In 2020 when Senior Pastor Rev. Arnold Chow set down the new Five-Year Plan for the NPAC family, one of the key objectives was “To streamline and regroup in order to strengthen.” In practice in the past few years, thanks be to God that He has led the church in obvious enhancement and streamlining. These enable the ministries to proceed in better collaboration with the actual pastoral situation of pastors and leaders.

One noteworthy point is that the nurturing ministries have come under one roof of the Equip Department. In the past, nurturing (courses for new believers, Christian Education, Discipleship and Leadership Training) was conducted in different ministries and departments. This is an inevitable and natural development in the history of the church given that appropriate nurturing is closely related to the believers’ needs at various stages of faith. Nevertheless, as the ministries develop, overlapping in structure occurs, nurturing initiatives are similar, and ministries vie for manpower resources. Therefore, there is a genuine need for nurturing ministries to be integrated and regrouped to reduce administrative hurdles, enhance the coordination of meetings and facilitate execution by pastors and leaders.

Having said that, streamlining in the re-organization of ministries does not mean starting everything anew. On the contrary, it means preserving good traditions and passing them on after thorough communication, deliberation and evaluation on effectiveness. On the other hand, we need to add innovative elements to aptly respond to the spiritual needs of contemporary believers and help them tackle the challenge of drastic changes. Over the past two years, the Equip Department has enhanced Discipleship materials, simplified and improved the enrolment and operation of Sunday School, and renewed the teaching materials for new believers and related packages to better meet the nurturing and pastoral needs of believers.

Meanwhile, streamlining of ministries needs to fit into the digital world to suit the social environment at large. Take the system for enrolment and the learning platform of the Equip Department of the NPAC family as an example. From the planning, implementation, testing and promotion of the platform last year to the availability of more and more online resources now, the underlying principle and main consideration for every phase is user-friendliness. Streamlined ministries will not only be beneficial for users. It will also give co-workers more room to juggle priorities, simplify procedures, and spare manpower resources for the effective deployment of administrative resources.

In the streamlining process, pastoral staff and department leaders concerned had more pragmatic communication. An estimate was made on needs based on which various Special Duty Units were formed. They were intended to facilitate exchange of ideas and development of ministry, facilitating the flexibility and effectiveness in its scope and depth.

It is well-said in the Bible that “If it is to lead, do it diligently” (Romans 12:8). With the end of all things drawing near, the Christian community should all the more be alert and of sober mind and “use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:7-10). The above is the shared hope of the NPAC family. May the church in the new horizons in which it finds itself enhance its administrative practices, revitalize ministry effectiveness and reach for a greater depth of pastoring needs.