第九課﹕我們想要往何處?…課後分享

第九課﹕我們想要往何處?…課後分享

頌主過去流失不少牧師和信徒，現在正處於救亡的狀況。從教會的角度看，要做的事情實在太多，但須按步就班，首先要關心和幫助新來賓溶入頌主的教會生活，邀請和鼓勵他們參加主日崇拜、團契和小組聚會。除此之外，信徒往往因侍奉項目過多而令生命枯竭，信徒必要得到適當的牧養與滋潤。培育接班人亦要同時進行。

Shared by Anita Ko

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I like Eric Kong's matter-of-fact observations which are very relevant to HCEFC.

I enjoy Eva's sharing about the deep and superficial muscles.  Health involves both the inwards and the outwards, the inner and the outer.

Concerning this week's question (which I think is essentially the same question as last week's), let me first quote from Parker Palmer ,"the best therapy for personal problems comes from reaching out as well as looking in".

"Reaching out"-only is like working solely on the big superficial muscles.  It's not ultimately effective, sustainable, nor healthy.  In the long run, you cannot give what you don't have.

"Looking in"-only will appear to most people as too egoistic, to the novices like a bottomless pit.  At the end of the day, "faith without work is ultimately not faith".

So, it's a matter of both.  And actually, it's the two sides of a coin when "wholistic growth" of a church or an individual is involved.

Thus, my answer is...  a relevant reaching-out program that the congregation/members sees as closely-related and beneficial to their personal growth (looking-in) plan.

Shared by Eric Lau

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During the discussion on (the relationship between) the character of God's people (inwards) and the servings (outwards), I saw myself teaching my patients the exercises for their back problems.

There are deep and superficial muscles, both work together to provide stabilization and support of the spine. The deep muscles play a major role since it is the core muscle of the spine.

Training superficial muscle emphasizes on action (go! go! go!), and the effect is more obvious (from 1 pack to 6 packs of tummy muscle).

Training deep muscle emphasizes on mind (slow, gentle, think), and the effect is invisible. It is a longer process.

Both muscle can be trained at the same time but be aware that the stronger the superficial muscle, the more inhibitory effect on the deep muscle. i.e. it is difficult to train the deep muscle if the superficial muscles are stronger than the deep muscles. Therefore, focusing on training the deep muscle results in a balance muscle control and effective stabilization of the spine.

However, most of the people pay more attention to training the superficial muscle. I always tell the patients that even though you have strong superficial muscles, it is not enough to protect your spine because they don't have strong core/deep muscle to provide adequate stabilization, and their back will eventually fail on them.

Is it better to have a strong superficial muscle and weak muscle than weak superficial and deep muscle? Well, if you think you already have a strong back because of the 6 pack of tummy muscle, you have a higher risk of hurting your back than those who aware of their weakness.

Shared by Eva Tang

第八課﹕我們的教會為何存在?…課後分享

第八課﹕我們的教會為何存在?…課後分享

1. Where are we now?

• Love God and love people but not always Fear of God.
• New Chinese pastor, English pastors are leaving, no senior pastor. Church leadership is trying to put effort in seeking God’s guidance for future direction of our church.
• Chinese congregation is aging, less passion/physical energy to train the young generation.
• Church board helps provide many spiritual programs but the corporate spiritual growth is insignificant.
• No clear and specific identity of our church, do not know the direction of next year and next 5 years.
• Individuals seldom express to seek God’s guidance in their daily life.
• In-frequent collaboration between Chinese and English congregations.
• Enjoy the life of small group but not often reach out to preach gospel together.
• Offer a lot to satisfy the basic needs of individuals but a lot less in spiritual relationship.
• Seldom express the joy of serving God but more often burn out / constraints. Difficult to find workers to serve.
• Significant portion of our congregation is not living in the church community. It is difficult to reach out to the community or do community works.
• Church community comprises of various racial / ethnic groups. Within Chinese group Mandarin speaking is dominant.
• While the Chinese congregation is aging, English congregation is relative young. The young generation has no presence in the church board leadership team.
• We have new comers to attend our Sunday services. But we saw the new faces stay and familiar faces gone.

2. Where do we want to go?

 

I don’t know yet. I believe we need to live out a Christian life, i.e. follow Jesus Christ, Love God, love others and fear of God. Then we ourselves can be the witnesses of God’s good news (gospel). The matured adults can be the good examples while the young generation can bring in creativity. Practice and demonstrate God’s love. Serve collaboratively and in unity to reach out. The bottom-line is that our whole congregation must pray for the guidance of God and discernment of God’s will. Let God Lead us.

Shard by Eric Kong

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1. Where are we now?

We are just in survival mode.  In HCEFC, we keep the church machinery going, often trying to "follow the Bible", sometimes trying to find a strong purpose or meaning, but in reality, most of our energy or attention is spent in managing the various daily/weekly/monthly/yearly operations and activities, without consensus of the answers to the two vital now-questions that Kory asks today.

     

Using the image of a train, we know how to keep the train running, but we have doubts about where the train is going or where the train should go.

2. Where do we want to go?

It depends on who the "we" is.  If the "we" is the general congregation, they want a strong and good leadership, sound preaching, intimate fellowship, the feeling of a good church.  If the "we" is the leadership team, they need to have a realistic assessment of "what was" and "what is", then they need to reach a consensus of "what should be".

Again using the image of a train, both the drivers, workers and passengers are aware, happy and motivated of where the train is going. They are in for the adventure ride of their life!

      

With respect to HCEFC, merely "survival" for a long time is living without mission, meaning nor passion.  We need to reach consensus of our purpose, demonstrate that the purpose is right and good, get the crowd motivated, train them for more participation if necessary......... Frankly, I have to admit I don't have a good and specific answer to this question.

Shared by Eric Lau