The Ministry of Training - Training Sharing

Sheng Yen Lin

Thank God, and thanks to Christian Communications Inc. of USA for giving me a chance to participate in the Training programs of the two Centers. I also thank all the brothers and sisters who supported me financially and with prayers.

Since mid December of 2004 when Elder Wu asked me if I could join in the work of providing materials for the Training programs, I have been praying hard and preparing for them. I know it is not going to be easy, and I ask many of my brothers and sisters to pray for me. God is gracious! For the past seven months, I was able to write and edited 12 training manuals for the programs, besides the regular duties of preparing for Sunday sermons, Sunday school teaching, training of small group
leaders, providing guidance for small groups and other activities. In all these, I have experienced the greatness of our Lord, and realized the inadequacy of myself.

In the first Center, the leader told me: "At present, we have twelve full time workers, and another twelve who are ready to join in. All of them have been through rough times. They have gone deep into the villages, led the villagers to Christ, and established churches." I was deeply touched. What skills and abilities do I have to be worthy of being their teacher? These people have superb testimonies, and have won the trust of the local officials so that not only do they not persecute
them, they even take people to their churches. Praise the Lord! Among them, there are many that are not well educated, but they love our Lord deeply, serve our Lord selflessly, pray fervently, and learn diligently. We all can learn something from them! During training, they would rise at 5 AM and pray. Their enthusiasm is worthy of our praise! After they finish the training, they will then pass them on to the church leaders in the villages. Oh God! Please use them according to your will. I had a chance to counsel a minister. From him I learned the difficulties these ministers face, especially the pressure from unbelieving spouses and in-laws. We can only pray to God for mercy, to fill their hearts
with Agape. We pray that their families are attracted by the sweet smell of Christ, and be converted.

In the second Center, another leader excitedly told me: "In recent years, the most effective ministry is Evangelical Explosion (EE). There have been one thousand that came to Christ in 5 years. We even use EE to preach to the children." I am embarrassed. Our church has been promoting EE for many years. When can we reach their target? This brother has suffered for Christ. He has been jailed three times, and beaten so hard he could not get up. All these sufferings strengthened his faith, and deepened his spiritual life. He had discipled fifteen ministers and established twelve churches. His yearning for knowledge and his strong management skills have won the respect of his co-workers, and the trust of the local officials. The number of students in this Center was half of that in the first Center; most of them were ministers or deacons. During class, they would take the initiative to ask questions and join in the discussions. This class was more active. On the first day of training, there were firecrackers exploding, operas being sung, and fireworks going off from the neighboring temple all day. It was very disturbing. The music was blaring from their speakers. We would try to use our microphones to drown out their sounds. I felt that that was the work of the devil. These operas and firecrackers blared and blasted for two days, from 8 in the morning to midnight. Early on the third day was a funeral procession, accompanied by loud music. This continued for another two days. I realized that these commotions were from two funerals. In this kind of environment, the brothers and sisters would work harder to spread the Gospel. When I looked at their smiling faces, I thought of Romans 5:3-4, "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Oh God! We pray that you would strengthen their ministry, and that they would pass on what they have learned to other loyal teachers.

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