Restoring the side-lined

Posted by Bill on February 18, 2012

“If you had one hundred sheep, and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it?” (Luke 15:4).

Misunderstanding and mistakes abound in every church. This is normal. Through circumstances that are intentional or otherwise, it’s only a matter of time before someone is hurt or offended. At times, the feeling of hurt or offence is severe enough to cause a member to quietly withdraw from the church.

One morning, during my time as Pastor of the Dungog Baptist Church (a country town in NSW, Australia) I discovered a basket of vegetables that was left on the back door step of our Manse. The name of the giver was on an accompanying note, expressing kind thoughts towards me and my family. The right thing was to track down this person to personally thank them for their expression of kind love. I knocked on the front door of Ruth’s house, believing her to be a widow. To my surprise, an elderly, looooong-bearded man opened the door and grumbled out a cold “yes, can I help you?” Ruth wasn’t a widow. She had an alive husband! Why had I not known about him? I introduced myself to John and explained the purpose of my visit.

It wasn’t long after the time of my surprise encounter with John that I learnt his story of how he had been hurt and offended by someone in his previous church, in a nearby town. How long ago did this sad event take place before my meeting with John? Twenty years! Did John have to stay “lost” to Christian fellowship and service for this length of time? No! If someone in his church had noticed his absence, and cared enough for him, John would not have been listed as being “lost”.

As I write, I know of three close friends who are no longer in fellowship with any church, who are no longer serving the Lord. One of them was a pastor of a church, and the other two held senior leadership positions with their churches. Misunderstanding and mistakes stole them away, quietly, and still has them lost … somewhere. I’ve done my best to reach out to them, to encourage them and love them, but the extent of their hurt is keeping them lost. I haven’t given up on them. I continue to pray for them.

Is there anyone close to you who has been “side-lined” through some circumstance that has caused them hurt or offence? Has anything been done to help restore them back into fellowship with a church? Is there anything you can do? We must do whatever we can to restore those who have been side-lined from our team or church. We must not give up on anyone. The Lord will never give up on us. We are too precious to Him. Look for the side-lined in your life. Angelic rejoicing awaits the restoration of the lost.

Bill

By the way, it wasn’t long before John came to the church in Dungog with his wife, Ruth, and later served as a Deacon with the church.

Zero Unemployment

Posted by Bill on January 7, 2012

“Look around you! Vast fields are ripening all around us and are ready now for the harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life” (John 4:35b-36a).

Unemployment - not in God's economy Unemployment can be a debilitating experience. Several years ago in Poland, the nation’s unemployment was running high at an alarming 20%. Young college graduates were forced to leave home to search for employment in neighbouring countries. Unemployment hits some people very hard … robbing them of peace, satisfaction, fulfilment and joy.

Unemployment exists today in two realms; the material and the spiritual. Regardless of the circumstances in the world, the Lord promises to deliver every believer from material and spiritual poverty. Jesus promises, “Your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern” (Matthew 6:32b-33). If the Lord promises to deliver us from poverty, why are so many of His people living impoverished lives?

God’s promise to “give you all you need” is conditional upon … “if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” Like a number of other promises the Lord has given for our well being, there are qualifying conditions that need to be satisfied before grace benefits can flow to us. Whilst material poverty may not be a choice, spiritual poverty is. If we choose to fulfil God’s conditional requirements, He will keep His promises – it’s as simple as that. And God has never reneged on a promise! He has an impeccable reputation of being a promise-keeping God.

Whilst it’s a tragic situation for people in life (in general) who are unemployed, it’s more tragic for those of God’s family (His Church). The church is the only institution on earth that can guarantee zero unemployment for its members. Reliable surveys show that in the church today, unemployment is running at around 90-95%! Scripture teaches that if believers are willing to step-up and serve, instead of sitting back to observe, they will be paid handsomely by the Lord. He says (above), “The harvesters are paid good wages.” Hundreds of years of political and traditional influences have kept spiritual harvesters from labouring in His field. Because many believers are not doing, many are not receiving.

Peter says, “God has given gifts to each of you from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you” (1 Peter 4:10). Many believers in the world either have no idea what their gifts are, or have chosen not to manage their gifts well. It’s no wonder many of God’s people are living in poverty when they could be enjoying His promised provisions.

Small Groups (or Home Groups, Cell Groups, Life Groups – whatever you chose to call them) are the ideal place for believers to discover, use and develop their gifts. Spiritual gifts are God’s special grace abilities, given to each of us at the time of conversion. Let’s lead others into the harvest field … where the harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life.

The harvest field is where God’s generosity flows freely, and it’s the place where there is zero unemployment.

A “brave-hearted” servant from Cameroon

Posted by Bill on December 31, 2011

“Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44).

At the top of the Lord’s character criteria for leadership selection is humility. If our service for the King is to be judged honourable it must first be motivated by a heart that is humble. Going back to my Cairo years, we were constantly looking out for “fast” believers to join our expanding team of lay small group pastors. We used the word FAST as an acronym to help us in our selection for suitable leaders. FAST stands for

Faithful,
Available,
Servant-hearted and
Teachable.

All four elements of the acronym had to be sufficient in amount and openly evidenced before candidates would be considered for leadership. Disqualification from our leadership team resulted when just one of these elements fell below the standard required or was no longer present in a candidate’s life.

Pastor Sunday Sikod In June, 2006, four hundred and fifty fast lay-leaders kept the ministry and missions’ machinery of our church well serviced and operating effectively and efficiently. Without our fast leaders MCC would not be where it was at that time – a front-line, trail-blazing pioneering church. When it comes to fast leaders, Sunday Sikod was an outstanding servant-hearted model leader. I first observed Sunday through his ministry of hospitality at MCC – serving tea, coffee and water to worshippers in each of our four weekly services. Sunday’s charisma came from his humble heart and was evidenced through his gentle and quiet spirit, his genuine desire to serve, and his friendly smile.

Before travelling to The Philippines on a ministry assignment, Lyn Taleon, one of our cell groups zone directors, prayerfully selected Sunday from her team of coaches to function in her absence as the director of her zone. What was Sunday’s response to his selection? He said:

I am serving as one of the coaches, presently caring for five cell groups. Last December, I was invited by my Zone Director, Lyn Taleon, to act on her behalf during the time of her month’s absence. Sitting in for Lyn was for me very challenging, given the fact that I’m naturally not a bold and outspoken person. Also, I saw myself ministering to groups with people who appeared more knowledgeable, older and more inspired than me. I felt inadequate, and I was at the point of refusing Sister Lyn’s encouraging invitation. All I could see was defeat. Then I remembered the Scriptures that said, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, and love, and self-discipline (2 Tim 1:7 NLT).” God spoke to me clearly and I decided to take up the post. I submitted to Him in prayer and asked Him to lead me. I could not grade my performance but all I did was to work hard and honestly, and expected God to lead. Friends, through this I learnt that through God, everything is possible! He gave me a brave heart, strength and understanding because of my faith in Him. I have learnt that God rewards two things; faith and humility.

Friends, several months later, at nearby Hadayek El Maadi, MCC dedicated to the Lord the first of five new daughter churches (all were formalised before December, 2006). Who do you think was chosen to pastor the first new daughter church, known as The Church of the Redeemed? Sunday Sikod … the humble servant from Cameroon was the obvious choice! And, what was Pastor Sunday doing four days later at MCC, the mother church … serving tea, coffee and water of course! What else would you expect this humble “brave-hearted” servant from Cameroon to be doing?

Thank you for the part you have played!

Posted by Bill on December 24, 2011

On behalf of the CCI Team, a heartfelt “thank you” for the part you’ve played in helping us to cover so much good ground in 2011. We give all credit to the Lord for His perfect plan and power that has brought us to where we are … a little higher in our climb, and closer to reaching the summit of our potential in Christ. We’ve had our fair share of challenges, but these we’ve counted as joyous opportunities for learning more, that we may journey further with the Lord than ever before.

Friends, the view continues to improve as we patiently persevere to being the best we can in our global service to churches that are serious about seeing the Kingdom of God expand within their communities. Although, physically, we are a little older and slower, we are more fired-up than ever, expecting from the Lord every grace-endowment He has determined for us. We want it all! We want it for Him!

We take pleasure in wishing you and your family a joyous time together over the Christmas Season, and a wonder-filled New Year in your walk with the Lord.

As we look to CCI’s horizon, 2012 is going to be a more challenging and demanding year. But it will also be a more exciting, miracle-packed year. Care to continue on with us in our journey? It will change your life as it continues to change ours.

Through our lives and service, may the Lord be greatly glorified.

Bill and Beryl Joukhadar

Just Imagine

Posted by Bill on December 17, 2011

IMAGINATION_by_archanN

I joined the ministry team at Maadi Community Church (MCC) in May, 2000, hoping the Lord might build His church through me and my wife, Beryl (Matthew 16:18a). Even though I knew I was a weak vessel, I willingly gave myself to the Lord, expecting Him to do great and mighty things. I expected the Lord to establish networks of small groups that would care for God’s people, grow many lay-leaders, and engage in bold Kingdom expansion activities. Throughout my time at MCC, I exercised an “extra mile” commitment in everything I did. I poured my mind, heart, body and soul into this work. Not only did the Lord fulfil my expectations, He went one amazing step further by birthing five churches from our expanding number of small groups. What a surprise!

Why didn’t I expect the Lord to birth churches from our efforts? In my case, there are two reasons: Firstly, birthing churches was outside of my ministry experience, and secondly, I never imagined this possibility. My Egypt experience took me from being willing to dream dreams that “I/we” can make happen to the spiritual realm of imagination … dreaming dreams that only the Lord can achieve. I now know that the ability to imagine such things is a gift, offered by God to His children to help them “see” in advance His grand purpose for their lives! Through the exercise of this amazing gift the Lord performs His plans … “plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11b).

In my small “Collins Gem” Australian English Dictionary, “imagination” is defined as, “faculty of making mental images of things not present”. I like this definition, but from a Christian perspective the following definition is better: “faculty of receiving from God mental images of things not present.”

In the Old Testament we learn of Joseph’s amazing gift of imagination. His brothers made fun of him and dismissed him as a “dreamer” (Genesis 37:5-11). The exercise of one’s imagination is something that is not usually encouraged in most families, work places, and churches. Living within the safe parameters of “do only that which is humanly possible” seems to be the norm for most people in the world. It’s the norm, alright, but it’s not all right with me! This near-sighted view robs us of the amazing hope that Scripture teaches we have in our relationship with the Lord – to open our spiritual eyes and see … and to reach out and take hold of everything the Lord has determined for us.

In July, 2006, I had the privilege of dedicating to the Lord the second of our five daughter churches at Ain Shams (an hour’s drive from Maadi) – the Interdenominational Revival Bible Church was born and dedicated to God’s great glory. I knew this young church had an exciting future ahead. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I could see this church growing and maturing into a fine adult church, and then multiplying many daughter churches that would grow and multiply many daughter churches.

Friends, my imagination has been sparked by the Holy Spirit and has taken me to many exciting new places in life. I can now see further, and I can now see more! My imagination runs hot with amazing possibilities. Do you know what I’m talking about? Do you have the gift of imagination? Are you exercising that gift? Just imagine! There’s a whole new world out there waiting to be seen and seized.

Exercise this divine gift – see and experience the amazing things the Lord has in store for you.