Reflections from G8 Conference…

by Kartika Prins (1st Year MTS Apprentice)

We’ve hit the ground running and have begun working in our ministry teams, but you may be wondering, have we begun any training yet? Have we engaged our minds as much as much as we’ve engaged our hands?

The answer is a resounding, yes! And a major component of our training is the annual conference run by Ministry Training Strategy (MTS) which ran recently on 20th-23rd of January.

It’s called G8 and is a four day conference at Stanwell Tops that gathers all MTS apprentices from Australia’s eight states and territories (a bit like the G7 and G20 summits which was probably the inspiration for this very title!). It was immensely encouraging for us to see all (or most) of the MTS apprentices gathered together to be better equipped to serve God and his people in their communities and local churches.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS …

“Ministry Principles” with Dave Moore (from Hunter Bible Church)

When we think about ‘how’ to do church ministry, it’s almost instinctive to tackle our work head on zealously but in the process miss the basics that lay the very foundation of why we exist for service and our posture towards service. Even if these principles are grasped well, in our humanity and sinfulness, we are prone to wander and forget the character of God in what we do.

We learnt that so much of our service to God must be grounded in the character of God. And so, during these sessions at G8, we looked at some key and vital principles that helped us renew our attitude and posture to ministry.

1. God’s Glory
2. God is relational
3. God is sovereign
4. God speaks
5. God grows his Kingdom

Together in small groups, we opened up God’s word and mapped out possible realities if we forgot and remembered these 5 key characteristics of God and the impact it would have on our ministries. Some key things that I took away were:

• When we forget God’s glory, we love ourselves more than Jesus. Rebuking becomes really hard as it puts our relationship with people at risk. Our ministry begins to become rubbish (it becomes really hard, feedback becomes crushing, fruitlessness becomes discouraging and not attractive)
• When we forget that God is relational, we don’t value people as people but as human resources to fill in rosters and roles at events.
• When we forget that God is sovereign, we get anxious for different reasons. Anxious because we like things in our control or anxious because it feels like everything depends on us.
• When we forget that God speaks, we don’t listen to God and become people who share our own opinion rather than engaging with the mind of God who actively speaks and reveals Himself.
• When we forget that God grows his kingdom we can get territorial of other churches rather than “Praise God for growing my brothers and sisters in Christ!”

This might all sound too familiar, because it is! It was incredibly helpful that we as MTS apprentices were reminded and cautioned of the dangers when God is forgotten in our ministries.

All the attendees at the G8 National Conference

“Leadership Principles” with Rhett Harris (EV Church)

We are certainly not strangers to the fact that leaders are models for good or ill. We see it in the world, and also see it in the world of Christian leadership. It was reassuring that MTS ensured in our training at G8 that we grasp the importance of growing in godliness as an apprentice- that while we are MTS apprentices, we are first and foremost apprentices of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The session opened up with a clear and earnest plea by Rhett.

“Leadership is no small thing — if you muck it up it goes terribly wrong. Growing in godliness really matters. It’s the number one thing for us as leaders.” (paraphrased)

Some invaluable takeaway points for me during the session were:

• Leaders bear the responsibility of being watched and therefore leaders are to embody the gospel.
• The gospel is not just about being saved from the penalty of sin but actually the power of sin in our lives. As leaders we are to show the power of the gospel and therefore allow others to see the progress we make in our godliness.
• Aside from growing in our godliness we are to be committed to seeing growth in others. We ought to be leaders who are growing people to be increasingly like Jesus. The mature person bends their way to the weak so that the gospel can take root in their lives.
• Massive moral failures come about from small compromises (slippery slope).
• When we forget to grow in our godliness, people pleasing becomes more of a bigger God to us than it did before.

Reflecting on this session, it spoke volumes to me, that out of godliness, knowledge and competency, we spent most of our time unpacking godliness. The subtext was crystal clear in that our priority should be godliness and character and had walked away quite thankful for the clarity.

Training at G8 was both hard and wonderful. Hard, because it took a lot of thinking, energy, and wrestling with God’s word but wonderful in that God’s word had been so delightful to study individually and corporately and deepened my conviction that God’s word is undoubtedly the lamp to our feet in this murky world. My posture towards service was renewed and straightened with the faithful teaching of God’s awesome word at G8.

THANKFUL FOR …

I am so thankful for my fellow MTS apprentices at MBM Rooty Hill and the time spent together at G8! We have the wonderful privilege of upholding and learning from one another during this unique season of full time ministry. Pictured below are the 1st and 2nd year apprentices together with our MTS trainer/coordinator, Dan Lee. This was taken after a coaching session on Day 2 of G8 Conference. Enjoy!

Back Row (From Left): Rehan Prins (1st Year), Josh Onden Lim (2nd year), Josie Allen (1st year), Merryn Wilson (2nd year)

Front Row (From Left): Daniel Lee (MTS Trainer), Kartika Prins (1st year), Lydia Johnson (2nd Year)