The Life and Ministry of T. Austin Sparks(2)

In his sharing, Hoseah Wu mentioned a book about the life and ministry of T Austin-Sparks. The book is named Shaped By Vision which means that Brother Sparks was a man shaped by vision.

Hoseah Wu began with the family background of Brother Sparks. Brother Sparks met the Lord in his youth. Right after his conversion, he was zealous for preaching the gospel and pursuit of the Lord. Then, he showed a gift of preaching and became a pastor of a church. He also became a coworker of G. Campbell Morgan and Mrs. Jessie Penn-Lewis.

When he was the pastor of Honor Oak Baptist Church in Britain, God enlightened him and he saw the eternal purpose of God. Once he saw that, the direction of his life and ministry changed greatly. Seeing the light of truth, he could no longer serve in Baptist Church. He quited his pastorate and met at the other place on the same road. The new meeting place was named Honor Oak Christian Fellowship Centre and he started an influential global ministry both orally and literally. They published a free periodical called A Witness and A Testimony and Brother Sparks was the editor. Most of the messages in this periodical were delivered by Brother Sparks.

Hoseah Wu also shared about the influence of the ministry of T Austin-Sparks to the saints in USA and how he was invited to speak in the conferences in the States in the sixties of last century. The coworkers with T A Sparks in the conferences include Stephen Kaung and DeVern Fromke. There are many messages of T A Sparks, including those delivered in USA, available for free downloading at the website of Christian Testimony Ministry (http://www.christiantapeministry.com/).

Frank Viola, an influential brother in the house church movement in the States, is the author of the books Rethinking the Wineskin, Pagan Christianity, Reimagining Church, From Eternity to Here, Finding Organic Church, etc. He uses the term “organic church”, as contrast to organizational church or institutional church, to describe the church life out of the life received from God. As he said in his blog, he adopted this term with the insight from the ministry of T A Sparks. He said the ministry of T A Sparks had the greatest influence on his life and ministry. It is reported that about 9% of christians in the States are now meeting at homes, learning to lead an organic church life or a simple church life.

From the biography of Brother Bakht Singh, Bakht Singh of India, we know that the ministry of T A Sparks also helped Bakht Singh very much, especailly on the revealation about the church. Among the coworkers of Bakht Singh, some of them was sent by Honor Oak Christian Fellowship Centre, including Fred Flack and Raymond Golsworthy. Lady Daisy Ogle, who supported T A Sparks' ministry, also supported Bakht Singh's ministry.

Related posts:
The Life and Ministry of T. Austin Sparks
The Life and Ministry of T. Austin Sparks(3)