Special Message from Ps Jimmy Oentoro
This month, IFGF pastors held another online Zoom meeting with Ps. Jimmy Oentoro. The meeting was held in 3 different rounds to cater for different time zones. The first meeting was on November 10 for Indonesia, Asia, Qatar and Oceania. The second one was on November 11 for IFGF pastors in Region 6, Europe and Ecuador. The last meeting was on November 13 for pastors in the USA and Canada.
This pastoral meeting was opened with prayer and a message about the impact of online services on church from Ps. Sam Hartanto (IFGF Bandung, Indonesia). Ps. Sam shared that the congregation is in favour for online care group meetings and only about 7% are not doing online meetings. Online care group meetings will still be needed as we don’t know when this pandemic will end. Even when the vaccines are available, there will be a lag time for convincing people to be vaccinated.
On the other hand, although some churches have started doing on-site Sunday services, based on data 80% are still done online. Ps. Sam encouraged the pastors to keep improving the spiritual growth of the congregation and the most effective way to measure it is from care group engagement rate. This is especially true as with online Sunday services people might not have the same discipline and delay it to another day. Some people end up not joining Sunday service on the day itself. As a response to this situation Ps. Sam suggested that discipleship should be done through iCare and iGrow. Both are complementary as people are discipled through iCare and capable leaders are born through iGrow. iCare will be multiplied on the hands of capable leaders.
In the main session with Ps. Jimmy Oentoro, he asked for updates from some pastors to share about the current work that is happening in their areas. Ps. Hendra from Taiwan shared about their current prayer for a new building as their congregation has doubled, mainly because many new Indonesian students came to study in Taiwan. Taiwan is one of few countries which has never implemented a lockdown. Another news came from Auckland. Ps. Gerald shared that as the lockdown has been lifted, IFGF Auckland has started on-site service with an average of 100 people attending the service. Even then, the streaming service is still broadcasted live. Ps. Paulus from IFGF Australia also stated that they are doing both on-site and online streaming services. According to the data, their congregation is now 50:50 between Indonesians and non-Indonesians.
In this meeting Ps. Jimmy specifically mentioned that this period is the right time for us to reset our lives and to recheck whether our roots are strong. During these 4 years, IFGF has been going through the greater journey starting with Greater Devotion (2018), Greater Promise (2019), Greater Blessing (2020) and Greater Destiny (2021). The apostolic team was praying for these themes which were taken from James and back then, no one knew about Covid-19.
Ps. Jimmy explained that what was written by James about having joy during trials is an untold blessing. James 2 talked about the faithfulness of God. We should remember that we are not merely going to church because we are the church. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Here Jesus emphasized that we should become the church. Jesus also said that we should follow Him “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” This is the foundation of IFGF, Helping people to connect with God and make disciples. In addition, Ps. Jimmy reminded us the importance of Sabbath and highlighted that Sabbath doesn’t replace our quiet time. Sabbath is not laying down and doing nothing. Sabbath is about resting and focusing on God by praising Him with family or friends.
Before the meeting ended, Ps. Jimmy shared that GREATER DESTINY will be the theme for IFGF Global in 2021. The church will discuss a lot from the book of Peter. Ps. Evan then shared about the logo, merchandise and other things for 2021.
We pray that as a church we are not a mere follower of the church’s programs but instead, we become a true follower of Jesus who can help others to know God and can disciple them. Always remember that church is not a building but us who are His followers. Also remember to take a breather and do sabbath, enjoying a special rest time in the presence of God and your family.
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
– Yohanes 20:21 –
