OUR STORY, HIS STORY
By Matthew Koh
MSI PRESIDENT: 2004 – 2015
I joined MSI in 1994 as medical director, and was MSI President for a decade from 2004 till 2014. At age fifty, I was burned out, had lost my joy in ministry, and I stepped down.
The 30th anniversary has given us time to look back to see things deeply, and to know as we are fully known (1 Corinthians 13).
MSI is not about a chronological timeline. Dr Taylor instructed me to read the Bible and Dr AJ Broomhall’s “China’s Open Century’. Understanding our organic story enables us to lead the organisation well. Tamy Fisk, one of MSI’s first doctors, passed away from malignant melanoma but is still well remembered in Zhaojue. Her life marks MSI’s DNA as a kernel of wheat that falls to the ground and dies. There have been many others who have joined this cloud of witnesses, including those among us who continue MSI’s work.
MSI is not about geography but about whether we have left a significant mark in the places we have served. MSI is not the NGO but the vision that God gave to our three founders, who continued on, only by His grace and mercy. We can go on counting all the unsung faithful servants throughout the generations where MSI has served the marginalised in difficult places.
It is interesting to look at life from the rear view mirror. We know where we are now, and we can see the good times and opportunities that remain for us to continue to serve chronologically, geographically, but most importantly, relationally. From the centre of the universe, where everything began, is the perfect relationship and love between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, where the Sender, the Sent and the Sending come together. David Pickard reminded me that MSI is also not just a field, but an organism comprising the sending mobilisers, the people in the field that were sent and the sending. The people we serve in China will carry the baton. So, as we listen to our own stories, we give thanks that the beautiful part of MSI’s history, which remains, is what glorifies God and enables ministry to progress. Looking back with the eyes of faith, we do wonder about some things and we do not have all the answers. Yet we can look in faith and hope, knowing that His name will be glorified.
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