April report

21 April, 2011

Hi,

In this Good Friday, we are reminded that Jesus had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows (Isa. 53:4).  In all our afflictions, He was afflicted (Isa. 63:9). 

How does God feel when we are suffering?  God understands our pain and absorbs it to 
Himself. When we suffer, He suffers also.  On the Cross, God was never more human than
at that hour. God was never nearer to us than when He hurt.  In that suffering, God is most 
like us.  Touched with our trials and sufferings, He understands and stretches out His 
nail-pierced Hands to help and to hold us.  In our suffering, we can see God like never 
before.  It may be the closest we will ever get to God.  God’s effort becomes the strongest, 
when our efforts are useless.

On the Cross, He stepped in and made us alive, forgave us, cancelled our debt, took 
away the record, stripped the powers of spiritual rulers, won the victory and showed 
the world through His resurrection. (Col. 2:13-15).

Thus we become the sons and daughters of the living God, heir of God and joint heirs 
with Jesus Christ.  Each of us is a new creation in Christ, of infinite worth, deeply loved, 
completely forgiven, fully pleasing, totally accepted and absolutely complete in Christ 
– one of a kind, a designer original.

This Good Friday, we should, ever the more, put our hands into His nail-pierced Hands.  
His marvelous love is passionate, personal, purposeful and pursuing.  His eternal love 
is unconditional, unchanging, unending and untainted.  In Him, we are saved and safe
and secured in His Hands.

May the good Lord bless His love and salvation into all our hearts!

Please pray as the pastors and leaders of a fellowship of some 60 country-side churches
gather for special training times in Tanzania.  I will be there from Sat. April 23 to Tue.
May 3.  There will be three days of training for Bible College students, three days for 
the pastors and leaders and a graduation service on Sun. May 1^st.  God is given us the
privilege and joy to be ministering to them.  May souls be saved, saints equipped and
pastors and leaders raised up to minister to their own.

Thanks again for your prayers and support in so many ways to enable us to train Nationals for Nationals.  Please visit the blogspot at http://faithatworksfellowship.blogspot.com/

May the good Lord bless you and all yours greatly.  “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which you have shown toward His Name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister” (Heb. 6:10).

Your because of Calvary Cross,

Rev. Goh Seng Fong   (John 12:24)

ASM – Schedule & Expenses for 2011

I.                    SUGGESTED  PROGRAMS IN 2011

A.      INDONESIA - MEDAN – MMin program (S$1,000 per session for 60-65 people)

1.       7 – 11 February

2.       27 June  -  1st July

3.       12  - 16 September

4.       21 – 25 November

B.      INDONESIA –BAMDUNG, JAVA -  May 23-27

C.      NEPAL – MMin program

1.       Kathmandu  - (S5000 per session for 45-50 people)

a.        6 - 10 March

b.      18 – 22 September

c.       Graduation MMin, Nepal, Sept . 23^rd  (S$1000)

2.       East Nepal (new site with 45 people, S$4000 per session)

a.       13 – 17 March

b.      25 – 29 September

D.      DMin PROGRAM for four brethren – in May and another in November

E.       CAMBODIA –  MMin program  with Life University

Still in prayer and consultation

F.       MYANMAR

1.       16 – 21 Feb . in Yangon and Mandalay

30^th Spiritual Convention with fellowship of 30 churches

25^th Anniversary and graduation of Mandalay Bible Seminary

2.       31 Oct. – 9 November  - Training in Yangon, Mandalay and Maymyo    

G.     TANZANIA   -  23 April – May 2  (with fellowship of 60 churches, S$3,000)

Training in Bible College (April 25-27) and Leaders’ Camp (28-30 April)

Graduation, Sun. May 1st        

II.                   THE EXPENSES, BY FAITH:

A.      MEDAN , INDONESIA– 4 sessions at S$1,000 each = S$4,000

B.      NEPAL – 2 sessions at S5000 each  at Kathmandu = S10,000

                1^st Graduation, Nepal  = S$1000

         2 sessions at S$4500 each at East Nepal = $9,000        

C.      MYANMAR

1.        Scholarships for 30 students (Mandalay Bible Seminary)  at US$150 each due May = S$5850

2.       February 30^th Spiritual Convention , Mandalay at US$1,000 = S$1,300

3.       November Pastors’ Conference, Mandalay  at US$1,000 = S$1,300

D.      CAMBODIA – praying for one session in 2011 = S$1000

E.       TANZANIA – Leaders’ Camp at S$3,000 (about 150 people)

F.       RESERVED FUNDS FOR LECTURERS’ EXPENSES – S$4,000

Total:  S$40,450  -  JEHOVAH-JIREH  !!!

Lessons learnt fr ASM programme

Lessons learnt in Master of Ministry program of

Asia Seminary for Ministry

Name                                 Dil Bahadur Tamang

Present Ministries           1. Founder & President of Himalayan Bible Study Academy, Kathmandu, Central Nepal

2.   Ordained Elder at Binaya Church, Lalitpur, Central Nepal.

3.   Involvement in various Christian ministries.

Personal lessons learnt.

First and foremost, let me thank God for this wonderful privilege of being a part of Master of Ministry program organized by Asia Seminary for Ministry, Singapore. I thought it was just the other day that I participated in the modules of Master of Ministry program, but it has already been four years. God is good and I have personally been benefitted by this program in learning to live a Christ-like life. This course has helped me to know Christ better and walk closer to Him. I have been able to Trust Him more and the course has taught me to grow in my spiritual life. I was in a desperate need of such training, as a leader of a team of emerging leaders in the newly started ministry of training, equipping and empowering the leaders. It has enhanced me in the deeper knowledge of the Word of God. My knowledge in the Word of God is sharpened, and leadership skills enriched more through this training. In other words, this training has transformed my thinking, attitude and leadership skills in order to lead the group of leaders in a more effective way for the glory of God. I, as the coordinator for Nepal, had a privilege to learn together along with my colleagues and other contemporary pastors of Nepal.

I am thankful to God for granting me this wonderful opportunity of being a part of this program and pray that many more leaders of Nepal would get this kind of opportunity in the days to come.

Ministerial benefits from Master of Ministry program

As our ministry is a newly started training ministry requiring a lot of organizational development, we were in need of such  On the Job training for the staff members for their personal and organizational development. I chose the fresh theological graduates to join the team of teachers in this training ministry and wanted to give them a Shape or build them in the way I liked which was a big challenge to me. Choosing new and fresh graduates and lead and develop them in teaching and leadership skills was not a matter of joke. It was really challenging effort to me. Nevertheless, God is good and He provided like-minded partners like Dr. Goh Seng Fong and the team to conjure up this vision. It has been my pleasure to see my colleagues studying and growing along with me. I am glad that six members of our faculty team will be graduating in this forthcoming first graduation in August. What a pleasure for a leader to see his colleagues, the faculty members getting opportunity to have On the Job training for their personal growth and academic exercises.

Besides the development of our faculty members through this program, it has been my privilege to get other pastors of different church groups involved in it and develop an effective partnership in the ministry, as we all complete rather than compete in the ministry. The program has brought us more closer to each other.

My vision for the next Five years

By the grace of God and with the co-operation of my colleagues in the ministry, I have been able to start THREE RESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP TRAINING CENTERS in Nepal in the last six years and have trained more than 300 grass roots leaders of Nepal from this five month residential training centers. Besides these 300 leaders, we have been able to train, many grass roots leaders and the church planters in more than 500

sessions of Mobile based training/seminars have been trained beginning from 2002 January. Master of Ministry program of Asia Seminary for Ministry has trained us more to develop Christ-like character, enhance biblical knowledge and develop leadership skills, and we are optimistic in our efforts of Developing more National Leaders for the better leading of the churches in Nepal and plan many more churches in the days to come.

The Lord willing, we would like to see our tent being Extended in the coming five years and start two more Residential Training Centers in the remaining two Development regions of Nepal too to help the Nepalese churches grow and reproduce more churches in this land. Besides these two more training centers, we plan and pray to hold about 200 training seminars on the mobile basis to train, equip and empower the Nepalese leaders so that they could Feed, Lead and Protect their flock in more effective ways.

Final Remarks

Lastly, not the least, let me thank you all for your faithful labor to the success of this program and a collective gratitude to Rev. Dr. Goh Seng Fong and other faculty members and board of Directors. We owe you for your faithful prayers and sacrificial giving to the ministry of Asia Seminary for Ministry which has trained many leaders like me in the third world and may the Lord of Harvest bring forth manifold blessings to you so that many more leaders would be trained in the days to come for the glory of God. God bless you.

April 2011 Annual Report

April, 2011 Annual Report

Hi,

Thanks for all your continued prayers and loving support in so many ways so that we would be enabled to reach Nationals for Nationals.  Surely, it has been the good Lord that has joined our hearts, minds and hands together in partnership with Him in His will and love.  “God giveth the increase.  Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one; and everyone shall receive his own reward according to his own labor” (1 Cor. 3:7b,8).

We are entering into our third year of ministry (2011) under the Fellowship.  In the community services, we have been involved in medical helps, in supply of clothings and ties, in supply of goats, bikes and other social needs in times of disaster and in the supply of funds for projects of training and for scholarships of Bible College students. 

Our main emphasis has been the training of Nationals, through Asia Seminary for Ministry.   Our forays include Nepal, Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Tanzania.  In some places, our teaching partners are adjunct trainers with existing local training colleges.   In some, we are offering the Master of Ministry program for those who have a basic Bachelor degree or its equivalent and at least 5 years of ministry experiences.  We have one such program in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal and we began another in East Nepal, in March 2011.  We are in these two places, twice a year.  We are also in Medan, Indonesia (four times a year), with leaders from around Medan, Acheh and Nias Island.  We will be having a Leaders’ seminar in Bandung, Indonesia (23-27 May), for training as well as for waiting on the Lord’s will for the leaders involved.

We had the privilege and joy to organize the Good Soil Seminar for Evangelism.  Some of our trainers have been training others.  A Mandarin translation is on the way.  We pray to extend this training to other countries and to translate the material into other languages. 

Two ladies have worked sacrificially on the Fellowship’s blogspot.  They have done an excellent job.  Please view it and do give us your advice.  You can log in at:   http://faithatworksfellowship.blogspot.com/

We do have need of prayer partners so please continue to pray for and with us.  Our resources are limited, so if you  can help with books and other training manuals and material.  We will need teaching partners, so if you can train others, do let us know.  There have been those of you that have been giving, please pray and do continue to give.  We do need others that will invest in God, in souls and for eternity.  Please do recommend the ministry to others too.

The good Lord bless you and all yours.  If we can be of help, do let us know.

Yours co-laborer in Christ Jesus,

Rev.  Goh Seng Fong  (John 12:24)

·

April 2011 Report

Faith@Work -April  2011 Report

(Psa 126:3)  The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.

1.       Training Nationals in Nepal (3-18 March)

We have been having tremendous four years with these pastors and leaders in Kathmandu.  We desire you to know that your prayers and support in so many ways are worth it all – lives transformed and used for God and for all eternity.  We teach so that there will be growth in Christ-likeness and in skills.  We teach the head, then the heart and lastly the hands to do.  We also teach these to fish, to enter into His Presence and His Word themselves, than giving them the fish all the time.  Please take time to view the testimonies in video and letter.  To God be the glory!  Here are some abstracts.

Pastor Ratna Rai, Pastor and Gen Secretary of 127 churches of Nepal Baptist Council:

“… good opportunity to study … spiritually renewing … economically beneficial … manage time for program … helpful to be equipped and to upgrade for future ministry.”

Pastor NP Pradan, Pastor and Gen. Secretary of fellowship of 600 churches:

“ … not just for degrees … devotional, family and prayer life improved … always waiting to learn so that I could get back to teach others.”

Elder Dil Tamang, President of Himalayan Bible Study among grassroots leaders:

“… helped me to know Christ better and walk closer to Him … to trust Him more and to grow in my spiritual life.”   “… enhanced me in deeper knowledge of the Word of God … my knowledge sharpened … leader skills enriched more … to lead in a more effective way for the glory of God.”

Pastor Yam Bdr Tamang,  Pastor and Assistant to Dil Tamang:

“Lessons are more of ministry related, practical and contextual.  The professors are experienced in ministry and theologically sound … they are lovely in their lives and their lives speak a lot to me … meeting needs of church ministry and equipping leaders … related with the heart not just head knowledge.”

There had been a call to establish a Master Ministry  program in East Nepal for the last two years.  We answered the call this March.  God gave us a great response and a good learning experience and bonding times.  There were great hunger and good potential in the students. It had been worth it all, our prayers, time and expenses.  Here are some brief testimonies:

Gioija Kumar, youth worker for 13 years:

“I have family burden … had known no option for study … prayed continuously.  Praise the Lord, I got the opportunity now.  I have learnt so many things and among them the inductive Bible study.  Now I have been able to do deep Bible study and teach others the right way.”

Peter Mohan Limbu, ministering in a Brethren Church:

I have studied BTh course, but the MMin course is more effective, powerful and practical.  I learn how to discover the background of the text, how to determine the main theme and how to construct a thematic outline.  It helps me to understand more details of the Bible.

Purna Kumal, Co-ordinator of AWANA clubs, E. Nepal:

“Inductive Bible Study was Wow!  What a privilege to observe, interpret and apply in our life.  We went through 3 John and Philemon.  These texts we will never forget, because we went so nicely.  Thank you, sister Ho, for her hard work on it and thank you all who are praying for this training and for their help and support.”

Pastor Kuber Gurung, pastoring since1994:

“I have had the passion to learn from the Scriptures … but I had no chance.  … I got this great privilege, I thank to my God.  … I have learnt so many things from the Scripture which was lacking in my personal life, but I am surprised our teachers taught to me very easily.  I would like request to our teachers … please come again and teach us in easy ways.”

Achyut Gautam from Kalabanjar Baptist Church:

As I attend the classes from the beginning, I got many blessings from the Lord.  The Inductive Bible Study helps me to kniow how to get the deeper meaning from text and how to observe, interpret and apply that in my ministry for teaching.  Similarly, it helps to paraphrase and get the main idea of any text easily … would be helpful to take out the preaching item.  I suppose it will help a lot to strengthen members of my church in the Word of God.  Finally, I want to thank ASM to provide us this opportunity to be strengthened in the Word of God.  I am very hopeful that this and this kind of program will be very effective to equip and assist to bring the Kingdom into Nepal too.  Thank you.

Megotohe Angamii:

“God is His own time brought me here to train me and sharpen my weapons and skills to go further for His Kingdom.  The Lord helped me to dig the treasures kept for me.  It was something new and exciting too.  The courses were practical rather than academic.  One thing I like most was, whatever we learnt, were re-producible, especially the materials, I can use at anytime, everywhere in my ministry.  The courses re-shape my life again and give me new perspective to work for His kingdom.  I am excited to go back to share the blessings to my church members…. God did the right thing at the right time in the right place.”

2.      Training in Tanzania, Africa (23 April to 3 May)

There will be a fellowship of 60 churches, with leaders, awaiting to be trained.  Ps. Elibariki is the General Secretary and our partner in ministry.  The journey will take some 26 hours of flying time and 10 hours in transit, to and fro.  Praise the Lord for a good brother, who is paying for my plane ticket.  S$3000 will be needed for the 1^st Leaders’ Conference and for the 1^st Graduation of Bible College students.

Program will include:

1.       25-27 April – teaching in the Bible College

2.      28-30 April – Pastors’ and Leaders’ Conference (1^st time)

3.      1^st May – Sunday service and 1^st Graduation service of Bible College students

Please pray for safety in travel, preparation of heart, mind and body and unique        blessings upon His people – souls saved and leaders equipped for ministry.

Thanks again for the all-important prayers and your faithful support in so many ways.  May the good Lord bless you and all yours greatly to the praise of His glory!  Heb. 6:10

Your Partner in Training Nationals for Nationals,

Rev. Goh Seng Fong  (John 12:24)