By Lim Chien Chong

By the time Paul completed his ministry, Timothy had become a key leader of the church in Ephesus. This role was challenging and heavy. Yet as we can infer from his epistle, Paul was very confident that Timothy, enabled by the Lord, could discharge his responsibility well.

Now, this Timothy was the same young man whom Paul met at Lystra some 15 years earlier (Acts 16). Paul then involved him in his subsequent missionary journeys. At that time, Timothy was thought to be just about 16-24 years old. Through the years, his faith, character, ministry and credibility grew leaps and bounds. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul mentioned “Timothy’s proven worth” (Philippians 2:22a)

What transpired in those 15 years that resulted in this young man’s phenomenal growth?

Timothy grew in his faith and ministry under Paul (2 Timothy 3:10-11). In his “internship training”, Timothy not only studied God’s word, he learned Christian character and virtues, the heart and ropes of ministry, the reality of suffering and the spirit of perseverance (among many other things).

In a sense, God willing, this is what we hope to achieve through Project Serve, an internship or apprenticeship for young people in transition before their next phase of life.

Like Paul’s involvement in Timothy, we too seek to initiate young people in their late teens to early twenties into the richness of the gospel and the ministry of sharing it with other young people.

Project Serve is designed for them to learn as they serve the Lord. Our prayer is that through their interaction with us, the Lord will enable them to grow in their understanding of God’s word, appreciation of the gospel, character of a godly servant as well as the heart and “know-hows” of ministry.

Pray that the Lord will raise up more Timothies (through Project Serve) who will “not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord…but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:8)