When a pastor answers a call to a church, it’s very much like a marriage. The pastor prays and hopes that the covenantal relationship will last forever. When Jesus founded the church, we called the church, the Bride of Christ. In many ways, we are married to God with Jesus Christ as our head.
I recognize that the 2008 State of the Church report represents the 10th report that I have given as your Senior Pastor. Yes, it has been ten years which I have amazingly survived this marriage with you and am still happily married with you and with God through you.
Since Joy and I will be celebrating our 36th wedding anniversary this August, I have long forgotten what symbols are used to represent a ten-year anniversary. I found out that the traditional symbol is tin or aluminum and the modern gift is a diamond. I can understand the gift of a diamond with its beauty and value but tin or aluminum? Every time I open a can of cranberry sauce, I get a tin can. Ever time I want a piece of aluminum; I can pull out a piece of foil. What makes tin or aluminum that special? For a marriage to be successful, it needs to be as durable as a tin can or a piece of aluminum foil but it also needs to be flexible and bending as tin and aluminum are whenever necessary without breaking. This is why tin or aluminum symbolizes a 10-year anniversary. We need to be flexible and bending whenever necessary without breaking.
Know the Lord
Our annual theme in 2007 was “Know the Lord” based on Hosea 6:3a. When we know the Lord and trust him with all that we are and particularly with all of our troubles and concerns that we may have, we absolutely know that it’s solid ground that we are standing on. It’s durable like tin and aluminum. God will not forsake us and calls us to remain faithful in him. We know this to be true.
While we can always trust God, we have learned to be flexible and bending as a church so that our relationship with each other leads us to successful and effective ministries. Today we celebrate the durability of our commitment to one another whether it’s the past ten years that I have been with you or the ten or 20 years that God is leading us in the years to come. As long as our faith in Jesus Christ is as hard and solid as a diamond but our life together is like tin or aluminum that is durable but at the same time flexible and bending, God is with us to accomplish his will through us.
Calling a New Pastor
The most significant event that occurred last year is the resignation of Rev. Joseph Tsang as our Pastor of Chinese-speaking Ministries. This was a good example of how our church was able to be flexible for the sake of effective ministry and caring for our brother, Pastor Joseph. The way this situation was lovingly managed is a testimonial of a church that is both committed to ministry and caring for each other. I am proud to be associated with such a community of loving disciples.
In 2008, we are being flexible and faithful during this interim time. With Jane Lam’s leadership and the cooperation of everyone in the 11:15 Service, we continue to have inspiring worship with guest speakers filling the pulpit. The Search Committee is actively carrying out its task on your behalf with the hope that we will be able to call a new pastor in the mid-year or in the fall.
New Young Families
An exciting thing is happening in our church—babies! In any given Sunday, our Nursery is filled with infants, crawlers, toddlers, parents, and Nursery caregivers. The forecast is that more babies are coming and we now have the need to make more room for them. Very soon, we will move the toddlers that are walking upstairs to the 3rd floor so that the Nursery will be for infants and crawlers. With the toddlers, we’ll begin to introduce them to Bible stories and songs of our faith. We appreciate the flexibility of the young families as we accommodate this growing segment of our church family. Under Pastor Lauren’s initiative and personal interest on this stage of life, she has organized two “Mom’s Groups”—one for those working outside the home and the other for those who stay-at-home.
As these children grow up in our church, they will begin to affect our Sunday school arrangements, the need for more teachers and helpers, and perhaps even the way we allocate our resources. What a wonderful problem to have that we need more space!
All-Church Gatherings
While we all know the Lord, we still need to know each other. The richness in diversity that we have can only be appreciated and valued when we get to know each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Our ability as Christ’s church, the Bride of Christ to become unified in both spirit and in mission is predicated on us knowing each other. We learn to trust each other with only good intentions. We accept each other’s words as faithful and honest. On occasions when misunderstanding occurs, these are treated with nothing less than Christian love and patience so that we may seek only for better understanding. It’s what Jesus wants and it’s what we all strive to live by.
For this year, we will have our annual opportunities to be united in Christ—Annual church outdoor worship and picnic, All-church Pledge Sunday worship, Easter and Christmas services, Thanksgiving Luncheon and much more. New this year is Live in Harmony, an All-Church Music Event on Saturday, April 12th. Come for an evening of sharing your musical gifts and talents and let us raise the roof of our church with praises to God who makes us one!
Financial Health
In the wake of more transitions and changes in the life of our church, we have anticipated that it may be financially challenging to reach our 2008 pledging goals. We know that some families in our church have moved on to serve in other places. Some people have decided to use the leadership skills acquired in ministry here to help other churches with their missions. We are indeed happy to know that we can be seen as a “missionary-sending” church!
But in light of such transitions, our Finance Committee was concerned about facing for the first time, a year-end deficit when we would need to draw down our cash surpluses. As you saw from today’s reports, we have ended 2007 with a deficit. And if we factor out the exception of the severance package paid out last year, our deficit would be quite reasonable. We thank God that from the good stewardship of past years, we have available funds to use in 2007.
Let’s look at the good picture. In 2007, we completed our $10K contribution to the Chinatown YMCA’s renovation and building project that just received approval from the SF Planning Commission to proceed. We can hopefully expect new facilities to use sometime in 2010. You heard that our 2008 Canvass campaign received almost 90% of pledge commitments toward our goal! This is incredible in light of the transitions that we are experiencing and in context of the larger economic situation in our country. Although our 2008 Budget now reflects pastoral salaries and benefits below full strength level, this has permitted us to come even closer to balancing our annual budget.
In summary, the financial health of our church continues to remain strong and healthy due to the fact that you believe that God is working through our church to transform both persons and our world to know Jesus Christ as Lord.
Sabbatical Renewal
In just 4 months, I will be taking my sabbatical for a three-month period. I want to thank you again for approving my renewal program, for Pastor Chris and others to fill the 10:05 pulpit while I am away, and for all of you to believe in the maintenance of the ministry by supporting me and your previous pastors to go on sabbaticals. I pray that you will be flexible with each other when I am away.
It’s without saying that I am looking forward to going to Israel to study for a month and then to travel with a number of you to visit holy sites in Israel and Egypt. This is one of my dreams come true to finally walk where Jesus walked and to get a better sense of the geography and context of both the Old and New Testaments. I hope that those who will journey with me will receive the same inspiration of the holy lands that I seek. And when we return, my prayers are that we would all receive a better insight of God’s revelation in the world and particularly through Jesus Christ.
Long-range Planning
As the result of not being at full staff strength level and my upcoming sabbatical, the Deacons have decided to postpone our long-range planning process until 2009. This would allow us to give full energy to the Search Committee and to involve our new pastor in such an important process. During this time, we invite you to envision, dream and discuss with each other what may be God calling us to be about and to serve him in the years to come. Discerning God’s will is ongoing and we encourage you to share your ideas, thoughts and hopes about the future of our church.
Conclusion
Getting to my tenth State of the Church report is quite a thing. We celebrate the durability and the solid trust that we have in Jesus Christ because we truly know the Lord. But our successful relationship with one another is like the traditional symbols of tin and aluminum. We are learning to become flexible and bending without breaking because the one sure thing that we are united on is our faith in Jesus Christ.
Do you know what are the symbols for the 11th anniversary? For the traditional symbol, it’s steel and for the modern symbol, it’s fashion jewelry. I’m not sure what to do with that!
Let’s pray.
Gracious Lord, we thank you for the year of 2007 and we welcome with enthusiastic spirit 2008. Continue to set our faith on the diamond-hard truth of Jesus Christ as our Lord but grant us also the mercy and ability to be flexible whenever it’s necessary so that we may become a patient, cooperative, and dedicated people of faith to serve you this year. May you, O God lead us this year, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.