State of the Church Message—2/6/2000
Homeless for God
Matthew 6:31 and 8:20
Homeless
Since we have been worshipping at the Lau school, I have continued to park my car on Sacramento Street below Kearny. I do this because I know where to find my car later. I also do this because it gives me a chance every Sunday to walk up to Waverly and look up at our building. I look for little signs of progress being made. Perhaps you do this too!
We are on the outside looking in. For over six months now we have been “homeless.” Sometimes when someone experiences too many changes like being “homeless,” you would notice frustration, lower productivity, and maybe even depression. But I am happy to report to you that even with all the dislocation, inconveniences, and transitions that we have had to face, our ministries remain steady, faithful, and strong. While we have been “homeless,” we continue to grow in faith.
When some would-be disciples were worrying about places to live and things they had to do, Jesus said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Mt. 8:20) When we follow Christ faithfully, we also don’t need to worry about things like having a church building before we can minister. Like Jesus, it’s okay to be “homeless for God.”
1999 Changes
We would all say that the most dramatic event in 1999 was the beginning of the long-awaited Retrofit Project. Since the 1989 earthquake, the city required all unreinforced brick buildings to undergo seismic improvements to remain in use. This is a huge task. But with the help of many dedicated and willing helpers, the church’s furniture, equipment, and supplies were sorted out, many discarded or sold or donated, boxed, moved, and stored off site until we are ready to move back in. During the cleaning out and moving, we filled our sidewalk with church things—we almost looked like people being evicted from their homes! Sincere thanks are due to Wally and Josie Poon who gave able leadership on this task.
Once the building was empty, Rose Construction, our new temporary tenants moved in. And for many weeks, the familiar things that we have associated with our church home were demolished and dumped to make space for our church home to be rebuilt. On a weekly basis, your Retrofit TF led by Nelson Wong attentively and faithfully watch over the work by the architects and the contractors.
Against this backdrop of relocation and construction in 1999, God’s ministry continued on. A number of new ministries were successfully initiated:
*Serving God’s Family Training Workshops was launched in April
*Women’s Fellowship was organized
*Chinese Regional Bible Studies were launched
*Home Bible Study Groups for Friday Night School students started
*About 50 students are still cramming into So Be Dong’s class
*The SMILE class was started for parents who wanted to learn English on
Sundays
*The All-Church Picnic attracted over 400 people
And while the new programs caught our attention, our ongoing, mainstay ministries continued without any interruptions.
*Morning worship and Sunday school classes moved to the Lau school
and the YMCA
*Friday Night School and Saturday fellowships moved to the Old St.
Mary’s building
*Six week of Day Camp, Youth Camp, Family Camp, All-Church Retreat,
College & Career Retreat, Youth Retreats, Fellowship Groups,
Camping Trips—too many to name!
We are developing an understanding that Christ’s ministry was not dependent on having a church building to be effective and successful. We are learning that’s it’s okay to be “homeless for God.”
Last year, we also experienced significant changes in one to one relationships. We said “Goodbye” to Rodney Tom and said, “Hello” to Anna Lee, our new Office Administrator. We are very lucky to have her work with us. We bid farewell and express thanksgiving to Pastor Richard Chung who served with the love of Christ in his heart and started the process of calling a new Minister of CE & Youth to partner with us in 2000. We accepted Pastor Larry Jay’s resignation so that he can be called as the official pastor of the new church and transferred the membership of 41 people to Sunset Ministry. As time passes, I believe we will grow with the spirit of collaboration as two strong and vibrant Asian American Baptist churches serving in the name of Jesus Christ in the SF Bay Area. We also welcomed Susan Criscione as our new Minister-in-Training staff person. We hope that she is learning from us because we are certainly gaining insights from her.
Statistically, we had 41 transfers to Sunset Ministry and 5 deaths. But with God’s grace and mercy, a total of 19 people joined our church. Miraculously, when there is room to be filled, new and eager servants of God come and fill in the spaces. God continues to transform our lives and we come to know Christ as our Lord and savior. Praise God!
And during this time of major transitions, we diligently maintained our ministry focus on the work of the Lord through FCBC.
Don’t Worry
To follow Jesus means that the things we normally worry about like what to wear to church or will Uncle’s still have ox tails for lunch or will there be heat at the Lau school, are not things we need to worry about. We don’t need to be worried about being “homeless for God.”
Jesus said, “Do not worry, saying, What will we eat? or What will we drink? or What will we wear?” He said, “Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
For the past year and now into the New Year, the beginning of the new millennium, I have noticed that we have not been worrying!
I have not seen us worrying about not having a church home to minister from
or not having enough money to pay for the retrofit
or not having enough pledges for the 2000 Mission Budget
or not having enough ideas for the retrofit construction
or not having any ideas for new programs.
We are moving ahead with God’s ministry through FCBC because we believe in Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus said, as long as we “strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all of these things (the resources, the ideas, the plans, the energies) will be given to you as well.” And this has been true!
Let me tell you about some of the wonderful ministries that are happening in our church.
1. Next weekend, almost 40 women will be attending a fun-filled spirituality
retreat to grow in the faith. This is a first-time event when young women and
older women can learn from each other and to gain support from mutual
life experiences. I hope that this will become an annual gathering and attracting
even more women in the future.
2. And because of the women’s effort to work together and to grow in Christ together, it has sent a “wake-up” call for the men in the church to also recognize that there are men’s issues that may need addressing. So next Saturday, many men in our church with their children will gather for a brunch and Christian fellowship.
This is a wonderful expression of God’s children growing and learning to become disciples for Christ!
3. Following the highly successful regional Bible study groups that the Chinese-speaking congregation launched late last year, I have been praying that such a ministry can also be started for the English congregation. So beginning at the end of this month, we are planning to sponsor 4 Bible study groups for the 7-weeks of Lent. We hope that interests will grow and that many more groups will be planted all around the Bay Area.
4. Our commitment to the Chinatown Ministry is unwavering. God has chosen us for 120 years to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ right here in Chinatown. We will continue the highly effective Friday Night School program and partner with the City College of SF to offer English classes in our church building. But we will also begin to expand our ministries to reach out to the thousands and thousands of people who don’t know Jesus Christ. There will be two evangelism events this fall to invite people to Christ. We are also exploring the ideas of using our church building more for new programs such as after-school tutoring and fellowship groups.
5. This year we will also be seeing more new programs for people to grow in their faith and to invite new friends to our fellowship. We have a small group that is exploring the scope of Outdoor Ministry for our church. These could be new ways for children, youth and adults to learn about God’s natural creation and in turn grow in their faith. We plan to sponsor a Christian Artist Series this Fall when Christian artists: singers, poets, instrumentalists, storytellers, and others would come and do concerts in our newly refurbished sanctuary. It will be a great way to invite colleagues and neighbors to come to church.
6. Check out the new Photo Directory. This is a product of love for Christ! The countless hours that Milton, Roger, Don, Anna, Lancelot and Mr. Au Kong gave to this project cannot be explained except for their love for Christ. Surely it’s not perfect and there are errors, but it is a gift of love and therefore it is beautiful. Check out the annual reports and see the thousands of hours that you dedicated to the work of this church. These are gifts of love. Check out the church’s web page. Both Vincent and Sherry are now spending many hours a week keeping this new technology to reach new people up to date and relevant. These too are gifts of love.
7. Probably the most significant decision that happened last year was in December. When we unanimously approved the 2000 Mission Budget even though we were still short in pledges, it reflected our “Don’t worry” spirit. Praise the Lord! Some of us could have started worrying about what to eat, what to drink, and what to wear. We may have worried about being “homeless” without any equity to our name. But with faith, we moved ahead and you can see, God is blessing us everyday.
Homeless Tomorrow
Even if we have to face further delays, I promise that we will be moving back to our church home this year. You can count on that! We may no longer be homeless in the physical sense like we have been in the past six months. But I hope that we will continue to have a “homeless for God” spirit.
It has been good for us to walk up Clay Street and to Stockton Street to the Lau school every Sunday because God has given us a chance to see more of his children in Chinatown. We need to be here as well as on Waverly Place.
It has been good to start Bible studies in Friday Night school students’ homes and in our own homes, to meet at the old St. Mary’s school, and to continue to offer classes at CEC and the YMCA. We are learning that God is in all different places of the world.
It has been good to see the windows in our church building opened up and even the little holes for the through-bolt seismic work because they symbolize that our church is open to minister to the world and that the world is welcome to come into our church. Being “homeless for God” is teaching us to be more evangelistic and more inviting.
When we rededicate our church home scheduled for the September 29,30, October 1 weekend this fall, our windows and doors need to stay open. The learnings in being “homeless for God” that we have known so far need to be applied especially when we move back into our building. It will be tempting to only think about ourselves and the beautiful facilities that we will have and forget what we have learned.
God has carried us along this far and I know that God will continue to carry us on when we don’t worry about what to eat, what to drink or what to wear. It is only when we strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness that all these things will be given to us as well.
FCBC is a very strong church and speaking on behalf of Pastor Mak and the staff, we are very grateful to have this opportunity to serve with you. We look forward to this coming year with high expectations and excitement for the Lord is good. Let us continue to be “homeless people for God” at FCBC.