Dear Friends at 5C:
Chinese New Year is around the corner, but this year our celebration may look a little bit different since we are no longer able to get together in person. Church leaders are actively working on a program to celebrate the holiday during Sunday worship on Feb 14, which falls on Valentine’s Day. Please invite your family and friends to join us, who knows, perhaps you will be the lucky one to get raffle rewards. Hope that our joy in this holiday ever increases as we have put the worst of this pandemic behind us. Certainly, our joy in the Lord never fades no matter what the circumstance is.
We continued the sermon series of Galatians last Sunday. Nothing is more important than to realize the central role of the gospel in the church today. As we see the cultures evolving around us, American churches are far from ready to deal with challenges in a post-Christian world. Therefore, it is the perfect timing to go through this important book together. The challenge is how to position our church to reach out to unsaved people in SLO county, it is a good question for all of us to ponder. I look forward to the continuing study of the second part of this message on Feb 28.
Chinese Sunday school has been studying the film series, “That the World May Know” since the beginning of this year. Ray Vander Laan, an amazing Bible teacher, leads us to visit the holy land with his rich biblical knowledge as well as insightful applications to our own times. Each one who leads the study in Sunday school has watched this video multiple times. Praise the Lord that students really enjoy this journey with Ray and class discussion. Once again it is testified that the Bible is not just an old book, but the living Word of God and very much relevant to our living in this world.
Please continue to pray for those who contracted COVID-19, Lim’s family and Loan’s family in LA.
Ministry Update:
- Church prayer meeting (in Chinese) is scheduled at 7:30pm every Thursday
- Pastor Chen’s virtual office hours is scheduled at 10:00am-12:00pm every Friday
- Small group “Goodness” will meet at 7:30pm Wednesday 2/10 through Zoom
- Chinese Sunday school (Anderson Lin) and English Sunday school (Rachel Ma)
- Monthly deacons meeting is scheduled at 1:00pm Sunday 2/14
- Our church will hold a special program to celebrate Chinese New Year on 2/14
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for the Coronavirus outbreak in the US and around the world
- Pray for physical and spiritual well-being of our church members
- Pray for new small groups formed recently in our church
- Pray for those who contracted COVID-19, Lim’s family, Loan’s mother and sister
- Praise the Lord that Crystal gave birth of a baby girl-Luah last Friday
- Pray for Lydia Anderson’s resurgent brain tumor
- Pray for Annie’s sister and Anderson’s brother for Parkinson’s disease, Ed Sherman’s son Lane for brain tumor
Look forward to seeing you virtually on Sunday.
Blessings!
Jinchang
親愛的中岸教會朋友們:
年關將至,教會今年的慶祝活動,由於的疫情原因,會與往年有所不同。教會執事們正在積極策劃 2 月 14 日(本主日)的特別崇拜活動。誠摯的邀請您的家人和朋友參加,您或許會成為抽獎活動的幸運兒。希望慶祝節日所帶給我們的喜悅與日劇增,因為我們已經度過了疫情最嚴峻的時刻。當然,無論什麼樣的情形,我們在主裡的喜樂都不會減少。
上週日,我們繼續加拉太書的講道系列。沒有什麼比能意識到福音在當今教會中的核心作用更重要了。我們周圍的文化不斷演變,美國的基督教會還遠遠沒有準備好,應對後基督教時代的挑戰。因此,這是一起閱讀這本重要書籍的絕佳時機。現在所面臨的挑戰是如何讓我們的教會接觸到 SLO 縣的未得救者,這是所有人都要思考的一個問題。期待 2 月 28 日我們繼續學習這個論題的第二部分。
自年初以來,中文主日學在學習電視系列片《讓全世界都知道》。瑞·范德·朗恩實在是一位了不起的聖經老師,他以其豐富的聖經知識和對當今時代的深刻理解,帶領我們一起遊覽聖地。帶領主日學的每個人都多次觀看了該影片。感謝主,主日學中大家都很喜歡瑞的教導,以及課堂上的熱烈討論。這再次證明,聖經不僅是一本古老的書,而且是上帝活潑之道,與我們在這個世界上的生活息息相關。
請繼續為確診新冠肺炎的林家人,以及謝嬌鸞姐妹居住在洛杉磯的家人們祈禱。
事工更新:
- 中文禱告會將於每週四晚間 7 點半舉行
- 陳牧師辦公時間為每週五上午 10 點至 12 點
- 『良善』小組 2 月 10 日週三晚間 7 點半線上聚會
- 本週日的中文主日學由林恩深弟兄帶領,英文主日學由馬若曦姐妹带領
- 執事會議將於 2 月 14 日下午 1 點舉行
- 教會將於 2 月 14 日舉行春節特別崇拜
禱告事項
- 為美國及世界各地的新冠肺炎的爆發
- 為我們教會所有成員的身體及屬靈健康
- 為教會新組建的各個小組
- 為確診了新冠肺炎的林家人和謝嬌鸞姐妹的母親和妹妹祈禱
- 感謝主,崔琳姐妹上週五順利誕下女兒 Luah
- 為馮慶芳姐妹復發性腦瘤及後續的治療祈禱
- 為裴師母姐姐和林恩深弟兄的哥哥祈禱,他們正在遭受帕金森的困擾;為 Ed Sherman 的兒子 Lane 祈禱,他正在接受腦瘤治療
期待週日線上見
主僕 陳金昌