Apprentice leadership
CMS missionaries Keith and Marion Birchley recently ended an unanticipated period in Australia. Here Keith tells how in their unexpected absence from serving in Papua New Guinea, God faithfully used the ministry apprentices they’d been training to keep gospel work growing.
At the end of 2022 Marion and I returned to Australia for a supposedly brief time, so that I could recover from pneumonia under medical supervision. However, on Christmas Eve I learned that I’d been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Other health issues emerged. That meant that most of 2023 was spent dealing with health matters I was not expecting, in a country where we had not planned to be!
This is not the place to dwell on the real spiritual benefits that came through this prolonged period of waiting (deepened trust and communion with God, enforced self-examination and confession of sin, lifting our eyes beyond the boundaries of this world).
However we want to pay tribute to our great God, who continued to work amongst the Christian university students from the Tertiary Students Christian Fellowship (TSCF) in PNG, by the power of the gospel, especially through our three ministry apprentices Joey, Juliette and Barnabas.
Gospel ministry continues
During our absence we prayed regularly, and led weekly staff meetings with the apprentices via WhatsApp. We were greatly uplifted by their regular reports of caring for university students in many different contexts. Here are a few quotes from our apprentices as they reflected on God’s work in this period:
“On Saturday I had Bible study with 13 students, and we did the second part of John 1, Jesus calling his first disciples. It was so uplifting because [the] students were really seeking. We saw the need of a witness, that it’s important to read the word of God, and we also saw that those who hear it should in turn follow Jesus and not us.”
“[One member of TSCF] said most of the people she knows put their faith in materialism and not really in Jesus; they believe a wrong idea about Jesus and that leads to frustration.”
“On Monday, as we drew the study year to a close with my Bible group and one-to-one students, we reflected on Luke 9:62: “Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’”(ESV) We reflected on how many times we have put our hands on that plough and looked back, but the Bible reminds us that only one person in history has put his hands on the plough and ploughed in a straight line.”
As you can imagine, not all the work was easy. What particularly delighted us is that in all their reports, the spiritual welfare of people was uppermost in the minds and hearts of these young apprentices! They continued to pray and persevere in bringing God’s word to many students. But it is also true to say that their effectiveness now is the fruit of eight years’ work by senior TSCF staff, training them in Bible truth and persevering alongside them.
What a joy to see that when the drama of an unexpected long absence unfolds, God remains faithful to use the servants who are still in place to grow his kingdom.
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The Birchleys hope to see more gospel workers like them serving with the TSCF, helping raise up apprentices like Joey, Juliette and Barnabas. Could you go? Contact your branch to start a conversation here.
