By Lay Leng
To the glory of God, the message of Archippus Awakening was declared over three zoom sessions attended by youth and children’s ministry leaders and helpers at Bethesda Bedok-Tampines Church (BBTC) on 15, 16 and 18 December 2021. It was a kingdom partnership only God could bring about.
Team Archippus had been praying up the AAA (An Archippus Awakening) Webinar. The name Archippus is made up of two Greek words, ‘archos’ which means ‘chief’ and ‘hippos’ which means horse. Put archos and hippos together and we get ‘chief horse’ or ‘master of horses’. We prayed, believing that freshly commissioned Archippuses – warhorses that will be made ready for battle in these end times – will be sent out from BBTC to reach saints beyond.
That is the very heart’s desire of Joseph who is the pastor overseeing the children’s church at BBTC. At Tung Ling Bible School, Joseph received the Archippus Awakening message by Henson when he taught on “Knowing and Fulfilling Kingdom Assignments”.
In his Archippian story which he shared during the third session, Joseph confessed that over the years as a Christian, being a part of body-life, he has been serving in the local church in one capacity or another. When he was serving in the children’s church as a teacher, he had the feeling that there must be more that he must do. As the feeling grew stronger and stronger, the opportunity came to serve God as a pastor in BBTC children’s church.
So when he first encountered the message of Archippus Awakening, “it finally clicked in!” This is his kingdom assignment! Joseph began to recognise that he is Archippus, almost anonymous but known to God by name, so He has a kingdom assignment for him! He has been searching all this while for his kingdom assignment!
An awakened Joseph began to move on his current assignment with much zeal, focus and determination. As he also learned to align more and more with God’s kingdom purposes, he desired more and more to see his fellow soldiers being awakened too. Hence, he extended an invitation to Henson to declare this eleventh-hour message at BBTC.
Henson had actually been invited to speak at BBTC church camp in June 2020. COVID19 disrupted that opportunity. Then again, pandemic or not, God has His appointed time and His kingdom advances!
One participant shared his feedback after learning who Archippus is and the four traits of an Archippus, “…that was an impactful session. The message was simple and clear and (it) sinks in…”
One of the traits of an awakened, aligned and assigned Archippus is the ability to discern assignments over activities. This trait especially impacted Wen Hao, who testified that God sent him an Archippus, Gordon from BBTC, when he was in a season of searching and aligning to the faith that he professes.
He shared, “I had also decided that alignment is important because I was getting busier and busier, and activities were piling up. God began to teach me that I must choose assignments over activities. I may do ten things but I may miss the one thing God asked me to do. As more and more things keep coming, I’m learning to say no to activities and keep checking in with the Lord what He wants me to say yes to.”
Thank God for an awakened Archippus who awakens another.
Another awakened Archippus is Karen who has been attending BBTC for 13 years. Karen was born and grew up in Hong Kong. She is married to a Singaporean husband and has been staying in Singapore. Through the teachings at the AAA webinar, she was reminded that kingdom assignment does not start with her, it starts with God.
She shared, “It is not about me, my abilities and my assignment. It is all about Him and what He wants to accomplish through me. It is a shift of perspective from me-focus to GOD-focus. It is a continuous learning of submitting my will, my ways, and my being to Him. It is not easy, and I am still working in progress by the grace of God and His power. I thank the Lord for highlighting this misalignment so that I can align with Him.”
She summed up well that it all begins with ‘An Archippus Awakening” but does not stop there, “Overall speaking, Archippus Awakening is a wake-up call to me. But it does not stop there. Indeed, it is just the beginning. After I have attended the same webinar like this, I have entered into a next phase which is an Alignment Check process. In short, it is a practical learning which helps Archippuses move the right direction of fulfilling kingdom assignment. It is another awakening for me!”