Dear Friends at 5C:
Happy New Year! Finally we put the year of 2020 behind us, but the pandemic is still raging around our neighborhood. As we are waiting for the vaccines to be available, please continue to take precaution when running for errands or meeting with other people outside your own household. Praise the Lord that two vaccines were successfully developed in such a short period of time. More amazingly, both of them are proved to have a high efficacy against the virus. It seems that the end of this pandemic is in sight. Hopefully we may return to church sometime this year.
During this holiday season, there were still many good things happening in our church. A wonderful ACM was held on December 13, followed by a beautiful Christmas celebration on the next Sunday. It is a meaningful spiritual practice that we pay attention to every little thing in our lives and give thanks to our God and Creator. Therefore, we praise the Lord that the church members approved the 2021 budget unanimously. Moreover, the sacrificial contribution to the church during the pandemic speaks a great volume how much your love means to this church. Some of our members have been working with SLONaz church to provide food for needy families during the holiday season. I thank God for many members who make an effort to meet other people’s needs in this difficult time. I am so proud of our church- 5C, it is small but beautiful!
After a short break of Pastor’s newsletters, I have so much to share with you about what the church plans to do in this new year. But I will leave these details in newsletters from the following weeks. May the Lord bless you and keep you and your family safe during the pandemic.
Ministry Update:
- Church prayer meeting (in Chinese) is scheduled at 7:30pm every Thursday.
- English prayer meeting will hold their first gathering through Zoom at 7:30pm on Thursday 1/7
- Pastor Chen’s virtual office hours is scheduled at 10:00am-12:00pm every Friday
- Small group “Grace Garden” will meet at 6:00pm Tuesday 1/5 through Zoom
- Small group “Joy” will meet at 7:30pm on Friday 1/8 through Zoom
- Chinese Sunday school (Fengling Li) and English Sunday school (Bianca Lin)
- Pastor Dale will preach in our church this Sunday 1/10
- Deacons board will have their monthly meeting at 1:00pm this Sunday 1/10
- Our church will hold a special program to celebrate Chinese New Year on 2/14
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for the peaceful transition and reconciliation after this divisive election
- Pray for the Coronavirus outbreak in the US and around the world.
- Pray for the physical and spiritual well-being of our church members.
- Pray for new small groups formed recently in our church
- Pray for expecting mother- Crystal Cui
- 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.
親愛的中岸教會朋友們：
新年快樂！我們終於將 2020 年拋在了身後，但疫情仍在我們周圍蔓延。正在等待疫苗的同時，也請必要外出或與家庭之外的人見面時，繼續採取預防措施。感謝主，我們能在如此短的時間內成功研發出兩種疫苗。更令人驚奇的是，它們都被證明對預防這種疾病具有很高效力。看來這場疫情的盡頭已經到來。希望我們可以在今年重返教會。
在這個假期期間，教會依然好事頻出。12 月 13 日的年度會員大會令人振奮，在隨後的主日又舉行了精彩的聖誕節慶祝活動。一種有意義的屬靈操練就是，關註生活中的每件事，並為此感謝我們的上帝和造物主。因此，我們對教會成員全票通過 2021 年的預算而感謝主。而且，疫情期間對教會的奉獻在很大程度上說明了您對這個教會的關愛有多重要。我們中的一些成員與拿撒勒人教會一起，在節日期間為一些有需要的家庭提供食物。感謝主，教會在這個困難時期仍努力滿足週圍人的需求。我為我們的教會感到驕傲，它雖小但卻異常出色！
牧師家書經過短暫停頓之後，接下來將會與您分享許多教會新一年的計劃。未來幾週，我將在牧師家書中詳述。願主保佑您和您的家人在疫情期间的平安。
事工更新:
- 中文禱告會將於每週四晚間 7 點半舉行
- 英文禱告會將於 1 月 7 日週四晚間 7 點半線上開啟
- 陳牧師辦公時間為每週五上午 10 點至 12 點
- 『恩典花園』小組 1 月 5 日週二晚間六點線上聚會
- 『喜樂』小組 1 月 8 日週五晚間 7 點半線上聚會本週中文主日學將由李鳳玲姐妹帶領，英文主日學由張西齡姐妹=带領
- 本主日 1 月 10 日將由戴爾牧師講道
- 本週日下午 1 點將召開執事會議
- 教會將於 2 月 14 日舉行春節特別崇拜
禱告事項
- 為此次美國分裂選舉後的和平过渡及和解
- 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
- 為待產的崔琳姐妹祈禱
- 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