Category: Pastoral Life

Why Do Pastors Do Home Visitations

As a pastor, i visit members almost weekly. After all, we have been entrusted to take care of the people under our care ( Acts 20:28).

There are so many benefits of home visitations. I will only list three of them.

By visiting them, we will get to know their needs. What are their needs? May be some are struggling with health issues and they need our prayers. May be they are struggling with work and they need listening ears. Sometimes, it will lead to discussions on certain topics in the Bible.

By visiting them, my faith is strengthened and encouraged as i hear how God has been leading them and guiding them through challenges and obstacles in life. God is very much real in our lives, although we may not see Him with our eyes.

Home visitations are done in intimate settings: people’s homes. They are more relaxed and we are less hurried compared to being in the church. The time spent together in a relaxing manner helps to deepen our relationships. After home visits, I feel closer to the people I had visited. There is a change in relationships.

We pastors do care for our flock. Home visitations may take up some of our time but it is a way to show that we care about them and are holding them in our prayers.

The Pastor

What does a pastor do?

Pastors are people called by God to lead His people with knowledge and understanding (Jeremiah 3:15). The pastor is responsible to keep watch over their lives so that their life examples and teachings are according to God’s Word (Acts 20:17-28).

The pastors are not to work for money. Money should not be the motivator. We are to serve God’s people willingly and eagerly because we have been appointed by God. Shepherding God’s people under our care can be hard work but if we remain faithful, someday when we see Jesus face to face, we will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away (1 Peter 5:4).

Let us pray for our pastors so that we will serve God with joy until the end.

Pastor and Mental Health

As a pastor, I am learning to prioritise my mental health. A lot will be at stake if I the pastor – the leader of the church, is not doing well mentally and emotionally. It will do damages to the church.  

Pastoral ministry can be stressful: we deal with the needs of the people on a day to day basis. The pastor is playing the care-giving role: we give a lot of ourselves, our time, our energy to minister to people’s needs. There are texts to reply, phone calls to comfort someone, emails to reply, administration instructions to be sent out. Despite all these, there are many other things that need to be done within a limited time frame: Bible classes and sermons to prepare, visits to the unwell, attend meetings and the list goes on. We too are contemplating with the issues in the community, the society and the world as a whole.

Sometimes we can be feel overwhelmed emotionally, mentally, physically and even spiritually. Here are my reflections on caring for our mental health:

Christ with us

Jesus set the example for us. People from all walks of life came to Him, asking for healing, testing Him with questions, asking to be His disciple, or to hear Him preach but Jesus was not overwhelmed by these demands. It was because He was deeply connected to His heavenly Father, who was His source of strength and wisdom. Jesus spent a lot of time in prayers where He was refreshed by God’s presence. Today, we can be intentional in spending more time with God. Although he had an active preaching schedule, John Wesley spent 4 hours every day in prayers. Bishop Andrewes spent the best 5 hours of his day in prayers every day. William Bramwell was known among the Methodists for his personal holiness and for his preaching. He was also a man of God who would spend 4 hours in prayers. Today, we may not be able to spend hours in prayers but we can do so when we are on a spiritual retreat. We can also use pockets of the day whereby we can spend a few minutes in prayers.

The more overwhelmed we are, the more it is a reminder for us to go to God’s throne of mercy and grace and ask for strength and wisdom for the day. He is the One who will give us rest.

Boundaries and Priorities

With the advancement of technology, anyone can reach out to us at their convenience. I am learning to prioritise when it comes to responding to texts or even to invitations for meals.

The thin line is that discipleship is done only when we are with people. In a way, I prioritise who I want to intentionally disciple. This way, I can go deeper with the mentee and walk closer with her on her life journey.  

I have the duty to set my own boundaries. If I do not set my boundaries and protect it, no one will do it for me.

Misconception of Servanthood

Pastors have answered God’s call to serve Him full-time. But this does not mean we should serve others while neglecting our own needs. Too often, the congregation expect the pastors to be on call 24/7. In the past, I felt guilty for taking some time for myself but gradually, I realised I have to take care of my needs first, not to the extent of being self-centred or lazy in serving, but so that I can be a healthy pastor who thrives in ministry.   

Unwind

Hobbies help me to unwind and take my mind off ministry. Sometimes I can be walking under a cloud of gloom when worrying too much about ministry-related issues.

Ministry is hard work but I don’t think God has intended ministry to be stressful and joyless. Ministry should be joyful and fruitful because we are partnering with the God of the universe! Ministry is hard work but there should be joy in ministry because the God that we worship is a joyful God (Nehemiah 8:10). ‘Joy’ is also one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).   

We need to find a balance in our ministry so that we will be able to serve with joy. May God be glorified in our lives and in our ministry.  

Why I Love Being a Pastor?

  1. The blessings of spending time with God

The best thing I love about being a pastor is that I get to study God’s Word, and even get sponsored to study God’s Word in seminaries! I am also blessed with opportunities to lead prayer meetings and pray with pastors and friends from other denominations. Going for silent retreats yearly is also something I look forward to. These are wonderful blessings of God!   

2. The ability to walk with families through times of joy and times of sorrow

Being a pastor, I am privileged to walk with church members in their life journeys. From church members getting married to having babies and seeing their children grow up and go to school, I had been invited to different stages of their lives. There are also times of sorrow too. I got to spend time praying with the elderly, helping their families to say goodbye to them and then conducting their funerals. Being a pastor gives me access into their lives. 

3. The love from church members

The love and support from church members warmed my heart too. They show their love by taking me on holidays, sending me food and warm my heart with heart-felt messages.    

4. Seeing transformation of lives

I had witnessed transformation of lives: breaking of sin patterns, restoration of relationships, or see someone being more committed to serve the Lord. It is a privilege and a joy to see transformations through the power of the Holy Spirit.  

5. Seeing young people making impact wherever they are

For many years, I have the joy of serving in the Youth Ministry. Seeing these youths transformed by God and being used by God wherever they are is such a joy.

6. Seeing my family walk closely with the Lord   

Since becoming a pastor, my family has been walking closely with the Lord too. It is such a blessing to see my family fervent for the Lord. 

It has been such a great blessing to serve the Lord and His people! I thank the Lord for you too. Thank you for reading my blog posts!

Time to Repent, Reset and Refocus

I am writing this blog while preparing for the prayer meeting for this coming Sunday. The passage on which I will be sharing during the prayer meeting will be from Luke 9:1-6, with the title, “Jesus Sends Out The Twelve” (New International Version).

“9 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. 5 If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.”

Jesus sent His disciples to preach about the kingdom of God. They were to heal the sick so that people would know about God, the ultimate healer and praise Him.

Jesus had given His disciples these things: the power and authority to drive out demons and to cure diseases.

The disciples were to take nothing for the journey, not even item of necessity—they were to travel light—because God would provide for them along the way. They were to depend on the kindness of strangers and by doing so, experienced the grace and provision of God. They would face rejection by others but they were not to take it personally because these hearers were rejecting Jesus Himself.

These disciples obeyed. They went out to preach. They healed the sick. They were welcomed warmly by some and rejected by others.

Looking at this passage, I feel embarrassed. The disciples in the Bible went around preaching, healing the sick and casting out evil spirits. I, as a disciple of Jesus, also have been given the same power and the authority to preach, to drive out demons and to heal the sick. I am supposed to travel light too and not worry about the necessities of life which weigh me down. I think I have been living too comfortably in my little shell. I think I am getting too cozy in my little office. I need to step out more and into the lives of the community for the sake of the Gospel.

I praise the Lord for showing this passage to me so that I can repent, reset my vision and refocus on my pastoral ministry. William Carey (17 August 1761- 9 June 1834), a British missionary to India, once said, “expect great things from God; attempt great things for God”. I want this to be my prayers: to expect great things from God and to attempt great things for Him.

Has God called you out of your comfort zone so that someone will hear the Gospel? How did you respond? I would love to hear from you.

O Lord, may You give us the courage to do great things for You so that people will know you are the real and living God!

What I Learnt From Making Videos Every Week

Due to the lockdown, I have not seen my church members face to face physically. To stay in touch with them, I am shooting a video every week.It is a challenge to do videos—at least for me! Preaching from the pulpit and talking to the camera are two very different things! It takes time to adjust to speaking to the camera. For the very first video, a friend was talking to me on Zoom so that I would appear to be more natural in my video. Shout out to my buddy SB for standing by me! For another video, my mum was sitting across from me when I was talking to the camera. The next videos were done when I was alone in my parsonage, and I had to gone through many retakes.Shout out to my Heng Dai, Alex for encouraging me and supporting me with the video edits for the first few videos! And making the thumbnail look presentable! I would be lost without your help and guidance!Apart from these, there are the hardware to take care of such as getting the tripod, finding a space with natural lighting (I prefer natural lighting so I shoot my videos in the morning). Before I had my tripod, I was holding the camera and it was just my big head on the screen. It must have been hard for church members to watch. I shot the videos on my phone Honor 9X.After videoing myself, I sent the videos over to my friend to edit it. After that, we will post to the group chat and on YouTube.After a few weeks of doing these videos, I am speaking slower than usual (I speak very fast when I am nervous). I block my Friday mornings for shooting so that it will give my friend time to edit before we send the video out.My videos are still cringe-worthy, but they are still works in progress. Friends who watch the video will give me advice so that I can improve on this craft. I do take their advice to heart and hope it will get better as the weeks go by! It is definitely a new way to do ministry!

5 Joys of Being a Pastor

Pastor’s Appreciation Day came early this year. The Pastor Parish Relations Committee of the church which I am attached to sent me one of my favourite foods: pizza, to celebrate Pastor’s Appreciation Day.

I stumbled upon a website: describingwords.io

What do you think are the words that are used to describe the pastor?

Here are what I found https://describingwords.io/for/pastor

I picked out a few interesting ones from the list: useful and beloved; affectionate and vigilant; pained and pious; solemnly sulky and glum; loving and laborious; enlightened and vigilant; well-trained, tactful; cheery, shabby.

My favourite one from the list: “now gray-hair”, which is true for me.

I have also come up with a list, but my list is my “joyful” list. They are about my joy of being a pastor:

  1. Seeing people come to know Jesus

…especially when they had been struggling in life on their own. It is so wonderful to see the change in them after they had accepted Jesus Christ. They are now filled with hope, love, peace and joy of the Lord. I have been blessed to see these transformations. Apart from these, baptising people are touching moments for me personally. I have baptised the elderly in their homes, baptised people in the river during missions trip, and baptised people in the church service. These were meaningful moments to me.

  1. Serving together with others who love the Lord

One thing I am always grateful for are the brothers and sisters in Christ who serve the Lord together with me with one heart, one voice and one mind. It is always so joyful serving together with them. They had made a lot of sacrifices in ministry as well as putting in their time, effort, sweat and tears, and money. It always amazes me how much they love the Lord and they in turn encouraged me in my ministry.

  1. Sending out full-time workers

It brings me great joy when a young person confided that they would like to be a pastor in the future. I would talk more to them about the ministry and get them more involved in serving.

  1. Overwhelmed by love from church members

Often I received messages and texts from church members. I know they are thinking of me. During the lockdown, we received food, messages and love. My parents and I are ever so appreciative of their love.

  1. Preaching of God’s Word

When church members told me that my message spoke to them, or they learned something from the Bible studies, it brings me great joy. To me, it is the greatest thing in the world: we are getting paid to read God’s Word, and to preach from the Holy Bible. That is the best part of my calling.

Looking at this list, all that I can say is, “Thank you, Lord!”

The Person and the Functions of the Holy Spirit

Photo credit: Jordan McQueen from Stocksnap

The Holy Spirit is a Person. He is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit). Therefore, He is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son. After His resurrection and before His ascension to Heaven, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His disciples: “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. (John 14:15-17)

What does the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit:

  1. Searches all things (1 Corinthians 2:10-11)

The Holy Spirit is given to believers so that we may know God better. He reveals to us the heart of God. He opens our eyes to the salvation and inheritance we have in Jesus.

“..these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:10-11, NIV)

  1. Lives in the believers (1 Corinthians 3:16)

The Holy Spirit lives in believers. He leads us and guides us in our daily living.

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (1 Cor. 3:16, NIV)

  1. Seals Us (Ephesians 1:13)

The Holy Spirit has sealed us as children of God. In the ancient world, a seal was a “legal signature” of ownership. The Holy Spirit has sealed believers so that that we are confident of our salvation and that we belong to God.

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13, NIV),

 

  1. Gives gifts to believers (1 Corinthians 12:11)

Every believer has at least one spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit. We are to use the gifts to bless others, build up the church and to glorify God.

“All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.” (1 Cor. 12:11). More gifts are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11.

  1. Intercedes for us (Romans 8:26)

There are times when we are feeling weak and helpless and we don’t know what to do. That is when the Holy Spirit will pray for us to God the Father. What comfort it is to know that someone is interceding for us so that we will continue to journey on in our Christian faith!

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26)

  1. Teaches us all things which Jesus has taught us (John 14:26)

The Greek word “Parakletos” in this passage is translated as “Advocate” (in the New International Version). “Advocate” means “legal counsel.” The Holy Spirit gives believers wise counsel. He will remind us of the teachings of Jesus so that we can follow them.

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26, NIV).

 

  1. Convicts us of sins (John 16:7-8)

Sin separates us from God. Sin will grieve the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals to us of our sins so that we can confess them and ask for His help not to commit them again.

  1. Renews us and gives us eternal life (Romans 8:10-11)

The Holy Spirit works in the lives of believers to renew and sanctify us. He makes us holy. Just as the Holy Spirit raised Jesus Christ from the dead, the Holy Spirit gives eternal life to all who accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour.

  1. Enables the believers to bear fruits (Galatians 5:22-25)

The work of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life is an on-going process. Not only does He convicts us of sins (Galatians 5:16-21), He helps believers to bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25).

The passages above show that the Holy Spirit is active in teaching us to obey God. He reveals to us our sin, convicts us to confess them so that we can live a life that glorifies God. He is also praying for us as well as empowering us to do what God has entrusted to us. There are so many more passages about the Holy Spirit in the Bible. We shall look at them in future posts.

Ladies Talk

This online talk (Talk 4) was exactly a week ago. I am blessed to be a part of it and it was so much fun working together with the other awesome speakers, host and the amazing IT team behind the scene! We are already friends for many years so that added to the fun!
This is the link to the replay of the 4 talks:  https://fmc.org.my/blog/category/live-stream/talks/a-little-god-time-for-ladies/ Check it out. 🙂

Blessed

This is my 9th year of full-time pastoral ministry. There is nothing else I would want to do with my life than to serve the Lord.

Of course, the “working” hours are longggg! We work in the office during the day and we have ministries at night (visitation, small groups, prayer meeting, teaching, etc). There are also urgent things: church members admitted to hospital, etc. There are times when I am envious of friends who hold office jobs and are working from Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm and then they are free for the rest of the evenings.

My office in the church. Not much in my room yet— just a desk, a good chair and a desktop computer to work on at the moment. Oh yes, there is the McDonald’s coffee. I need coffee to start the day!
This is my home office set up. A big, comfortable desk, a Xiaom Yeelight Indoor Lamp that changes colour, a “blink blink” pink notebook and a Wonder Woman mug.

But, to me, it is such a great blessing to serve the Lord and His people. I read from somewhere that pastors get paid to read God’s Word. How great is that!

There are challenges, frustrations and difficulties along the way too but God is so faithful.

During this MCO period, my family and I have been experiencing blessings and so much love from our church friends. Some of them sent us delicious cooked food: curry chicken, pork, rice dumplings, Kentucky Fried Chicken, three layered pork belly, sweet and sour pork. Someone sent free range chicken. Yesterday, a church friend sent me a feast! Some of these were made by her, with love.

What a feast!

All that I can say is, “Thank you, Lord, You are so so good to me”.

“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They can not be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!” (Psalm 139:17-18)

The God that we serve is a God that enjoys giving us wonderful surprises. May you experience His love and blessings today and everyday!