2022年年報

From July 2021 to June 2022 (2021年7月至2022年6月)

二零二二年第二次臨時會友大會會議記錄

Minutes of the 2022 Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) #2

Date 日期                  ：   10 July 2022

Time 時間                 ：   10:15am to 10:55am

Quorum 法定人數   ：   169 out of 320 voting members voted online, which was over the 50% quorum
會友人數是320人，有169人投票會，超過50%法定人數出席

Co-Chair 主席          ：   Elder Wayne Ng

Interpreter 傳譯 ：   Elder Daniel Yeung

Secretary 文書        ：   Elder Wayne Ng

Resolution議決事項：     

Voting to elect four church members from eight candidates, one from each worship service, to join the nomination committee with Pastor Hiram Lau, Elder Kowk Wai Cheung and Elder Simon Chan to nominate candidates for the deacons (2023) and elders (2023-2025) election in AGM 2022.

從每堂崇拜八位候選人當中，選出四位，加入提名委員會。與劉海林傳道、張國偉長老及陳光倫長老，提名執事(2023年度)和長老(2023-25年度) ，在2022年週年會友大會中進行選舉。

The candidates are 候選人:

Worship / 崇拜	Candidate 1 / 候選人一	Candidate 2 / 候選人二
CS1 /粵一崇	Kit Ming Chieng 鄭潔明姊妹	Nancy Chan 陳駱麗明執事
CS2 /粵二崇	Andrew Lam 林建隆執事	Pal Dou 杜駿驊執事
EMS /早英崇	Betty Tu 徐江寶華執事	Deanna Or 柯鄺燕玲姊妹
MM /國 崇	Carol Chen 杜陳秩如執事	Gary Chang 張幹元執事

Result結果：

Voting to elect four church members from eight candidates, one from each worship service, to join the nomination committee with Pastor Hiram Lau, Elder Kowk Wai Cheung and Elder Simon Chan to nominate candidates for the deacons (2023) and elders (2023-2025) election in AGM 2022.

從每堂崇拜八位候選人當中，選出四位，加入提名委員會。與劉海林傳道、張國偉長老及陳光倫長老，提名執事(2023年度)和長老(2023-25年度) ，在2022年週年會友大會中進行選舉。

二零二二年第一次臨時會友大會會議記錄

Minutes of the 2022 Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) #1

Date 日期                  ：   22 May 2022

Time 時間                 ：   10:15am to 10:50am

Quorum 法定人數   ：   159 out of 315 voting members voted online, which was over the 50% quorum會友人數是315人，有159人投票會，超過50%法定人數出席

Co–Chair 主席          ：   Elder Daniel Yeung

Secretary文書        ：   Elder Wayne Ng

Resolution議決事項：     

Voting to endorse the appointment of Pastor Xinning Li as the Mandarin Assistant Pastor for a two-year term from 1 June 2022 to 31 May 2024.

投票確認聘請李新寧傳道，為國語堂助理牧者，任期為兩年，從2022年6月1日至2024年5月31日。

Result結果：

Over 75% of vote in favour of the appointment of Pastor Xinning Li as the Mandarin Assistant Pastor.

超過75% 的投票，贊成聘請李新寧傳道作為國語堂助理牧者。

When sitting down to compose this Annual Report, it has given me an opportunity to reflect on what God has been doing in the English Ministry (EM) over the past twelve months. Much has happened over that time. We have had to face various challenges, both individually and as a congregation/church: whether it be multiple COVID cases over several months, loss of loved ones, financial stress, or even challenges in various ministry areas. We have also had several moments of joy: first-time confessions of faith, new people joining MES, people growing in their personal relationship with God, additional people stepping up to serve in much-needed areas, etc. I am encouraged by the fact that God is the One Who is continuing to achieve His perfect purposes in both the challenges and the joys we have faced (cf. Romans 8:28-29) over the past twelve months.

I have appreciated the opportunity to continue to grow and develop as a pastor over the past twelve months (indeed, the past six years). It has been a privilege to catch up with people, whether as individuals or in a small group. I love encouraging people to explore what it means to be a follower of Jesus, and to take seriously His claim to be King of the Universe. It has been challenging, yet also rewarding, to sit beside people when they grieve, and to point them to the hope we have in Jesus. I am thankful for those who want to catch up to strengthen their walk with God, and who manage to “sharpen” me in the process (Proverbs 27:17). I am also thankful for those who have been willing to trust me enough to open up about some of the challenges they are facing in their Christian journey.

I am thankful for all God has been doing in the various ministries associated with the EM (please see the reports below). I am thankful that people are returning to MES in-person, that new people are joining our MES family, and others are returning after a reasonable absence. I am also thankful that some people who are unable to join us in-person (for various reasons) continue to have the opportunity to join us via livestream or delayed viewing each Sunday.

I am also thankful that the EM Committee have been able to commence a review of how we can more effectively be an EM that has discipleship at the heart of all we do together as a community of believers. We have spent the past few months understanding the five key convictions about discipleship (Why make disciples/What is a disciple/How are disciples made/Who makes disciples/Where are disciples made). In the next twelve months, we will assess how that looks in the EM, and how to continue to develop this as foundational in “the way we do things around here”.

I am also trusting that God will provide His person as Youth Pastor in His perfect timing, as this is an incredibly strategic ministry, not just for the EM, but for the whole of NSCAC.

I am thankful that God has raised up several leaders who give generously of their time across the various areas of the English Ministry. Even though some leaders have needed to step down over the past twelve months, God has raised up additional individuals to step in where required. I pray that God will continue to raise up even more leaders, in order that the English Ministry may continue to grow and glorify God.

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):

• EM Cell Group leaders
• EM Committee/Vine Project team
• EM Ladies group team
• LIFT leaders
• MES Bible readers
• MES bulletin team
• MES Camp team
• MES Committee
• MES IT/AV/Livestream team
• MES Music team
• MES Outreach planning team
• MES Service leaders
• MES Welcoming team/ushers
• NSY leaders

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 35^th 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

The EM ladies’ fellowship hopefully continues to be a group where ladies of all backgrounds in our church (and potentially beyond) can feel welcome and encouraged.  We continue to make Bible study a feature of the ministry.  At the end of last year we had our Christmas party at one of the ladies’ homes.  The ladies enjoyed the generous hospitality.  Hopefully, yearly Christmas gatherings are becoming a firm tradition with this group!  A highlight of 2022 was a traditional high tea held at a cafe in the QVB in May.  Numbers attending were quite high and there was a real sense of fun and occasion that afternoon.  In June, we had our annual EQUIP Women’s conference, which was held remotely at church.  It was well-attended and ladies reported feeling encouraged and edified by this year’s talks on Lamentations. 

Meanwhile, the group is wrestling with finding the right balance between being a group that ladies can have fun attending (e.g. social events) and something that encourages them to go deeper in their walk with God (e.g. Bible studies).  Prayers on this topic are appreciated so that we can get the balance right!

                                                                                                                        Hayley Cheng and Emily Tibbs

Praise God that the music team has been running smoothly in the past year. The ministry has experienced many joys in the past year of serving MES.

One of the main joys has been the return to in-person, live services where our congregation can participate in singing with the music team during worship. This has allowed all attending congregation members to “teach and admonish one another… through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit” with the “message of Christ” (Colossians 3:16). We give thanks to God for enabling MES to worship God together through congregational singing.

As a result of live, congregational singing, the MES worship team has been able to introduce several new songs, as well as increase the number of songs sung per service to three. We have also trialled a theme song, “I Want to Know You”, to support the sermon series on Knowing God. Praise God for our faithful song leaders who choose songs with Biblical lyrics to sing each week, helping our congregation to worship God and meditate on theological truths in the sermon.

While recruiting new members has been a challenge, praise God for our existing members, who eagerly serve week after week to ensure the smooth running of the worship team.

As we move into another year, we continue to depend on God for his provision for the worship team at MES. We hope to run more events, raise up more leaders, train up more musicians and most importantly, help our congregation to faithfully worship God.

                                                                                                            Alex Lei (on behalf of MES Music Team)

The Morning English Service (MES) has continued to serve God despite the challenges faced by the pandemic. I thank God that people have continued to join more in person to the service as we recognise the need to be relational and serve corporately. Please pray for guidance and wisdom as we seek to grow and develop as God’s people within the Epping community.

                                                                                                            Chris Tu (on behalf of MES Committee)

This year at Lift, we slightly changed our vision to better encapsulate what we want to be on about as a university ministry. We sought to be a community that loves God and loves others. Fleshing this out a bit more we identified some areas we wanted to grow in as a group: our hospitality, belonging to the group and organic-ness. And areas we wanted our members to grow in individually: knowledge and enjoyment of God, His word and His people. To this end, we did things a bit differently this year.

We started the year by going to a road trip in January. We enjoyed the time away spent together in God’s beautiful creation, sharing lives and deepening relationships.

In our regular meetings, we made the exciting change of adopting the cell group model which saw us meeting in the homes of members who generously showed us hospitality. This was a big blessing for us as the home provided not just physical warmth in the colder months, but also the warmth of reading the Bible together, and sharing and praying with one another in a homey environment. We also began cooking and having dinner together. It was challenging at first to shop and cook for a large group but as we adjusted, it became a real joy to come together each fortnight to enjoy a meal and conversations together.

We also moved away from pre-written studies and began writing the studies ourselves this year, exploring the person of Jesus in the book of Luke. We found that this allowed the discussion to be clearer in its flow, more pointed to the specific needs and circumstances of our members and deeper, more personal reflection. Our Lord remains as counter-cultural and expectation-exceeding 2000 years ago as He is to us today. He has challenged us deeply in His teachings yet comforted us tenderly in His compassion.  While the year came with its challenges for Lift, I am reminded that Jesus remains enthroned in heaven and Lord of all. God has graciously brought regular members along to Lift each fortnight and grown them in their desire to know and love Him. I am reminded that Christ’s power is made perfect in our weakness and that He is the one who transforms people and gives us new hearts. He has worked in ways far beyond our comprehension and we trust that He has a plan for the university students at North Side even when the path ahead seems uncertain. I am thankful that my co-leaders Alex and Ruby know and are convinced of these truths and that the love they have received from God overflows into the members they love and care for.

Matthew Lo (on behalf of LIFT leaders)

NSY (North Side Youth) is our youth group for high school students and high school-aged youth that meets on Friday nights during the school term. Over the last twelve months, NSY has been able to meet in person and we thank God for the opportunity to have a camp despite having COVID-19 still around. Since the end of 2020, we have had a few changes within the leadership team where Kevin Shum and Lydia Chung have stepped down from leading, while Adrian Ng and Dorothy Kwong have joined the team of NSY leaders. Both new leaders have been involved in helping out in Bible study groups by leading the younger youth in year 7-8. We thank God for continuing to grow and provide for the leaders serving in this ministry.

Over the past four terms, we have focused on encouraging the youth to know, grow, show and sow Christ in their daily lives. Our series for term 4 2021 looked at “The Bible and Us” which looked at what the Bible says about certain topics and how we should respond. In term 1 this year, we did an old testament overview called “Full of Promise” which aimed to encourage the youth to recognise God’s faithfulness and people’s unfaithfulness throughout time. In terms 2 & 3, we did a two part series on the book of Mark on the topic of “The Servant Who Rules” which looked at Mark 1-8, and then “The Ruler who Serves” which was on Mark 9-16. This series aims to look into Jesus’ ministry and teachings as well as encouraging the youth on how to apply the ideas of mission into their lives.

During the April school holidays, a group of NSY youth and leaders went to Katoomba to attend the KYCK youth conference held by KCC. The theme was “Joy”, which looked at the book of Philippians and how we can find joy in all situations of our lives. We were able to attend six talk sessions with time in between for bonding and relationship building. The group stayed an additional two days where the youth had opportunities to reflect on what they had learnt from the conference as well as building better relationships with the other youth. The weekend away was well enjoyed by the youth and leaders and we look forward to another year at KYCK.

During Term 2, we were able to attend two special events. ONWARD was a one-night conference to help youth to make sense of the culture and world around them with a gospel lens. This event took place at Chatswood Concourse and tackled hard to answer questions that the youth may be asked by their non-Christian friends. At the end of term 2, we had a combined youth night with Pennant Hills Baptist Church and Eastwood Community Baptist Church. This event allowed youth to meet other youth in the area where they were able to build friendships with people they might not have met and took place in a new environment. The night consisted of a lot of fun activities, singing songs and chatting over supper.

Throughout this year, we have continually seen God’s work and love in this ministry. There have been challenges along the way, such as the transition back to meeting online and planning for leadership development and the future of NSY. But, we thank and praise God, who has been carrying us through each step and growing the ministry, the youth, and their relationships with one another.

Isaac Cheng (on behalf of the NSY Leaders)