All around the world, there are people serving God’s Kingdom to take part in an unfinished task. The diversity of possibilities we can embrace in our desire to see Christ proclaimed keeps me on my knees, and excited about what Eastern and MST are passionate about doing.
During my most recent visit to Malaysia, after an absence of 26 years, I met a cousin of mine for the first time. My cousin took me to lunch in a bustling hall of hawker stalls, where the only free space was to share a table with two young men. They both turned out to be Christians, one of whom, Arthur, was visiting from Sarawak and he shared how his ancestors had become Christians through the work of Australian missionaries. It was a poignant moment, as I realised there and then, that I was witnessing the miracle of God’s grace to the then-unreached Iban peoples, notorious for their head-hunting ways. (1)
I was also fondly reminded of Bruce and Ruth Morton, former students of MBI, whom I had known in the 1980’s. Bruce was the first pilot with Borneo Evangelical Mission that grew out of MBI. (2)
Neil and Arpana met at Melbourne Business School and moved from Melbourne to Nairobi because of their heart to serve the poor. Neil is involved in microfinance for farmers, and Arpana assists in running sustainable medical clinics. Together they are guided by the words found in Micah 6:8 and believe that “God’s Kingdom come” means the transformation of communities through tangible services that bring justice,
health and wholeness.
Closer to home, Mike and Esther, both graduates of BCV, are busy pastoring a church in Point Cook, one of the fastest-growing suburbs of Melbourne. In addition, the Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia has been equipping Christian healthcare workers to engage with a variety of ethical issues in ways that are winsome, yet uncompromising in Gospel conviction.
Although we live in a time of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, it is also a time of unprecedented creative opportunities for Gospel sharing. As Isaiah 55:11 tells us, God’s Word is eternal and never returns to Him void. The task of bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to everyone is unfinished, whether it is to unreached people groups globally, serving the poor, or reaching out to international students in our midst, workers in our offices, children in our schools or secular Australians. Not only must we continue to be excellent at training pastors for our Churches, but we must also be excellent at equipping the whole people of God for all-of-life discipleship wherever God calls them to serve.
Praise God that Christianity in Africa, Latin America and Asia that Gospel flow from everywhere-to-everywhere! Colleges like ours must remain agile and imaginative as we serve the local church, the global church, schools, communities and our workplaces to see God’s Kingdom come. Our ‘clear sense of mandate and responsibility to fulfil the great commission at home and abroad’ is as undiminished today as it was at the founding of MBI/BCV/MST. (3)
Please continue to pray with us, partner with us and support us in this unfinished task of eternal significance.
“ …that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Phillipians 2:10
- Lees, Shirley. ‘Drunk Before Dawn’. OMF International, UK 1979.
- Clack, William S. ‘We Will Go’. Bible College of Victoria, Melbourne 1990; 89, 94, 105.
- Paproth, Darrell. ‘Failure Is Not Final’. The Centre for the Study of Australian Christianity, NSW 1997; 94.