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This last year has been a strange year with many good things happening and yet there is a sense of something not quite being right, as numbers have dwindled a little recently. I believe we need to renew our vision as to where we are going. Despite this I sense that God is working in people’s hearts and helping them both to ask and to discover just how they can be a part of taking the church forward. We have a lot of potential in our church and I foresee that God will move us forward as we seek to become the healthy church God has called us to.
Last year we had the year of prayer and we played a part. We not only held our own week of prayer but we helped others churches in Toxteth to be able to hold a combined week of prayer. This year we have been working with the churches in Toxteth again to bring cooperation and training to ministers during Passion Week. Later in the year we shall be considering how we can again participate in Merseyfest by holding a week of prayer and evangelism in the autumn. On the theme of prayer I have been very encouraged to see the monthly week of prayer being transformed into a weekly prayer meeting and to see many young people taking a part in this and showing a concern for taking LCGC forward in God’s will by the Holy Spirit’s guidance. I am much encouraged by this, as it is commonly been noted that you can tell the health of the church by the number of people who attend the prayer meeting.
Another highlight last year was that five of us were able to go to South Africa and help with the Gauteng Outreach mission organised by OM International. Everyone who went on the mission was encouraged as they saw God working in the different teams that they were assigned to. The training, organisation and assignments were all very beneficial and I would recommend anyone to go on such trips in the future.
Last year we also saw the new church constitution being voted into place and a new structure to the church which is gradually being implemented. We have to make some minor changes to this to get the final approval of the charity commission and these will have been distributed to all members for their approval at the General Meeting today. Please continue to pray for our board of trustees who are working hard in the background to make LCGC into both a legal and godly body that will be a force for good and God in this new decade.
I have just come back from a sabbatical leave and found the courses I was doing very helpful and gave me food for thought. Visiting other pastors and seeing them in their church situations has also been illuminating, refreshing and helpful. Pray for me that I will know how to pastor this church well and see it become what God would have it to be. One of the topics I found most interesting while studying was the concept of what constitutes a healthy church and that is something that I intend to bring to our attention over the next few months. Though I am not a person who goes for themes too much, I really feel that the next few years we should consider themes along the lines of what makes a healthy church healthy and then put it into action.
Friday Fellowship has also gone through a transition and I want to thank Rebecca Fong for her help with that and for Danny Wong being willing to take over the leadership of the fellowship with the help of a very able team they have put together. The topic of discipleship has been the main theme during the spring and I have heard very mixed reports as to how Friday Fellowship has been going. Nevertheless, discipleship is at the heart of a healthy church, it is part of the Great Commission that we are called to and so we are already moving in the right direction.
As usual each year we will be preparing for the summer and how to reach out to the part-time summer students who come from Malaysia to finish off their degrees, together with the Mandarin congregation we will consider how best to reach out to these students in the future.
This year we are doing something new in August by having a short retreat for the English Congregation. We will go away for the late bank holiday from the evening of Friday 27 to lunch time on Monday 30 August. The theme will be “Made for Ministry” and we will be looking at Spiritual Gifts, what they are and how we can use them to build the church. It will also be a time of family fun with activities for both the youth and the children. This is something new for us so please pray for it as we continue the preparation
Cell-groups are still going, and will be a feature of the church as we go forward, but I believe that it is time for us to review and consider how we can make better use of cells, what kind of cell structure we should promote and to consider how we can develop them to become more effective as a means of outreach. One idea is to have cells based more on common interests and so be more open to people outside the church coming in.
I want to thank all people who worked hard in various departments, and look forward to continue working with you to see God move IN our church and Merseyside over the next year.
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2009-2010 Mandarin Congregation Report - Pastor David
Daniel Deng is now well-settled into our staff team and this had led to us being able to start some new initiatives. This year has not been the easiest for him with sick relatives at home in China and the birth of his second son Caleb adding to his often sleepless nights. But God is good and has sustained him throughout it all. They have also had the blessing of finding a new house to live in and also the stress that comes with moving. Pray that they will settle well and soon be into a good routine with the new responsibilities that come from owning a house and greater family responsibilities.
The Mandarin congregation is still very dynamic with many people coming and going and coming back etc. But now is the time of harvest, and so I am working with Daniel and the Mandarin Committee to see in what ways we can expand this work and develop it more quickly. The English Corner is still going strong, though we have fewer numbers. Our thanks go to all the native English speakers both from inside and outside our church and the dedicated work and sharing particularly of John Isherwood. It has been instrumental in bringing people to Christ. Fewer asylum seekers are available to come now, but we are beginning to reach a few more intellectuals and their wives. Since scholars are very interested in English and most volunteers are native English speakers, one thing I will be proposing soon that perhaps English Corner should move back to being part of the English ministry.
We are also developing other ministries, including Bible study groups. One new Bible study in Mandarin on Liverpool campus has started and we are building relationships with other organisations and churches that have a burden for student outreach. The other initiative led by some of the ladies in the church is a wives’ support group, which we have termed the “Ruth Group” for those ladies who have come over with their husbands or families and do not have a clear role for themselves. These ladies often do not have a strong grip on English and feel very disorientated and lonely, it has been successful so far in making several ladies feel more at home in UK and help them understand more about the gospel.
Solomon and Mrs. Lee are doing an excellent ministry among the asylum seekers and we need to applaud their hard work and sacrifice for their needs. We have experimented with 2pm services over the last few months which have changed the dynamic of the work to some extent. We have lost some people in this way and gained new people. One proposition that we are considering at the moment is to move the Mandarin service back to 10 a.m. and ask the English congregation to meet at 2 p.m., so pray for us as we think through the consequences of this. We are presently looking into mentoring as a way to disciple these brothers and sisters.
The harvest is ripe and nowhere was this more obvious than in the number of students that came to our Mid-Autumn Festival event last year. We almost ran out of room for everyone in the main hall. The group is now the largest of the Friday evening meetings. Jessica and her team have been doing the same for the students, training them up and organising regular activities to evangelise and build up the students. They are looking into ways of working with other churches and organisations to reach these students.
Her team are considering what will be the best way to reach out to the short-term students who will come in the summer of this year. More and more Mandarin speaking students are coming to Liverpool, so we are excited to see what God will do in the future.
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廣東話堂, 週五青年團契, 中文學校報告 溫志文傳道
Cantonese Congregation, Friday Youth Fellowship & Chinese School AGM Reports 2009-2010 by Jonathan Wan
溫志文傳道報告 Report from Jonathan Wan
在過去半年，廣東話堂的事工情況尚算穩定。
In the last 6 months, the Cantonese Ministry has been very stable.
1. 主日學：星期日早上的主日學如常進行。至2月份已完成了【啟示錄】的查考，3月份開始了新的課程：舊約綜覽。這課程預計在今年內會完成。參與者頗為積極。
Sunday School (Adult) : Every Sunday morning the Sunday school has been running regularly. In February, we finished studies on the book of Revelation. From March, we started a new study schedule of OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY. This course should finish within this year. All those attending have been very enthusiastic about the course.
2. 週五青年團契：踏進新一年，團契情況原不很理想，因參與者因各種因素（工作、家庭）顯得很不穩定。感謝主，在我們沒預算的情況下，藉著教會網頁及其他教會的教牧同工介紹，在短短一兩月內，增加了四至五位新朋友。雖然原有的團友能夠較積極參與的只有三四位，但也顯得比過去一年熱鬧及有活力。由於大部份新朋友的信仰基礎很淺，因此週會是以查考【馬太福音】為主，各團友則按個人意願協助帶領唱詩時段。
至於晚餐的安排也更改為與其他二堂一起用餐，但卻辛苦了國語組的團友，因他們是主力負上烹煮的責任。
Friday Youth Fellowship: When the new academic term started, for some reasons ( work, family …etc.) the turnout has not been ideal and the attendance variable. We thank God that he brought some new comers to us through the church website and on other pastors’ recommendations. We now have 4-5 new comers joining our fellowship. Most of them are very young in their belief, so we started studying the Gospel of Matthew to help them build up their faith. Some of them are helping to lead worship. From March, we have fellowship dinner with the other two fellowships (English & Mandarin). We are grateful to the Mandarin Fellowship who has kindly taken care of the cooking arrangements.
3. 男士團契：團契的聚會情況不算穩定，目前參與者只局限有本堂數位弟兄。團契的功能仍未能充份發展其外展的功能。
Men’s Fellowship: Attendance has been variable, all attending currently are church members. The fellowship is not yet ready to do outreach work.
4. 監獄探訪：等待了一年多的安檢過程，在今年一月份，我已取得「隨時探監」的認可身份，亦於一月28日開始首次在監獄華人福音聚會，當日的同行者有：徐毅榮牧師（Rev. David Seiboth）、譚潤生弟兄（Stephen Tam）及鄭雅文姊妹（Jessica Huang）。3月18日則舉行了第二次聚會，同行者有鄧永望傳道（Daniel Deng）、冼英炎弟兄（Ying Yuen Sin）、鄭雅文姊妹（Jessica Huang）及羅子明弟兄（Chei Ming Lo）。有關未來的情況，將與6月份跟監獄的官員進行檢討。
Prisons Ministry: Since January 2010, Jonathan has obtained security clearance for unlimited access to visit & minister to prison inmates at anytime. On 28th January, we had the 1st Chinese Gospel meeting with all the Chinese prisoners. Rev. David Seiboth, Stephen Tam and Jessica Huang came with me. The 2nd meeting took place on 18th March, with Daniel Deng,
Ying Yuen Sin, Jessica Huang and Chei Ming Lo making up the rest of the prison ministry team. We’ll have a review meeting in June with the prison officers.
5. Blackpool查經班，已於三月底完成查考「馬太福音」。四月份開始將查考「啟示錄」。每次人數約25人。
Blackpool Bible Study Group: We finished the study on the Gospel of Matthew at the end of March. From Mid April, we will study the book of Revelations. We have 25-30 persons attending the group each time.
6. 中文學校：由於老師不足，故今年停辦了國語班，加上廣東話班亦有老師退役，故只剩下五個班級。學生人數也因此減少了三分之一。建議應考慮儘快增設國語班的任何可能性。否則，中文學校的前途是未許樂觀。
Chinese School: Due to the shortage of teachers, we have closed the Mandarin Class. A teacher from the Cantonese Class has resigned, and thus we have only 5 Classes this year. Our student numbers have been reduced by 1/3. I would like to find a way to re-start the Mandarin Class as soon as possible, but I cannot see a way forward at the moment. However, I am not certain if any more improvements can be made in the near future
未來計劃
Future Plans
自五月份起，下半年將積極推動祈禱事工。明年（2011）正計劃作「利物浦廣東話遍傳大行動」。
From May this year, we will be working hard on our Prayer Ministry. The coming year (2011), we are planning to have a ‘Reach all the Cantonese in Liverpool’ project.
自五月份開始的祈禱事工，將包括以下各項建議：
From May, we will start the Prayer Ministry. We will have the following activities:
1. 首先推動週五早上的祈禱會，藉八次祈禱訓練班，教導有關正確的祈禱態度與方法。
Each Friday morning, we’ll have our Prayer Meeting. The first 8 meetings will be a Prayer Training Programme — Prayer of Jabez. This will teach the way and proper attitude of prayer.
2. 接著將儘快成立廣東話堂祈禱組，藉此在會友中建立「祈禱良伴」、「祈禱網」等活動。
Followed by that, we will form a Prayer Committee, helping to build up Prayer Partners, Prayer Net, etc. and other activities to encourage prayer.
3. 在六月及十月，將推行兩次「禁食祈禱會」，藉此教導有關禁食祈禱的事情，並為教會及利物浦的福音工作祈禱。
In June and October, we will be having “Prayer and Fast Meetings”. The aim of these meetings is to teach on fasting, and pray for Liverpool and our Church.
2011年將推行「利物浦廣東話遍傳大行動」，有關計劃仍在思考中。
The proposal to ‘Reach all the Cantonese in Liverpool’ is still in the planning stage. Please pray for us.
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English Friday Fellowship Report 2009/10 by Danny Wong
The Team |
1. Who is the team and what do they do
Rebecca Fong, Thomas Liu, Joei Chung, myself Danny Wong (group leaders) and Luke Ha (worship co-ordinator). So far, the group leaders have been responsible for leading the groups into discussion whilst we study this term’s material “Discipleship Explored”. They prepare by reading the material and questions before-hand, consider the answers and then lead the group into a productive and healthy time of discussion. We haven't deliberately met as group as such to remain accountable to one another but we regularly practice accountability and pray with and for one another during Tuesday's prayer meeting as well as meet on a regular basis.
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| Previous vision |
2. Summary of the previous vision
The vision was on the Kingdom of God. How to live in the Kingdom of God, how to live in His will as a living sacrifice. It was a vision based on Romans 12:1-2. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will”.
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3. Summary of the regular and special events
Every week we start with food prepared by the “Mandarin Fellowship” then proceed to song worship, watch the DVD provided by “Discipleship explored”, then enter into discussion groups. Although sometimes we have tea and coffee to offer a break.
Prayer meeting on a Tuesday evening was a regular event and in some ways the most fruitful part of FF.
4. The outcome of any previous vision
The outcome of this arrangement was that we all grew closer together as a group both as a fellowship and in the Lord. More events will be scheduled as well as a deliberate effort to shift our vision into a group that increases in inviting, welcoming, encouraging and being relevant to both Christians and non-christians.
5. What progress took place
One progression is in the fruit of the Spirit by certain individuals. Individuals who I see become more gentle, kind, joyful, loving, etc. People were free and able to express their opinions or listen during discussion.
6. Specific challenges
One particular challenge was to allow God to affect the everyday of our lives. Through the discussion a recurring question was, “how...” How do we have more of the Kingdom affect out lives? How do we allow ourselves to be disciples, to shine and be salt to the earth? Etc... One particular incident that catalysed this process was helping the mandarin fellowship cook. I believe FF was under the impression that we serve when its convenient. However, when Jessica made it known to me that we weren't trying SACRIFICING enough I personally felt convicted that I wasn't serving like I should do. This led to a challenge made from the front that we aren't living the Kingdom of God and once this was out in the open the challenge was graciously received and taken on.
7. Unforeseen circumstances, needs or opportunities that have arisen since.
A challenge I have yet to deal with is the problem of spiritual support. I have witnessed a few from FF fall away from God and struggle on their own. I am unsure if this particular problem is outside of my power as a leader however I wish to do my very best to lead FF as a group of individuals that go from strength to strength in their reliance on the Lord. On the other hand there are people I didn't expect to rise up and really lead the group in a positive and productive way. I was surprised to find the enthusiasm for a day of fasting. It was this that helped me to be encouraged to see that FF is hungry to be challenged and pushed further and deeper into the presence of God.
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| Vision of the future |
8. Direction that the ministry is expected to take in the next year (Use SMART)
(Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevance, Timescale)
That we'll grow in number. By inviting our friends both old friends who we have lost touch with who used to be apart of “Youth group”, new friends and non-christians. Sometimes we forget that there are people who remain as acquaintances and have fallen away not just from God but as friends as well.
I think character is hard to quantify but that we as a group will continue to grow in all the fruits of the Spirit as depicted in Galatians 5:22. A focus on the “Kingdom of God” will continue.
We hope to “express” our “look” by looking to change the website with Jason and making some videos that describe who we are so that we're promoting ourselves, who we are and Who we represent. These videos will also allow former members who are away in other countries or university to keep in touch with what we're doing and stay involved.
“This generation has a significant responsibility for shaping the new ways of thinking that will define its own age but also that of the coming era... Our challenge is to reinvent the church without changing the message, to reach this generation for the sake of the age to come”. From “24-7- Red moon rising”. Unfortunately I have yet to decide on a way in which to communicate this to FF. However, this will be a part of the vision for next term.
9. Thinking further than ahead in a 3, 5 or 10 year plan
I hope that in 3 years we will continue to grow in love, to continue to discover the mystery of the “Kingdom of God”, continue to live in sacrifice and continue to discover our cross and to take it up like Jesus says. To have a developed website and video blog system. To have appropriate PA system and lighting equipment. I hope that we will be a community that reaches out to all nations be it the local community or international students. How long that takes, I don't know.
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| Strategy |
10. How to achieve this vision
I hope that WE as FF will to continue to teach, encourage or “live” the gospel of grace revealed through Jesus and each other. I personally will hope to achieve this vision by continually surrendering myself to God's will (which is the Kingdom of God) to live in constant touch and an active relationship and to love my fellow man regardless of anything. The media used will be used to communicate to those who are members of FF but also to those outside of it.
11. What resources (5M’s) will be needed
(Materials, Method, Manpower, Machinery, Money)
On the technological (media) side of things these 5 M's have yet to be fully discussed. We are still in the early stages of planning, however, I do expect this process to take place over at least a year as funds will need to be raised and research done.
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Youth Group Annual Report 2009-2010 - Rebecca Fong
LOOKUP↑YOUTH GROUP
“Be looked up to, be looked after, be looking out and always look up when down”.
The Team:
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Main Overseer
Overseers
Youth Leader
Group Leaders
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Pastor David Seiboth
Stephen Chan, Nicholas Johnson
Rebecca Fong
Danny McMullen, Adrian Chan, Christopher Smith, Hill Chan, Carmay Lin, Victor Troung, Thomas Liu, Ben Tang, Joei Chung, Ruth Heng
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THE VISION
“My Family Life to Flourish for the Glory of God”
General Overview
The General Program
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LOOKUP YOUTH PROGRAM 2010
DATE |
TOPIC |
BIBLE PASSAGE |
Jan 3 |
FIC 9-Forgiveness |
Matthew 18:34-35 |
10 |
FIC 10-Truth=Freedom |
Hebrews 5:14 |
17 |
FIC 11- Loving Others |
Matthew 22:37-40 |
24 |
FIC 12-Where are you going? |
1 Timothy 1:5 |
31 |
ANDY COOK- Dalit update |
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Feb 7 |
FIC 13- Keep going! |
Philippians 4:11-13 |
14 |
God is like a …JEALOUS LOVER |
Ppl around the Cross intro. |
21 |
COMBINE CNY SERVICE |
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28 |
God is like a …ROCK |
Peter |
Mar 7 |
God is like…LIGHT |
Nicodemus |
14 |
God is like a..MOM |
Mary |
21 |
God is like a..GIFT |
The two robbers |
28 |
God is like a..COMEDIAN |
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NEEC 5-8th April
Written by Rebecca Fong
Junior Church Report for 2009/10 - Maw Joo Tan
Junior Church AGM Report - 2009/10
The Team
There are currently Morning Sunday School (10am to 11.15am) and Afternoon Sunday School (12noon to 1.30pm).
This year, we have 16 teachers and 12 helpers in Junior Church. There are 5 Sunday School Classes serving children from age of 4+ (Reception age) to 13 years. There are currently 35 children registered to attend Sunday School.
Morning Sunday School:
Teachers – Fiona Liu, Janet Dyu, Maw Joo Yeo (Janice Teh taught until December 2009)
Helpers – Victor Truong, William Truong, Cindy Pang, Tiffany Lim, Kelvin Ho, Ivan Chee
Afternoon Sunday School:
Splash 1 (ages 4+ to 6):
Teachers – Amy Chan, Annie Fong, Daniel Yeo
Helpers – Esther Law, Kenny Cheung, Margaret Tyau, Bryan Sia, Eva Chee, Suet May Chan
Splash 2 (ages 6+ to 7+) – teachers: Kas Davis, Stephanie Tam, Adrian Chan, Julie Lo, Lydia Chui, (Joanna Liu taught this class until March 2010)
Xstream (ages 8 to 11+) – teachers: Yvonne Lim, Joe Tam, Jessica Huang
GRID (ages 11+ to 13) – teachers: Solomon Ho, Lorraine Chow, Thomas Liu (Michelle Chan taught until July 2009, Michael Maina taught until October 2009)
Summary of Previous Vision
Our vision in the previous year’s report was: to work together with the Chinese School and Youth Group to reach out to the children from the Chinese community and the local community, to achieve this through the Summer Club, outreach programmes and the puppet ministry, to continue equipping the Sunday School teachers and helpers by sending them to the Toolkit Event organised by Scripture Union and Y-Kids at Linacre Mission, to ensure that parents of the children that come to Sunday School can be ministered to.
The above were partially achieved, see below.
Review of the last 12 months
The Children’s Summer Club was held on the 17th to 21st August 2009, followed by the children’s party on the 23rd August 2009. Around 50 children took part in this event. The programme was run with the help of 7 group leaders and 20 full-time and part-time helpers. This event was led by Ian & Elaine Coules, from Kids-Inc. The Summer Club will be held again this year between 9th to 13th August.
Outreach to Chinese School – this year, we have conducted several outreach events at the Chinese school. These include the Opening Ceremony, Chinese New Year and Chinese Class Assemblies. We worked in collaboration with the Youth leaders and young adults from Friday Fellowship to deliver the above.
Change in church circumstances: Mandarin service times moved from 10am to 2pm in November 2009. The effect of this change is the reduction of number of children in the morning Sunday School, and a number of children whose parents attend Mandarin Service not being able to attend Sunday School.
Vision and Strategy
Our vision is to increase collaboration with the Chinese School and Youth Group to reach out to the children from the Chinese community and the local community. We hope to achieve this through the Summer Club and other outreach programmes.
Please pray for the children in the Mandarin congregation that bible teaching can be delivered to these children. Presently Jing from the Mandarin congregation prepares some informal bible activities for the children.
Personal Development
Sunday School teachers’ training day was held on the 7th October 2009 at LCGC. 12 teachers and helpers attended. This in-house training was organised with the aim of providing workshops for improving teaching skills, brainstorming ideas and problem-solving. 8 Sunday School teachers and helpers attended the Toolkit Children and Youth Worker’s Training on 25th April 2009 at Linacre Mission, Bootle. The Sunday School teachers will also be attending Toolkit Children and Youth Worker’s Training on the 17th April 2010 organised by Scripture Union and Ykids. This will be held at the Hope Centre in Aintree.
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Thanks to the Church - Pastor David
Thanks to the Church
I want to thank all of you for your efforts in making LCGC what it is now and call on you to continue to pray and glorify God in making it what He would have it to be. You have all been very patient as we have been working on the new constitution, which has also brought us into a new church structure and hopefully more efficient way of doing things. I hope as we have this meeting to see the final step in seeing the new constitution being accepted by the Charity Commission. They have requested the minor changes that should have been outlined to you all to vote on today. Once that has been done we will finally have the proper legal status we have been seeking as a charity.
I thank God that he has given us a team of full-time workers; Judy, Jonathan, Daniel and myself bring a diverse range of gifts to the church, that when used well together will glorify God yet more. I thank God for in giving me a good sabbatical break, and hope the other co-workers will have the benefit of one soon.
Let us praise God too that we have an excellent Trustee Board whose members have been working diligently in the background to make LCGC a church that can face the challenges of the 21st century. The Trustee Board has been working well with the Management Team to streamline the way we do things in the church so that we can run more efficiently and we have seen Karen Khoo participating in upgrading our administration to make it run more efficiently. So our thanks and praise to God should be for the new trustee board as well.
Our premises are still a limitation to us, so pray that God will provide in some way for us to be able to do all the things that He would have us do for his glory. An ideal would be to be able to have all three services at the same time, but that eludes us at the moment. As it is we can praise God that we make the most of what he has given us on a Sunday.
As a church we should be proud that God has given us members who are willing to work hard for His Kingdom. We depend on each other to make it work well, so once again on behalf of the whole church, I want to thank all of you for your participation in the work over this last year. Whether you did this work in the capacity of office holders, such as deacons and elders, or simply as concerned and conscientious members, who have worked really hard, sometimes in the background with few people seeing what you have done, we want to express our deep and heartfelt thanks. In whatever capacity you have helped, we want to say that we appreciate all that you do.
Thank you.
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