why do some people say there is Bible history embedded in Chinese characters?
• Who did the sons and daugthers of Adam and Eve marry?
• Why did Jesus have to die?

You will require a copy of The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus in order to follow along. You can pick up a copy at the class.

The details of the seminar are:

Venue: Kampong Kapor Methodist Church
Time: Fridays, 7:30 p.m. till 9:30 p.m. (plus an additional 30 mins for Q&A)
Dates: 2011. Jan 14, 21, 28 and Feb 11, 18, 25 (We're skipping 4 Feb because of Chinese New Year)

Message me on Twitter at @amsk if you're interested.