Missions Report: Brisbane BPC
Rev Hien Nguyen
Thank God for His grace and providence that I came to Brisbane in June 2004 after my theological studies at the Far Eastern Bible College in Singapore. Then by God’s grace, we started our Bible study on Saturdays at the City Library with Bro Robert, Sis Karen and Bro Walter in July 2004. Then we shifted our Bible study to our rented home in West End in September 2004. By the end of this month, thank God that I was adopted as a missionary preacher of True Life B-P Church in Singapore. We thank God for the prayers, encouragement, advice and kind support from True Life BPC since then.
Thank God for helping us start our Sunday worship at 10am at our home in February 2005 with Walter and Marline, and ministered to the Aboriginal people on Stradbroke Island (March-May 2005). Thank God for the opportunities to minister to a Vietnamese church during September-November 2005.
In April 2006, thank God that we rented the Hall of Annerley Community and District Centre, at 8 Waldheim St., Annerley, Qld 4103, and worshipped there on Sundays at 2pm with Bro Walter, Bro Tim, Sis Anne and Zac, and sometimes with visitors.
Thank God for His grace and mercy that Brisbane BPC was officially registered on 28 July 2006 with Bro Walter Wei the secretary, Sis Anne Low the treasurer, and Bro Hien Nguyen the preacher (as president). In August, we were encouraged to have David and Debbie (Walter’s friends and Calvary Pandan members) join our Bible study and Sunday worship for two weeks.
In September, we thank God for the ministry of Rev Stephen Khoo in our midst. He conducted our Bible study on the 23rd and preached and conducted the Lord’s Supper on the 24th of September 2006.
In October, we thank God for a better venue for our Sunday worship service at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, at 33 King St., Annerley, Qld 4103. That month, we were happy and encouraged to be visited by Aik Kean and Su Yuan, True Lifers from Singapore. They joined our Bible study and Sunday worship for two weeks. Elder Boon Boaz and his family from Singapore also visited us and joined our Bible study.
In November, we thank God for bringing Bro Eric and Sis Linda and Hannah and Emma to Brisbane to worship and serve the Lord together with us. We also had Bro Ivan Toms from New Zealand who came to visit us. In December, we celebrated Christmas with a Children’s Programme. We thank God for one student, Rhiannon, joining the programme.
In February 2007, we thank God for Bro Michael Low who joined us. In that month, due to Walter’s absence since last November, we had a meeting, and thank God that Bro Eric was elected to be our secretary. By the end of February, we thank God for providing a better place for us to stay in Coopers Plains. We thank God for providing Bros Tim, Robert, Michael, Eric and Hannah to help us move to our new home.
In March, we had our Bible study at our new home at 14 Baroda St., Coopers Plains, Qld 4108. We thank God for bringing Mrs Too, Bro Eric’s mother into our midst. We thank God for helping us start a Vietnamese Bible study at Jade’s home every Thursday since 15 March. We really thank God for His blessings upon our Inauguration Service on the 18th of March 2007. We were much encouraged and blessed to have Rev Stephen Khoo, Rev Paul Seiler of St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Rev Errol Stone and Sis Robyn from Faith Presbyterian Church in Perth, Rev Dr Okman Ki from Hope BPC in Adelaide, Elder Charles Choong from Bethel BPC in Melbourne, Dn Charles Kan and Jenny from True Life BPC in Singapore, Dn Anthony Ngan from Sydney BPC, and our brethren from Singapore: Francis and Stephanie and Moses, Deborah Mae and Judith, Joycelyn and Jacelyn. We had our Bible study conducted by Rev Errol Stone and our Inauguration Service officiated by Rev Stephen Khoo.
In May, we thank God for the preaching of Bros Tim and Eric while Bro Hien was in Singapore for his ordination. Since the end of May, we have been announcing our Vietnamese church services (4pm) and publishing our articles in the Vietnamese newspaper. Thus far only our family members join the worship.
We give thanks, praise and glory to the Lord and we are thankful for the prayers, encouragement, and kind support from you as well as from True Life BP Church. May God bless you all!
Rev Hien Nguyen
Pastor of Brisbane B-P Church
Brisbane, 15 July 2007
The Influence of FEBC on My Ministry
Carol Lee
July 1997 to May 2000 was the time when the Lord used the Far Eastern Bible College (FEBC) to intensively prepare me, both academically and spiritually, to serve Him full-time.
One of my conclusions at the end of that three-year training is: “I have never been worked so hard by my teachers!” In many programmes of study, the acquisition of knowledge and the training of the mind are paramount and the studies in FEBC is no different. My heart is grateful to the Lord for raising FEBC and for the FEBC principal and lecturers who faithfully serve in this training ministry. My three gruelling years in FEBC went by so quickly, and the more I learn, the more I realise that I do not know. Indeed there is no end to the study of the rich and precious Word of God. While FEBC has given me a solid foundation in God’s Word, the study continues that I may know my God and His Word even more. As He has enabled me to learn much through FEBC, may He enable me to serve Him in whatever areas that He puts me in: in Truth BPC, in FEBC, and in the missions field (both local and overseas), to share the good news with the lost, to build up the faith of the saved, and to prepare the called for full-time service.
In the course of academic learning in FEBC, the heart and the spirit were not left out. The academic learning process included attending lectures, reading, working on assignments, doing quizzes, sitting for exams, etc, all with their own deadlines for me to meet. These, by God’s design, became the fertile ground for the maturation of the spirit. On many occasions (when a quiz was on the next day, a reading log to be submitted two days later, a research paper was soon due, etc), I had to admit “I cannot do it” and I had to surrender to the Lord. Surely, He who has called me to His work will also enable me to do His work! How sweet it was to go to Him daily on my knees, laying my daily burdens at His feet, committing the many assignments and deadlines into His Hand. And help He did, beyond measure! He gave what I did not deserve. Time and time again. And so I learnt the valuable lesson: I am weak, but my Lord is strong. Many things are beyond me, impossible for me, but everything is possible for my Lord if it is in accordance to His will.
2 Corinthians 12:9b-10: “…Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
Having experienced the grace of God, His kindness and goodness towards me throughout my three years in FEBC, my trust in my faithful and able Lord grew. The knowledge that everything I have I owe it all to Him sank its roots deeply into my heart. Learnt I truly did to depend on His all-sufficient grace and loving mercy even more. I came to the full realisation that without God, I can do nothing, and that God’s work has to be done in God’s way, in His own perfect timing. Wherein lies my confidence now as I serve Him full-time? Not in self, but in my Lord! All glory and honour are due unto Him!
As evident in the lives of His many faithful, godly servants in days gone by and in days present, the path of full-time service is fraught with many difficulties, heartaches and sorrows. Though my service be insignificant by comparison, yet should I assume that I will be spared? I dare not assume that. May the Lord help me to constantly remember how He has so faithfully provided for me during my time of training in FEBC and that He will still provide. May He keep me ever looking to Him for all that I need today and in the days ahead till He returns, for “the days are evil” (Eph 5:16). “Look to no man, care not what the world may plan. Only trust in the Lord, all the way to Beulah Land.”
“Carol, do you regret leaving MOE (Ministry of Education)?” This question was posed to me one day in December 2006 (almost ten years after I resigned from MOE to study in FEBC). Without hesitation, I replied, “No, no regret. There is nothing better than serving God full-time.” Indeed, God’s call to serve Him full-time is a great privilege. Being a debtor to no man, His call is accompanied by the sufficiency of His grace. There is nothing better than doing the work of my Master every day, be it a fair day or a stormy one. This too is a lesson I learnt from FEBC through the life example and testimony of the FEBC principal: there is no retirement for His servants. May the Lord grant me that resolutely faithful and persevering spirit that by His enabling He may find me serving Him still when He appears!
May we pray for FEBC in these perilous times that God will preserve her and provide for all her needs, that she will continue to stand unwaveringly on God’s Truth, training men and women in the Word of God and in their devotion to their Lord to serve Him in the Lord’s Vineyard.
All glory be unto our all loving, all merciful God!
