State of the Church Report—2007
February 4, 2007
Rev. Don Ng
I want to thank you for the opportunity granted to me as your Senior Pastor to give the “State of the Church” report today. Every year it seems that God continues to bless us with more brothers and sisters who come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and join our church to which we praise God. Every year it seems that our list of programs and activities increases and more people find ways to use their gifts and talents in service to the Lord. Every year it seems that the church budget expands to greater heights and with faith in God to provide, we reach our pledge goals and end the year with surpluses. It is not too difficult to see signs at our church that we are faithful, dedicated, and committed to the mission of our church in the world.
Church Unity
While all of these positive things are happening at our church, we have also been straddled over matters that have caused mistrust among our members leading to a lack of spirit for the unity of our church. We all know that there are many members with a variety of gifts and abilities that make up the Body of Christ. As Paul said to the Corinthians, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.” (1 Cor. 12:26) On the matter of homosexuality at our church, we can say that many of us have suffered one way or another because we have had both different understandings and misunderstandings about this topic.
For the past few years, the Deacons and the Pastors have prayed about this matter, engaged in Bible study together, and have had heart to heart discussions about homosexuality all with the primary goal of strengthening our witness in Christ and to build up church unity. After careful and prayerful study, we have described our church on the matter of homosexuality to be “welcoming but not affirming.” In conversations with Che Chiu Yee, the chair of the Deacons and the Pastoral Staff, we offer the following statement to elucidate our understanding.
Welcoming but Not Affirming
“Jesus welcomed everyone to him who sought to know God and to obey his commandments. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we welcome everyone who comes to our church in love and caring as well. Furthermore, just as Jesus pointed out the sins that people had, we also need to recognize that we are still people with sin and are in need of repentance and forgiveness.
Much has been focused on the matter of homosexuality in the church. Our church Deacons and Pastoral Staff have dedicated a number of meetings trying to understand this matter as it relates to the life and ministry of our church. In our study of Scriptures, we also have reviewed statements from our American Baptist General Board to which we support the following: the Family Life Policy Statement (1984) says, “We affirm that God intends marriage to be monogamous, life-long, one flesh union of a man and a woman.” and a General Board resolution (1992) that says, “We affirm that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible to Christian teaching.” From these statements, we propose for the purpose of a greater understanding within the life of our church that we are a “welcoming but not affirming” church in regards to homosexuality.
We believe that God’s love made evident in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is for all people. Therefore, our church welcomes everyone to come to worship and participate fully in the ministries that we offer. However, since the practicing of homosexuality is incompatible to what is taught in the Bible, we refrain those who are open about their homosexual orientation from serving in positions of leadership. In addition, salaried church staff would refrain from officiating in events that affirm homosexuality.
As Baptists who grant authority to the Bible as our source of truth and ever-open to understanding the mind of Christ particularly on issues of significance, we offer this position in humility with a commitment to the building up the unity of the Body of Christ, the church that we know as the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco. God has abundantly blessed our church and its life-changing witness for over 126 years and we believe that God is calling us today to continue to make disciples of Jesus Christ in the world.”
We hope that this statement better clarifies our understanding and I pray that if there are any further doubts about where we stand on this matter that we have addressed those concerns today. It is my deepest belief that unless we as a church are united in the Spirit of God, all other efforts would be adversely affected.
Reconciliation
I have been blessed to live for nearly 60 years and know from many personal experiences that I make mistakes. When I do, I always seek forgiveness and reconciliation. For me, life is much too short to not be friends and sisters and brothers in Christ. If I could have had better judgment, I apologize and seek your forgiveness and understanding. And if you have in some way caused us to strain our relationships and cast mistrust among us and desire for reconciliation, I forgive you. Not only is life far too short for us not to be friends in Jesus but rather our days on earth are all too short to compromise the mission of the church in Jesus Christ on earth.
If you are willing, I would like us to offer forgiveness and seek reconciliation at this very moment. Turn to a neighbor and offer an apology and in return grant forgiveness. May the person you have done this with serve as a symbol of the rest of the congregation and is a beginning of a time in our church for truth and reconciliation. May we continue to strive for unity and a better understanding of each other as we serve the Lord together at our church.
Every Member is Integral
Later on this afternoon is the Super Bowl. Unless the team has all its players out there on the field, they would be short-handed and possibly lose the game. The defensive players are as important as the offensive players. And we know that the kicker is as important as the quarterback. Just as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12, “As it is, there are many members, yet one body.” (12:20)
In 2006, we witnessed this truth as the Body of Christ when we called Rev. Joseph Tsang from Michigan to be our new Pastor of Chinese-speaking Ministries. With confidence in the Lord, Pastor Joseph and Brenda pulled up roots and just like Abraham and Sarah went out in faith that God will provide and they will be blessed because of their obedience to God’s calling. We truly thank God for showing Pastor Joseph the way to San Francisco!
The Apostle Paul talks about the many different parts of the body having a variety of purposes in order to have the body function properly. There’s a need for eyes, ears, nose, hands and feet—all functioning together. In addition to the installation of Pastor Joseph, we also celebrated the ordination of Pastor Lauren Ng as our Assistant Pastor. I have always said that when we can bear witness to ordinations, baptisms, baby dedications, and the right hand of Christian fellowship, we are a growing and vibrant church ready to perform God’s mission.
Our church staff is complete and I believe that we are ready to expand God’s mission in Chinatown and beyond.
Physical Facilities
For the entire 126 years of our history, we have been effectively ministering from one building. During many of these 126 years and particularly in the past recent years, we have indirectly supported the work of other organizations that have been willing to lease space for our church to use on Sundays. There is nothing wrong with renting and leasing space because there are also a number of benefits of not being landlords or building owners. But for the past few years after we have successfully retrofitted and renovated our church home, I have been praying with many of you on the feasibility of prospecting for an additional building in Chinatown.
The signs that I have seen leading us to consider this possibility are:
1. The 9:30 English Worship service has grown to numbering 40 people every Sunday. Having a permanent space for worship would continue to grow this new congregation.
2. One of the gifts that Pastor Joseph brings is his ability to speak and preach in Mandarin. Having an additional worship space would enable us to add another Chinese-speaking worship service on Sunday morning.
3. Practice and rehearsal rooms for our church choirs, hand bells, and praise teams would greatly add to these growing ministries.
4. The idea of starting a new children day care ministry with facilities that comply with state regulations would provide a much needed service to our neighboring families.
5. Finally, while we anticipate the availability of space once the YMCA construction is completed and the continuing possibility of using Cameron House, additional classrooms would allow us to start more classes and for small groups to meet.
For us to come to a point when we are prepared and informed to make such an important decision, I propose that we conduct a feasibility study and invite a consultant to assist us in this process. I propose that we try to make this decision by this summer.
Missions and Outreach
One of the most exciting developments last year is our support of missions. The Thailand Mission Discovery Team comprising of 8 members returned with great enthusiasm and commitment to make their experience have a difference in the lives of the people they encountered. Upon their return, a special offering was received to support the New Life Center and the House of Love. Prior to Christmas, the Lanna Coffee Project was launched on the theme, “Every Sip Saves Lives.” It is amazing to see the level of involvement not only by those who traveled to Thailand but attracting many others afterward who are now more aware of how our support of missions in Thailand can stop human trafficking, the 21st century form of human slavery.
During the year, we prayed and supported many others who went on short-term missions including Mei Wong, Janey Chan, Danny Lee and others. Over the Christmas holiday, 8 college students went to the Urbana mission conference and in August, Steven and Anna Ng attended the American Baptist national mission conference in Green Lake, Wisconsin.
It’s an understatement to say that we are “fired-up” about missions! We are ready to blast off and make missions and outreach a major priority in our church. And you saw that last year, we surpassed the goals of 3 of our 4 annual mission offerings! These are all good reasons to celebrate and recommit ourselves to further strengthen our commitment to missions and to reach out to others with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Moving Forward
The 2007 Church Theme is “Know the Lord” from Hosea 6:3. It’s only when we are obedient to God’s commandments to acknowledge God in our lives is when we become his people. There is no place for any idolatry in the church. The only God we worship is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Hosea accepted Gomer who made mistakes in life and received God’s grace and mercy. Like Gomer, we all have a need for forgiveness that God grants because of the love and salvation of God.
Let us also offer grace, mercy and forgiveness to one another for attaining a more excellent way in church spirit and unity. Let us embrace this new year with faith, hope and love, believing that the greatest of these is love.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord God, we know that you are good and mighty. You are mighty and good all the time—from January to December; when we worship you at 9:00, 9:30, 10:05 or 11:15; inside our classroom or on retreat in the mountains; speaking in Chinese or speaking in English, singing songs or reading the Bible. We lift up to you all of our ministries accomplished or attempted and know that out of our faithfulness and obedience to your commandments to love you and our neighbors that you are happy with us. Receive the gifts of our lives for your kingdom work and we pray that inasmuch as you have been with us in 2006, we pray that you be with us in 2007 granting us wisdom, discernment, love for each other, and a passion for mission to change the world. We pray all of these things in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior today and forevermore. Amen.