Training for the Future
This week in church we are launching our MTS Training Fund Appeal.
MTS (Ministry Training Strategy) is an apprenticeship pathway structured to help people of all ages discern whether full-time vocational ministry is for them as they seek to serve Jesus with their whole life.
Christ Church St Ives has for decades been a sending church. We have sent missionaries into the field, we have sent groups of people to other churches to grow gospel ministry and we have trained and sent men and women to Moore College to be prepared for ministry both in Sydney and across the world.
And I am one of those who was sent. Back in 1996, I began an MTS Apprenticeship with Rob Smith and John Woodhouse and over two years spent time reading the Bible, growing in my understanding of and competence in ministry and having a go at just about anything I could get my hands on. One of the strongest memories was the moment Jo Burrows gave me feedback on my first sermon. Needless to say, he was gracious but firm.
We have a great history of sending people like me out to serve the Kingdom of God but now is the time—now is the time for us to recapture the commitment and passion to train and encourage men and women for a lifetime of ministry.
Towards the end of last year we had a gathering of more than 30 people who had been thinking about full-time ministry. It was an exciting time and since then, as a staff, we have been thinking together about training and the best ways to utilise the size, strength and diversity of our church.
To this end, we are opening a new pathway for apprentices. Rather than study two days a week and do ministry three or four, we are preferencing apprenticeships that provide five or six days a week of hands on ministry under our experienced staff. There are many significant benefits to this onsite intensive learning as people discern whether ministry is right for them. One significant difference is that giving to this form of MTS is not tax deductible.
Our goal is to be training seven MTS apprentices—not next year and probably not the year after; but soon. We want to be intentionally gathering and guiding lots of people of all ages in their thinking about full-time ministry in the context of parish ministry.
It is an exciting prospect and one that needs your help prayerfully and financially. Pray that we can all recapture the commitment and passion to train and encourage men and women for a lifetime of ministry. And then, give financially.
We are seeking to raise $50,000 this year to both support current apprenticeships and prepare for future ones. We are asking you to give in addition to your regular giving to support this project that seeks to send people who know the gospel and love Jesus out from Christ Church St Ives with clarity, competence, conviction and Christlike character.
Jump on board the appeal from this Sunday and together, let’s prepare people to change the world with the Gospel of Jesus.
In Christ,
Nigel
