北宣弟兄姊妹及主內同工們, 我們總務團隊在此向大家問安,並感謝你們的代禱和行動的支持, 一起在事奉中領受神所賜的祝福和喜樂。這也正是信徒在信仰生活裡操練信心, 愛心和盼望。
從一月至今,我們靠著神的幫助和大家的參與,已完成以下各樣的事項:
願榮耀歸给神!
受浸者名單 Baptism List
(27/11//2022) 吳玉生姊妹、Claire劉成麗姊妹、沙穎弟兄、Adrian吳政南弟兄
(11/02/2023) 張處邊弟兄
(28/05/2023) 張如今弟兄、朱桂英姊妹、Linda李橋琳姊妹、Sharon紀香蘭姊妹
轉入會友名單 Transfer-in Membership List
(27/11//2022) 黃祖惠姊妹、Kingsley許君碩弟兄、Holly孫凱恩姊妹、Anthony歐陽健邦弟兄、
Veron林宇澄姊妹、Joshua古昭成弟兄、Yvonne古陳惠瑜姊妹、Andrew蔡沛良牧師、Zoe蔡陳艷婷師母(28/05/2023) Eric賴頌恆傳道、Ruth賴李如妍師母
本年度會友新生兒名單 New Born Baby
(07/05/2023) Naomi (熊鑫、杜鳳儀夫婦之女兒)
(09/08/2023) 黃皓之Aysa (黃頌賢Caleb與黃陳沛儀Hayley夫婦之兒子)
本年度安息會友名單 Member be with the Lord
(06/01/2023) 孫陸秀英姊妹
(20/02/2023) 張建國弟兄
(14/04/2023) 張處邊弟兄
Catherine Lo 盧汪美莉姊妹
今年長青團的主題是「持定盼望、活出今天、擁抱未來」，團契週會内容除了查經， 還有行山旅行、電影、粤曲欣賞、見證分享、專題、遊戲等等。
去年十一月下旬吳玉生姊妹受洗，她是家中首位基督徒，願神帶領她一家活在恩典中，早日歸主。年初孫婆婆和張伯先後安息主懷，我們都懷着不捨得，盼望將來在天家重聚；也有團友搬遷到安老院舍居住，感謝主她很適應那裏的生活和住得愉快：並為李姨感恩，她最近做完手術，傷口不太痛，好精神，已回家休養，讚美神！
每當擔心出席人數下降，上帝已預備了新朋友來参加聚會，並感動一些本堂弟兄姊妹主動來支持及服侍長青團，很激勵。我們也邀請一些團友負責不同崗位事奉，彼此服侍。
最後，多謝牧者、團契職員、組長、司機，並各方面有份協助及代禱的肢體，有賴他們忠心的服侍及參與，願主賜福給長青團，使用這個平台能榮神益人。
Catherine Lo 盧汪美莉姊妹
「我要因祢歡喜快樂，至高者啊，我要歌頌祢的名！」 詩9:2
自2022年下半年以來，詩班在神的感召下開始恢復實體練詩和獻詩。
盡管詩班人數比疫情前差不多少了一半，由於個别原因暫時不能實體出席，盼望他們有一天可以歸隊，有些聲部没有人唱，指揮會靈活地有一些改動及安排，為求令整體有更佳的效果。近這幾個月先後有兩對夫婦加入詩班，他們在聖樂上有很豐富經驗，感謝主！
詩班除了每月第三個主日獻詩，還會在節期及特别聚會獻唱。
回顧一年來天父對詩班的帶領是實在的，恩典是豐富無比的。願天父帶領我們詩班，做到眾口一心，一起以音樂服侍上帝，歌頌讚美祂。
Pal Dou
Dear Brothers and Sisters, it is time to report what happened to our Church in the eyes of the Board of Deacons.
In 2023, we have ten Deacons: four from Cantonese ministry, four from English ministry and two from Mandarin ministry. We introduced changes in the Board of Deacons. First, we introduced additional Deacons sub-groups. Many of you would know we have a sub-group of General Affairs. This year we formalized a Finance sub-group which handles all the finance, audit, payroll and HR matters. We thank God that we have a youth Deacon joining the team. The Board of Deacons are happy that more and more young people would like to step up and serve God in handling administrative matters of our Church.
2023 is also a challenging year for the Board of Deacons. When our government eased all COVID restrictions, we returned to normal in services. The Church services were crowded again. NSCAC experienced huge growth in the number of patrons. To accommodate additional needs, the Board of Deacons are working on several projects in 2023:
The Board of Deacons is thankful that Deacons worked extra step. The Deacons also thanked for your prayers and ongoing support, especially when our Church is growing, we really need God’s grace to make all the beautiful things happen.
I would like to take the lines of the hymn “For I’m Building a People of Power” as our prayer:
Build Your church, Lord, make us strong, Lord, join our hearts, Lord, through Your Son;
Make us one, Lord, in Your body, in the Kingdom of Your Son.
Pal Dou 杜駿驊執事
親愛的弟兄姊妹，是時候匯報執事會在北宣家教會的事情了。
蒙 神保守，在2023 年教會選出十位執事：四位來自廣東話事工、四位來自英語事工、兩位來自國語事工。我們對執事會架構進行了改進。我們增設了多一個執事分組弟兄姐妹應該知道我們有一個總務組。今年，我們正式增設了財務組，負責處理所有財務、審計、薪資和人力資源事務。感謝神，我們有一位青年執事加入這個團隊。執事會很高興有越來越多的年輕人願意站出來在教會行政事務事奉主。
2023年對執事會來說也是充滿挑戰的一年。當政府放寬所有COVID-19限制後，我們的聚會復常了，教會的崇拜又開始熱鬧起來，北宣家的聚會人數大幅增長。為了有效滿足日益增加的需要，執事會在 2023年開展了幾個企劃：
– 升級教會電子郵件和文件管理系統，以有效管理文件和電郵通訊
– 推出教會財務報告看板，讓弟兄姊妹更清楚了解北宣家的財務狀況
– 規范教牧同工的標準工時以符合法律法規的要求
– 引入 Elvanto系統，有效管理會友資料、新來賓資料、兒童主日學管理及事奉人員編更
在此感謝各位執事委身服事、互相補足。執事們也感謝弟兄姊妹的禱告和持續不斷的支援，尤其是我們的教會在人數增長、越加興旺的時刻，我們真的需要 神的恩典，讓北宣家成為合神心意的教會。
我想以讚美詩《一群大能的子民》中的歌詞成為我們的禱告：
主啊！興起！建立教會，使我們靠你堅固，
成為合一你的肢體，在你愛子的國度。
Allan Wong 黃旭麟弟兄
經歷三年多的COVID-19疫情，實體教會崇拜、主日學、查經班及團契聚會從年初開始續漸復常，在教會會堂內進行。由於會眾及兒童主日學人數增加，使教會場地在主日的使用及調配增加壓力。故此，教會因應需要，把圖書館暫時調配給予兒童主日學使用，直至另行通告。
願神繼續保守及帶領弟兄姊妹使用互聯網，瀏覽聖經及福音資訊，促進靈命成長及親近神。
Allan Wong 黃旭麟弟兄
雅歌團契今年繼續以「活出基督的光輝」為主題，以實踐聖經教導，為主作好僕人、好見証。
從三月開始，團契聚會已經重返實體, 在教會進行。聚會當中包括久違的愛筵晚餐，讓弟兄姊妹重拾相聚相交的美好時光。
此外，今年團契增添了一些新的家庭；願主保守、帶領各位弟兄姊妹一起互相督察、守望相交，行出基督的樣式。
Gordon Liu
在2023 年，路加團承接上一年度的主題「從聚 Re:Union」， 跟從基督，聚集相交。一同學習如何猶如當年以色列民，出埃及時跟從雲柱火柱，隨行隨停。在世界各地見到天災人禍，戰事不斷，經濟環境動蕩下，抓緊神不變的應許，在風浪之下仰望基督。
今年團契的弟兄姊妹都經歷不少的轉變：有踏入人生新階段初為父母，喜見新生命的誕生，經歷神大大的祝福；有留學生來到聚會查經，歸主成長，帶來年輕的活力朝氣；更多的是今年初來雪梨，聚集在北宣路加團，在求學或是工作中希望落地生根。弟兄姊妹縱然在截然不同的境況，但感恩仍然願意花心力時間互相支持，在禱告分享，更多時候是身體力行下砥礪同行。
Rev. Andrew Tibbs
I continue to thank God for all He has been doing in and through NSCAC over the past year, and over the past 35 years. I am also thankful for, and humbled by, the privilege to serve as the English Pastor over the past 7 years.
It has been said that you can summarise the New Testament in two words: “Come” and “Stay”.
“Come” is the call for those not yet in a personal relationship with God – the only way to be right with God is to come to Jesus. He opened the way to God through His perfect obedience (both in His life and in His death on the cross). We come to Jesus because we cannot make ourselves right with God by our own efforts, morality or general goodness.
“Stay” is the call for those who have already come to Jesus – we are only able to bear the fruit of discipleship if we remain in Jesus (John 15:4). This call to stay is about remaining as part of the Body of Christ – people can “stay” in Jesus even when they leave NSCAC, as all disciples are citizens of the one kingdom of King Jesus.
If I may be so bold, I would like to add a third word; “Grow” – this actually ties in closely to “Stay”, but is worth emphasising. The evidence that an individual’s “stay” is genuine is that they will “grow” (that is, they will bear the fruit of discipleship from John 15, which Paul calls “the obedience of faith” in Romans). This growth occurs over time, and can be at different rates for each individual.
Across all areas of the English Ministry, our overarching goal in everything we do is to see people “come”, “stay” and “grow”. MES has been looking at this as we have been going through Paul’s letter to the Romans – looking at what it means to glorify God by being a united missionary church, humbled together under grace. NSY, the English-language Growth Groups, and our Ladies’ group and Men’s Ministry are also striving to be places for people to “come”, “stay” and “grow”. And our English Ministry Committee has formed a “Vine Project” team to prayerfully evaluate how effectively we are moving people further in the process of discipleship (called “learning Jesus” in the Vine Project), so that we can continue to make adjustments and improvements in how we achieve this.
I continue to thank God for the opportunity to grow and develop as a pastor – I expect this learning process to continue for the remainder of my life and ministry. I am thankful that God is also continuing to work in the lives of the individuals in the English Ministry, and that people want to grow in their relationship with God, and to serve others in various ways.
I am thankful that people have been returning to attending MES in-person over the past 12 months. Another highlight was the MES Camp held in Collaroy last October (alongside the Mandarin Camp).
God has been gracious in bring Eric to join us as Youth Pastor in 2023 – I am enjoying working alongside him. The entire pastoral team has adjusted smoothly to the new dynamic.
I want to thank everyone that has volunteered to serve over the past twelve months, across all areas of ministry. The English Ministry (and the church) is unable to grow effectively without people generously giving of their time and energy to serve others within the church. To avoid the possibility of leaving out anyone, I will mention the areas of service here (in alphabetical order, as there is no favouritism):
I also want to thank those who have served “behind the scenes”, either in a voluntary capacity, or to support those on the front line.
As we enter our 36th year as NSCAC, I continue to be excited by what God plans to do in the English Ministry. I continue to echo Paul’s prayer for the Philippian church (as recorded in Philippians 1:9-11) for each individual in the English Ministry, and each individual in NSCAC:
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
In Him
Rev Andrew Tibbs