Category: English

In the last sharing, we talked about our need to embrace discomfort and discussed three suggestions to help us embrace it: identity, personal awakening, and shaping the environment.

In addition to helping our members realise that they need to be a disciple, we must also help them to aspire to be involved in discipleship.

Desire is important to our success in life. Most of our accomplishments are made possible because of our desires. A student desires to get 10A, so that desire drives him to work hard to achieve his goals. A businessman desires to build his business, so he will rise to the challenge and fulfil his heart’s desire. A fat person desires to have a fit body, so that desire drives him to change his lifestyle.

If a person has no desires, then he will lose his motivation and his purpose.

However, longing is based on some kind of interest. If we cannot see the benefits of our “desire” for ourselves or others, then we will lose our motivation. However, becoming a committed disciple of Christ is something that has no short-term benefits, which is why many Christians are not interested in discipleship. Because they do not see any short-term benefits, they can’t stir up a desire in their hearts to become disciples.

How can we increase the desire of our members to become committed disciples? This is truly the greatest challenge face by the church. My advice is as follows:

One thing the church must do is to create an environment as I shared in the previous post. In addition to the environment, the influence of brothers and sisters on each other is also very important. It is like a company that wants to launch a new product, it must advertise it. One of the ways to advertise is to let people experience the product for free. If the people who try the product have a good experience with it, then they will be willing to introduce the new product to people they know.

In order to have an impact on members, we must first have a group of members experience the benefits of discipleship training. Those who experience the benefits of discipleship training will become like a salesperson, passing on the benefits and the need for discipleship to other members one by one. Slowly we will be able to shape the environment for discipleship, and brothers and sisters will be able to influence each other to shape the desire in their hearts to participate in discipleship training. This is the peer effect.

In the last post we talked about our need to embrace discomfort and discussed two suggestions to help us embrace discomfort, which are identity and personal awakening.

The other suggestion was the shaping of the environment.

Environment is just so important to a person’s life. If you are born into a family that is rich in resources or a family that focuses on education, then your chances of receiving a high level of education are much higher than a child in the ghetto. Perhaps there is no difference in IQ between the two, but the direction of life is already very different.

You are much more likely to become pig-headed if you are in a group of drunken friends. If you are in a lewd environment, then the likelihood of you committing adultery is everywhere. If you are with friends who like sweets, then your addiction to sweets is almost inevitable, and obesity and three-highs are a sure thing.

All people know that environment shaping is very important, except for pastors, strange you say. Many pastors are still unclear about what a church is, so how can they shape the environment that a church should have?

Instructors in a disciplined force know what a disciplined force is, and therefore know the importance of moulding discipline, and therefore even unreasonable orders must be obeyed by their subordinates, or else they get out.

In a company, the top management knows the company’s philosophy and will therefore ask their staff to work according to the culture and values set by the company, and those who do not like it can find another job.

Even a customer-focused restaurant has an environment that customers must abide by. If that restaurant has a counter to order from, you behave yourself and order from the counter, if you don’t like it, go to another restaurant.

What is the church? Why does the church exist? What kind of environment should the church have? Are we clear on all this?

Should the church member-first to make them happy? Should the church provide whatever the members like? If we serve the members, if they are happy, if we have more people attending our services, then we are a good pastor. Crazy, isn’t it? But this is the perception of a lot of Christians today.

If we are not shaping the environment for discipleship, how can believers wake up to the fact that they are Christ’s disciples?

If we want to shape the discipleship environment, many members will be unhappy and complain, as a pastor, can you stand it?

In my last sharing, we talked about our need to embrace discomfort, We also discussed the first suggestion on how to embrace discomfort, which is identity.

The other suggestion is awakening. What is meaning of awakening. It is a state of realising the importance of something in your life. Awakening can bring about change and direct our lives into a positive direction. For example, when we realize the importance of our health, we start eating healthy and living healthy lifestyles.

When we realize the importance of financial management for our retirement, we plan our wealth before we retire. Many retired pastors often complain that the diocese has not taken care of them in their retirement. In all fairness, how is it possible for the financial resources of the diocese to take care of the lives of all retired priests? Assuming that the average age of a pastor is 85, that means that the diocese must take care of each retired pastor for 20 years of his or her retirement. Is this possible? The Malaysian government is currently discussing the gradual abolition of civil service pension benefits. How can our dioceses afford what even the state finds overwhelming? Unfortunately, many pastors are totally unawakened to the fact that they need to learn to manage their finances position and plan for their retirement. What is the point of many pastors, after their retirement, taking their grievances about the difficulties they face in life to the diocese, putting the blame on the diocese and complaining that the diocese has not taken care of them?

The consequences of not being awake on life can be very serious.

The Church must awaken its members to the fact that they are disciples of Christ. They cannot just believe in Jesus, but they must follow him and become his disciples. Being a disciple of Jesus means that they must have a Christian lifestyle.

How to bring awakening?

1. To bring awakening in the church, pastors must first be awakened, especially the new generation of pastors. Awakening among pastors must come through more sharing and discussion among pastors. This is what I have been trying to do. The purpose of my blog is to share with more people, especially pastors, through the sharing of words.

2. To share the idea of discipleship continually and consistently with members of the congregation. I have been sharing the importance of discipleship from the pulpit until the members have implicitly accepted discipleship and unknowingly participated in it. Only when they are involved can they awaken through the training programme and begin to embrace the life of discipleship. If they are not involved in discipleship, it is very difficult for them to wake up, because the philosophy of discipleship is very difficult to explain in a few words and a short period of time.

3. We must be clear that getting people to wake up is a long-term endeavour, and the only way to have a long-term impact is through constant sharing, not giving up, and not focusing on short-term benefits. But this is a very difficult task for modern people. We have become accustomed to being quick and wanting to see immediate results in everything we do. When we are sick, we go to the doctor and take the medicine once and then we ask to be cured immediately. If we are not cured, we will criticise the doctor for not doing a good job and ask for another doctor. Therefore, we are not very interested in things that take a long time to cultivate, and we consider them to be inefficient and a waste of resources.

How do we bring about awakening? The simple answer is to keep sharing for a long time endlessly. In this way, over time, the concept of discipleship will become embedded in people’s hearts and bring about awakening.

We have talked about our need to embrace discomfort in my last sharing. How can we help our congregants embrace discomfort? Here are a few suggestions:

The first is identity. Identity is probably the most important thing in our lives. We have an identity as Malaysians. This identity gives us national rights and interests. We can have access to education, rights to medicine, job opportunities, voting rights and so on. We also have a Chinese identity, so we follow Chinese customs, celebrate Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival and so on.

Identity is also responsibility. If we are a father, we have the responsibility of fatherhood. If we have the identity of a Malaysian citizen, we have the responsibility to love Malaysia. If we have the identity of a disciple of Christ, we have the responsibility to follow Christ. If a person does not identify himself with his identity, then he will not fulfil the obligations of his identity. As an example: I am not an Indian, nor am I a Hindu, so I cannot possibly celebrate Thaipusam.

Identity is also an honour. We will be proud to be Malaysian. We will be proud of being an alumnus of such-and-such university. We will be proud of being a top executive of such-and-such company. We will be proud of being the parents of so-and-so. And so on and so forth.

Identity must be correct because it directly affects our behaviour. For example, my identity as a Malaysian citizen will make me naturally support the Malaysian team. My Malaysian citizenship influence my behaviour and makes me feel that supporting a Malaysian team is a sign of patriotism, which triggers a sense of pride in my heart. This identity may even lead to emotions, cheering for the team’s victory, shedding tears for the team’s defeat, and even acts of violence.

Identity can also affect our growth or change if it is not correct. When a friend invites us to eat junk food, if we position our identity as someone who is dieting, our willpower to resist junk food will surely weaken slowly, and eventually we will not be able to resist the temptation, and our plan to lose weight will not be sustainable because dieting is hardly a way of life. However, if we position our identity as a healthy person, then this identity will make us adhere to a healthy diet, and can also help us to leave the unhealthy habits, in the long run, our weight will naturally achieve a healthy situation. Positioned in the “weight loss” and positioning in the “health” effect is completely different.

This is why it is so important for members to know who they are. Many Christians know they are Christians, but they do not know they are disciples of Christ. It is only when they are clear and identify with this identity that they can be awakened to their responsibility as disciples. We must let them know that they are not just Christians, but disciples of Christ. They are children of God, priests of the King, ambassadors of Christ. They have these identities and must also live a life equal to their identities.

How can we make our members aware of their identity? The best way is through the teaching of God’s Word and the practice of living it out in life. This process is not something that can be accomplished by hearing the sermons on Sunday, nor is it a short-term thing, but something that can only be accomplished through years and years of discipleship.

Comfort zone can hold us back in our growth.

I remember during my university days; I was struggling a lot as the curriculum suddenly changed from Malay to English. I could read, but writing was a challenge and speaking was even more difficult. When I came out to work, the environment was quite manageable although all had to be in English. When I studied at the seminary, I pushed myself to enroll in the English department, and by the time I graduated, my English had greatly improved, and I had no problem communicating with foreign professors. After that, I was sent to a Chinese-only church for 18 years, where I hardly had a chance to preach in English, and the flow of English words almost stopped, and I often had the dilemma of being stuck halfway. Later, when I was sent to a church with an English-speaking congregation, I had to practice my preaching in English many times before I dared to go up to pulpit. Slowly but surely, by now, English sermons can be preached with just one practice, and the practice time is getting shorter and shorter.

If I had stayed in the Chinese church, I probably would have become worse at preaching in English instead of better by now. But when I was willing to embrace discomfort, my grasp of English not only slowly recovered, but also continued to strengthen.

Discipleship is like learning a language, you must use it a lot to master it. Therefore, it is very important to encourage laity to leave their comfort zone and participate in discipleship training.

What I am trying to say is familiar to all of us, and that is: leaving our comfort zones and embracing the difficult is the only way we can release our potential.

Discipleship training is essentially a drill, and it takes constant practice to get better and better at it. Discipleship is like swimming; you must jump in the water to learn. No one can learn to swim in a library. Even if we read all the books on swimming in the library, we will not learn how to swim; we can only learn swimming by being in the water. Discipleship training, as the name suggests, is training and therefore must be done in drill. Yet sadly, to this day, many pastors still think they can teach people how to swim in a library. They think Bible studies are discipleship training. They think that if they teach the knowledge of the Bible, the members will become disciples of Christ and their lives will be transformed. Many pastors are still teaching people to learn to swim in libraries to this day, because this is the sweatless and easiest way. They firmly believe that they can teach people swimming in libraries, and are physically active, courageous, and joyful advocates of teaching people to learn to swim in libraries.

What can we do to encourage them to leave their comfort zones, both laity and clergy?

In addition to discipleship having to be intentional, it also must be fun. The only thing that attracts attention is what is interesting. If the training is just a routine without any passion, it is impossible to persist it for a long term.

Human willpower is limited, just like physical strength, after a certain amount of labour, it is consumed and needs to be replenished. This theory is confirmed by many experiments. Florida State University psychologist Roy Baumeister has done some experiments to observe the limitations of human willpower and the most typical is the carrot experiment. Roy found some hungry students, divided them into two groups, put two trays of food in front of them, a tray of chocolate cookies, and another tray of carrot. He told the first group to eat whichever they wanted, and the second group that if they were hungry, they could only eat carrots, not biscuits. By this way, the second group who could only eat the carrots would need to resist the temptation of the chocolate cookies. After some time had passed, he then took the students to another room and asked them to answer math’s geometry questions to see how long they could hold out. The result was that the students who could eat chocolate cookies lasted an average of 20 minutes, while the students who could only eat carrots only lasted 8 minutes before giving up.

What was the reason for this? The reason was that the students who could only eat carrots used up a lot of their willpower to resist the temptation of the chocolate cookies, resulting in them having no more willpower to solve the geometry problems. This experiment proves that human willpower is limited, just like physical strength, after a certain amount of labour, it will be consumed and needs to be replenished.

This experiment proves that if we just rely on our willpower to do something, it may be effective in the short term, but it is hard to persist for a long term. This is also why many people who have lost weight after trying some weight loss methods usually get results in the short term, but after a period of time, they regain their original weight or even get fatter.

Therefore, some people advocate the necessary of games/fun in training, that is, adding games/fun to training. The reason why the recently popular “slow running on the spot” exercise is so popular is that it is easy to do and you can finish the boring exercise while watching TV. How can we turn “boring” (It is not boring but usually being perceived as boring by church members) discipleship into a game? How can we turn discipleship training into a fun game so that participants can have fun and not be stressed out and continue to grow in their lives for a long term?

If you have any ideas on how to make discipleship fun, please let me know. Feel free to share.

The experiment conducted by Japan in 2014 has confirmed that some perceived geniuses may not be born, but can be developed in life. A music academy in Japan recruited 24 children aged 2 to 6 and gave them intentional training with the aim of teaching them that they could do the perfect high notes, as if they were musical prodigy Mozart. The results showed that all participants were able to achieve the perfect high note after the intentional training. The genius of the soprano, which was thought to be possessed by only one person in 10,000, was made available to everyone through intentional training.

In some fields where there are specific rules, such as music, sports, dance, etc., it is possible to create “geniuses” through intentional training. With the best teacher/coach who can intentionally teach the correct skills, set goals, correct mistakes repeatedly, and practice tirelessly, everyone has a chance to become a genius.

Most so-called geniuses are not born, but are nurtured.

Becoming a disciple of Jesus and growing in the spiritual life depends even more on intentional discipleship. What is intentional discipleship? Intentional discipleship must have some of the following characteristics:

1. Clear goal: The goal of discipleship is life growth. Life growth includes four areas: First, learning the character of Jesus. Second, a total commitment to God. Third, the ability to serve the people with a servant attitude. Fourth, the ability to actively evangelize.

2. Pastors who are crazy about discipleship: The key to intentional discipleship is to have a pastor who did nothing but make Jesus’ disciples. This pastor must be a disciple of Jesus himself. This pastor does not impart knowledge, but life witness.

3. Repeated practice: Discipleship is endless and must be done repeatedly. If the church fails to systematically and repeatedly train the believers, the life growth of the disciples will come to a standstill. Discipleship must not only be systematic but also continuous. Have you ever seen an athlete who stops practicing and is still in top shape?

4. The ability to correct errors in practice: A practice that is constantly being drilled in error is not only not beneficial, but also detrimental, and would be better off not being practiced at all. Intentional discipleship involves constant reflection, correction of errors, and intentional practice of biblical teachings.

It is very good that the Diocese of West Malaysia encourages discipleship. But is our training intentional? We have been promoting it for over 10 years now, how effective is it? Are we still at the stage of reading Daily Bread?

The most important thing in life is that one must have a strong philosophy. Our philosophy about the meaning of life can be an indicator of the decisions we make in life. What kind of philosophy you have is what kind of life you will have. If your belief is in material satisfaction, you will spend your life in material desires. If your belief is to love God and love people, then your life will be a blessing to others in an altruistic manner.

Let us take a non-Christian example: Kazuo Inada, one of the four saints of Japanese management (the founder of two Fortune 500 companies and the legendary CEO of Japan Airlines who fabulously brought it back from the brink of bankruptcy within a year), has a philosophy in honouring god and loving people,(even though his god is not our God) which has created his legendary life and has been the deciding factor in the choices he has made. When he was faced with some major decisions in his life, he did not consider his own interests or the interests of shareholders, but was guided by his belief in honouring God and loving people.

What are the beliefs of Christians in life? What is your conviction in life?

As for me, my conviction in life is to fulfil the mission that God has entrusted to me: to equip the saints, so that they can do their duties and build up the Church.

The Declaration of the Global South of the Anglican Communion (GSCA) at its meeting in Bangkok in July 2012 said forcefully: “Mission is not finished until we have led people to become obedient (cf. Romans 12-16) to God through Christ. We anticipate that the global church will be challenged by the revival of traditional cultural religions, secularism, and materialism. Amid these challenges, our greatest need is for deeper rootedness in discipleship. The direction is to equip the church to focus on discipleship and character building that demonstrates “humility, integrity and simplicity.”

Discipleship is a strategy for implementing the church’s vision and enabling lay people to fulfil their calling. This strategy is consistent with the example of Jesus and the teachings of Paul’s epistles. Discipleship builds churches full of the stature of Christ and enables lay people to become Christ-like, Christ-committed, and actively evangelizing disciples. When both lay people and pastors can move towards the goal of becoming fully human in discipleship, the church will be able to function and fulfil the mission that God has entrusted to it.

Pastor John Oak, founder of Sarang Church, said, “The highest level of discipleship is to be able to reveal Jesus Christ through us. That means letting the world see the changes in our maturity as little Jesus. Discipleship is a much-needed ministry for lay people who have to live among many unbelievers every day.”

The book “All Are Called”, published by the Church of England’s Council for Education, says, “For all people are created in the image of God and are called to be God’s people, to be the Church, to be God’s servants and to be the people of the Kingdom. God’s marvelous grace and love have given us this common calling. This calling is for everyone, and there is no distinction. There is no special status in the kingdom of God. Our callings as well as our duties are not differentiated according to priesthood ordination.”

The church is made up of believers, so there should be no separation in the church. Whether they are pastors or laymen, all are of the same status; the difference is only in their giftings and responsibilities. People in the church, whether pastors or laymen, are a group of God’s people called out through Christ’s saving grace, sanctified in the world to become a group belonging to God alone. They are also sent to be God’s witnesses in the world through holy life, servant service, and the proclamation of the gospel, so that people may be reconciled to God. There is no honor or inferiority in the church, nor does the church belong to the pastors alone. Pastors are not superior, nor are laymen inferior. The healthy functioning of the church requires the commitment of a full-time pastor, but it also requires the participation of the believers. We do not want “laymen” but committed disciples. We want pastors to work closely with believers, nurturing them, growing them, and building up the church together.

The Bible also teaches us about the principles discussed above. These teachings include, first, God’s creation. Every person is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26). Every person is equal in God’s sight. The second is that every person is redeemed by the blood of Christ and receives the same Holy Spirit as well as the same baptism into the church, and there is no difference (Eph. 4:1-6). Our baptisms are the same, and we receive the same Holy Spirit, so how can our identities be different? Thirdly, in the Holy Communion, everyone receives the same bread and drinks from the same cup (1 Cor. 10:17), and there is no distinction between the noble and the lowly, no matter how honorable they are, they all have the same bread and the same cup. In general, regardless of whether we are pastors or laymen, the call we receive is the same, that is, to build up the church and fulfill the mission entrusted by God.

Many times, in the introduction of some celebrity，it is narrated that the person is a disciple or a student of another celebrity. If we were the student of a famous person or a Nobel laureate, we would surely talk about it and feel proud about it. To be a student of someone academically means that one’s research must have been influenced in some way by the teacher, or that one has built on the theories of the teacher in a more brilliant way, or that one has been inspired by the teacher to start new research. The same is true of being a disciple of Christ; our lives must be like Christ.

Do we ever hang on to the idea that we are Christ’s disciples? Or do we simply not know that we are Christ’s disciples? Are we even afraid to be known as Christ’s disciples?

Christians are God’s people by the saving grace of Christ. We do not become God’s people, but we become Christ’s disciples at the same time. The Gospels usually use the term “disciples” to refer to the 12 disciples of Jesus, but “disciple” is sometimes used to refer to followers of Jesus other than the 12, e.g., Mt 27:57. By the time of Acts, “disciple” was used more broadly to refer to those who believed in Jesus, or as the term “Christian” came to be used (Acts 11:26). Paul did not use the term “disciples” in his letters, but he used the term “saints” to refer to those who believe in Christ. He further exhorts the “saints” to grow up, even to the point of becoming perfect men (I Cor. 14:20; Eph. 4:12; Col. 1:28; II Tim. 3:17). I believe this is Paul’s interpretation of a “disciple” of Christ: a believer in Jesus Christ who has been justified and sanctified by grace through the blood of Christ. Sanctification involves becoming like Christ, growing up to be fully human, with Christ’s lifestyle, thoughts, values, etc.

We should abolish the term laity. However, this does not mean that we need to abolish the priesthood. The priesthood is a gift given by Christ to the church through His authority for the building up of the body of Christ (cf. Eph. 4:1-16). Through teaching and training, we should make all believers, including the clergy, understand that we are all disciples of Christ, charged with the task of learning to be like Christ and fulfilling God’s commission. The difference between a pastor and a believer is only a difference in gifts and duties.

In the church, everyone must be a disciple. Our requirements for discipleship are: 1) to grow in commitment to Christ; 2) to grow in servanthood when we serve; 3) to grow in evangelism; and 4) to grow in the character of Christ. If we are a Christian, we must be a disciple of Christ and grow in these four areas.