ISSUE 24 | JUNE 2012

PartnerNews

MAKING MTS HISTORY –

NT’S FIRST APPRENTICEPhilip Rademaker didn’t intend to make history – he just wanted to share the gospel. But it was this passion that led him and his wife, Laura, to move 4,000km from Canberra to become the first MTS apprentice to train in the Northern Territory.

“It’s very easy to see the need up here. It’s an area that gets overlooked sometimes,” Phil says. “People think of doing mission and they think overseas before they think of the Territory.”

“I’d been kind of interested in bible translation a few years ago,” Phil says, explaining some of the reasons for the move. “When the opportunity came up to do MTS in the territory, it was put back on the agenda.”

They initially planned to travel with the McDonald family and another family and plant a church. “That all changed in early December when Dave McDonald was diagnosed with cancer,” Phil explains. “It threw the support network out the window. I went from feeling comfortable and thinking “It won’t be challenging” to feeling “I really have to decide whether this is the right thing to do.”

“In amongst all the upset of Dave being diagnosed with cancer and the shock that was, he was still saying, “You should go,”” Phil says. “It was quite an intense time. Tony Jenner,

AFES Staff worker at Charles Darwin University, was still happy with the idea of me coming and joining him and him training me. It put my mind at ease; it seemed like the right thing.”

With many things still unplanned, the Rademaker’s began the eight day journey in January. “Our accommodation was organised as we drove up,” Phil says. “That was another moment of God’s provisions and confirming in our minds it was the right thing to do.”

Once arriving, it didn’t take long to notice the differences. “It’s a very laid back culture,” Phil says of Darwin society. “Although they’re laid back, they’re quite busy and that’s one of the challenges. The students [at Charles Darwin University] seem to work full time jobs and do uni around work. I haven’t had a case in Darwin where someone hasn’t turned up because they’re being lazy, it’s because they’re hard working somewhere else.”

“There are also at least twelve churches of different denominations [represented at the Christian group]. It’s quite diverse,” Phil says. “We were studying baptism and you could feel there was a bit of a disagreement over the doctrine. When it came up I thought, ‘that would have never happened in Canberra’.”

Phil shares an encouraging story from a recent “guys camp” the Christian group ran. “I gave a talk on Luke 14 on the cost of discipleship. It’s a fairly hard passage and I wasn’t sure how it would go. Some of the guys weren’t regular to bible study so it was cool to see how they engaged with this. People were quite open with their struggles, with having different priorities and thinking about the ways in which they might make excuses when it comes to the claim Jesus makes on their lives.”

Please join in praying for Philip and MTS in Northern Territory:

• Praythatadropinnumbersat CDU Christians over assignmentandexamtimewouldn’tgetinthewayofministryandthatPhilwouldcontinuetofaithfullyserve

• PrayforopportunitiesforPhiltomeetwithpeopleregularly

• PrayforopportunitiesforPhiltomeetnonChristiansandshare the gospel

• Prayforlongtermplanning,thatGodwouldgivetheRademaker’swisdomtoworkoutwheretoserveandwhatto do after theological college

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MTS SUNDAY – PRAYING ACROSS THE NATION

BRIDGING THE GAP –

FOR FUTURE GOSPEL WORKERS

REACHING OUT TO TAMWORTH

“MTS Sunday is designed to encourage churches and ministries to work out how they can participate in, or support, raising harvest workers,” says Ben Pfahlert, MTS National Director. “We are getting churches around Australia to watch a DVD about ministry apprentices reaching the lost with the gospel, and pray God would raise harvest workers who train as ministry apprentices.”

Tim Grant, Pastor of Melbourne church plant Grace Christian Community, is preparing his congregation to participate. “We want to be a church that is on about training others and investing deeply in others so they can be disciple makers and know how to live the Christian life,” he explains. “It will help us to keep training and raising up gospel workers front and center and on the radar.”

Ben hopes MTS Sunday will see Christians in praying for future leaders in all areas. “We want churches to spend one Sunday in the year thinking about the dire need to raise Australian evangelists, pastors, teachers, church planters, scripture teachers, blue collar gospel workers etc. We want to help the church have the mind of Christ.”

The goal is to see more churches praying for future leaders and through these prayers to see more full time gospel workers raised. “That’s my dream,” shares Ben, “that people sitting in pews would move from “Gee, who’s going to reach Australia with the gospel?” to “Why don’t I try and reach my part of Australia with the Gospel? I’m going to train as an apprentice!”

Jimmy Alley is a first year apprentice at Tamworth Baptist who works closely with their youth group. It is the churches biggest link to the Indigenous and government housing community, with 80 kids meeting on a Friday night.

“It’s extremely cross cultural for our church,” Jimmy explains. “95% of the kids are from housing commission and 80% are Aboriginal. I think 80 – 90% believe Jesus died for their sins and believe there is a God. However, they don’t understand what the gospel means in changing their lives.”

Jimmy has a goal for the next two years of his apprenticeship: He wants to bridge the gap between kids coming to youth group and plugging them into the church community. He wants to see kids and their families deepen their faith and understanding of God.

He’s started trying to bridge this gap by encouraging half a dozen kids to join the youth church. “We think they’re at a point where they can really grow in their faith,” Jimmy says. “They’re asking “What happens after death? What do I need to change? Should I be doing this because I come to church?” The questions are there and the growth is there.”

God is showing Jimmy glimpses of how he’s working in the kids and their families. “In a twelve month period we’ve gone from having a woman be abusive towards us and church to supporting us,” Jimmy shares. “She is very thankful for the support and the work we’ve done with her son and her other kids.”

“This gap is being bridged, but it’s a slow process,” Jimmy reflects. “If you push it, you can actually push these kids away. They’ve got to want to do it.”

When: Sunday July 29th 2012

Where: In your church or ministry & in churches across Australia

What: Praying for future gospel workers and ministry apprentices

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ISSUE 24 | JUNE 2012

The last time I wrote for MTS I was excited to be sharing our plans to move from Canberra, after 22 years of ministry, to startover in the Northern Territory. We had gathered a team, arranged a house, had two MTS trainees with us, and had shipped all our belongings to Darwin.

So it came as an absolute shock on December 5th to be suddenly diagnosed with lung cancer. Two surgeries, three weeks in hospital, and at times worrying I wouldn’t even regain the strength to leave hospital. I returned home just before Christmas and began chemotherapy a few weeks later. I’ve now been through five (three weekly) cycles of chemo. Each cycle is a challenge, as the side effects leave me very sick, and it takes about half the time to recover for the next round. My future is unclear, and life is much more a short-term prospect. The oncologists do not hold hope for a cure, but we are praying good medical options, and ultimately for healing.

We thank God that we’ve been able to resume life in Canberra. Fiona has returned to work, the kids continued in their schools, and I have been kept on as an associate pastor at Crossroads. Our church has been a huge support to us, friends have rallied around us, and we appreciate the prayers of Christians from far and wide.

God has opened up new and unexpected opportunities for ministry. I’m no longer leading the staff team, preaching weekly, and setting the direction of the church. However, there have been new opportunities to share the gospel and to chat, encourage and support others in ministry. People have encouraged me to start writing and I’ve been blogging now for the past two months. [You can follow this at macarisms.wordpress.com.] This has given me the opportunity to share my journey of faith in the midst of cancer, as well as to explore a range of Christian issues with people. God seems to be blessing this ministry as it impacts people in all kinds of places.

The biggest impact on me through this whole experience has been confronting my mortality in a very real way. Being told I may only have months to live is very ‘in your face’. There have been many tears, depressed moments (or days), and big questions about the reality of the resurrection. At times my faith has really been put to the test. This has pushed me to prayer, to the basics in the Bible, and to some fundamental apologetics once again. I don’t know exactly what the future holds, but my prayer is that God will continue to strengthen my faith, and open new ways to serve him. I covet your prayers for my faith, for the faith of my family, and that God might heal me so that I can continue to serve him for many years.

Dave & Fiona McDonald and Family, 2011

Dave & Fiona, 1984

First service held at Crossroads Christian Church, 1996

DAVE’S STORY CONTINUED…

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BY DAVE MCDONALD

Financial Update March 31st, 2012

YOUR PARTNERSHIP

THE FRUIT OF

Keep in Touch!

We are incredibly thankful for so many things, the support we receive from the network, the way in which we see God growing future gospel leaders in our country, and most of all, for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the new life we have through him.

Many exciting things are happening this year for MTS. Please join us as we bring many thanks and requests before our Heavenly Father.

Please join us in thanking God for the following:

• TherelationshipwecannowhavewithGodthrough the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

• That40% of the nation’s 249 apprentices in 2012 have signed up with MTS Pathways which helps train apprentices better.

• The$120,000 donation to MTS’s scholarship fund received in April. This will allow us to award more than 20 scholarships for apprentices starting 1st year in 2013.

• TheMTS Board members who support MTS in a plethora of ways, including Human Resource consultancy, IR, legal, financial planning, strategic advice… just to name a few. These nine men and women do a mountain of work behind closed doors.

Please pray with MTS for:

• WisdomasweseektoemployanewConference and Resources Coordinator.

• MTS Sunday, July 29th, that many in churches around the nation would participate and join together to pray for future gospel workers in our country.

• TheMTS Recruitment Blitz happening in August, that it might see people challenged to do a full time ministry apprenticeship, and that 200 new apprentices may start training in 2013.

• HelpfromGod.Weneed5 churches to continue training and employing Blue Collar Ministers over the next 5 years. We need Blue Collar Ministry “hot houses” that pump out Blue Collar evangelists, pastors and teachers.

• 100newregulardonorsin2012tobeafinancialkeel to MTS and provide stability. We have a $7,132 deficit at March end. We’d like to eradicate the deficit promptly.

• Thatmanymoreapprenticeswouldbetrainedandthatwe will have the privilege of training 10,000 apprentices by 2020.

In Christ,

Like MTS on Facebookwww.facebook.com/MTS.Live

Follow MTS on Twitterwww.twitter.com/MTS_Live

Contact our officePO Box 978 Hurstville NSW 1481 +61 2 9570 5193mts@mts.com.au

Dear Friends,

BUDGET Mar

ACTUAL Mar

SURPLUS Q1 (Deficit)

BUDGET FY12 Jan - Dec

Income $107,750 $100,618 ($7,132) $413,500

$100k $200k $300k $400k

$413k

$100,618 Q1

$107,750 Q1

ACTUAL

BUDGET

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