Dear Brethren,
More than 10 years ago, at the HQ of Precept Ministries, USA, on the platform sharing about Precept Singapore, God spoke through me prophetically when I said that “I was the bottleneck for Precept and as soon as I’m removed, Precept can grow”. As events developed, and as I grew spiritually and my gifting developed more on lines of teaching rather than leading or facilitating a discussion on the Word, the differences in the ministry of Precept and myself became manifest.
The reason that it has taken 17 years before God fully brought about the birth of a new ministry, is partly because our God cares for ALL who are involved in the matter and He always brings proper closure to everything in its proper time. But the fact that He is leading and guiding all the way is very evident to me and I hope, as I explain, it will be to you as well.
God had to grow me first and He did that as I learnt the skills of Inductive Bible Study under two wonderful godly women, Kay Arthur and Betsy Bird. My thanks to God for their input in this beginning stage of my ministry which lasted about 10 years. Then He brought more godly people (too numerous to name) to help me grow in the faith and in the knowledge of His Word.
I have always known that I was a “caretaker” of Precept Singapore and even from the start, we have been praying for an administrator to take over the ministry of Precept Singapore. It was not until God brought Stephen Lim a few years ago that He could safely transfer the ministry to him, something that was accomplished in January 2003 when I officially resigned from Precept
I only discovered that I enjoyed writing workbooks on the Bible because God ordained circumstances to bring this about. Since then, I’ve “authored” (some with the help of my students), more than 10 workbooks over this year and a half, and am still in the process of writing 2-3 more workbooks. This can only be possible with the help of the Lord and the help of various people He brings to my aid. Here again is evidence of God confirming what it was that He has for me to do.
Once books were written, they were sold through 2Tim2-2.com which was registered on November 28, 2002. “Entrusting the Word to the Faithful” became our motto.
To achieve this purpose, we conduct teaching classes based on Bible books with an emphasis on the original languages and has worked into them the inductive study principles of letting the Word of God speak for itself.
Training Seminars and Trainers’ Seminars are organized from time to time to train people to dig into the Word for themselves and to train others to do likewise. An upcoming training workshop is planned for November with Dr Jeffrey Loh and I as trainers. We also held a Trainers’ Seminar on the book of Obadiah on August 9th with 29 attendees. May God raise up more teachers and trainers to teach the Word of God!
We believe in equipping the saints and so it is immaterial whether they use 2 Tim 2-2 materials or other Bible Study materials, as long as God’s Word is taught in such a way that people will reverence the Lord.
God has also brought to me a core group of young professionals who have the same heart for Him and His Word but with different gifts to help in this ministry, and thus the Timothian Times was birthed in August 2004 with the first edition of our newsletter which came out in September this year.
Another aim is to help, in whatever ways possible, other ministries who uphold and submit to the authority of Scripture and the Lord Jesus Christ. As such, on Moriel’s request, the Jacob Prasch teaching conference was organized in July 2004 and another teaching conference by Rev. David Royle from 30th – 31st October 2004.
From the Scriptures we know that there are prophecies that the church has to fulfill in these last days.
Which ones?
The ones that predict a great end-time harvest for example (see Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10; Revelation 7:9-17). Thus preparation for the people of God in respect to this area is part of our ministry. Spiritually, we offer classes that meet this need of preaching the gospel as well as training people how to follow up new believers. Practically, in the light of the recent disasters that have plagued our world, we want to dialogue concerning this area and come up with practical plans as well.
As you can see, the ministry is varied and help from any willing believer is sought. The only criterion is that you love the Lord and you submit to and obey His Word.
Cecilia Perh (Nov 2004)