11-23-2020 Newsletter 牧師家書

Dear Friends at 5C:

Praise the Lord for those wonderful testimonies that we heard on Sunday. All six of them, from different backgrounds and in different seasons of their lives, point us to the same God with His abundant grace. Thanks to Kurt Lo, Jackie Durham, Michael Chen, Steven Mei, Dulcie Wu and Loan Duong, for their courage to give testimonies on Sunday. The congregation is so much being encouraged by God’s faithfulness through their stories.

In spite of the pandemic, God continues to shower His grace to His children. Therefore, as the church family, we also have so much to be thankful this year. We thank God for His protection for all the families in our church during this pandemic, we thank God for our ability of meeting online every week, we thank God for brothers and sisters who have been consistently supporting the church ministry, we thank God for spiritual growth we are witnessing among our church members, all in all we thank God for His mighty work among us. May the Lord rekindle our grateful spirit in this holiday season! I Hope that each one of you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.

As you may see from the ministry update below, there is not much ministry planned for this week because of the holiday. In addition, the Pastor’s weekly newsletter may take a break during this holiday season. Since March, 2020, this has been the 37th newsletter written to the congregation. I greatly appreciate those who follow this communication week after week, since your love for this church becomes so evident. I also understand that not everyone has the luxury to read this lengthy letter each week. Nevertheless, please keep this in mind, the reason that you receive this letter is that you are a part of the church family. No matter what happens in your life, the church is always there for you. We have a group of wonderful brothers and sisters who care for people in our community. Please feel free to contact the Pastor or any church leaders if you have any needs in your life. Life is good even in the midst of the pandemic, but life could become much better when we are all together to experience God’s grace.

Thank you for your attention!  I will talk to you more in January, and wish that we will have a better year in 2021. God bless you all!

P.S. The church has mailed out ballots to all the members for the purpose of annual budget approval. If you have no reservation about this budget, please mail the ballots back as soon as possible. The church will address any questions or concerns during the ACM on Dec 13. The deadline to mail the ballots is Dec 16. If you haven’t received your ballot, please contact Pastor Chen.

Ministry Update:

  1. There is no virtual prayer meeting this Thursday.
  2. There is no Pastor Chen’s virtual office hours this week
  3. No Chinese Sunday school this Sunday and English Sunday school (Anna Ho)
  4. We will continue the sermon series, ‘Guidance of the Holy Spirit” this Sunday
  5. We have a few small groups on the move:
    1. Goodness (new sister’s group led by Bianca Lin and Hong Cao)
    2. Peace (a professional group led by Raymond Wu and Anderson Lin)
    3. Evergreen (senior caring group led by Fengling Li and Loan/Hong Duong
    4. Grace Garden (led by Catherine Li and Lucy Yao)  
  6. Our church will hold ACM on Dec 13 Sunday, please reserve your time to join us at 11:00am        
  7. Our church will hold a special program to celebrate Christmas on Dec 20

Prayer Requests:

  1. Pray for the peaceful transition and reconciliation after this divisive election
  2. Pray for the Coronavirus outbreak in the US and around the world.
  3. Pray for the physical and spiritual well-being of our church members.
  4. Pray for new small groups formed recently in our church
  5. Pray for Pastor Dale’s wife- Beverley who suffers arm fracture recently.
  6. Pray for expecting mother- Crystal Cui
  7. Pray for Samuel Lee’s epidermal inclusion cyst on his back
  8. Pray for Lydia Anderson’s resurgent brain tumor.
  9. Pray for Crystal’s uncle for kidney tumor, Annie’s sister and Anderson’s brother for Parkinson’s disease, Ed Sherman’s son Lane for brain tumor.

親愛的中岸教會朋友們:
感謝主,我們在上主日聆聽了精彩的感恩見證。他們六個人都來自不同的文化背景,有著不同的生活經歷,但都見證同一個滿有著豐富恩典的上帝。感謝羅建國弟兄、姚鳳杰姐妹、陳朦弟兄、梅玉良弟兄、王迪裕姐妹和謝嬌鸞姐妹在上主日的見證。他們見證了上帝的信實,使我們大家受到極大鼓舞。

儘管疫情肆虐,神的子女們仍然沐浴著上帝的恩典。因此,作為教會大家庭,今年我們還有很多事情要感謝。我們感謝上帝在疫情期間對教會所有家庭的保護,感謝上帝讓我們每週都可以線上聚會,感謝上帝兄弟姐妹對教會事工的支持,感謝上帝讓我們目睹了教會成員屬靈上的成長。總而言之,我們感謝上帝在我們中間所做的奇妙工作。願主在這個節日期間重燃我們的感恩之情!希望各位都能與家人和朋友度過一個愉快的感恩節假期。

從下面的事工更新中可以看到,由於感恩節假期,本週沒有太多的事工安排。此外,牧師的每週簡報也會在今年的節日期間暫停。自 2020 年 3 月起,這是寫給大家的第 37 期簡報。我對一直關注簡報的各位深表謝意,您對這個教會的愛護之心清晰可見。我也明白,並不是每個人都有充份時間每週讀這封冗長的簡報。不過,請記住,收到這封信表明您是教會家庭的一員。無論您在生活中發生什麼事,教會永遠在您身邊。我們有一群出色的弟兄姐妹,關心著我們這個團體的每個人。如果您在生活中有任何需求,請隨時與牧師或任何教會領袖聯繫。即使在疫情期間,生活依然美好。當然,若我們能夠一起體驗上帝的恩典時,生活會變得更加絢麗多彩。

感謝您的關注!我們一月份再見,希望 2021 年會更好。願上帝保佑大家!

備註,教堂已將年度預算選票郵寄給所有成員,如果您對此預算無異議,請盡快寄回選票。教會將在 12 月 13 日的年度會員大會期間答疑解惑。選票寄回截止日期為 12 月 16 日。如果您尚未收到選票,請及時與陳牧師聯繫。

事工更新:

  1. 本週四線上禱告會暫停一次。
  2. 本週五陳牧師辦公時間暫停一次
  3. 本週中文主日學暫停一次,英文主日學由周敏儀姐妹帶領。
  4. 本主日將繼續講道系列“聖靈的引導”
  5. 我們有幾個小組正在積極推進中
    1) 『良善』(由張西齡和曹紅姐妹所帶領新的姐妹小組)
    2) 『和平』(由胡其健和林恩深弟兄帶領的專業小組)
    3) 『常青』(李鳳玲姐妹和楊鴻/謝嬌鸞夫婦負責的年長關懷小組)
    4) 『恩典花園』(由李嘉玲和姚宏姐妹帶領)
  6. 教會年度會員大會將於 12/13 舉行,請大家安排好時間 11 點出席
  7. 教會將於 12 月 20 日舉行聖誕節特別崇拜

禱告事項

  1. 為此次美國分裂選舉後的和平过渡及和解
  2. 為美國及世界各地的新冠肺炎的爆發
  3. 為我們教會所有成員的身體及屬靈健康
  4. 為教會新組建的各個小組
  5. 為戴爾牧師的妻子貝弗莉祈禱,她上週摔斷了手臂
  6. 為待產的崔琳姐妹祈禱
  7. 為李碩俊后背的表皮囊肿祈禱
  8. 為馮慶芳姐妹復發性腦瘤祈禱
  9. 為崔琳二姑父祈禱;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

Comments are closed.