Dear Friends at 5C:
What a week! It looks like a drama as things unfold rapidly with this aggressive spread of Coronavirus. Praise the Lord that we had a live stream service on Sunday, not from the church as we originally planned, but from our homes. California becomes the first state to issue stay-at-home order on Thursday, the church scrambles to find a solution in two days in order to have Sunday live stream in a new situation. Thanks to our leaders who work diligently over the weekend, especially Raymond who has been actively inviting people to join Zoom. Considering that we have many seniors in our church, this is a daunting job for anyone to take. Praise the Lord that we had 54 people join live stream on Sunday. In addition, we have successfully hold a prayer meeting and Pastor Chen’s virtual office hours on Friday, two Sunday school classes and Worship service on Sunday. Behind all of these, our devoted team spent many hours to test the system on Thursday and Saturday, hope that we are able to continue to improve the quality of live stream in coming weeks.
This past Sunday Pastor decides to continue Sunday messages in dealing with current situation. The sermon, “Be Careful of Another Virus”, responds to the rising discrimination against Asian community due to Coronavirus outbreak. Hope that our members exercise spiritual discernment during a recent controversy of “Chinese Virus”. For this coming Sunday, we will continue to talk about current issues, answering the question, “Does God use this Coronavirus to punish humans?” During a pandemic crisis in the world, no doubt the church has to answer a question like this. We trust that God will watch over His people, so our prayer is that no one in our church will be infected.
Ministry Update:
- Annie Shi-Mu and Anderson take initiatives to hold prayer meetings online at 7:30pm Monday and Thursday. Please feel free to join each of sessions
- Pastor Chen’s virtual office hours, 10:00am-12:00pm every Wednesday and Friday. Anyone is welcome to join and chat.
- Brother Raymond is willing to help anyone who wants to join our Zoom meetings. Please invite your friends and neighbors to join church worship on Sunday.
- Chinese Sunday school continues on the Book of Isaiah (Anderson Lin) and English Sunday school begins their study on the Book of Romans (Anna Ho)
- Pastor Chen continue Sunday message on Coronavirus outbreak on 3/29.
- We plan to have a virtual Good Friday service (4/10) and Easter Service (4/12).
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for Coronavirus outbreak in US and around the world.
- Pray for physical and spiritual well-being of our church members.
- Pray for church leadership handling the transition of on-going ministry.
- Pray for God’s provision for those families affected by the slowing-down of business.
- Pray for God’s protection for those who have to work outside home.
Stay home and stay safe. Look forward to seeing you virtually on Sunday 3/29.
Blessings!
Jinchang
親愛的5C的朋友們，
新冠病毒的兇猛傳播，整個事件戲劇般快速發展，以致上週日我們 未能按最初的計劃在教堂在線直播。週四，加州第一個發佈居家令，教會 也不得不爭分奪秒地在兩天內找到了解決的方案，以便在週日仍然可以舉 行主日崇拜。感謝主，我們都順利在家裡參加在線崇拜。
感謝那些在週末為此辛勤工作的同工，特別是一直積極邀請人們加入 Zoom 的胡其健弟兄。考慮到我們教會有許多年長者，對於任何人來說 這都是一項艱巨的工作。上週日我們有 54 人參加了在線直播。另外，我 們在週五也成功舉行了禱告會、以及陳牧師的在線辦公、還有星期天的兩 個主日學班和主日崇拜。在所有這些的背後，是我們敬業的團隊在週四和 週六花費了大量時間預備﹐並對系統進行了測試，希望在未來幾周我們能 夠繼續提高直播質量。
上週日，牧師決定繼續主日信息以應對當前的情況。講道“小心病 毒” 針對由於新冠病毒爆發，而引起的對亞裔社區日益嚴重歧視問題的回 應。希望我們的會眾在最近這場“中國病毒” 的爭議中，具備屬靈的分辨 能力。對即將到來的週日，我們將繼續談論當前問題，並嘗試回答：“上 帝使用這種冠狀病毒來懲罰人類嗎？”在世界範圍瘟疫流行的危機之中， 毫無疑問，教會必須要回答這樣的問題。我們堅信上帝會看顧祂的子民， 所以我們祈禱，在這次疫情當中，我們教會中沒有人會被感染。
事工更新
- 裴師母和林恩深弟兄提議在週一和週四晚上 7:30 在網上舉行禱告 會，歡迎隨時參加。
- 陳牧師的在線辦公時間為每週三和週五的 10:00 am-12:00pm。歡 迎加入並線上聊天。
- 胡其健弟兄願意幫助任何想參加教會 Zoom 會議的人。請邀請您的 朋友和鄰居週日參加教會的在線崇拜。
- 中文的主日學繼續講解以賽亞書（林恩深弟兄），英文的主日學開 始進行學習羅馬書（周敏儀姐妹）。
- 陳牧師 3/29 週日的講壇信息將繼續關於新冠病毒的相關話題。
- 教會計劃提供在線的耶穌受難日崇拜（4/10）和復活節崇拜 （4/12）。
禱告需求
- 為美國及世界各地的新冠病毒爆發
- 為我們教會所有成員的身體及屬靈健康
- 為教會領袖處理正在进行的事工过渡
- 為因業務放緩所收影響的家庭祈禱上帝的安排
- 為那些必須在外工作的人們祈禱上帝的保護
請各位待在家中，确保安全。3月29日週日我們線上見。
主僕，陳金昌