English Congregation – Pastor David 英文堂 – 徐毅榮牧師
We praise God for all His blessings to us this year.
Our goal this year is to increase the English Congregation membership and attendance by 10% and to become more intentional in our discipleship of believers. God has been good and membership has increased accordingly, but overall attendance has not reached our goal yet, perhaps by the end of the year God will move new people to become regular attenders of the English service.
Our ministry through small groups is growing. We see this ministry as important as it is a way for us to care for one another more intimately and build one another up in the Christian faith. Becky and Tom have seen the Young Adults Ministry increase in numbers and so they now have four different groups meeting in various areas of the city. God has also blessed the small groups we have for men, women and students throughout the year, which has challenged and encouraged each group.
We had a good number of students attending our Friday Fellowship, including many who were not Christians but seeking the truth about life. We had our student welcome this year on September 27th, and it was good to see all three congregations working together to reach out to bring the Good News of Christ to the many students here in Liverpool. Many of the ways we have served God in the past are similar to the ones that we have been doing in the past, but this coming year we are continuing to look into how to make these more effective and intentional in the way we are discipling individuals and groups.
Mission is also something that is very much on our hearts. We hope to have training in outreach later in the coming year, particularly with the view to how to share our faith with Muslims. Our link with Lesley Lai, has encouraged us to think more about how we can effectively share the gospel with other cultures.
This training would also be useful for those of us who are working at Earle Road Hub. We are asking God to show us just how best to use the resources He has given us to reach out to and meet the needs of the community around Earle Road. As with the student work, the wonderful thing about this ministry is that we have people from all three congregations working together to serve there. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Toxteth Women’s Centre do Evangelistic English classes for Muslim women and on Saturdays we have just started table tennis. The centre is a good alternative venue when our main building is fully booked. At the time of writing this report, there is also a possibility that we will have a Romanian Service at the Hub on Sunday mornings.
It is also good to see how through our church’s Mustard Ministry we can help mission in a wider context. Our desire is to see more people in our church experience local and overseas mission experience as this is a great way to build ones faith and maturity in Christ.
As you can see, there are many things to praise God for this year, he has blessed us in all aspects of our ministry, we have seen the Young Adults Ministry grow into three groups, there are more people attending our Young Families group and we have seen people come to the Lord as their saviour in the Friday Fellowship. The Earle Road Hub, has seen a regular and responsive group coming regularly to our youth group and English Corner.
I know that reports at General Meetings can go on for a long time, and simply be repeating much of what you already know. If you are interested in any of the activities mentioned in this brief report, please come and talk with me. What is happening in all our ministries can be found on Facebook and our recently updated website.
Finally, my thanks go out to all the brothers and sisters who have worked together with us with God’s help, in all the different ministries here at LCGC.
我們讚美上帝所賜給我們的所有祝福。
今年我們的目標是英文堂會友人數和崇拜出席率可以增長一成，並加強門徒訓練。神恩待我們，會友增長已達標，但崇拜出席率仍有待改善，盼望到年底時，上帝感動更多人成為英文堂崇拜的穏定出席者。
透過小組聚會，此事工正在增長；我們體會到小組聚會是一個很好的途徑，能藉著關顧、增加彼此認識和建立在基督裡的信心。婉姍姊妹和家恆弟兄因應青年事工的增長，將這項事工分成四組，在本市內不同地方聚會。上帝亦同時祝福男仕、女仕和學生小組，這帶給我們鼓勵和挑戰。
星期五的學生團契有很好的出席率，當中包括一些慕道者。今年的學生迎新會在九月廿九日舉行，很高興看到三個堂會一起同工，將福音向在利物浦讀書的學生分享。我們去年服事上帝的模式跟過去一直所做的是差不多，但來年會探討如何更有效及進深的向個人和小組，作有果效的門徒訓練。
傳福音一直是我們心中的使命。我們盼望有外展的培訓，特別是向回教徒宣講我們的信仰。我們與Lesley 姊妹的聯繫，鼓勵我們更多思考如何有效地與不同文化的人分享福音。
宣教的培訓同時對在活水中心的同工帶來果效，我們尋求神的指引，善用現有資源，上帝開啟外展之門，使我們能配合本地社區的需要。對於學生事工，神奇妙的將我們三堂的肢體放在一同彼此配搭服事。逢星期二和星期四，Toxteth 婦女中心租用活水中心，舉辦向回教婦女傳福音的英語班；而星期六的乒乓球活動亦開始了。當教會中心在星期六許多時有其他活動同時進行，此中心可以成為我們可以善用和替代舉行活動的場地。執筆至此，使我想到未來的星期天早上，可能會有羅馬尼亞人的主日崇拜。
教會的芥菜事工，幫肋宣教工作的拓展，我們盼望更多教會肢體經歷本地和海外宣教的經驗，以建立他們在基督裡的成長和信心遞增。
大家可以看到，今年上帝從多方面祝福各項事工 —— 青年事工增至四個小組，年輕家庭小組的人數增長，星期五學生團契的學生決志歸主。活水中心 —— 不論青少年團契或英語角，都有一班穏定的參與者。
在會員大會作報告可以持續很長時間，其實只是重覆提及許多大家已知悉的事。若閣下對任何我在此報告內所提的活動有興趣，請與我聯絡。任何本堂的事工均可在臉書或教會最近更新的網頁查閱。
最後，衷心感謝在不同事工上參與服事的弟兄姊妹。
AGM 2019 Earle Road Hub Report – Pastor David Seiboth
Over the last few years the Earle Road ministry has slowly developed in line with the resources that we have at the present.
We have a good team of volunteers from all three congregations and also three other volunteers, one from the neighbourhood and two from local churches.
At present the main ministries that are held there are a youth group and English class on Sunday evenings. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Toxteth Women’s Centre use the building to teach English in a Christian context and on Saturdays there is table tennis on the first, third and fifth month. On Wednesdays there is a Cantonese Bible Study held there and from time to time the NHS hold their “Healthy families” programme there on Wednesday afternoons after school.
We are still working on minor improvements to the building, we have added some more storage space in the main hall, and have removed the stage as it was proving to be a hazard to the Women’s ministry. We have repainted the doors and are planning to do other minor improvements over the next year.
One great relief to us is that the School at the back of the building has responded to our complaint that soil was coming down from their site and causing damp in our walls. They have now built a new retaining wall there, which has relieved the problem and improved the look of the site.
Recently there is another Christian group that would like to use our building on Sundays for their morning worship service. We are in the process of working this out with them, but nothing definite has been decided as yet.
Starting in October, we have initiated a fortnightly prayer meeting at the Hub on Monday evenings at 6 pm. Previously we tried to do this after the meetings on Sunday, but by then most of us were tired from a full day of work and really need to get home and rest for the coming week. Please pray with us as we seek God’s guidance to know how best to use this God given resource.
Finally, I want to say thank you for everyone who has in any way assisted in the ministry at the Hub, the cleaners who come in on Mondays and Fridays and all the volunteers, without your help, we would not be able to do any ministry there.
2019活水中心會員大會報告 – 徐毅榮牧師
過去數年活水中心的事工隨著我們擁有的資源逐漸發展。我們有由三堂弟兄姊妹組成的團隊，有三個義工 – 包括一個近鄰和兩個來自本地教會。
目前主要事工有星期日晚上舉行的青少年團契和英語班。逢星期二和星期四，Toxteth 婦女中心租用我們這個基督教背景的中心作教導英文，而每月的第一、第三和第五個星期六，就設有乒乓球活動。星期三有廣東話查經班舉行，國民健康服務 (NHS) 亦不定時在星期三下午舉辦 “健康家庭”活動。
一些小型的改善工程仍在中心進行，包括增加儲物空間，拆除舞台以防止意外，中心內的門亦換上新油漆。計劃明年會繼續進行改善中心的工作。
位於中心後面的學校位置，一直有泥沙流入引致中心的牆潮濕，經投訴後，學校方面的回應是築起了一道阻隔的牆，解決了問題外也改善了環境的外觀。
最近有一基督徒團契，欲在星期天早上租用中心作崇拜聚會，教會與對方仍在商討中，一切仍未落實。
十月份起，我們開始兩週一次的祈禱會，時間是晚上六時；之前我們曾嘗試在主日聚會後有祈禱會，但發覺大部人都因疲累關係，情願養精蓄銳以重新投入新一週的工作。請在禱告中記念我們，求主賜智慧如何善用祂所供應的資源。
最後，要向每位在此中心參與不同事工的肢體致謝，包括每星期一和星期五負責清潔的姊妹和所有義工，没有您們的投入，我們甚麼事工也不能作。