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Personal Ministries

Jesus invites you to COME to HIM, and He commands you to GO with HIM.
Personal Ministries encourages you to take Him up on both offers!

Being a Disciple

 

‘Personal Ministries is about being a disciple of Jesus first.  Our great God invites us to COME to HIM, to learn from Him and grow in our faith, so that we can then GO with HIM to ‘make’ other disciples; to mentor and teach and lead others to the same disciple relationship with Him.

The Department’s aim is to empower church members in a continuous cycle of discipleship – for this to become the norm, a cultural shift to a day-by-day way of life in all our churches.  

ABOUT US

Personal Ministries is about being a disciple of Jesus first as He invites us to COME to HIM, so we will be able to GO with HIM to make other disciples.
Our aim is to build a continuous discipleship cycle as a norm and culture, and day-to-day way of life in our churches.

Pr Andrew Jasper
Director

Contact US

Glenda Locop
Departmental Assistant

Email
03 9264 7723

How We COME to HIM And GO with HIM

 

 

John 15:4 “I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.”

This includes regular attendance at church, prayer meeting, small group fellowship etc – wherever His people meet with intent to learn of Him. We also worship Him by being faithful in our giving tithe and offerings. True worship even incorporates a level of concern of our environment etc.

Desire of Ages p668 “All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service.”

 

This can include contributing or leading in a small group, serving in a church role or ministry, involvement in Sabbath School, caring for one another’s needs and serving in the home setting.  Jesus taught, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35  There are many ways we can show love for one another.

SHARE

Now all of this is designed to prepare us to share with others who don’t know God. Discipleship is the lifelong journey where we come to Christ and nurture others in the community of faith and go with Christ into the harvest sharing what He has done for us with the community at large.

Steps to Christ p80 “If you will go to work as Christ designs that His disciples shall, and win souls for Him, you will feel the need of a deeper experience and a greater knowledge in divine things, and will hunger and thirst after righteousness.  You will plead with God, and your faith will be strengthened, and your soul will drink deeper drafts at the well of salvation.”

PREPARE

As we begin labouring for others, we need to take time to genuinely connect with them the same way Jesus has with us. This is why it is imperative to “come” before we “go”.  We learn how to “go with Him” into the harvest field as a result of coming to Him when we enter into a personal relationship with Him as a result of the gospel.

Ministry of Healing, p. 143

“Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people.  The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good.  He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence.  Then He bade them, “Follow Me.”

 Many people today are hardened to the gospel and the message of Jesus Christ, and their hearts need tender care in opening up to Him. In preparing their heart, we get to know people and make friends of them. This is with genuine desire to be better in their life, show Christ’s love  and serve their needs.

There are multitudes of ways to show kindness, build friendship and express love. Here are a few:

  1. Smile and speak kindly to everyone.
  2. Give a bag of groceries
  3. Bake a loaf of bread and give it to a neighbour.
  4. Carry a meal to a sick person or an elderly person.
  5. Visit the sick or shut-ins.
  6. Do laundry for the sick.
  7. Clean house for the sick or shut-ins.
  8. Help someone pay their bills.
  9. Speak an encouraging word in person or on the phone.
  10. Go on an errand for a neighbour.
  11. Help someone fix their car.
  12. Offer to babysit for a family.

You can also invite people out for dinner, to a musical concert or to an outing with you or your family.  Health programs are another great way to invest in bettering people’s lives, and it mirrors Christ’s own healing ministry (which incidentally is where that last quote from Ellen White came from).  In going with Him, Jesus will guide you to genuinely care for others, meet their felt needs and provide an opportunity to plant the gospel seed.

SOW

Be intentional. Do not be afraid to share what you believe… Remember, “every time” is an opportunity time – to share Jesus love to others. Introduce Jesus to others, His love, care, soon return and desire to be part of their life. How? 

• Share your personal testimony

• Read Gospel of Mark with those spiritually searching

• Share message of Salvation and hope from Bible

• Give faith resources – print, audio, film, web

 

CULTIVATE

Nurture the desire to know / experience Jesus through Bible study and community want to grow in a knowledge of God’s Word and what He wants to do in and through us.  

• Small Groups

• One to one Bible studies

• Sabbath School

• Church participation

• Baptismal classes

• Teach to pray

• Teach to read/study Bible for themselves

• Tour Adventist Book Centre with new believers

• Share resources/media relevant to faith stage

HARVEST

Offering people a clear invitation to commit and become disciples of Jesus.

• Sabbath service or other event decision cards

• Public evangelistic campaign/seminars

• Invite to join church family and make public declaration of faith through baptism

• Sabbath School

CONNECT

Developing healthy relationships in the home, church and wider community.

• Small groups

• New/growing friendships with other church members

• Church socials • Spiritual guardian / accountability partner

• Informal meals / socials with other church members

• Keep in touch via phone, cards, notes, messages

• Pray together

A great website for resources is the Australian Union Conference’s discipleship page at www.disciple.org.au. Discover valuable tips, training modules and inspiration. Our Discipleship track is great way to learn how to progressively develop the hope of the gospel in your own life and let it overflow to others.

Steps to Personal Revival by Helmut Haubeil

This in-depth exploration sheds light on the root of our problems and illustrates how they can be remedied with God’s help. It shows how we can pray for the Holy Spirit so that we have the assurance that we have received Him.

It is Written Bible Study

Let’s study the Bible together. The It Is Written Bible Study Guides are the perfect way to learn God’s plan for your life! 

Harvest Training Videos

Leading up to the Revelation Today series in 2019, training seminars were conducted to equip members with skills that would help them reach out to other people with the good news about Christ and the hope He offers for the future.  If you would like to review what you learnt, or watch these seminars for the first time, email here for the link.

 

DO YOUR BLOCK

Making a difference in someone’s life can be as simple as letterboxing around your local area. Hope Channel offers free resources on practical topics such as health, relationship and faith. These resources are available to all, free of change.

All you need to do is sign up to join our DO YOUR BLOCK team and we’ll send you the sharing cards to letterbox within your neighbourhood.

Click here to join and download your Do Your Block Order Form