2015 State of the Church
February 1, 2015
In the eyes of everyone in my family, I’m the oldest person. My grandkids like to touch my salt and pepper mustache. I am the only one who has a Medicare card and a National Parks senior pass. I drive a rather older car that is over 10 years old now and still running well. While being old is not a crime, I like new things too!
Old and New
What has made FCBC a vibrant and thriving church is that it continues to love old things and adore new things too. In our mission/vision statement, we clearly say, “We are a multi-generational church!” to mean that an old person like me and a young person like you do belong together.
There is no mistaken notion that we are an older church but not as old as my home church in Boston that is celebrating its 350th anniversary this June. We have old red bricks that we like to believe were salvaged from our burned building in 1906 and like a phoenix coming up from the ashes, our church home was rebuilt with clinker bricks. And these iconic red bricks are now depicted in our brand new church website that is clean and easy to navigate designed especially for visitors and seekers who are looking for a new church to worship and hopefully to belong.
Many of us have participated in one time or another or received a report on long-range planning. Sometimes, we call this strategic planning or the SWOTS analysis or even compression planning. Since I have been with you, I have seen two former reports and engaged in two more. While long range planning has been a part of our church’s historical commitment to discern God’s call for us, today we have a new report taking into consideration new realities, emerging trends, and opportunities and threats to remain faithful to our mission as a church.
It is almost ironic for us to declare this year’s annual theme, “Mission in Chinatown” when we are in Chinatown. We may ask ourselves what have we been doing all this time if we are not doing mission in Chinatown? We have all seen old pictures of Chinatown when Chinese men with long queues on their backs smoking probably opium working as unskilled laborers. We have changed our mission in Chinatown that Dr. Jesse Hartwell first saw in the late 1800s. And as more and more of the addresses in our church directory show that there are fewer and fewer San Francisco addresses, we need to reaffirm our commitment to mission in Chinatown today. People may not be coming off Angel Island anymore but when these new Americans deplane at SFO, we are still ready to bring the love of Christ to the people in Chinatown.
We have had a few people serving in the position of Community Outreach Minister whose main objective is to reach out to the residents in Chinatown. We are looking forward to interviewing candidates for this position so that we may eventually develop a core fellowship group to serve as the beginning of a new bilingual service on Sunday morning. With the YMCA gym and our sanctuary, we have the potential to offer a new fourth service to complete our mission to all people including those who live in the shadows of our church.
Nine years ago, a group from our church traveled to Thailand to learn about American Baptist missions. We came back connecting the dots to see that when we sell Lanna Coffee, we would be saving lives. Coffee production creates viable village economies reducing the need for young girls and women to work as hotel housekeepers in Bangkok and then running the risk of being trafficked. We have been selling coffee for some time now but that one step has now led to our church commitment to send a mission work team of young adults every summer to build a clean-water project. It has led to the new Welcome Table serving gourmet coffee before the 10:00 English Worship. It has received significant donations to support the New Life Center and the House of Love in Chiang Mai. And if you were to visit the House of Love where girls with AIDS or HIV-infected from their mothers live and go to local schools, you will see our church name on one of the new dormitories.
And let us not forget that when Astrid Petersen was serving at FCBC, she connected the Emmanuel Family Group to have a very long mission connection with Namlat, one of the tribal schools in Chiang Mai by sending sweaters for the students. On our first trip to Thailand, we visited this school and they thanked us for our love and care.
Strong and Solid
You might not believe this but we are a strong and solid church. Wherever I have traveled and shared about the work of our church, people step back and are impressed about your sacrifice, generosity, and continuing commitment. I was in the state of Maine last month where many churches have declined to the level that they can’t afford to even pay one pastor. Nearby churches are now being served by one person.
Just doing the numbers, we received 8 new members last year making our membership currently at 573 and a total listing in our directory at 708 which includes 135 friends of the church. We continue to have many friends and visitors coming to worship causing a real logjam in the vestibule between the 10:00 and 11:20 services. The Nominating Committee did a great job filling almost all of the boards, committees, and officer positions before we started the New Year indicating that people want to serve Christ through FCBC when they are giving the opportunity. While we are all busy with family and work, we take time to put the Lord first like the way we start our new week with worship being the first day on our weekly calendars.
We are witnessing another baby boom when our nursery is filled with infants and toddlers. Parents of young families choose to come to FCBC because they know that the same kind of Christian formation that they received growing up in our church is what they now want for their children. FCBC’s commitment in Christian education and learning how to become a part of the Christian village of committed and ethical people leads in the making of faithful people.
Just doing the numbers, we are financially strong and solid. Based on historic giving projections, we expect to reach the proposed pledges and contribution to make our 2015 church budget. You are indeed a generous and sacrificial-giving church! Blessed with a growing Memorial Fund, we have developed a procedure to use such funds to support current and emerging ministries. We believe it was the intent of the donors that these resources be used in this way. Furthermore, the Finance Committee will explore how the balance of these memorial gifts would be carefully invested to generate the highest rate of return, all to strengthen the life of this church and for the glory of God.
Just doing the numbers, I celebrate the fact that all of you are here, young and old. Honestly, I would not want to trade my salt and pepper moustache for an all-black one. I like to be older today. It is when I hail from the perspective of being older can I see that there are actually younger members present in our church. I like seeing more black or darker hair here. I pray that our church will have the strength to become that beloved community when older and younger can be together in the same room, serving in the same church and sharing the same Lord, the one and only Lord in the world. I hope and pray that our younger members will be able to find legitimate and significant involvements at FCBC for years to come, for a lifetime.
New Chinatown
We know that Chinatown is changing as we are changing here. When I come in the office during the week and want to park at our white zone but someone else is parking there, I would be on Sacramento Street waiting for the car owner to get up and go to work so I can park. Sitting in my car, reading the Chronicle, I see that the people who are coming out of these apartments are not just Chinese people. They are young techies or financial investors or office workers.
We have read that Empress of China will become an office building and that Four Seas under the well-known chef Brandon Jew will transformed Four Seas to be a gourmet, organic, fresh-ingredient Chinese eatery even with sidewalk dining. On Broadway, there are plans for a large mall of food and shops. And we can see with the YMCA’s new building and activities, more and different people are in Chinatown now far different than when I came to you 17 years ago.
The challenge for you is will you be ready as a historic church with 135 years of faithful and courageous ministry prepared for the new San Francisco Chinatown? With all that you have done and all that you have the ability and gifts to do, I believe you are. You may be better prepared and ready to welcome these changes than most of the churches in our community. You are bilingual and bicultural in your core identity. You value and hold firm the benefit of old and new. You are strong and solid in sharing your talents and abilities and in your financial giving. You have 135 years of experience of welcoming an ever-changing world and a New Year every year.
Something New
When I first came to FCBC in 1975, it was your 95th year. When I return to FCBC in 1998, it was your 118th year. I had the privileged to be a part of your 125th Anniversary in 2005. Now as you celebrate your 135th anniversary this Fall, I am thankful that I have persevered and you have been of utmost patient with me as I complete my 17th year as your senior pastor.
When I look at a timeline of 135 years, my 17 years only represents a little over 12% of your long history. On the radar screen, it’s only a blip! I know that there will be many more years of vibrant history for you to make in the future.
If I were to project like how the stock market records ups and downs, I would say that FCBC is trending up. You are wired for bilingual and bicultural ministries. You are blessed with old and young, strength in talents and solid in finances. You are trending up with Christ.
Since this is my last State of the Church report, let me close with what I am projecting to do when I retire from full-time paid ministry on June 30th.
First and foremost, I plan to spend more time at home—be with Joy, tend my garden, perform some household repairs.
Second, I’ll continue to be ABC President for another 6 months and then 2 more years as the Immediate Past President that will still lead me to do some traveling and speaking.
Next, I hope to do some writing; recording the history of my three brothers who are now with the Lord and to remember their lives so that our children and grandchildren will know them as a part of their family legacy. I hope to also organize my files and records having been requested by the historical society that my ministry is worth remembering!
I plan to have my morning cup of Lanna Coffee in one hand and the San Francisco Chronicle in the other to pray for the world and my part in it.
I plan to spend more time with our 6 grandchildren so that they would know who their grandfather is like on Christmas morning especially with the three in North Carolina.
Finally, as an old man who likes to see the new, I will look forward to seeing all the new beginnings that you’ll have as a faithful and loving church made strong and built solidly on the foundation of Jesus Christ who is the love of our lives.
Thanks be to God!