Pursuing Grace Ministry

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Pursuing Grace Ministry seeks to raise young people as arrows in God 's Quiver: Teaching God's word, raising Godly leaders, partnership with churches, individuals and ministries...

Developing Tomorrow Leaders: The Need for Structure.We often use the phrase: "children are leaders of tomorrow" whenever...
20/09/2024

Developing Tomorrow Leaders: The Need for Structure.
We often use the phrase: "children are leaders of tomorrow" whenever there is any event or discussion on children or young people. While that is true, but there is something missing there. We assume that they will become those leaders without intentional trainings. We also think we can be intentional without structure.

Morgan D. Jones in his book, The Thinker's Toolkit, said humans often err in the solutions we provide for our problems simply for lack of structuring.

This is often true even if the church. Let's read one of the scriptures cited in our last post: Deuteronomy 31:12a-13: Gather the people together, men, and women and children.. and that their children, which have not known anything, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land either ye go over Jordan to possess it.

The motivation to raise the need to structure our work with children and other young people came during the 8th Annual Convention of the Salvation Assurance Church. First, it is an encouragement to those called to serve in this ministry but specifically those in leadership roles. A whole session was dedicated for the children.

If you want to see the results you are looking for, including developing your children into the real leaders tomorrow, the place to begin is evaluating your current vision of ministry to children and other young people. Then create a structure for it.

Should you require help in the above two suggestions, maybe your next step is contact us by sending us a mail to [email protected].

Blessings.

Real Time Management.In our everyday life we live by the definition of time as Chronos(time as quantity and can be measu...
19/09/2024

Real Time Management.

In our everyday life we live by the definition of time as Chronos(time as quantity and can be measured). However, the real time management is when we live by its definition as Kairos(time as quality but cannot be measured). It is defined as an opportune season.

Such Kairos was offered us as we used the one month period of the summer school to help children have a balanced life by bringing the good news of Christ to them.

Two scriptures depicts this opportunity:
1. Make the most of every opportunity -Eph. 5:16.
2. Gather the children so that they would hear...Deut. 31:13.

The opportunity we had was that short period but impactful. Then as they gathered, there were some of them, though they go to church, but because of the nature of the church they attend or doctrinal issues, they are yet to be exposed to the gospel. But God in his mercy made that happened.

To him be all the glory.
How are you managing your time? How would you better manage your time from now?

Make Them Ready.And he will [himself] go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn back the hearts of the fa...
29/01/2024

Make Them Ready.
And he will [himself] go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn back the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient and incredulous and u persuadable to the wisdom of the upright [which is the knowledge and holy love of the will of God]-in order to make ready for the Lord a people [perfectly] prepared [in spirit, adjusted and disposed and placed in the right moral state]. Luke 1:17 AMPC.

My focus here is on 17c-in order to make ready for the Lord a people.

How do we go about making our young people ready for the Lord?

Let's look at two examples in the lives of Moses and Samson.

In Exodus 2:2, we see that his mother after his birth received the revelation and she saw that the child was beautiful, fair, godly, depending on the translation you are using.

On the other hand, in Judges 13:1-12, we see that revelation for who the child would be was given prior to his conception and birth.

In both cases, we see that each child has a direction and a purpose for their lives. Both parents had the opportunity of knowing this.

Are you in the place of Moses's mother or Samson's? You and I are called to seek to know God's mind for our children; whether they are already born or yet to be.

That is the starting point of raising them as people prepared for the Lord.

My prayer for you today is that God will open your eyes of understanding to see rule of life and the work they are to pursue (Judges 13:12).

Blessings.
John Tashi Bako

07/10/2023

The Priority of the Hour

So above all, constantly chase after the realm of God’s kingdom and the righteousness that proceeds from him. Then all these less important things will be given to you abundantly-Matthew 6:33 The Passion Translation.

Dr. Myles Munroe once said, God's number-one priority for mankind is that we discover, understand and enter the kingdom of Heaven.

I see that this is an imperative as we minister to young people.

While it is important that we balance the word with age-appropriate activities that engage them, experience often proof that the opposite extreme takes precedent. What I mean is that we are engaged in so many activities in order to keep them engaged. While it is not at all bad, but we often fail to realize the implication it has on our need to sustain ministry over the long haul.

It has been God's desire that we approach our ministries in service to him from the position of rest. That is why he gave a warning that none of us should fail to enter his rest (Hebrews 4:1).

We are called to enter this rest for ourselves then help others get in as well. For the purpose of our discussion, as youth leaders we are to enter and help them enter as well. It is when we enter into his rest that we cease from our own labours (Hebrews 4:10).

But how do we enter? In order to do so as believers, we must make entering his rest, his kingdom a priority. Is that your priority? Is that my priority?

Dallas Willard once wrote: Jesus did not send his students out to start governments or even churches, as well know them ...
12/04/2022

Dallas Willard once wrote: Jesus did not send his students out to start governments or even churches, as well know them today. They were, instead, to establish beachheads of his person, word and power in the midst of a failing and futile humanity.

Evidence abound today that we are I great times of trials in all areas of life and all manner of efforts, most of these human albeit, hence we are not seeing the results we desire, even though we do not want to admit that.

Again Dallas said that the future of the world rest with Christian leaders.

This is a sober reminder to the church today, but more importantly those of us called to work with children and the young. How are we building these ones up?

While we do acknowledge past efforts in such ministry, but what we see today stirs up the question if we did or are doing what we were meant to do. What pattern have we been following? Our agenda or heavens (Psalm 139:14-16 TLB).

One of the strongest statements I have heard in Christian ministry is that; our ministry ought to flow from our being not from our doing. I make haste to say that this is true as children and young people workers.

This is the highlight of what God is setting to do through this ministry; encouraging us to become first before we do.

The grace to sow the seed of this call was given to us recently.

May our ministries be borne out of who we have become in Him first before what we do for him.

I had the opportunity to minister directly to teenagers recently and from the material we were considering three words s...
05/02/2022

I had the opportunity to minister directly to teenagers recently and from the material we were considering three words stood out for me. I believe they will help us in the desire to deliberately pursue unity or partnership in our calling to children and young people. These words are assumption, worldview and reality.

Assumption (assume): to assume is to believe a concept or viewpoint without thinking critically about it. It is to take something for granted.

Worldview: is the total set of assumptions that a person holds, either consciously or unconsciously, about the world and how it works.

Reality: is simply what truly is and how it works.

After the meeting I had to think deeply over these words and their definition and came to the conclusion that they have implications not only in the lives of young people today but to us as leaders in children and youth ministries, especially as it relates to how we must trust God to work according to his pattern.

In our last post reference was made of the need for the body of Christ to pursue the matter of joining hands with one another through partnerships. Not just for the purpose of expanding our reach, though not less either, but it is the way God wants His work done.

Having studied most of our approach to ministry, I have come to the conclusion that our pattern has not been very different from the example of a new business owner, who at the early stage of promoting a business and ensure it succeeds, often may have to work alone. We tend to run ministry as though we do not need help from others.

Just like the definition of assumption as earlier mentioned, some adopt practices or methods without critically thinking about their relationship to Scriptures ( I agree that not everything we will do in ministry is clearly spelt out in scripture), but I am referring to the core of ministry. Sometimes we do so simply because it has worked in another ministry. We must not take for granted the need to partner with others if we hope to have the impact that heaven envisages. But we need to do so in an informed manner.

Overtime such approach becomes our worldview and we hold tightly to it, even though it may no longer be helping us in anyway fulfill our assignment.

The reality of our work should not be defined by men or methods (as important as they may be) but by what His word says and its specific application to the unique ministry he has apportioned for us.

Efforts such as that by NCMA and other bodies to encourage partnership in the work of the kingdom among children and young people is commendable. At their thanksgiving the topic: "The Importance Of partnership in Children's Ministry" was treated.

It is my prayer that the steps so far taken will be vigorously pursued and may those ministries desirous of joining hands with sister ministries for greater impact do so in an informed manner.

In conclusion, let us be reminded that God not only placed us in groups and ministry relationships to get the job done, but first that we all grow in our knowledge and intimacy with him and then we grow in our relationship with one another, thereby reflecting Christ in the work of ministry (Mark 3:13-15).

Wisdom is the most valuable commodity—so buy it! Revelation-knowledge is what you need—so invest in it!- Proverbs 4:7 (T...
15/12/2021

Wisdom is the most valuable commodity—so buy it! Revelation-knowledge is what you need—so invest in it!- Proverbs 4:7 (TPT).

The end of year for most people and businesses is the time plans, projections, goals are set for the coming year. This is often done with the hope of improving our options to achieve greater things we have been doing or better still to do more.

To some extent even christian ministries are not really different. The challenge however for ministries should be to desire to hear what God might be saying before setting our plans and goals. My intention is to prepare the hearts and mind of teen and youth leaders in relationship to our work with so that we do not just plan for the sake of planning.

I read about this analysis of the increase knowledge and when compared to the pursuit of wisdom, showed that while there is great increase in knowledge, there is corresponding decrease in wisdom. So while we believe that we are being greatly enlightened, the reality is that we are still operating in the dark.

"From recorded history till 1845 knowledge was about 1 inch. From 1845-1945, knowledge increased to 3 inches. From 1945-1975 knowledge increasesd to 6,653.5 inches, the height if Washington Monument. From 1975-1995 knowledge increased to 15000 inches the height of Empire State building". From 1995-, with the Internet, you can do the math yourself. To close this gap is no where in sight as can be seen from this prophecy by Daniel.

"But Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal it up so that it will not be understood until the end times, when travel and education shall be vastly increased!”- Daniel 12:4 (LB).

Someone has remarked that the Bible is not a book of information but a book of transformation.

Our task as teen and youth leaders, not only in 2022, but in the years ahead is to seek to help them gain the wisdom of God, and not just knowledge. This will demand our getting intimate with the Father.

Finally, let us consider the outcome of our efforts if we seek to raise them in the wisdom of God. This is what James 3:13-16 says;
Who in your community is understanding and wise? Let his example, which is marked by wisdom and gentleness, blaze a trail for others. 14 If your heart is one that bleeds dark streams of jealousy and selfishness, do not be so proud that you ignore your depraved state. 15 The wisdom of this world should never be mistaken for heavenly wisdom; it originates below in the earthly realms, with the demons. 16 Any place where you find jealousy and selfish ambition, you will discover chaos and evil thriving under its rule"- Voice Bible.

The question now is which of these pictures would your effort and my efforts yield in the lives of our young ones?

My prayer is that we will depend more on the Holy Spirit to bring us to the place of dwelling with him so that we will receive life and share it with them.

"This work must continue until we are all joined together in the same faith and in the same knowledge about the Son of G...
08/12/2021

"This work must continue until we are all joined together in the same faith and in the same knowledge about the Son of God. We must become like a mature person—we must grow until we become like Christ and have all his perfection"-Ephesians 4:13 (International Children's Bible).

This week we had a vision-casting visit by Nigeria Children Ministers Association (NCMA). We believe this visit underscores the necessity of being united in doing His work together. One of the ways that demonstrate our knowledge of the Son is to be willing to learn from others.

We do believe that while others may genuinely want to be open to the grace that sister ministries have received of the Lord, it sometimes come with its own challenges. But these challenges can be overcome with the proper knowledge on how to do partnership in ministry.

The subject on how we can partner with sister or other ministries will be treated extensively through our sister organization come January 2022. We trust God to equip the body of Christ through that ministry.

The link to access the presentations will be posted here on this page. Stay alert to His goodness.

Address

Suite 301, Bethel Shopping Mall, 117, Shasha Road
Lagos
100275

Opening Hours

Monday 09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 09:00 - 17:00
Thursday 09:00 - 17:00
Friday 09:00 - 17:00

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