5 Minutes With Tim Chester

5 Minutes with Tim Chester

Dr Tim Chester is the pastor with Grace Church Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire, a faculty member of Crosslands Training and chair of Keswick Ministries. He is the author of over 40 books including Sent: Serving God’s Mission.  He will present at the upcoming Keswick Convention in July. Ahead of the event, he chats with Norah about his writing. 

1. What inspired you to write about the importance of serving in mission?

A few years ago I was asked to serve on the literature committee of Keswick Ministries. I remember telling myself, as I went to my first meeting, ‘Whatever you do, don’t agree to write a book.’ At the time Keswick Ministries was producing a series called ‘Foundations’ and the conversation turned to who might write a book on the theme of world mission, one Keswick Ministries foundational emphases. And so it was that I was asked if I would consider it. Well, I remembered my resolution and said ‘No’. But on the train on the way home I started mapping out how I would approach it and a few days later the guts of what became Mission Matters was written. So it wasn’t so much that I chose to write the book as the book chose to written by me – which is probably another way of saying I felt compelled by God.

Mission Matters, and its companion Sent, were inspired by the same themes that I suggest should inspire us to be interested in world mission. God the Father loves the God the Son and the Son loves the Father in the bond of the Holy Spirit. Mission to the world is the overflow of this love. The Father delights to share his joy in his Son and the Son delights to share his delight in the Father through the power of the Spirit. It’s our privilege to get caught up in this joyful love. Add to this the conviction that the name of Jesus is the only name by which people can be saved and you get a powerful motivation for mission – and therefore for writing about mission.

2. How does Sent build on its predecessor, Mission Matters?

Mission Matters is the book version and Sent is a collection of group studies – discussion questions, quotes and ideas for prayer. You can read Mission Matters on its own, of course. And you can use Sent on its own as there’s an extensive set of leaders’ notes with it. But the best way to use them is for people to read the relevant chapters of Mission Matters on their own before they meet with a reading partner or their home group. And then to use the questions in Sent to discuss the content together.

3. Whose writing do you look to for inspiration?

I hate this kind of question – my usually mind goes blank and I can’t remember ever having read anything before! But one name comes immediately to mind, especially on the issue of mission, and that is John Stott. That might be because I’m currently in the middle of editing a new edition of his book The Contemporary Christian as well as writing a book entitled John Stott on the Christian Life. But Stott was probably the most biggest influence on evangelical approaches to mission in the 20th century. He certainly had a big influence on me.

4. What have you learned about yourself through serving a mission?

Planting churches is always a context in which you’re being forced to think whether your assumptions are biblical and just part of your tradition. So my theology has been refined over the years by my involvement in mission. Again and again, mission has pushed me back to the Bible for deeper, better answers.

You also quickly learn about your limitations. I guess I used to think that I could do most things (as long as you gave me a book to read on it). But I have much clearer sense now of what I can do and what I can’t do. And I no longer worry too much about what I can’t do – I leave that to other people and get on serving in areas where I’m stronger.

Above all, though, what you learn is that it’s God who must work. In the end it’s his mission, not ours. So mission teaches you to pray – not prayer as a some esoteric discipline, but the desperate cry of a child who needs their Father’s help.

5. How do you hope that the book will help others who wish to serve the cause of world mission?

One of the convictions in both Mission Matters and Sent is that world mission is a task for the local church. Mission agencies have an important role to facilitate mission, but local churches can’t leave it to them. It’s our job. It’s your job. That doesn’t mean everyone must go overseas, of course. On the one hand, most of us will serve as senders. On the other hand, mission is not something that takes ‘over there’. We all have a responsibility to be involved in sharing the message of Christ in our local neighbourhood and workplace. So I hope both books will inspire people, but also begin to equip for the task – the task of both sending and serving in mission.