Equipping the Saints

Recently I witnessed a hunger for the word of the LORD!   It reminded me of the words of the prophet Amos:  "Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD GOD, "When I will send a hunger over the land, not a hunger for the bread or a thirst for water, but rather a hunger for hearing the words of the LORD." (Amos 8:11) 

It began on a Sunday morning when I was asked to preach at the Coleridge South Seas Evangelical Church (SSEC) in Honiara, Solomon Islands.   I was in this country for six days for our annual visit to the SWIM base and our missionaries there.   I preached a gospel message based on John 3 calling us all to a deeper commitment to Christ as his followers.   Before and after the worship service I got to meet the four pastors of this church (pictured here).   The times of worship and prayer are a real testimony of how wonderfully the gospel has taken expression in these churches.   It simply needs to be experienced to be appreciated.

What struck me, however, is that these churches, vibrant with the gospel, are pastored by men who had limited or no Bible college training at all.   Yet every week they stand before their congregations preaching the good news of Christ, calling their people to faith and obedience.  

At our SWIM mission in Honiara we recognise the real need for coming alongside the churches of Solomon Islands and provide the teaching and equipping they desperately require.   The vision of SWIM is to "provide effective, practical, compassionate support and Bible based teaching and equipping ministries to build up Christians and establish self-reliant communities in Solomon Islands using our base facilities, resources, and the talents of our long and short term team members."   I witnessed firsthand how this happens, and this is also where I witnessed a hunger for hearing the words of the LORD.

Our WORD missionary Eric Maefonea, himself a SSEC ordained pastor, invited pastors and other Christian men and women to come to the SWIM base for two full days of teaching on "Expository Preaching."    The goal was to help pastors, Bible study leaders, small group facilitators, and anyone else interested to discover how to take the inspired Word of God and preach/teach it to others.   There was home work, a full syllabus of material, and a stack of first rate teaching on Biblical exegesis and exposition.   People would learn how to "correctly divide the Word of Truth" (2 Timothy 2:15) so that they would be able to preach the Word!    Eric expected 30 people to attend these two days of teaching -- a full 16 hours of training.   His wife Jemima would provide lunch for them all!    But 30 didn't show up!   Not 50!  Not 100!  No - there was at least 120 people who showed up and packed the outdoor grass covered conference room.   (See more pictures of this event here.)   I visited Jemima in the morning and I know the food she had purchased to prepare for the 30 expected for lunch.   But somehow, as Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish, by lunch time enough food was available for the hungry crowd who had come for this training.

But the real hunger I witnessed those two days was the hunger not for bread and water but for the Words of the LORD!   What a privilege it is for us as churches of the CRCA to partner with a godly people like Pastor Eric and his wife Jemima as they provide these Bible based teaching and equipping ministries to build up Christians using the base facilities of SWIM.   These equipping ministries can only happen because CRCA member churches and individuals support SWIM through their prayers and financial giving.   Through SWIM God's people in Solomon Islands are being equipped for works of service, and the body of Christ is being "built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."  (Ephesians 4:12-13) 

Eric asked me to preach both mornings of the conference and allow the people gathered to feast on the Word of God.   This was not a hard ask, for the people who came were hungry to listen, to take in what God's Word was saying, and respond accordingly.   My challenge to them was to "preach the Word, to be prepared in season and out season:  to correct, rebuke and encourage, with great patience and careful instruction." (2 Timothy 4:2)   When God's Word is faithfully preached and taught, "it will not return to God empty, but will accomplish what He desires." (Isaiah 55:11)

This is my desire for Australia as well, including the country of my birth Canada -- that there will be a hunger for the Word of God -- where throngs of people would eagerly come to receive training how to interpret the Bible and preach it to others.   I hold on to the promise of God through the prophet Amos:   "The days are coming...."  

May we pray for our brothers and sisters in Solomon Islands, but also here in Australia -- that as saints are equipped, the body of Christ may be built up, and we become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of our Saviour, the LORD Jesus Christ.