February 3, 2002
It is true when people say, “when you’re having fun, time flies by.” It is hard for me to believe that I am sharing my fourth “state of the church” report with you today. And once again, I am happy to report to you that, “God’s church is well.”
When I first arrived, I naturally resorted to drawing from some of the skills and experiences that I have acquired before. Some worked better than others. After working with you for the past 3 years, I now realized that the ideas in my “bag of tricks” are all used up. This is really good news.
The longer that I am with you the more I understand that to be “God’s church,” it has never been about gimmicks and flashy new ideas. It has always been about faithfulness, obedience, and humility. I have learned that from you in which I am truly grateful.
Faithfulness, Obedience, and Humility
In 2001, we have been faithful. On 52 Sundays, we kept the doors opened to the sanctuary to pray, sing, read Scripture, and worship God. And on the other days in the year, God used us to reach out to our neighbors, build discipleship, and bear witness to our Lord. Being faithful year after year means that our trust is in God rather than on any passing fad. We read the Bible for the word from God.
When I look out into the congregation, I would see Julia Lu always sitting on that front chair next to Marjorie Choy. She reminds me of our faithfulness when she comes to worship week after week. And when she’s not there, many of us would notice and we would pray that she’s okay.
Faithfulness can also be seen in the list of church officers, board and committee members. Serving the church by attending meetings is hardly the most exciting thing we do at FCBC. But we also know that “somebody has to do it.” We can see this in the number of people who manage our finances week after week—counting the contributions, paying bills, posting reports, and even paying the staff on time. So we accept our nomination and do our part of being a Baptist witness in today’s world. We have added another year to the 120 years of faithful service to God.
In 2001, we have been obedient. The cost of discipleship has always been our goal and in the past year, I continue to see how we have been obedient to God’s call. On the third Friday night of each month, I see Maddie Dong and Kim Woo giving up their Fridays to be with our youth. On Saturday morning, I see Alvina Tai working with Chinatown youth and helping them to know Jesus. Every Sunday morning, I see So Be Dong’s passion for the little children led her to get Milton and the boys to carry up huge bags of crafts and snacks. People at this church work long and hard because they are obedient to God.
The praise that we see is that more people want to do even more. Now we have Adam Kung leading Children’s Fellowship on Sunday afternoons. In March, we will sponsor a short-termed mission team to Mexicali, Mexico to work with Chinese immigrants there. When we are obedient to God, God leads us into new ministries and with joy in our hearts, we carry out God’s mission. While President Bush thinks that more Americans should volunteer for the Peace Corps, Americorps or his new Freedom Corps, this God’s church continues calling up volunteers to serve in Jesus’ corps of disciples for the past 121 years.
In 2001, we have been humble. I know that it’s cultural for us to regularly reflect attention away from ourselves and to give other people credit for a job well done. This is very Chinese but it’s also Christian. When Clarence Chan spent many hours and using his wonderful abilities to hand fashion window locks going out to the fire escapes, he never asked for recognition. He goes about his work because as a Christian, his gifts glorify God. I think about Charcoal Choy and his dedicated team of volunteers who not only collated and stapled the Annual Reports and the Directories that we have today, but this group of saints once a month fold and mail the church newsletter. And when I thank them, they would say, “We have nothing else to do.” But we know better. Although they may have other things to do, they chose to give of their time to help in advancing God’s work in the world through our church. In deep humility, we understand all that we do is actually God working in and through us.
I have only mentioned a few people to illustrate the kinds of people who love the Lord and this church. There are a host of other people whom I have not named but who gave generously of their time, talents, and treasures to this church. There are just too many of you to name in the short time that we have. But I do want to say that we deeply appreciate what you do and may God continue to call you into Christian service and witness.
Emerging Concerns
As your Church Staff works in partnership with you, we see three emerging issues that will most likely occupy our time and energies in the coming year.
1. More Space
With expanding programs and growing Sunday morning attendance, we are at full capacity as far as our available space. Moving in and out of our sanctuary is filled with warm greetings and fellowship. Scheduling rooms for meetings and programs always needs to be cleared with Wendy Luo first. We have started looking at our current space more creatively so that more can be done with less. Our space needs, of course, is a good problem. A future challenge for us will be to identify new space for meetings and classes in the coming year. And when the YMCA begins its new building, the scarcity of space will be even more critical unless new space is identified.
We plan to put together a task force to begin looking at this good problem of ours and to bring recommendations to you for consideration and feedback.
2. September 11th
Probably the Number 1 event that has shaped our view of life recently was the tragedies of September 11th. Our ground of being was shaken and we found ourselves
holding on to each other. We know of friends and acquaintances that were affected by the East Coast tragedies and even some people in harm’s way on the War on Terrorism. Sensing and fearing that danger is so much closer than we like, we see a growing desire to rediscover what makes life meaningful. We may find ourselves re-ordering and re-arranging priorities that we thought were already in place. And most importantly, we are discovering that we are only members of a larger world community that offers us a lot to learn about. People and neighbors who are different from us can teach us God’s majesty in creation. And perhaps if there is any positive effect from such terrible events, it may be that for all of us who are alive today, today is an opportunity to deepen our faith and trust in God.
As your servants who lead worship and design ministries along side of you, we envision a heightened emphasis in helping all of us to value the precious life that we have and to dedicate it to God’s purpose in the world.
3. Bible Understanding
It may be true to say that there’s a Bible study group happening through our church on every day of the week. And on a day like Sunday, hundreds of children, youth, and adults are invited to open to the word of God to reveal God’s plan for our lives and the world. This happens at worship in the sanctuary. It occurs at the Y, at CEC, and upstairs with the children. There is a renewed interest spreading among all the members of our church to study the Bible. The return to the basis of our faith shows that we are looking for guidance and truths to help us make better sense of the world we live. It shows that we want our lives to stand for something by seeing it as a part of God’s overall plan for humanity. And finally, we want to know how to follow Jesus all the days of our lives.
Gaining biblical knowledge is a solid beginning to a lifetime of discipleship. As a staff team, we will continue to offer you solid Christian education so that we may know God in devotion and obedience.
Church Staff Team
I want to say a word of appreciation for the people I work with day after day. Anyone of them could have given this report as well—we all share a passion for this ministry and a dedication to partnering with you to shape our future. Through your call for us to serve, it is a blessing to see how our gifts and abilities enhance and complement each other for ministry. When we work together, we are able to help each other see where we are blind. We build on each other’s ideas so that the final product is one we proudly share with you. I am glad to have Pastor Mak and Pastor Chris as my colleagues.
Special acknowledgments need to be made of Wendy Luo. She is extremely conscientious and committed to getting the job done right. I like that of a person. On Thursday when the annual reports were being collated, while at home she remembered that she forgot to put in a back page for the Chinese reports. Being thorough and “almost perfect” are qualities that I admire greatly. Thank you, Wendy!
“Dwelling in Christ, Our Lives Sing Praises to God”
In 2001, we started a 4-year cycle of annual themes. “With Glad Hearts, God Adds” was an emphasis on evangelism and fellowship. And as you can see from the glowing reports and hearing about the positive financial results, we have lived out these goals well. God has added to our fellowship. Praise God!
The theme for this year, 2002, is “Dwelling in Christ, Our Lives Sing Praises to God.” It is a mouthful! Based on Colossians 3:16, we will focus on the twin topics of discipleship and worship. Most of us often think about worship is what happens on Sunday mornings. That is certainly worship in the formal sense. But when we integrate the themes of worship with discipleship, we can begin to see even a richer challenge for us to explore this year.
When we live out our discipleship particularly outside of the church building, we are worshipping God with our lives. Imagine working at your workplace and without even saying a word about Jesus or God, your actions and decisions that have been made out of your Christian convictions are fair, equitable, and just. Your life is singing praises to God!
Imagine going to school and when your friends are thinking about going beyond the boundaries and you spoke up for what’s right and wrong at the risk of being chastised. Your life is singing praises to God!
Imagine you are in your neighborhood and you noticed that your neighbor needs a little assistance from you so in your busy calendar you make time to be kind. Your life is singing praises to God!
The church staff and your church officers and leaders invite you to become involved in God’s ministry this year. When we get involved by living out our discipleship, we truly worship God with our lives. In our faithfulness, obedience, and humility, let us make 2002, another year when God’s church, known as the First Chinese Baptist Church furthered the kingdom of heaven on earth.