The first ten years done, now on to the next!

"The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you." - Titus 1:5

 

HOC6 has a lot to rejoice about as we look back to what God has done among us over the last ten years.  The next ten years also bring us much hope, but at the same time we must keep praying.  The English congregation needs a new pastor, but so does the Cantonese.  The Mandarin congregation also needs to raise up new leaders to form a next generation of elders and pastors. 

 

HIGHLIGHTED PRAYER
Pray that God will send us new leaders who have the character and spiritual gifts that the Bible requires for those who are to be leaders.  Do pray hard and regularly for this so that we might be led in a healthy direction with Christ at the center.

PRAY FOR OUR CONGREGATION
Praise God that our pastoral search program is moving along well.  We have interviewed two of our three potential candidates and have checked with many of the references.  Please pray that we will be wise, collaborative and timely as we see who God is guiding us to.

We are also giving thanks for our Mustard Seed prayer network.  This has allowed us to keep connections through the week and had a positive impact on many lives already.  May we continue to build on this.

Our new small groups have started.  This includes a group centered at Paul's house, another for young families.  Then there is an expanded Young Disciple - Young Adult group on Friday.  May God's Spirit be guiding us and encouraging us as we study the Bible and build community.

 

Pray for our upcoming Dinners for Eight, that we might be able to connect with some new people in our congregation.

 

Pray for our prayer ministry.  A few faithful people join in, but a healthy church will be strong in prayer - across all age groups.

 

PRAY FOR THE REST OF OUR CHURCH
Pray for  the unstable Mandarin worship attendance.  The small group ministry needs to be strengthened.

 

Give thanks to God that the Cantonese congregation has been doing better.  Pray that this group will continue to grow in numbers and love for the Lord, and that they might be able also to have a pastor.

PRAY ABOUT HOW GOD IS LEADING YOU ON HIS MISSION
PRAY FOR THREE(3) OF YOUR UNCHURCHED FRIENDS/FAMILY
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

Amen

Praise the Lord!

Changes of Season

"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven: " - Ecclesiastes 3:1

 

And so the seasons change for us in many ways.  Summer is upon us along with changes of jobs, schools, careers, and sometimes relationships.  Our society tells us to relax and take a break, while Greek philosophy is often invoked with "Moderation in all things".  The book of Ecclesiastes gives us a conflicting bit of advice:

 

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom." - Ecclesiastes 9:10

 

Take a little time to catch your breath, but remember that God has a purpose for us, both indivdually and collectively.  Seek the Lord and make effective use of your Summer!

PRAY FOR OUR CONGREGATION
Praise God that God has been blessing us as we work through our pastoral transition.  Praise God that he's brought us Prof. Steve Korch, who will be helping us as our transition coach.  Please pray for our core leadership team/pastoral search committee that we will catch God's vision for our church, lead our congregation through this transition well, and be able to discern who the next pastor will be.

Please pray for our small groups.  Pray that for the growth of our adults small group -- that more church members will join and for outreach.  Pray also for our youth group that the youth will be able to reach out to more of their non-Christian friends.

Pray for our youth SF mission trip as we finalize our team.

PRAY FOR THE REST OF OUR CHURCH

Prayer: The new format for the Wednesday prayer meeting works smoothly, give thanks to the Lord. Pray for God's continue guidance.

Worship: Give thanks to the Lord that we now have over 10 brothers and sisters joining the prayer team. We need to pray for the choir pianist needs.  Pray for 5/22 Praise Night meeting.  Pray for each team members to prepare their heart and delegation to serve him.

Praise the Lord that there is now a core team serving the Cantonese ministry. 15 attended last week prayer meeting. Please pray for the team unity, wisdom and strength.

PRAY ABOUT HOW GOD IS LEADING YOU ON HIS MISSION

PRAY FOR THREE(3) OF YOUR UNCHURCHED FRIENDS/FAMILY
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

Amen

Hope

"To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

in you I trust, O my God.
  Do not let me be put to shame,
  nor let my enemies triumph over me.

No one whose hope is in you
  will ever be put to shame,
  but they will be put to shame
  who are treacherous without excuse.

Show me your ways, O LORD,
  teach me your paths;

guide me in your truth and teach me,
  for you are God my Savior,
  and my hope is in you all day long. " - Psalm 25:1-5

The painting below is of the Sack of Rome in the year 410AD.  The Roman Empire had become a Christian-friendly nation, yet the capital was taken over by Visigoth invaders, looted and devastated.  The Pagans blamed the Christians for causing this because their gods weren't worshipped.  Augustine wrote The City of God, initially as a rebuttal, but then going on to produce a great apologetic work for our faith in Jesus Christ which remains one of the most important Christian works outside of the Bible.  This event wasn't the end, but rather the beginning. On the surface, the above Psalm doesn't seem to fit this, but in a more important way, it does provide comfort.  When our hope is in God, our hope cannot be taken away.

The news today is full of many scary things ranging from terrorism to debts running out of control and threatening to bring down economic systems, and the threats of natural or man-made disasters always in our mind.  Christians have been through this before, and by God's power and grace, we will be brought through again.  We have a hope in Jesus Christ, and may this be with us always.

PRAY FOR OUR CONGREGATION

Praise God that we have our core leadership team/pastoral search committee in place--Paul, Elaine, Douglas, Angela.  Pray for team unity, wisdom and vision for the upcoming year.

Please pray for our small groups.  Pray that for the growth of our adults small group -- that more church members will join and for outreach.  Pray also for our youth group that the youth will be able to reach out to more of their non-Christian friends.

Pray for our SF mission trip that we will finalize our youth team soon.

HOC Taiwan Mission trip will be from 07/20 to 08/04, a training will start to be provided in April, please contact brother Elder Chang for registrations. We now have 4 registrations, pray to God that He will provide more people for the team. This year's focus will be help establish summer VBS at ChuDong Church and training on How to do individual Gospel preaching;

PRAY FOR THE REST OF OUR CHURCH

Prayer: The new format for the Wednesday prayer meeting works smoothly, give thanks to the Lord. Pray for God's continue guidance.

 

Worship: Give thanks to the Lord that we now have over 10 brothers and sisters joining the prayer team. We need to pray for the choir pianist needs.  Pray for 5/22 Praise Night meeting.  Pray for each team members to prepare their heart and delegation to serve him.

Praise the Lord that we now have a core team to serve the Cantonese ministry. May God continue to provide strength and faith to the co-workers

PRAY ABOUT HOW GOD IS LEADING YOU ON HIS MISSION
PRAY FOR THREE(3) OF YOUR UNCHURCHED FRIENDS/FAMILY
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

Amen

Changing Relationships

"When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship." - Acts 20:36-38

This passage is part of Paul's last meeting with the leaders of the church of Ephesus.  It is a bit teasing to compare this to Brian's announcement that he will be moving on to GRX in August, since he won't be leaving the city and we will almost certainly see him again.  At the same time, many of the concerns are the same and the changes are no less serious.  The Apostle Paul was genuinely concerned for the future of the church of Ephesus and warns of wolves moving in among the sheep.  Later Christian writers tell us that the Apostle John moved to Ephesus and continued his ministry there, so God had a good plan for Ephesus that was unknown at the time Acts was written, while it was necessary for Paul also to embark on his "prison ministry".  And yes, the wolves moved in too, but we have plenty of reason to be optimistic about what the Lord is doing.

HIGHLIGHTED PRAYER
Looking forward, we should proceed with both caution and optimism, putting our faith and trust in God, while being diligant in the work God has called us to do.  Please pray for Brian and his familiy as they are making this transition.  Pray for HOC6 as we rearrange things in preparation for the changes, and that God will continue to bring willing servants to be part of our congregation.  Be sure to pray also that God's blessing will be on the work that Brian will do at GRX.

PRAY FOR OUR CONGREGATION
Please pray as we continue to promote and register people for our Spring Retreat (Apr 23-25).  We pray more people will sign up for this chance for our church to come together on a spiritual learning & bonding experience.

"youngDisciples" has already met twice @ Ben & Angela's house, providing an environment where more of the youth's non-Christian friends will be willing to come to "church."  It's too early to tell how that's faring, but please pray that more non-Christian friends will come and learn more about Christ.

Pray for guidance as we begin planning & recruiting for the Taiwan mission trip (adults) and our Urban mission trip (youth group).

Pray that God will help us to move on to the next stage of developing our leaders as a church.

PRAY FOR THE REST OF OUR CHURCH

HOC6's first mountain prayer is scheduled to be on 03/20/2020, the topic of the message would be "Enlarge Your Tent", pray for the preparation work and active involvement from our groups and ministries. The 40day fast praying is going on, now is with the Cantonese congregation Pray that our brothers and sisters will be faithful on this event;

There was a promotion for the AWANA ministry to be started in September this year. Pray that the Lord will provide leaders and kids.

Pray for the needs for the Cantonese ministry. We need new co-workers to help on worship, Sunday school, transportation and clean-up.

PRAY ABOUT HOW GOD IS LEADING YOU ON HIS MISSION
     
PRAY FOR THREE(3) OF YOUR UNCHURCHED FRIENDS/FAMILY
     
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
     
Amen

Continue Remembering Haiti

HIGHLIGHTED PRAYER

 

Continue to remember Haiti.  The news today gave estimates of 3 years just to clean up the rubble, but rebuilding is still to be done.  Pray that God would grant wisdom and perseverence to those who have been led to serve there, and may the gospel be proclaimed even as the economy is rebuilt.

RAY FOR OUR CONGREGATION

 

Our youth group "youngDisciples" has begun meeting every other week at Ben & Angela's house.  The hope is to provide an environment where more of the youth's non-Christian friends will be willing to come to "church."  Please pray for them as they try this out.

Pray for guidance as we begin planning & recruiting for the Taiwan mission trip.

Our youth group is praying about what sort of mission trip to go on this summer.  Please pray for wisdom as we weigh our options.

Pray that God will help us to move on to the next stage of developing our leaders as a church.

 

PRAY FOR THE REST OF OUR CHURCH

 

Pray for the efforts to reach out to the local community.  The Mandarin group has a program, ET-movement: Expand mission and transform the local community.

 

Church web and Jidutuwiki (Christian wikipedia):  Thanks to the Lord for all the blessings and prosperity of this ministry, pray for God's continue guidance.

 

The Cantonese ministry needs many new co-workers.  This includes worship, Sunday school, transportation and clean-up.

 

PRAY ABOUT HOW GOD IS LEADING YOU ON HIS MISSION
     
PRAY FOR THREE(3) OF YOUR UNCHURCHED FRIENDS/FAMILY
     
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
     
Amen

Love Your Neighbor

"Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold." - Acts 28:1-2

The above verse isn't usually used to tell Christians about the need to be active in caring for others.  It is still good, however, because it describes the caring of non-Christians to others and is a reminder that unbelievers will care for others, and certainly we should do no less.  Have any of us not benefited from the care of a non-Christian at one time or another?  The Bible, however, tells us to be different by, um, caring for others.  That should make it clear that a bit of caring now and then isn't quite what is intended. May we have a greater commitment.
 
HIGHLIGHTED PRAYER

Continue to remember Haiti.  May God grant relief and healing to those effected.  May those who are working to provide the relief have strength for the effort.

PRAY FOR OUR CONGREGATION

Please pray for our Winter Retreat which is coming up on President's Day Weekend (Feb 12-14).  Pray that it will be a spiritually meaningful experience.

Our youth group will be experimenting with holding meetings at Ben & Angela's house starting in February.  The hope is to provide an environment where more of the youth's non-Christian friends will be willing to come to "church."  Please pray for them as they try this out.

We've been praying about the next project with Snow Elementary and the possibility of starting a Kid's Club, a moral training class on school campus.  However, the Chinese congregations are looking to start an Awana, a church club for kids, which is similar but different.  Please pray that God will help us discern which path to take.

PRAY FOR THE REST OF OUR CHURCH

AWANA: pray for God's guidance, preparations of coworkers, classrooms and space. The first AWANA meeting has started, so give thanks to the Lord for this new ministry.

Pray for the planning and preparation of the activity to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New year and the Valentine's day on Feb 13th, sponsored by the Good Friend Fellowship.

Stephen Wong has resigned from Cantonese co-worker chairman position due to job difficulty. Please pray for Stephen and the Cantonese congregation for God guidance. Pastor Lai will work directly with the co-workers who are responsible for different church functions.

PRAY ABOUT HOW GOD IS LEADING YOU ON HIS MISSION
    
PRAY FOR THREE(3) OF YOUR UNCHURCHED FRIENDS/FAMILY
    
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
    
Amen

Greater Things Are Still To Be Done In This City

"As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it." -  Luke 19:41

Certainly Jesus loved the city of Jerusalem and the people in it to weep over it.  This year's winter retreat will be in San Francisco.  Please pray over this event as those who are planning prepare something for us and we consider our participation individually.  May the Lord challenge us to a closer relationship with Him, even as we seek to reach out to others around us.

PRAY FOR OUR CONGREGATION

Please pray for our Winter Retreat which is coming up on President's Day Weekend (Feb 12-14).  Pray that it will be a spiritually meaningful experience.

Our youth group will be experimenting with holding meetings at Ben & Angela's house starting in February.  The hope is to provide an environment where more of the youth's non-Christian friends will be willing to come to "church."  Please pray for them as they try this out.

Please pray as we start looking into the next project with Snow Elementary and the possibility of starting a Kid's Club.

Thanks to the Lord that the Christmas Game Fair on 12/12 was held successfully. There were over 65 kids and a lot of them from the neighborhood.

PRAY FOR THE REST OF OUR CHURCH

Mandarin:  Continue to pray for our worship team, which needs new members and piano player, pray to the Lord that we will establish a strong Worship team to lead our Sunday morning singing inspiration.

2010 goal for the Cantonese ministry is to develop a children ministry. The congregation can only attract younger generation of worshiper by having a children Sunday school. Please pray to God for His guidance.

PRAY ABOUT HOW GOD IS LEADING YOU ON HIS MISSION
  
PRAY FOR THREE(3) OF YOUR UNCHURCHED FRIENDS/FAMILY
  
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
  
Amen

A Fresh Start!

January 1 Hiking Please click the above link for more photos.