Aspire

Bek Underwood is currently aspiring to overseas mission in a restricted access country.

We hear about her formative experience at YWAM Kona, moving from lukewarm to real Christianity, dropping out of her university degree, and the importance of surrender. Her story is unique to other episodes in that it is 'live’ or ‘in motion’ - just like most of our listeners.

Simon Smart is the Executive Director of the Centre for Public Christianity.

Simon told us about his unexpected journey into vocational public Christian ministry, advice for communicating the Christian faith in our current post-Christian age, and advice for people considering entering public Christian ministry like himself.

Nate Singh is the Director of Gatherings at Vine Church. He has written two songs with the band City Alight, Blessed Assurance and Shepherd. Aaron and Nate chat about Nate's journey into vocational music ministry, and advice Nate would give to those aspiring into vocational music ministry.  

Kara Hartley is the Archdeacon for Women's Ministry for the Sydney Anglican Diocese.

Although she initially thought she wanted to do ministry in Africa, she ended up to her surprise doing ministry in Sydney for 20+ years. 

James Wong is a pastor at Anchor Church Sydney.

In James story we explored:

Emma Sibley is an Assistant Youth Minister at St Paul’s Castle Hill.

Emma Sibley jumped into becoming an Assistant Youth Minister at Paul’s Castle Hill at 20 years old.

In Emma’s story we explored:

Ying Yee is the Pastor of Chinese Christian Church (CCC), Milson’s Point. He has been the pastor there for 30 years.

In Ying’s story we explored:

Podcast Timings:

Ying’s Story - (0:37-32:35)

Paddy and Aaron Reflections - (32:35-49:56)

Resilience & humility when pushing through ministry challenges - (32:35-34:30)

Avoiding unrealistic expectations about ministry - (34:32-37:35)

Navigating dating & singleness when pursuing ministry - (37:35-45:40)

Avoiding unrealistic expectations about ourselves - (45:55-49:56)

Kellie Nicholas is a cross-cultural missionary to Japan. She has spent 4 terms in Japan. She has been sent and supported by CMS (Church Missionary Society). She studied at Moore Theological College.

As we heard her story we spoke about:

Podcast Timings:

Kellie’s story: (1:15-31:25)

Paddy and Aaron reflections: (31:32-44:36)

Which missionary agency should I choose? Are missionary agencies even important? (31:32 - 36:20)

Prayer & overseas mission (36:20 - 38:50)

Can Introverts do ministry? How can we utilize the wisdom of older missionaries? (38:50-44:36)

This is the second part of our Season 1 Q & A.

Thanks for asking such great questions!

Timestamps

Is there a tendency for people to pursue a full-time vocational ministry trajectory too early? (1:23-4:21)

What would disqualify someone from pursuing full-time ministry? (4:21-7:17)

What about those who struggle with pornography? (7:25-9:41)

What if I'm scared of full-time ministry because I'm scared of being in the spotlight as a target (and potentially guilty) for allegations of some kind of moral or systemic failure? (9:43-17:35)

What are the logistical pathways to go in ministry? (17:36-19:38)

Can you speak to the differences - in both the underlying philosophy and then practical implications - of ministry as a vocation vs a 9-5 job? (19:40-22:34)

Should more people be considering part-time work, and part-time ministry? (22:35-27:50)

What do ministries mean when they are telling people to “do the ministry”? What’s the deal with this? Is this ok? (28:02-34:02)

How does the timing of aspiring in to ministry interact with major life decisions/commitments people may make around their 20s-30s (eg purchasing property, starting a family, getting married etc)? (34:03- 41:05)

How strategic should you be in deciding about how to serve? Can you “waste” your gifts? (41:08- 49:33)

How should those in ministry best be aided by “support networks” around them? (49:34-54:31)

Where is the line between unnecessary/unwise burnout and godly suffering for the kingdom in terms of working within/beyond your capacity? (54:31-59:18)

What does it mean when it says that teachers will be judged more strictly in James? (59:44-1:03:23)

In this final episode, we do a special Q and A to end Season 1.

We addressed the first half of the questions( asked in the Facebook Aspire Podcast Community Group) in this episode and will address in part 2 the rest of the questions.

Timestamps: