Miriam Chan
It is quite fitting that “Miriam Chan” is an anagram of “I am charmin'”. Her charms are many, including her charismatic smile, hilarious accents, badminton noises and mystery dinner guests. Then there's her attempts to get people to talk to the deodoriser on the dashboard of her car, and the time she got me to eat a fish eyeball. It was three short years ago that Miriam traded life in the big smoke for life in the (smaller) smoke of Wollongong but now her time with us is drawing to a close.
Born in Sydney in 1977, Miriam had the privilege of growing up in a Christian family. From a young age, she knew God loved her, but she had to be told that she wasn't saved by her parents' faith. After arguing, “I'm Chinese 'cos my parents are—doesn't salvation work in the same way?”, she was told she couldn't be “God's grandchild”. At the age of 11, after grappling with justification by faith, adoption and grace, she gave her life to Jesus.
Club 5 conferences helped her to make wise decisions concerning MTS, especially given her passion for missionary work. As well as discovering her gifts and suitability in ministry, she wanted to see how she would cope with being out of her comfort zone (“Being 10,000 km away from home isn't going to be fun if I'm not coping with being 50 km away.”) Wollongong was an obvious choice.
Some of the highlights of the last three years have been her supporters, the diversity of the staff team, opportunities to serve in new ministries, spending time with students, growing in her understanding of the Bible and revelling in relationship with God. Lowlights have included feelings of inadequacy, pride and hypocrisy, disappointment with self and seeing people fall away.
So what has she learnt about ministry? “Trusting in God's sovereign control is the wisest thing. Focus on God, not on goals. Often I've been told that ministry is about people, not structures. For me, I had to learn that structures are helpful and important too. Failure in ministry is not sin. They say, ‘If you haven't failed in ministry, then you've failed MTS.’ I'm glad I haven't ‘failed MTS’ after 3 years!!”
2005 will see Miriam starting a Master of Divinity at Sydney Missionary and Bible College. She will continue at Wollongong Baptist Church as a student minister. And in the long-term? Caring for Christians in the mountains of the Himalaya? Translating the Bible for the Amaaro in Ethiopia? Teaching the Bible in the Sahara? “I'm wanting to go overseas but I'm willing to stay. Who knows? God!”
Miriam says: “Please pray that, in all things, I'll remember that God's grace is sufficient; that all those I've met with to read the Bible would continue to love, read and obey His word; that I'll sit under God's word until the day I meet him; that I'd have non-Christian friends and flourishing new friendships next year; and that I'll overflow in thankfulness and praise while I keep growing in Christlikeness.”
Karen Beilharz
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