5/21/07
May 21st, 2007
Dear All:
We are facing a fast changing world and our congregation is part of it. If you had asked me at the beginning of the year what our congregation would like in May, I would not project a picture as what we have now. I feel God is leading us an exciting journey. There are many things I didn’t expect. (Of course I didn’t plan for that either). Quite often, I feel we are like Israeli people leaving Egypt and heading for the promised land. The mission seems quite clear but the path is so foreign. Hopefully, we won’t make the same mistake to waste so many years wondering in the wildness. The uncertainty is not an excuse for not planning. A good plan should take the unpredictability into account and have the flexibility to adjust along the way. It’s clear my original plan is not good enough.
We are facing a serious challenge of caring our “old” members and new comers. As a congregation leader, the responsibility is mine and I should admit I am not so ready to face it. Yesterday, I heard we had 56 people attending Mandarin service. Two of them are one-time visitors from east coast. Liu Mama’s sister is a causal visitor. Not counting them we still have more than 50 people. This is the third time since March, we have exceeded our goal of 50. However, our monthly averaged is till below the goal. Newcomer 楊繼平 came again. Her husband 馬曉濱 and parent-in-laws also came to us for the first time. The due date of her baby is approaching. It’s an opportunity to show that our love is not just to our close friends but also to people who are not so close to us. Before we learn a harder lesson of loving our enemy, this is an immediate lesson for us to take. 祝衛東、劉曉輝 came to us last Sunday for the first time. Yesterday, they returned again. I hope they would find a warm spiritual home at here.
We have more new comers in recent months. Their average age also higher than many of our core members. That is not easy for our Caring coworker to reach out to people of different age range and background. I have seen many people contribute their time and effort in caring them. There is room for improvement and the responsibility is mine. I need to formulate a better and more organized shepherding and caring system. Pray for me that I may have enough wisdom to take the challenge.
Last year around this time, we had Mandarin Congregation Ministry Review. I always feel it is good to periodically review the ministry regardless who is in the position to lead. This year, I am playing that role. There is a conflict of interest for me to perform ministry review. I think we need to have an objective person to take the responsibility to review congregation ministry. I have asked Jack Hsieh to take lead in that regard. I hope it will become our congregation tradition that we can enter a positive cycle of
“Review ==> Identify Areas need to improve ==> Formulate changes ==> Implement plans ==> Review”
Asian churches are not accustomed to above process but I feel we need to periodically honestly facing ourselves to move to higher ground. I would encourage you to do that for your personal life too. Attached is the form we used for last year ministry review. It was put up in a hurry and that time. Some of the questions are not quite fit for our current situation. I think we need to condense it and re-organize it.
I strongly believe that the next two years will be critical moment to define the long term future of our congregation. This is an uncharted territory for all of us. Let’s be alert and prepare for the surprising and amazing journey ahead of us.
Peter