 Okay, recording is on. Welcome everybody to PC 309, class on urban church planting. Thank you for joining the class. Let's take a moment, pray together and then we will get started. Could somebody lead us in prayer, please? We will start. Yeah. Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you for this beautiful time, master. Thank you for this beautiful day, Father God. This time, Father God, we come to you, Lord, with a new heart, with a new mind, Father God. We pray that Lord Jesus, Father God, this time as you're going to learn about urban church ministry, Lord, open up our heart, open up our mind, Father God, so that we will learn the things, Father God, which you have already spoken to us, Father God. And Father God, as we are here, Father God, we ask you, Holy Spirit, to lead us and guide us to each one of us, Father God. Thank you. We submit all things this time to you, my dear. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. All right, so let's pick up from maybe pause yesterday. I'm going to go ahead and share the PDF. We started talking about personal preparation yesterday. What can we do to prepare ourselves to plant a church, a plant, or start a ministry in an urban context? And just some practical things that I want to share, and then please feel free to ask questions and, you know, any kind of discussion you'd like to have here. So we said, very important, number one is to be spiritually strong, because we are going to do a spiritual work, whether you're planting a church or you're starting a Christian ministry, spiritually you have to be stronger. As individuals, we have to be strong, get equipped, which is what has happened to all of you. You know, as you've been joining through the Bible college, you are being equipped in various areas, continue to be equipped with the Word of God. And this is an ongoing thing, a lifelong thing of being equipped in the Word of God. Be clear of your calling and vision, that what God has called you to do, you're very clear about it. So that comes from your personal side that, yes, I know God has called me to do this, or plant a church, or start a certain kind of ministry, whatever it is. Be clear of that, because there will be times when your vision will be tested, there will be times when even your own, you might, your self-question, am I called to do this, or is this the right reason? So those questions will come, but that's when you can always go back to, you know, you need to go back to something in your life that reinforces that you've been called and commissioned by God to do this, right? So be very clear that you can go back to those moments in your own personal journey with God, saying, God did call me, God did speak to me, God did guide me in doing this. Number four, we said yesterday, we must be willing to work even harder than others, as Paul explained, or stated in Christmas 1510. He said he worked harder than all the other apostles, you know, and God surely empowered him by his grace, but he had to do the work. And he said, I worked much more than all the others. And number five, he said, you know, don't be hasty, things will take their time. So pray, plan, prepare them. We need to have endurance, especially in pioneering work, you know, that endurance is important. Now, yes, you have certain stories and testimonies where people thought dramatic growth and explosive growth and all of those wonderful things that does happen. But the other side also happens where people journey over time with endurance and see the vision fulfilled. So be prepared for endurance, for a marathon rather than a sprint. And number six, where we stopped was, you know, we must be emotionally strong. There will be ups and downs, there will be challenges, there will be all kinds of things that we face. And so being emotionally strong is important. So emotionally, you've got to have the grit, you've got to be able to stand, even if you have to stand alone, you know, you're emotionally, you've got to have that strength. And of course, it comes from God, but we also have a part to play in making sure that we are strong. Let's move forward from there and just talk about other areas where we can personally prepare ourselves. One is get things in order in your personal life. I've met, seen, spoken with many ministers. And the sad story is that even though they themselves are very good, meaning they were godly men or women, they loved God, yet in their own personal lives, there were things that the enemy could use to devail them, to discourage them, and in effect, prevent them from pursuing what God had for them. You know, especially if, you know, you have a family, God may have called you and given you the vision, but your family is going to come with you, you know, you can't leave your family and go away to do the ministry or something. The family is going to be part of this journey. And so make sure that, you know, your family is strong and, you know, that they're able to journey with you alongside you to carry out, for you to carry out the vision God has put in your heart. So first of all, make sure you spend time, make sure you take care of that and keep it strong. Otherwise, the enemy will use either, you know, something in the personal life to disrupt what's going on. So that's number seven. Number eight is develop the ability to draw strength, motivation, and discipline from God. So many times, you know, you will have to stoke your own fire, meaning nobody else is going to, you know, come behind, you know, come behind you and tell you, keep doing it, keep going. So you've got to, in many ways, keep your fire burning by yourself. And of course, that fires from God, but you've got to be able to go before God, draw strength, motivation, and even discipline. So nobody's going to come and tell you, hey, you've got to get up and go to work and things like that, and you're pioneering. So that ability to keep yourself strong, keep yourself motivated, keep yourself disciplined has to be there, you know. So just take that kind of, I use the word, you know, like self motivation, the word self is not emphasizing self as glorifying yourself, but the fact that it's coming from inside you, you know, many times it has to come from within you, through your relationship with God to keep staying the cause, keep progressing in the journey. Another important skill that we should work on is to learn to relate to people well. You see, ultimately, any kind of ministry, any kind of work we do is going to involve people. It's very rare that, you know, you work in isolation and you're going to find your church, well, you have to work with people. You're going to start any kind of ministry, you have to work with people. So we need to have good people skills. You've got to be able to work with people well. You know, I'm not saying that all of us are going to be extroverts and, you know, just amazing, you know, people skills, but at least enough to love people genuinely, care for them genuinely and be able to work with different kinds of people. That is very important. So if there are things in your life which is getting you into recurring conflicts with people, then you need to address that. Otherwise, once you start the journey and you start getting into conflicts with people, that itself will derail the whole ministry, derail the whole work. So love people, care for people genuinely, don't use or abuse people, don't see them as projects and just, you know, tools to get things done. No, care for them, love them genuinely. And that's very important. Number 10, learn how to manage relationships. Where to draw the line and to say no without feeling guilty. You know, I remember once we had sent a young man out to plant a church in a certain part of our country. I went and I told him, you know, I told, I give him all the instructions, similar things that I'm sharing with you, this course, a lot of these things that, you know, this is how you go, this is how you should start the church. I even went there to his city to kind of, you know, help get things launched and all of that. So we did, we did, you know, do the best we could to, you know, help them get started. But then after some time as well, okay, what's going on? And then he told me, you know, all kinds of people were calling him to come and pray for them or come and do by the ferry for them randomly. People even from people from other churches. And he was saying yes to all of that. So he was busy, very busy, going and doing what, you know, other pastors should be doing to take care of their people. He was going and doing all of that. And he wasn't really focused on his purpose of, you know, the purpose of which he was sent there. It was to pioneer a work. So all this time was taken off into these kinds of things. And I have to tell him, you know, repeated it, no, no, you stay focused. It's all right to say no to those things because those are people who actually belong to some other church, they have their pastor, direct them back to their own pastor, you stay focused on the work that you went there to do. And sadly, he did not have that ability. You know, he did not have the ability to manage his own time, his own stuff and eventually nothing worked out. You know, it all just had to be abandoned. So the ability to say no, the ability to lovingly, kindly, you know, say no to other things, other requests or invitations and stay focused on what you're called to do is so important. And I've seen this happen, you know, multiple times in the many different cases where the downfall or the reason why things did not succeed was this very thing. They didn't know how to say no. Right? So, for example, even today, even now, no, there will be the people, organizations, ministries who will call me, you know, they'll say, can you come? Can you minister? You know, there's this big nuisance conference happening. We want you to come and speak or they're having this thing, you know, and I just politely say, sorry, I cannot come because I'm already committed. And, you know, there are so many things already that I'm already committed to that I want to do those things well, rather than just accepting all the invitations and all the things that people mean. Well, they're not bad. They're sincere. They would love to have you. But then you're also finite. You know, you have only some time and you need to say focus on what you're doing. And so you can say politely, say no, and then you can definitely find somebody else to do what whatever they did. So you should have that strength where you're able to manage these relationships with people around. You know, how to stay focused. And to say no without feeling guilty, saying no is not a sin because you're just focusing on what you're called to do. And, you know, you have limited time. You want to put that time to work well. So this skill is very important. Other skills, like we said, you know, managing your time, managing money, communication, technical skills, all of those things are also very important. Number 12, deal of sensitivity to identify opportunities for Kingdom work. You know, you should be able to get ideas from God, but from the Holy Spirit and identify opportunities, how you can carry out the work. And this, this is an ongoing thing. This is an ongoing thing of how you can do things for the Kingdom of God, because you know, the environment in which we are operating is constantly changing, right? But the political situations, the social situations, things around us are changing. And so we have to be able, you know, if a door closes, we have to be able to look for other alternative ways in which we can continue to serve, we can look at ways in which we can continue to reach people. And so that ability to identify opportunities, to think creatively, you know, and not to be described just because one door closes. If a door closes, hey, you're, you're still remain positive. It's a lot, show me other ways to reach these people. Show me other ways to get the work done, right? And God will give you opportunities. And then we need to be able to respond quickly and, and open and take advantage of those opportunities. Number 13, establish good relationships for yourself. And I said mentoring relationships or you could, we could say, you know, good relationships with people, outside of those whom you're directly serving, right? So the people that you're serving, they're looking up to you for input for so on guidance and so on so forth. So you need a different set of relationships where you're just friends, your peers, you can talk, you can discuss, you can learn from them, you can so on so forth. So have those kind of relationships that, that would be of a support and a help to you, while you're constantly giving out to the people you are serving. And lastly, number 14 is if you are working with, you know, ascending church or an organization ministry, stay aligned and accountable, you know, be honorable, respect them, honor them, because they are investing in you and through you, in the work you're doing, stay aligned and accountable. So these are some thoughts I've just put down in terms of, you know, personally preparing yourself, getting yourself ready in order to go out and start the work, pioneered church or a Christian ministry. Let me pause here to see if there are any questions, any thoughts here on this. Please feel free. Any questions on this? Louie, go ahead please. Good morning sir. Good morning everyone. Is it safe to say that one of the reasons why we are so quick to say yes to everything is, if you have what I can call the fear of man, sometimes it comes from wanting to be accepted or sometimes just give beauty for things, for thing no. So is it just something that is more of the person than just, they will respond in, I don't know. So you're saying the reason we end up saying yes, is maybe because of the fear or the respect of man to the person calling. Is that what you're saying, Louie? Yes sir. I'm talking from a personal experience. I know just because I want everybody to be not necessarily happy, but to know that they don't have an excuse to do what they want to. I try to go all the way for every person, but I'm not trying to realize that I was being such a huge other person, you know, so I have to go to the root of the issue and what I found that from crypto was something called when you have the fear of man, you just can, both old and young, you just want to, you know, at the point to get extended and you can never achieve the things that you will say to yourself, because you are more, you know, how would they feel? I hope they don't get hurt. I hope, you know, those kind of dynamics, especially now if someone in authority, you kind of, there's the things that you kind of stand your ground, your convictions are shifting ground every time, because you're feeling like, oh, you know, those kind of dynamics. So that's why I'm kind of asking because it sometimes feels good to say, okay, you are needed or you just feel like you can count on you or on the flip side, there might be a negative side to it. So that's why I'm kind of asking the question, but also from my own experience, it's just that, you know, you have to push through it to draw the line, because sometimes it can make you shift your convictions in different areas of your life, because why you want to go off the box just to please that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I understand that. So, you know, especially, you know, when we are starting out and the people over us and what's older to us, senior to us, when they ask us, we feel obligated to say yes, and it comes out of that desire. I mean, one is it could come out of that fear of man or the desire just to please man, but I think we need to develop that strength where we realize it's not a sin. It's okay to say, please excuse me. You know, how we communicate, of course, is very important. So, you know, we can just politely excuse ourselves. And those kind of invitations come from all kinds of, you know, things like, I mean, one is sometimes even congregation people will want you to come, you know, come out on birthdays. I mean, weddings were birthdays and other things. So you just say, you know, I would love to be there, but, you know, I'm sorry, cannot please excuse me. You know, so very politely we excuse ourselves simply because we understand the limitation. We all have only so much time and we need to focus on things that are very important for us and not just spread ourselves out then saying yes to everyone. So that developing that strength is very important. Also, the ability to communicate or know in a kind way, you know, is important. So, Trikamar, your question, please. Thank you, sir. Sir, my question is regarding to self-motivation. Many times, you know, when we know that, yeah, this is the plan of God. And sometimes after a lot of prayer, when we are not seeing any result on that particular thing, so, you know, especially we get confused that whether this is from this decision what we took regarding to the ministries from God or not. So in that case, how we should, you know, how we should able to take the right decision or how we could able to encourage ourselves when we are not knowing that whether this is the right thing or not and when we are not seeing any result on that particular thing. Thank you, sir. That's my question. Yeah. So, Trikamar, I would, I would say, you know, I would respond to your question like this. One is in such a situation that you described, take time to go out and pray. So there have been times, you know, that I would, and this is something I do, let's say, regularly say, you know, on a weekly basis or sometimes there have been, you know, certain occasions when I really needed to do it, just to keep a day aside to pray. Right. So it's okay, God, you know, I'm coming to you. I'm just going to pray. And the first thing is to go back to the original vision, you know, so go back to what was the vision that God gave you, God gave, when we started out. So that's the original vision. We need to say true to the original vision. What was the original call? What was the original vision? So go back to take time to refresh, to renew, to just remind yourself of the original vision. Second, the real issue is, okay, you've started on the original vision, you're staying through to the original vision, but now the issue is, we are not saying outcome. We are not saying fruit. So then there are two things that I would pray about. One is about, do I need to refine how I'm going about the vision? So the vision is right, because what God called us to do is right. But maybe how I'm going about carrying out the vision may need to change, may need to be refined. And that's something we need to constantly be listening to God for at all times. So that's the second thing to pray about. Lord, I'm staying through to the original vision. I know there's no doubt that you call me to do this. I know there's no doubt this is what you've sent me to do. But am I going about it correctly? What are the changes I need to make? Because the vision can be right, but if how I'm carrying it out is not right, then I won't be able to, I won't be seeing the outcome, so the results, so the fruit that I'm supposed to see. So God, what are the things I need to change? What are the things I need to do differently? And the third thing that we also need to pray about is, is it a matter of time? Right? Remember that fruit is always born in its season, right? Psalm 1 verse 3 says, he will bring forth his fruit in its season. So fruit is always born in its season. So the question is, do I need to continue this? Is it a matter of timing? If the vision is right, what I'm doing is right, the only thing is I need to wait for the season of fruits, right? Timing. So pray about that. God, do I just stay the course because the season has to come for to see the fruits, right? You've sown, you've sown, you've watered, the time for increase is about to come. God gives the increase, the time of increase is about to come. Do I just need to stay the course? Is it a matter of timing? So three things, right? Go back to the vision. Am I true to the vision? Is that what God called me to do, refresh and renew the vision? The second is about the way in which you're going about it. Do I need to keep adapting? Do I need to keep changing? The third is, is it a matter of timing? Now, what I would say is don't be afraid to make changes in the way you're going about the vision. Many times I find this number two is the key. If you're not seeing fruit, many times it's not a problem with the vision. It's a problem with how we are going about carrying out the vision, many times. So we are doing seven things which are no longer being productive or no longer being effective. And so we need you to find this, right? And then it will bring us into that season of fruit bearing. So my personal thing would be always to look at, am I doing the right thing? What are the things I need to change? Understand and then stay the course. I hope that helps. If you have follow questions, you're welcome to ask. Thank you, sir. No, it is clear. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions on this, on personal preparation, how to just get ourselves ready, be prepared in order to step out and start the work, start a ministry. Any other questions? Okay, go ahead. Shall we come on? Yeah, thank you, sir. I just want to know that as I was saying about many times that fear comes to take the bold steps. So how to overcome that fear? That's my question. Thank you, sir. Okay. The question is, how do we overcome the fear in order to take a bold step? Now, there are two things I would say here. One is, of course, to be fully convinced about the vision. Now, the thing is this, a vision is still just conceptual, right? It's still something in your heart and mind. It's still something maybe on paper. It's not reality yet. And we are stepping out on something yet to be fulfilled, yet to be accomplished. So the only thing we can do at that point is be sure of it. That means God wants me to do this. God has called me to do this. So that's one thing. It's to come to a place that you know God has called you and God has graced you to do this. One of the key things that help in coming to that place of conviction of knowing that God has called you to do this is your prior journey and what has happened before that? So I would always encourage, you know, do, you know, prepare yourself and start working, doing things that are demonstrating that this is the call of God and this is a gift of God on your life. It's like, you know, we always look at David in Goliath, David's life, you know, that before he went to kill Goliath, he had killed the lion and the bear. So because he had killed the lion and the bear, he could take up, take up those bold steps of going to face Goliath. When he killed the lion and the bear, it was only his life that was addressed and maybe the sheep and the sheep that he was preserving or tending for. When he went to face Goliath, it was not only his life, but the entire nation was at stake because if he lost, all of Israel would become slaves to the Philistine. So there was huge risk. But what gave him the courage to go face Goliath? Well, the fact that he had killed the lion and the bear and knowing that the same God who had to kill the lion and the bear is going to be with him to kill Goliath. So that's one way to really make your calling and election sure is by doing things before that. You know, maybe you work with somebody, you work under a ministry, you get trained under, you know, whatever, somebody, you work alongside people. So that really builds up and you discover your calling, you understand your calling, you're doing these, basically you're killing the lion and the bear and you come to this place where now you can fully step out to launch a church or a ministry knowing that you have proved your calling. You know God has called you, you know that is the grace that's on your life. So now when you step out, you're going to succeed because you know, you're convinced of the vision that you've proved the call and the gift that is required to fulfill that vision. That's the first thing that I would say. And secondly, I would always encourage that you step out, not an unbelief, but you're stepping out in faith, but you're doing it in a safe manner. You're doing it in a safe manner. That means you have thought it out so that, you know, you can grow in that vision and call it, you know. So maybe you say, okay, you know, I will, I will plan the child's work and I will plan the church. And then once the church grows, then I will transition into full time. So especially if you have a family with you, you're responsible for your family and children and so on. So you know, you want to keep providing for your family while you are beginning this work. So, you know, you're going about it in a very safe way in a wise way. So that, I would encourage that is, it's not an act of unbelief, but it's a final look. I'm going to start this doing this in a way that I'm responsible for the people I need to care for. They are not going to be impacted or suffer as I begin this journey to plan the church or so. These are two things I would encourage. One is to be really convinced about the call of the vision by proving it prior. And secondly, step out in a very wise way so that people are responsible for care for as you make this journey. Is that okay? Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I see Kennedy's question. How do you handle burnout, discouragement on yourself as a pastor when things are not working? Two things here is one is, you know, just that time with God. We need to be able to go back into the secret place. I'm just speaking from my personal stuff. I mean, other people may have other ways to do this. But for me, what really helps is just going back, spending a lot of time alone with God. So anytime I feel tired, I feel burnt out or I feel discouraged. For me, my best thing is just go spend time with God. You know, so I just spend the day or spend hours just, you know, prayer, just being with God alone. That's for me personally the best place where I can come out encouraged, come out, just survive. So having that time alone with God is very, very important for me. If I don't have that, it's very easy to be discouraged, very easy to feel tired and wanting to give up. So for me, that really helps. Just stop everything, spend the day with God and just go pray. The second thing is to refresh yourself. Sometimes the reason we feel discouraged or burnt out is obviously because we have overworked. We are just so, we are overworking ourselves. So basically, you just need to rest. And that's something you must learn to do. You know, even in Mark chapter 6, I think it's verse 33 to 35, you know, Jesus saw, there were so many people coming and going and he tells his disciples, come aside and rest awhile. Those are beautiful words from the Mark on the lips of Jesus. He tells his disciples, come aside and rest awhile because there were so many coming and going. So he himself realized, I need to take these disciples out separately, let them rest. And that's something we all need to do is just physically, mentally, emotionally rest. So don't look at rest as a bad thing. Look at rest as a very positive thing. First of all, God instituted rest. You are doing a godly thing when you're resting. Secondly, you are being a blessing to yourself and to the people you serve when you rest. Because when you rest, you can come back refreshed to serve the people better. So just take time to rest. You know, get away from doing ministry and get away from all the work of the ministry and just rest. Do something that refreshes you. So these are two things. One is just, you know, in order to overcome this collegement, just go, be in the presence of God, be in a secret place. In order to overcome burnout, just go and rest, rest yourself. Those are simple things. But okay, Kennedy. Okay. So these are not very spiritual answers, but just practical things that I find very important, very useful. Okay. Good. All right. Any other questions before we go ahead? All right, let's get into the next section. We just get started. So we talked about personal preparation and how you can prepare yourself. Finally, what must you do? Making the journey. Direct to launch, do things. Here are some, just again, some practical thoughts. So one is step out, get on the ground, get started. You know, that means, you know, usually tell our Bible college students, you know, hey, as soon as you're done studying, in your 30s, you start planning. What are you going to do after you graduate? What kind of ministry are you going to do? You know, don't wait till you graduate, after you graduate, to start thinking about it. Start thinking about it now, start planning, preparing, praying about what am I going to do after I graduate? Start doing it now. Start writing down, you know, whatever God is speaking to your heart, whatever thoughts come, read it out. And once you're done, and you're ready to, you know, get started, go ahead, start. Don't stay in that place of, okay, I will start next year. I will start two years from now, things like that, because usually what happens is when you postpone something, it's very easy to get distracted, or it's very easy to lose sight of the vision. So I would always encourage people, you know, get on there and get started. Don't, you do the best preparation you can, but at some point you've got to just get started. So having done the preparation, having done whatever you can, now when you step out, get started. The next thing is to establish commitment to your call. That means you're saying, I am committed to this, what God has called me. And that's usually, you know, the first two years of what you're doing, you're saying, I know God's called me to do this, I'm going to do it, I'm going to stay with it. Right. So you're not half-hearted in it, you're not one leg in it, both legs in it, full heart in it, you're committed to it. So it's very difficult if you just got one foot there, one foot from where else, you know, it's very difficult. So establish commitment. And then I repeated this earlier saying again, as you make the journey, stay focused and avoid distraction, avoid distraction. So distractions can come in many different ways and forms. And you just have to say, no, you know, you always ask the question, is this helping me move forward in the call of God and what God has sent me to do. If it's not helping me, I need to say no to it. I need to stay focused so that I can make this journey. Number four, don't quit until God says your work is done. Just so be tenacious. Now if God tells you your season's up, your time is up, okay. But otherwise, they're going to stay on the journey. You're going to stay at it. Be persistent, be resilient, don't quit. And number five, if for a season, you're bivocational, that means, you know, maybe you're working a job as well as planting a church, which is nothing wrong with that. We see the apostle Paul doing that, at least in three or four cities that he went to. He was bivocational. He was an apostle as well as a tent maker. He did that. And that's fine. So if for a season you're doing that, it just means that you've got to watch over your time that much more because you've got extra work to do, right? You're not only planting the church, but you're also doing a job. You're doing something. You have to, you know, balance things carefully. Just watch over things very carefully so that spiritually you're fine, your family is fine, work life is fine. So watch over things very carefully. As you're making the journey, keep on learning. You know, keep revising, keep, you know, adapting. So ask questions, keep learning, keep adjusting. You know, because like we said earlier, things around us are always changing, constantly changing. So keep learning, you know, keep refining what you're doing in response to the changing environment. Number seven, nurture and protect what God has birthed. Avoid wrong alliances and also eliminate things that are destructive sometimes. So let's explain this. Avoid wrong alliances. Sometimes people may come along and they may, you know, seemingly be aligned to what you are doing. But does that alliance or partnership or reliance or association help in what you've been called to do? Right. So you've got to be able to recognize, you know, these are partnerships I can work with. These are partnerships I should avoid. Examples, you know, when early when we started this, I'm going back in time to about maybe 2003, 2004. Couple of things, couple of examples. One is, you know, we had one of our people, they visited a big church in the United States. And again, there's nothing wrong with this. I'm just giving you an example as a personal example. And, you know, they said they were willing to put money into the ministry we were doing. And they wanted to do certain things in Bangalore, in our city. Then I thought about it and I said, okay, I had to be careful of this alliance. I just say, if you want to do something in Bangalore, you're most welcome. But here are our conditions. Basically, the conditions were all to protect the church, the ministry. I didn't want the ministry to be taken over by another overseas ministry. I didn't want that. No, we're here. We've given our life for this. We're going to serve here, you know, in that sense. So if they want to put money, money, you know, that's up to them. We didn't ask for it. They want to do something in Bangalore. It's fine. But here's where the lines are drawn. If they don't agree to this, we will not be working with them. So I was very, I had to be very careful. And like this, you know, there were at least two other examples. Again, these were very big churches, two other big churches from the US. I mean, well established ministers came along. One, they were looking for people who would become part of, you know, the program that they were trying to promote globally. I sat down, listened to them. Then same response. Sorry, this is what we are called to do. You know, I cannot, I've got to protect what God is calling us to do. Cannot build that association or reliance. Again, another time, there was another big church and ministry. So I can think of at least three different paying churches from the US who wanted to do things in Bangalore. People came and met, we had discussions. But then, you know, all the three, you know, you have to protect what I felt I had to protect what God has called us to do. Nothing wrong with what they want to do. But there is no alliance here. There's no something that we could build here. And the fact is, over time, all three of them, you know, did not do anything in Bangalore. They didn't set up. They just left. So you've got to be careful. You need to understand, you know, what does God call it to? Don't get into wrong alliances, and that can just become big problems for the work that God's called you to do. Also, you've got to be careful about other theology practices, ideas, you know, in the Christian world, there are all kinds of ideas, theologies, practices that people are doing. Don't get carried away by that. Stay true to what God has called you to do. These winds of doctrine, these ideas, these things will come and go. Don't, you know, just stay with the core. You know, I can think of so many things that in the last 20 years, that, you know, my teachings and things that, you know, that have come and gone, winds of doctrine that have come and gone. And I've had to think about, hey, what is that happening? You know, because people, that means people in the congregation, sometimes people around get caught up with all of these fads, you know, they call them Christian fads, these new ideas or new theology or new practices. And I have to consciously think, what is that? Is it something you need to subscribe to? Is it something we need to preach and teach? No, just avoid it, stay with the core. And sure enough, over time, those things just die out. Those teachings just die out. Whereas what is the core? They endure through time. So be careful. Don't get dragged into wrong alliances and don't get dragged into, you know, wrong ideas, theology, and go off on a tangent. Be careful about that. And maybe last few things that I'll close here. Be a steward, not an owner. That means, even though God may use you to start the ministry, remember you don't own it. It belongs to God and welcome other people to come in and be a part of what's happening, because we are going to do it together and we need each other. Number nine, take care of yourself. You're a blessing when you take care of yourself. So like I said, take time to rest, take time to refresh yourself, you know, don't look at it as a negative thing. You'll be a blessing to others if you take care of yourself. So plan for future generations. Always plan. Whatever work you start, it should continue. So raise up other generations, you know, people who are 10 years younger to you, 20 years younger to you, raise them up so that the work can continue. And at the right time, hand things over to the next generation, right, so that the work can continue. Let me pause here. Any questions on what we've just shared here on making a journey? Any thoughts, any questions? Okay, so we're almost to the end of the course. Next week, I'll just share some additional thoughts as we look forward, you know, look ahead into the changing trends, especially in urban centers. So that's something we need to keep thinking about, you know, okay, maybe five years back, things will, in one kind of a dynamic, but as we look ahead into the future, what can we see changing, especially in relation to urban centers in the direction things are going. And so we need to, in some sense, future proof what we do, that is we should be prepared for the future before the future comes to us. So we kind of consider those kinds of things next week. Could somebody pray with us and close? And then we will dismiss. Anybody could lead us in prayer. Okay, I will pray. Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead. First of all, before we start, I just want to say thank you so much for the wisdom and for time and setting up this school. You really helped us. Thank you. Thank you very much. Let's pray. Father, we are reaching the end of this course, Lord. You have given us wisdom. You have given us knowledge, Lord, to prepare for the future, Lord, for the ministry you've called us, Lord, for some to be traveling, for others will be in the log churches, and others will be just to support churches, Lord. We pray for that to you. You will be with us, Lord. You, for your Holy Spirit and us, Lord, so that we work in line with your calling and in line with your will, Lord. Say thank you, Jesus. Say thank you, Father. Let your glory be glorified. As we carry your duty, as we carry your name forward, in your mighty name, Father, we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Maggie. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for being on the class. We will connect again next week and look into the future. Have a good rest of the day. Bye now. Thank you, Pastor. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.