Queen's Road Cell

To recap the lessons of Paradigm 20 we covered 2 weeks ago: Success is fulfilling one's purpose. The purpose of a disciple is fruit bearing. Fruit bearing comprises inner transformation and outer multiplication. In this chapter Edmund Chan emphasizes that the strategy of God is multiplication rather than addition. He quotes OT scripture to back up this point, then says that transformation must precede multiplication. Discipleship must not be head knowledge alone, but 'complete transformation'. Transformation of personal and public life is God's goal. What is the difference between spiritual addition and spiritual multiplication? In the latter, teaching and modelling of life is imparted to others who impart to others also (2 Ti 2:2) - an exponential growth, rather than having one person teach and model Why must there by multiplication with transformation? Both are inseparable parts of fruitfulness. Because we reproduce only after our own kind (Gal 6:7, M...

Winnie shared about Francis Chan's book (Letters to the Church) in which he wrote about his hopes for the church he founded, his leaving it to go to Asia, then his return to the USA. This invited questions about the topics of division and leadership in church. 1 Cor 1:10, 12:25 encourage the church not to have divisions. Paul rebukes the Corinthians for their factionalism and tendency to idolize human figures (1 Cor 1:12; 3:4) and yet he speaks approvingly about divisions in 11:18-19. How do we recognize 'good' and 'bad' division? My thinking is that division in church is good rather like church discipline is good - in other words, the need for it is a reflection of impurity in the church that must be addressed, so that those who are genuine/tested in the faith might be separated from those that are not. It is God's general will that t4he church not be divided. We also spoke about the importance of plural leadership in church (see here ). There is the negat...

Edmund Chan asks us to radically redefine success. Success is not related to largeness, but greatness. We are all called to the latter, but not the former. We are not called only to grow in numbers. While Scripture is clear that numbers are not everything, it also teaches us that barrenness is not desired by God - we are to be fruitful. We are not to lose heart because our ministry is not growing, and we must not lose the courage to do what it takes to make it grow. Numbers are there to help us assess our effectiveness, not to boost our egos. Chan says that success is about fulfilling purpose. When we redefine success, we must relook at our purpose. We are successful when we accomplish what God has called us to do. What comes to mind when we say that someone we know is successful? Many times our idea of success aligns with material prosperity. We could also say that the successful are able to fulfill their dreams. They accomplish the purpose that they set out to do. Jesus was suc...