Born in Taiwan but left when I was 8y.o., lived in 5 different countries by 18y.o., Christian, full-time General Practitioner in Eastwood! Loves travelling&adventures. Master of Divinity graduate.
台灣出生，八歲出國，十八歲時已經長期居住過五個國家，基督徒，道學碩士，在澳洲依士活作全職家醫科醫生，喜歡旅遊探險。
A series of freaky event occurred in April 2025, right after I’ve
participated in a month of Revival Prayer movement in Taiwan, so I believe
these are attacks from the enemy. Firstly, a relative implied that someone in
the family had active TB and kept it a secret from the relatives. On the
following day I decided to do the IGRA blood test as precaution, since Charlie
happened to have gotten sick with fever. On that same day Chester had an
accident where his finger was in the door hinge while the educator was closing
the door and his thumb nearly fell off, so we went to the ED and waited whole
day, only to be told he needs to be seen by the plastics team the following day
in another hospital which was very far away. This week coincided with the week
of a big doctors’ strike! We were lucky that Chester was able to get the finger
surgery done in the late afternoon. However, when I got home after Chester’s
surgery, Charlie became even sicker. Chester and I tested -ve for TB, but
Charlie's results were still pending! Then at midnight Charlie was breathing
very fast and had very high fever and I saw the TB result was indeterminate, so
I took him to RNSH ED in the middle of the night! We pretty much got locked
into the hospital because as soon as they heard possible TB contact they got
very cautious. CXR showed early pneumonia. IV antibiotics were given and
Charlie improved very quickly. However, they wanted to take a nasogastric tube
to confirm that it really wasn't TB, which was highly traumatic for Charlie, as
he needed 5 people to hold him down. I got an update from the relative that it
there wasn’t TB in the family after all. I tried telling this to the medical
team but it took quite a while before the consultant doctor got the message. Luckily
we got released from the hospital as a result. The children were very
emotionally upset throughout this week, because they were both very upset by
the whole hospital experience, and I didn’t sleep for 4 days. And I had to
cancel three days’ worth of patients, approximately 100 patients! So the
financial impact was pretty devastating for the family. Meanwhile, my husband’s
studies abroad were going pretty rocky and he was at danger of having to repeat
a year of medicine. This also coincided with the time where I was planning to
get pregnant with the third baby: I have to get pregnant on this particular
month so that the baby will be born when my husband is back in Sydney for the Christmas/New
Year holidays. These series of event actually made me even more convicted that
getting pregnant this month was the way to go!
Fast forward to July: I was about to enter into the second trimester
and the baby and I have been well in all the antenatal checks. I thought that I
should make a visit to Taiwan, because once we have the third baby, our family
might not be able to travel again for quite a while. This was my first overseas
travel since our wedding reception in Taiwan in 2019! And the children's first
international travel! It was a lot more difficult than what I imagined (but my
hubby already predicted all of those difficulties). Just to list some examples:
Children overwhelmed by an environment different from what they are used to and
crying that they want to go back to Australia and unable to fall asleep. 18kg
preschooler suddenly refusing to walk: before getting on the plane, in the
middle of switching from one public transport to another, etc.Overtired children suddenly falling asleep
during meal and throwing crazy tantrums in the restaurant after waking up and
we had to takeaway the food.The
technical difficulty of catching public transport, which makes going from one
place to another impossible: you can’t get a pram onto the buses in Linkou
because there are so many steps, public transport is so crowded and you need to
take the lift if you’re bringing the pram, and the wait for the lifts take
forever, and the routes to the lifts makes the walks in the station much
longer, just to name a few.
I did my cpds on the first weekend back, and my hubby did his medical
electives on the weekdays for the rest of the two week stay in a more remote
region in Taiwan, so I was alone with two kids during the weekdays, which made
travel on public transport even more impossible. I stayed in Linkou during the
weekdays during our first week back, and in the Taichung hotel during the
weekdays of our second week back. The second week was much better than the
first, because the environment was clean, and the hotel’s got brunch buffet and
great play facilities for the children.It was still exhausting being the sole carer for the children. It was
great catching up with some relatives and family friends during the weekends
though.
Fast forward to late August: It is confirmed that my husband has passed
this year’s studies safely. Hopefully, he will graduate on time in June 2026!
Fast forward to 7 September: It was quite memorable in that it coincided
with my wedding anniversary, the Australian Father’s Day, and the 23rd
anniversary celebration of the church I used to go to – the 1503 Mission
Network! Yet, this was a pretty “fatherless” day for our family. My husband is
still far away abroad undergoing a career change. My dad passed away suddenly
and unexpectedly 12 years ago. Although not a man of many words, there’s still
regret that I never tried “listening” to him and never truly got to know him
well. Occasionally I still get dreams where my dad was actually alive and there
was somehow a mistake that occurred which made us thought he had died. The
first time I stepped into 1503 happened to be the church’s 5th anniversary, so
I dropped in for a visit. The blood moon phenomenon occurred in various places
around the world 7-8 September: based on past observations of blood moon occurrences,
I think something big is coming up.
There is a prayer movement happening in Taiwan. The organisation that’s
helping with this is the College of Prayer International, and the pastor
helping Taiwan is Rev Donald Young:
·City of Ryde: has cultural diversity, eg. Taiwanese night market in Eastwood.
·We may tolerate other cultures, but still want to keep an arm's length. We think "our way" is right, and the "other way" is wrong.
·Ever since the global financial crisis, there is increasing opposition to migration.
·There passages are God's vision for cultural diversity.
·Looking at creation: God loves diversity, eg. 360,000 different kinds of beetles, etc.
·Cultural differences: Individualist: recognises individual uniqueness. Communalism: the beauty of people committing to each other and sacrifices made to the whole group.
·Even more important than difference is unity in diversity: being unified in worshiping Jesus, v11-12.
·God's grace in sending His Son: everything is a gift. We should never look down on another, but to learn from one another.
·"Our way" is not the only way.
·Multicultural engagement leads to growth as we come together.
·When Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs can say "I love you" to each other, this is the power of God. Let us be a blessing for the nations, for the glory of God.
The place where the missionary Dr. George Leslie Mackay came ashore onto Taiwan! Looks like he was kneeling in prayer in this artwork! Photo taken from a trip to Taiwan in 2016.
Have you ever had someone come to you and
say, “I’ve been praying for you a lot” (in a serious way, not just out of
politeness)? Rachel had a lady whom she doesn’t know well said to her she has
been praying for her. She prayed for her marriage, her being a good exemplar
for others, her faith, her spreading the word of God, etc. This prayer of Paul
is similar.
The prayer is motivated by the many
blessings we have in Christ.
V14: “I kneel before the Father.” People
kneeling to pray. To kneel to pray is to indicate urgency/desperation/earnest.
The Father, from whom every family in
heaven and on earth derives its name… We pray to the Father, the origin of all
creation.
Greek: Pater=father, Patria=family. The two
words have similar roots. We derive our origins from the Father, the One whom
we come from, the source of everything we know.
Sometimes we are focusing on the
things/issues we are praying for, but not on the One whom we are praying to. It’s
about God.
It is the Spirit, and Christ in us who give
us the strength we need. “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may
strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Without Christ dwelling in our
hearts, what do we have? Exams and assignments are less urgent compared to
eternity.
Know and understand the love of Christ. “And
I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together
with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep
is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” It can
be quite unconceivable that God can love us this much. What would happen if we
all kneel on our knees praying urgently for the people in our lives?
“That you may be filled to the measure of
the fullness of God”. The fullness of God. The Spirit will strengthen us when
Christ lives in our hearts.
Take this prayer and read it again at home
and ask ourselves, “what would it look like if I was doing this?”
Often, we pray for people to feel better/do
better/other practical things. What happens if we pray that Christ dwell in
their hearts, and change them from the inside out? We can’t force anyone to
come to Christ, but we can pray for them. Pray this prayer for them because
that is what we can do.
Personal thoughts and reflections:
Today’s Chapel resonated with what
has been happening in my life lately again. Last week I made an urgent trip to
Taiwan to visit my terminally ill aunt. Although she became stable enough to be
discharged from the hospital, she still doesn’t have the desire to be visited
by church people or get baptized. So, although the practical aspects of my intercessions for her has been answered, this amazing extension of life is pointless if there is no growth in faith. After all, she is in great agony from the effects of the cancer itself as well as the side effects of the cancer treatment, and an extension of life means an extension of these physical and psychological agonies. Meanwhile, no one can force my aunt
to come to Christ. Therefore, I should make the prayer more Christ focused, and
praying for Christ to dwell in her heart, so that she can be changed from the
inside out.
The emphasis on “kneeling” in today’s talk reminded me of the time I went on a government funded CPD program to Mackay Memorial Hospital in 2016. In my spare time, I went to the Barnabas School of Missions and heard a message by Dr.
Allen Lien, a famous evangelist/ medical doctor in Taiwan who went to Africa,
who exhorted us to “Pick up the lost tradition of getting down on your knees to
break the ground with the groundbreaking prayer!” And a prophetic prayer by
another organisation where the intercessor told me “get down and pick up” some
of the things I’ve dropped! At that time, I already knew in my mind the Spirit was telling me to get down on my knees and pray with urgency every day, but my flesh found it hard to do because I was either in the situation of excessive comfort during holiday times, or excessive busyness during Morling College semester times.There didn’t seem to be any stimuli of enough magnitude that made me felt I had no choice but to drop down and pray with urgency. Well, the situation has changed lately. Ephesians 3:14-19 is a good prayer I can do when
interceding for my family in Taiwan… on my knees that is! Addit 8May 2018: After a week of break from the hospital, my aunt got admitted into hospital again on Saturday 5May, bleeding more profusely than before. On Monday 7May, she decided to get baptised. On Tuesday 8May, she got baptised.
Feel like the rebuilding of the walls of
Jerusalem in the book of Nehemiah! Building the walls at the same time as
carrying weapons in preparation to ward off enemies! Had to take a week off
work to fly back to Taiwan during the busiest part of my semester at Morling
College (happened to sit at the place where the recent tragedy of the women
sucked out of the plane was sitting)... Coincidentally, reading Romans 8 for
the assignment, on the pains of #childbirth!
Need to stay focused on the kingdom that
cannot be shaken!
22April Sunday
Around 5am, the plane landed safely in
Taoyuan Taiwan Airport. A passenger in the same cabin had been snoring
throughout the trip, shaking violently as he snored. He was so noisy that
everyone stared at him because no one could fall asleep due to this noise. Even
the air host tried waking him but he only briefly opened his eyes and then
snored again. I don’t know if this person has a physical problem (ie. Very
obstructed airways) or psychiatric problem.
As soon as the plane landed, I went off to
a CPD activity in Taiwan (Don’t want to lose my Taiwanese Family Medicine
licence). Although the teaching lasted for a whole day which was exhausting, it is very helpful clinically.
The reason why I've made the trip is to visit my
aunt, who has terminal cancer. She was already diagnosed with end stage terminal
cancer in July 2016. Although no one “formally” spread the gospel to her, she
called upon God’s name during the treatment in 2016, and after three months the tumours
became undetectable by MRI. I took her through the prayer to accept Jesus as
her savior, but she didn’t feel like going to church afterwards. In actual
fact, her treating doctor was already very amazed that she could reach “remission”.
However, cancer that is undetectable by MRI doesn’t mean “cured cancer”. It’s
just that the cancer cells are too small to be detected. So the treating doctor
still didn’t think she’d live beyond a year after treatment. However, this was
not revealed to my aunt, as people who knew her well feared that if she lose
hope, she’d go into depression and commit suicide. On 8April, my aunt was
admitted into the hospital with a major bleed. Two days later, it was
discovered that the cancer had spread all over her liver and lungs. From these
information, I speculate that she will not last more than a few weeks if there
is no supernatural intervention, because there are so many acutely fatal conditions: nonstop haemorrhage, fatal loss of liver function or being unable to breathe are all things that can happen to her anytime. To get out of the hospital alive will be a
miracle! In this horrendous situation, I wondered what will happen to her
faith. Then I heard the news that she still replied “Christian” when the nurse
asked her what her religion is.
At night, I visited my aunt and saw that
she was extremely frail. She had just begun bleeding nonstop again and needed
another blood transfusion.
23April Monday
My aunt requires a carer 24/7, but a professional carer hasn’t been hired yet, because
we do not know which direction she is heading towards. My mom and my uncle in law both snore, and my aunt
don’t have children, so she wants someone who doesn’t snore to stay with her at
night. My 3rd aunt and I are the only suitable candidates! So this
week I had to take turns with my 3rd aunt to sleep in the hospital.
A cystoscopy was done today, and the urologist sealed the vessel that had been
bleeding profusely. However, my aunt became so weak from the bleeding that she
required help to go to the toilet, and she had to wake up every hour to go to
the toilet! So I didn’t get to sleep! Caring for a sick person in the hospital
is very exhausting.
24April Tuesday
The essay on “the relationship between
Israel and the nations in the Pentateuch” had been marked.
I’ve never thought of the Jews as any
better than the people of any other nations. I had a few Jewish classmates in
medical school, and I didn’t think they are any special. Felt like this before,
and still feel the same right now. Strangely enough, God has placed a kind of
burden in my heart for Israel, because whenever I started interceding for this
nation, I shed tears easily and have a strong desire to see the revival of that
land.
The relatives only started coming to the
hospital around noon, so I couldn’t get home until the afternoon. I simply
collapsed on the bed and slept all afternoon. Then I continued to write up my
essay assignments for Morling College. Although I’ve applied for 1 week
extension for both essays, I still hope to finish the essays on time, because
the later I finish, the more it will eat into the time I’ve got to prepare for the
final exams.
25April Wednesday
Today, I started writing up the paragraph
on “cruciform power” for my essay assignment. In the afternoon, I went to Dr
Eileen Lin for a retainer follow up. I usually don’t wear the retainers during
the day time because it impacts on my speech when I talk to patients. However,
there is a tiny gap between two teeth. Dr Lin said she can see the retainer
still has power to move the teeth, but I may need to wear the retainer both day
and night for approximately three weeks before the gap can close. This reminds
me that the Pentecost is coming up in approximately three weeks, might as well
wear it continuously until then! Then I went to the Elim book shop and joined a
revivalist prayer meeting/conference in the prayer centre next to the bookshop.
Honestly speaking, I found the people in
the prayer centre to be pretty crazy. However, sometimes things don’t have to
make sense when we are being led by the Spirit. If everything had to make
sense, then Abraham wouldn’t have been able to sacrifice Isaac: God had
promised that a great nation will come from the line of Isaac, so if Isaac is
gone, how can the great nation come about?
The topic of the prayer meeting is on “the
anointing of Elijah: the power to call down fire”. The speaker from New York, Donald Lee, kept yelling
“fire fire fire” and told us God does not like “lukewarm”. He said people may think he's nuts, but he didn't came to Taiwan to make friends. He came to do what God wanted him to do. He then talked about
two revivals recorded in the bible. Acts 2: At the Pentecost, flames of fire
came upon the disciples. Fear was burned up. 3000 souls saved! For revival, God
wants people of fire! Elijah, 1Kings 18: Elijah was praying furious focused
prayer for 3.5 years. God gave him the power to call down fire! The God who
answers by fire is the true God! Are you asking for the fire?
He also talked about: 2King 1:10 the fire burnt the enemies of Elijah up! The fire of God can overcome your enemies! Jesus in Revelation was a man of fire! He also tells us how important it is for us to have “fire in our bones”! 2King 13:21 Elisha died a year already and they threw a dead man info Elisha’s tomb and the dead man came alive by the power of the “fire in the bones”!
We prayed continuously for about two hours,
which was very exhausting for me. During the meeting there was a song called
“the sun above the cloud”, which I felt very touched by.
At night, I went to sleep in the hospital.
My aunt became stronger and I didn’t have to help her as much during the night.
26April Thursday
I continued to do my assignment, and started
writing up the paragraph on “cruciform hope”. This reminded me that the prayer
evening for this evening will be on “the valley of dry bones”. However, I was
too exhausted and didn’t go. Furthermore, I had already felt compelled to pray in Hebrew on 15April using Ezekiel 37 and done it that day.
My aunt’s treating doctor carried the
medicine ipilimumab with him during his ward round. This medicine is supposed
to be given into the vein, but the doctor (who’s an authority in gynaecological
cancers) bluntly told us that all his patients who were given this medicine
died a day after treatment. "Either the cancer dies, or you die." Then he said he had a relative who had it intramuscularly and
lived for approximately six months. He asked my aunt whether she wants IV or
IM, and my aunt replied “IM of course”! He jabbed her with that medicine
straight after her reply!
Asked some people from church to intercede
for my aunt, and she went through the day uneventfully. Out of curiosity I
start looked at the Hebrew calendar (I didn't take much notice of the Hebrew calendar before but lately there happened to be several coincidences which caught my eyes). If you look at the Jewish historical
events, the month of Iyar's got the longest list out of all the Hebrew calendar
months. The Proclamation of the State of Israel, conquering of Jerusalem during
the Six Day War both happened on the month of Iyar.
I saw that it was 7 Iyar during sundown of
21April, the evening I went on the plane and kept thinking about the walls of
Jerusalem and Nehemiah. Coincidentally, 7 Iyar (498 BCE) was when Jerusalem's
rebuilt walls are dedicated, nearly 88 years after their destruction by
Nebuchadnezzar. I also saw that it was 11 Iyar on the fiery and powerful sundown
of 25April. Coincidentally, on 11 Iyar (1948) - Battle at Degania - It was the
first Israeli victory of War of Independence! After observing the Hebrew
calendar carefully this year, I found that there had been many timings on the
land of Taiwan which aligned with the timings of Israel’s history. In the
evening, an intercessor told me that one needs to pray more than one hour
before strong powers can arise out of the prayer.
27April Friday
Went a long way today, to visit my dad and
my paternal grandma’s graves. Then went for a haircut and spa in Beitou.
Strangely enough, the pipes in our spa exploded, and we had to get the
apartment manager to fix it quickly or else it will flood. Also received the good news that my aunt has been
discharged from the hospital!! However, caution is needed. The hospital
discharges people who don’t need drips or transfusions, and have stable vital
signs. This doesn’t mean that everything is fine after leaving the hospital.
Praying that she can have gratitude towards God and not take everything for granted.
28April Saturday
Finally, I can breathe and have rest today.
Prayed for more than one hour in the morning. Usually when I am in Australia, I
knew in my head and heart that I need to pray fierce focused prayers, but my
body could not do it. It is not unlike Jesus’ disciples in Gethsemane. However, this time the situation changed as soon as I stepped into my home land, which is in a
fierce spiritual warfare. I had to move my flesh, because there is no other
choice but to fight this spiritual warfare.
I was listening to some worship songs from
Israel as I was praying. I felt the spiritual warfare on the land of Taiwan is
as fierce and critical as the Six Day War. When the national anthem “Hatikva”
(hope) started playing, tears started falling down my cheeks again. When the
playlist started playing the advertisement clip on the “Pentecost conference in
Jerusalem”, I felt this fierce warfare will continue until the Pentecost. This
is not to say that we don’t need to pray fiercely usually of course, but there
is just something quite unusual about this month especially. And I will need to
keep praying that my aunt’s heart will be softened enough that she may visit
the church or accept church visitors, and maybe even get baptized. Hope to see
her again in July.
Tonight coincides with the “second
Passover” on the 14Iyar. This is a fast-moving week where I felt like I was
blown into Taiwan by a fierce tornado and blown out of Taiwan again. Didn’t
spend enough quality time with God during the “first Passover”. Hope the fire
will not be vanquished as soon as I get back to Australia.
(Photo taken with aunt, grandma and mom during a visit to Korea in 2017.)
Speaker: Daniel Yoo
Scripture: Matthew 11:2-6
Daniel gave a narrative about a ten-year-old Korean boy who said in tears, “I cannot believe in God”. Why? Because the boy thought God didn’t listen to his prayers. The boy’s father was very strict and does not tolerate any academic mistakes. Whenever the boy wasn’t the top of the class, he gets severely beaten. Before the beating, the boy would pray, “God, can you stop my father from beating me?” The prayer remained unanswered. Later, the boy changed his prayers, asking for a stronger body so that he wouldn’t feel the pain. But it didn’t help, and he felt every single pain of that lash. The boy asked, “Every Sunday I go to church, they talk about the love of Jesus. Is this the love of Jesus? Does God love me? Does my father love me?”
Daniel didn’t know how to answer this.
Matthew 11:2-6:
We see John the Baptist put in prison
because he considered the marriage between Herod and Herod’s brother’s wife to
be unlawful. John heard the news of Jesus preaching the good news to the poor.
He asked one of his disciples to ask on his behalf whether he is the Messiah.
This is very different from the John who leaped with joy in Elizabeth’s womb
when Mary who was pregnant with Jesus came to visit Elizabeth. This is very
different from John the Baptist who baptised Jesus and heard a voice from
heaven saying, “this is my Son, whom I love”. This John, who declared the
coming of the Messiah, is in prison now.
Jesus replied, “The blind receive sight,
the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are
raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does
not stumble on account of me.” Jesus is essentially telling him, “John, don’t
put me in a box.”
Last year, Daniel’s father came to visit
him and said, “I was wrong. I thought I could raise you in the ways that was
right, but that belonged to God.” A father who never apologised apologised. Daniel’s
prayer was answered.
If there are any doubts, take it to Christ
and patiently wait, because He reveals Himself and He responds.
Personal thoughts and reflections:
It can be very frustrating when what we pray for seems to
be unanswered. It is especially unsettling when prayers for deliverance from abuse/ persecution/ terminal conditions seem to go unanswered.
Around ten years ago, I enrolled in a church course, and
they asked us to write down what our burdens are. Being the only Christian in
my family back then, I wrote “the salvation of all of my relatives in Taiwan”. They
also asked us to write down our one-year goal, two-year goal, and five-year
goals. The one-year and two-year goals were achieved quite easily. However, ten
years have passed and the five-year goal hasn’t happened yet: getting married
and salvation of the whole extended family. God knows the best timing for
everything, so I shouldn’t be the one setting the timing (now I wonder why
they even set this exercise in the course).
Lately, lots has happened with my relatives in Taiwan. Last
month, my maternal grandma was admitted into hospital with life-threatening
sepsis. Thank God she survived the incident and is out and about again. However,
my instincts tell me that this year will be like 2015 where I had to make four
trips to Taiwan. Today, I received news that my youngest maternal aunt, who had
just been admitted in to hospital with severe bleeding and pain, has metastatic
cancer to her liver and lungs. This is something I am struggling to come to
terms with.
Wind back to 2016: my aunt had worked very hard all her
life and finally, she gets to retire. She was very happy and travelled a lot. In
October 2016, she broke the news that she was diagnosed with terminal cancer in
July 2016 and already completed treatment, and the tumour became undetectable
after the treatment. She told me she had prayed to God during those difficult
times. I took her through the prayer to accept Jesus as her saviour. However, she
didn’t want to go to church or have church people visit her, and I couldn’t
follow through since I live overseas.
The news of her cancer recurrence is devastating for
everyone. She is so devastated herself that she doesn’t want to talk to anyone.
She had worked so hard all her life only to be hit with terminal cancer within a
year of her retirement and had to go through all the pains of the cancer itself
and the cancer treatment. I imagine that most cancer patients will pray to God asking
Him to cure their cancer (or at least, take away the pain and the emotional
distress associated with it). I guess this prayer was partially answered
because her tumour did go into remission for approximately a year (which in of itself is already a miraculous outcome for what was diagnosed as terminal cancer). I can only
pray that she can have faith in God no matter how things turn out (I really
pray that God answers this prayer), and possibly even make a visit to Taiwan
this month to be present for my distressed relatives (especially my mom). Addit: On 12April 2018 (coinciding with the 27th of Nisan, the Yom HaShoah (יום השואה), known in English as the Holocaust Remembrance Day, my prayer has been answered (2 days after the Tuesday chapel). Thanks to God!
(A cruise ship coincidentally passing through when my friends and I went to Milson's point 22Oct, 2017.)
Strategic planning:
In 1988, 80-85% of churches in North America had either
plateaued or were in decline. The number of unchurched people was as high as
70-80%.[1]
S-shaped (sigmoid) curves represents the natural development of one's personal
life and relationships. It depicts how life begins, grows, plateaus, and then
ultimately dies.[2] Every
institution wrestles with the question of what should change and what should
never change. The functions of the church are timeless truths that must never
change: eg. evangelism, worship, prayer and fellowship.[3]
The forms of the church are timely vehicles that are tied to the church’s
culture. Therefore, the church’s strategy, structures, systems, policies and
procedures are subject to regular reviews.[4] Most
leaders only act when they “see the tip of the iceberg”, where the church has
plateaued or is in decline. However, the danger in this is that by then the
congregation may already view the leaders as the very ones who led the
organisation into its state of decline. It is always safer to assume that you
are close to a plateau[5]
and conduct regular ministry reviews. An organisation needs new direction every
two to three years.[6]
Malphurs used the ship as a metaphor to describe strategic
planning for the church. He describes the mission as the direction of the ship
bound, the vision as a picture of the destination port,[7]
the core values as the navigators’ souls,[8]
and the strategy as how the ship will actually sail to the destination.[9] He
believes that the church is a “ship without a compass” when it doesn't have a
good visionary strategic planning.[10]
From the Scriptures we see that Joshua was very strategic (Joshua6:1-7; 8:3-23;
10:6-9),[11]
and Paul strategically selected the cities he visited, eg. Ephesus was selected
because it was the gateway to Asia Minor (Acts19:1-10).[12]
Nehemiah conducted a ministry analysis (Nehemiah2:11-17)[13]
and used the results of his findings to establish the need for the mission to
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He communicated this to the Jewish remnant
living in Jerusalem and challenged them to attempt that mission.[14] A
ministry analysis is used to identify icebergs. Those on the ship cannot see
the iceberg because there is a heavy fog, but the ministry analysis is like a
strong wind that blows the fog away, revealing the iceberg so that the ship can
change course to avoid a deadly collision.[15]
The internal audit looks at the organisational life cycle, performance,
direction, strategy, outreach, in-reach, culture, obstacles, age, energy,
emotions, and finance.[16]
The external audit looks at the community, threats, competitors, and
opportunities.[17]
Prayer:
Although planning is important, most of what has ultimate
effect on the church happens outside of it and outside of its control.[18]
The biblical approach to the future involves prayer and preparation, not
prediction and planning. God wants his people to pray and prepare for his
intervention.[19] Prayer
must be present at the beginning and throughout the process. Nehemiah (Nehemiah1:4-11)
prayed an envisioning prayer at the beginning of the process.[20]
In fact, prayer is the number one strategic priority for the Baptist
Association of NSW&ACT![21]
The rapidly changing world is similar to the winds and waves that threaten the
ship. Paradoxically, “waves” are often used as the metaphor for revival. Indeed,
historically, revivals tend to happen during times of great instability where
churches were persecuted! “If we are to capture the wind of the Spirit… what is
the shape of the sails that can catch this fresh breeze?”[22]
“Old, tattered sails need to be discarded because they will only tear under the
force of the new wind.”[23] Eagles
glide effortlessly in the air because they are able to capture the flow of the
wind.[24]
[1]
Aubrey Malphurs, Advanced Strategic
Planning: A 21st-Century Model for Church and Ministry Leaders (Grand
Rapids: BakerBooks, 2013), 8.
[24] “Sermon:
wait… and be renewed. 15Oct 2017,” Chinese Australian Baptist Church in West
Ryde, accessed Oct 23, 2017,
http://www.cabc-wr.org/?sermons=20171015-%E6%9F%B3%E7%AD%B1%E7%A5%BA%E7%89%A7%E5%B8%88-%E7%AD%89%E5%80%99-%E5%BF%85%E4%BB%8E%E6%96%B0%E5%BE%97%E5%8A%9B&lang=zh-hans
I have been thinking a lot about ships since
the first intercessory prayer ship to set sail around the whole Taiwan Island last
week during Rosh Hashana. My friend's aunt was on the ship and she photographed
a cross appearing on someone’s flag.
My parents told me that the first time I
saw the ship, I exclaimed, “a swimming car!”
I moved to the United States when I was
eight, and rode on a ship for the first time. Immediately I realised I get
seasick. I can never stay inside the cabin because I’d vomit. Therefore, even
if someone pays for me to go on a cruise, I will not go.
In 2015 marked the greatest number of times
I rode on a boat in one year. I went back to Taiwan in June because my paternal
grandmother suddenly passed away in June. There was a typhoon coming to Taipei,
so to avoid the typhoon, we went on a trip south to Sun Moon Lake, and that was
the first time rode on a yacht in that lake. The Sun Moon Lake is often called “the
heart of Taiwan” because it is located in the centre of Taiwan geographically. Furthermore,
it plays an important role as water plants and power plants for Taiwan. In the
centre of the lake is the Lalu island, where the Aboriginal tribe of Shao
practices ancestral worship. This island gradually became smaller and smaller
as the water level in the lake rose. There used to be a Taoist temple (“The old
man under the moon temple”) on the island, which got moved elsewhere when the
island sank too much. There was also a tragic yacht disaster in the Sun Moon
Lake in 1990, and one of my friends was a survivor of that disaster.
During the Feast of Tabernacles in 2015, I
was on the Jesus Boat in Israel (exactly two years ago today). During the flag raising
when the boat was preparing to set sail, a cross suddenly appeared in the Israeli
flag!
During the Christmas/New Year holidays in
2015, I visited Taiwan again and took my maternal grandmother on a round-island
tour group. I did a marching prayer during that trip. Coincidentally the first
stop was the Sun Moon Lake, where we rode a yacht around the lake.
On the day before the “Twelfth”
(Orangeman’s Day, Orangefest… usually a time of instability in Ireland because
of potential clashes between the Catholics and the Protestants) in July 2016, I
visited the Museum of Titanic in Belfast. The Titanic was built in Belfast, and
I learned of many heroic and sad stories from the museum, which gave me a
deeper understanding of shipwrecks. As soon as I returned to Australia, there
were nonstop incoming of speakers talking about missions both in the church and
in Morling College. The most profound thing I remembered during that time
period was watching a shipwreck film produced by Reinhard Bonnke’s ministry, which
used a rescue ship called “Corpus Christi” (Latin, meaning "the body of
Christ") to describe the church.
In November 2016, I went on an educational exchange
with the Mackay Memorial Hospital. I gained a deeper understanding of the
missionary George Leslie Mackay from the Mackay Museum and the hospital library.
In his diary, I saw that he was constantly seasick and vomiting! It is hard to
imagine! I get sick just staying on a boat for minutes, and those missionaries
had to stay on ships for weeks! No wonder so many people died on the ships in
ancient times!
In Rosh Hashana, 2017, I began to reading a
book about church leadership for a Morling assignment. The author also used ship
as a metaphor for the church. He said that the mission is the direction of the
ship bound, the vision is a picture of the destination port, the core values are
the navigators’ souls, and the strategy is how the ship will actually sail to
the destination.
Just as a navigator cannot guide a ship
from port to port without a compass, strategic leaders cannot guide their
ministry ships toward their desired destination without a ministry compass.[1]
The church is a "ship without a compass" when it doesn't have a good
visionary strategic planning.[2]
The vision provides us with a picture of what the mission will look like as it
is realised in the life of the community, a picture of the port where our boat
is headed. The mission states the direction and the vision supplies a picture
of it.[3]
The navigators not only sail ships, they also have a soul. Churches, like
people, have a soul: a collective soul.[4]
Core values explain who you are. They form the foundation on which the mission
and vision are built. They function like the GPS. Eg. Acts 2:42-47.[5]
The ministry strategy is, “How will the leader-navigator guide or sail the
ministry ship to the designated port?”[6]
Interestingly, many of the church
vocabularies have “ship” in it: worship, fellowship, leadership… and even sheep
sounds like ship. The Chinese character for “ship” is interesting too. It’s composed of three simpler Chinese characters: ark + 8 people. This is reflective of Noah and his family on the ark. Our ancestors were on a ship to escape a flood of mass destruction once upon a time (since we are all descended from Noah)! We are all people of the ship! Paradoxically, “waves” are often used as the metaphor for
revival, even though waves pose as one of the greatest threat to ships! And we
do see that historically, revivals tend to happen during times of great instability where the church
were persecuted!
Been thinking about "fear of the
Lord" lately from my Psalms studies.
In Ps34, “fear of the Lord” is the psalm’s
most profound insight, where one simultaneous trembles in dread and joy due to
the paradoxical awareness of one’s fragility, mortality and sinfulness as
opposed to God’s almightiness, immortality and graciousness (V10).Lions is a
metaphor for those who do not fear or seek the Lord (V11).
In Ps36, the wicked is not described as a
violent threat to the psalmist but pictured as one who lives life by setting up
the self as the autonomous standard, living life according to “what seems good
to me.” Another word, one who is self-dependent instead of God-dependent.
Revival has to start from the self first. I
really need seek God more and to pray for the Holy Spirit to help me better align
of the word of God with real life actions.
