An Overview of the Start of the Ecclesia Ministry. Life…Nah Nah Nah… life is life! When one tries to sit down and actually pen what course your life has taken it becomes interesting at times and at other times complicated. What is the sum of a person’s life? If we do not experience the good and the bad of life, we can never grow.
One cannot come to a place where a person can give to others what Christ has given unto us. To read the personal testimonies of both Desmond and Janet see the posts linked here. Although this post and the personal testimonies are all intertwined, this specific post is to capture our ministry road.
The Start
The couple got married in 2003 and in 2006, their ministry road started together reaching out to the community, and later in 2009, God closed the corporate doors, and the road to full-time began for Desmond and Janet. In these early years, their ministry was known as “I am Second”, but unfortunately, there were copyright issues that led to the name change.
The new name of the ministry was GAP Ministries (God in Action through People). This writing is not focused on our Theological achievements, but rather to give an overview of how all things came about in our ministry life.
The early years of ministry were marked predominantly with evangelistic outreaches, food parcels, and events to aid other less fortunate people and groups. There has always been a passion for Biblical counselling with our ministry and offering courses to help others grow. In the early years, a good foundation was laid in our ministry, and this led us to where we are today.
Note that our ministry outlook has always been this: “But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does, so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:3-4) For this reason, we do not share publicly everything we have done in our ministry. Only we need be, will we share more detail on our ministry endeavours.
Evangelising Africa
We did outreaches in Malawi, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe to name but a few African countries, and again this has influenced us and brought us and our ministry to where it is today. These were very interesting times, the different cultures and customs played a huge part in how things are done in the Biblical context.
After Swaziland in 2018, we took a break from the full-time ministry, this was the first break we had in years in the evangelical outreach field. This led to another two-year and half years of sabbatical where both desmond and Janet completed their MTH (Master Degrees in Theology) through Trinity Graduate School of Apologetics and Theology, from the Cochin University in Kochi.
Early 2021 saw the completion of the Theological studies. Throughout the study period, the one theme that was most prominent, no matter the subject, was the heartbreaking notion that the Gospel was being polluted by wrong theological interpretations and doctrines. Mostly for self-gain.
Adding to this the experiences of the African outreaches, etc. where the undiluted Word of God is hard to find, a new season awakened for us. “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
Ecclesia
Ecclesia is the Latin form of the Greek word (ekklesia) translated in the New Testament as the church, assembly or congregation. The ecclesia in the New Testament is a group of people who have been called out of the world and to God; this is the “church”. The people that have been called by God, must receive sound Biblical teachings on all that He has commanded us to do.
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God’s law, I will also forget your children.” (Hosea 4:6)
As our focus of the ministry changed from physical evangelical outreaches to a Theological teaching outreach, we changed the name of the ministry to “Rethinking Ecclesia”. People grew together to become heirs in Christ, inheriting that which Jesus bought with such a costly price on the cross.
We choose the Scripture of Ephesians 5:2 “Walk in love…” as our motto, this is because if you love someone then you want to share the Gospel and knowledge of God with them. Such a person would go to great lengths to teach them the truth.
Out Heart
The heart of the ministry is humbly giving and receiving teaching and if need be a correction for running the race with endurance, it all leads to these words. “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’” (Matthew 25:23)
Whilst this is done remember that Jesus’ ministry was not one of exclusion: “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’” (Matthew 25:45)
