Starting my Ministry Apprentice Scheme (MAS) last year, I was ready to grow in bible handling, ministry philosophies, and getting mind blown by systematic theology.
One year on after many book reviews, being pushed in bible handling, and trudging through our systematic theology textbook, I’ve definitely grown in knowledge and skills. But what I didn’t expect, was to grow in love.
We take it for granted and it might even sound like a given, but I give thanks for BA’s pastoral team and elders who truly love God deeply. They are men and women who recognize their own human sinfulness and need for confession and repentance, who rely on God for their every physical and spiritual need. And then as workers in God’s field, I watch the pastoral team & elders at work daily seeking to reflect that love and grace of God.
I’ve been humbled by the love and patience they have for the church family. From the seemingly ordinary Sunday morning chats and welcoming, to the behind the scenes house visits & counselling of church members, to the more obvious pulpit preaching and teaching. Every decision made in love and done in love to allow and encourage church family to move them towards King Jesus.
To some it looks impressive, but to them it’s simply living out truth proclaimed.
The truth that God is love. A love so intense within the Trinity that overflows into His creation. Contrasting that with the sinner who is curved in on himself, inward-looking and self-obsessed, perverting love and rejecting the One who made us to love and be loved by Him.
So in salvation, we see God’s response to sin is His very being of love. On the cross when Jesus willingly laid down his life, we see the intensity and strength of God’s love, and a God who delights to give to himself. And God the Father sent his Son to not only reconcile us to himself, but to reconcile us to each other reflecting their harmony.
So as much as MAS has helped me gain new skills, I’ve gained more from learning and seeing first hand from the pastoral team and elders what it means to love God and to be part of God’s family. They try their best (nevertheless imperfectly) to mirror the selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional love of God. I’ve reflected on how inward-looking my relationships have been, and to then instead always be considering and looking out for the other person.
In the words of 1 John which we have been covering in our small groups, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God!…Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God and whoever loves has been born of and knows God.”
And finally understanding the words of Paul, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
Thank God for this MAS opportunity to not only grow in knowledge and skill, but also in its practical out workings of love. So church fam, just as our pastoral staff and elders love, just as I have learnt to love more deeply, let’s be compelled by the overflow of love from God the Father, Son and Spirit to love and serve each other in truth and deed.
