Ambassadors for Christ March 2000
 
 

Hello, how are you enjoying the occasional sunny day? I hope you are getting to enjoy it by taking at least one day a week to just "blob for the Glory of God".

Sometimes I feel like bringing people to the Lord is comparable to the job of, say, a rescue worker at a disaster site. Every minute we dally another person may be lost. This knowledge can become a heavy burden, one some of us need to keep in check. Paul described the Christian walk as a marathon. Paul’s point was to emphasis that we need to maintain a consistent discipline in the area of faith and personal integrity. However I think Paul would agree the analogy could be expanded. Just how in a marathon one needs to pace oneself, we need to pace ourselves in order to complete the Christian race. If we push ourselves too hard, too fast, we can burn out and be of use to no one. And anyone familiar with ministry knows how easily that can happen.

This past month I have been exposed to several major areas of stress. There has been bad news concerning my father’s health, my job has changed and redefined itself a few times, and my house has been going through major changes with flatmates moving in and out.

I apologise for the delay with this newsletter. Communicating with you my team must always be a high priority for me; one I have neglected through these trials. To start on a positive note though, I want to assure you all I am content in life. Times may be hard, but Jesus is still king, I am still saved – so praise the Lord!

"Little Istanbul"

I’ve been hanging out more in Auburn. After Agape project I went back to visit the Turkish man who became a new believer "Ilhan". I have been helping Ilhan and another Turkish Christian family with their legal applications, doing some phoning and translating. It has been interesting to learn how our government deals with immigrants. While there do seem to be some good systems in place, invariably my friends have not known about the help available and often misunderstood legal documents sent to them.

I stopped by at a Barber’s shop while in Auburn and started a conversation with "Haziran" my barber. It’s amazing how easy it can be to start a spiritual conversation with Muslims. We talked while he cut my hair and at the end I promised to drop around some time with a bible in his language.

Last week, I stopped by Haziran’s house at 9pm and spent up to midnight speaking with him and his Australian born wife. They had so many questions; I couldn’t get away until midnight! Please pray for them. The wife "Gulse" in particular has been deeply impressed by other Christians she knows. Gulse is a student at another University where Student Life is operating. She has met the Christians there and may well do a Christianity Explained course with them. I think it is only a matter of time before they come to a point of trusting Jesus.

Unfortunately Ilhan after moving house to Merrylands has not contacted me and left me no way of finding him. This is not good for someone who was just a few weeks ago excited about being a new believer. Neither is it totally unusual. But unless I manage to make contact with him again, I very much doubt he will continue walking with Jesus alone.

Middle East Update

Things have not been going well for the church overseas. Since I left things have gotten stricter and tougher. Visit http://www.fortunecity.com/campus/marshall/745/Compass.htm to read an update on the situation.

Paintball

The other weekend I went and played Paintball (Skirmish) with a group from Student Life. It was a great day, one I feel happy to indulge in as part of blobbing for the Lord. I’ve been trying to see if we can get some photographs from the day, we were actually the focus of a professional photograph shoot for their website, so perhaps you will see us on the Action Paintball website.

My dad

My father recently was diagnosed with acute Leukemia. He has completed his first round of Chemotherapy treatment. Tests following the treatment have shown no remaining Leukemia, but also no recovery of the bone marrow. Needless to say, it is an unsettling experience, one that we are all learning to cope with. Occasionally I get depressed about it, but when I focus on having faith I know I have the hope that God works all things for the good of those who love him (Rom 8:28). I can trust that God will work out his plan, even through these circumstances if I commit them to prayer.

Mostly though, my family needs the prayer. My father is not a Christian, so there is much opportunity for God to work here. It is a time of testing for us all, for myself what it means to trust in God in times like this. I am learning how challenging it can be to trust God. Please pray for the healing of my father, both physically and spiritually. Pray also for my mother who is finding it very difficult.

Job changes for this year

There has been some major restructuring for this year so that I will be working on two campuses, both Sydney and Macquarie University. The changes have to do with a shortage of staff qualified as campus directors. This year I will only be able to provide 1 ½ day to Sydney University each week, the rest of my working week spent at Macquarie Uni.

That doesn’t mean that the work at Sydney has really decreased, I just have less time to spend on it. These last couple of weeks as University starts up again have been very hectic for me. I would appreciate your prayers as I try to balance involvement with two campuses and as the students at Sydney adjust to having to take on a lot more of the leadership responsibility for themselves.

In the first few weeks we organise Christians into bible studies after making contact with close to a thousand students inviting them to learn more about Christianity. My past few weeks have been spent meeting up with these contacts again, convincing non-Christians to investigate Christianity (my favourite job) and encouraging Christians to join us in our quest to reach the campus for Christ.

I have some fantastic guys I’m meeting up with to do Christianity Explained course. Praise the Lord how open students are to the gospel.

A larger vision – dare to dream big

Every year we can see perhaps a dozen students accept Christ and learn how to share their faith and play key roles in the maturing of other Christians. However I’m sure God wants to see much more from these Universities. What strategy could we use to see a campus-wide revival? Something that would have the potential to dramatically impact the landscape of Australia. Imagine all the future leaders of Australia graduating as mature Christians!

The answer I believe lies not in strategies, but in the sovereignty of God. Any study of spiritual revivals (a fascinating subject) reveals prayer as being a key ingredient. We need to unite all the Christians on campus together for the purpose of interceding for these campuses.

It may sound strange, but I would like to ask you to pray that Christians at Sydney and Macquarie would come together to pray. Pray that we would pray. Feelings of superiority or self-sufficiency that exist can stop us from coming together. Pray that we would all have the humility to see the importance of fellowship and humbling ourselves in prayer.

Prayer:

I have taken a different approach this time, I have highlighted prayer points in Italics throughout the letter. Please skim the letter again and pray through the highlighted sections.