I had a lengthy conversation with a pastor friend yesterday whom I have not seen in 4 years. A lot of catching up to do. Invariably when I was asked what I would be doing it is difficult to hide the fact that I am moving on and so we talked and encouraged one another in the Lord. I would love to be a pastor in Singapore if that is the Lord's will for me. I could go down to the ground with my fellow pastors and minister among the grassroots. Although I have preached in 10 churches in the past 3 months, I still feel that I live in a rather cloistered environment, surrounded by books, spending hours in the library, adored by a captive audience, i.e., my students except the few that would make trouble for any lecturer whatever their perceived faults may be. It is unreal in some ways, a kind of artificial existence that finds no real traction in the real world of hard knocks.
A good kiwi pastor friend once told me that pastors are those who hit the road running where rubber meets the ground, not like academicians who theologize in the classroom within a controlled setting without much direct impact on the church members and society in general. Pastors are those soldiers in the front line, facing their congregations who live in the world, confronting challenges of how to live in the world but yet not as part of the world. It's a tough job to disciple fellow Christians day in day out, pray for each member under one's pastoral care and making sure the Word of God is proclaimed from one Sunday to another and the Gospel preached to the unconverted and converted alike even as Paul said to the Roman Christians that he had desired to preach the Gospel to them in Rome. I have given myself until 1st March to begin to explore ministry opportunities. Until then I have 40 days from today to wait on the Lord and pray and trust the Lord who spoken thus to me, "I will open doors for you that no man can shut." Even so, Lord. Amen!
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