life - welcome to st george's hurstville anglican church bi-monthly “making mature disciples...

LIFE

BI-Monthly

“Making mature

disciples in a healthy

environment”

Website:

www.stgeorgeshurstville.org.au

Address:

2 The Avenue

Hurstville NSW 2220

November/December 2017


ST GEORGE’S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY – November/December 2017 1

CONTENTS

SEPTEMBER MISSION AND BEYOND REV. BRIAN TUNG 2

OPERATIONAL CHRISTMAS CHILD – ALL GLORY TO GOD ADRIAN HO 4

STAFF STRUCTURE 6

MY STORY REV. ALAN LAM 7

STAFF CONFERENCE 2017 7

SYNOD 2017 SUNNY YU & SERENA CHEUNG 8

CHURCH WARDENS AND CHURCH EXECUTIVE REPORT 9

FOR YOUR CALENDAR 11

THINGS FOR PRAYERS 12

REGULAR PROGRAMS AT CHURCH 14

CONTACTS 15

James Li

Janet Li

Lam Cheng

Mandy Leung

Denise Tam

Fiona Sit

Minnie Liu

Goodness Discipleship Group (Cantonese)

St George’s Life Bi-Monthly Team

Chief Editor:

Rev. Brian Tung

Translation Team:

Desktop Publisher:

Printing/Blinding:



SEPTEMBER MISSION AND BEYOND REV. BRIAN TUNG

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15 NIV)

September saw scores of mission activities at St George’s Hurstville. We are thankful to God that He has given us many opportunities to be involved in His mission in September. Some of the Gospel activities that we were involved in are:

“Jesus loves Sydney” campaign

More than 50 members of our church (from the Cantonese and Mandarin congregations) took part in a Sydney wide street evangelism campaign called ‘Jesus loves Sydney’. Churches in Epping, Eastwood, city of Sydney, Ashfield and the St George area were involved in the campaign. Before going out into the streets and public square to share the Gospel, participants were trained among other things in using the five colours beads to share the Gospel.

Highlights include:

• Some of our church members who have neverspoken to strangers about Jesus participated in thestreet evangelism activities. They reported howencouraged they were by the experience.

• Thepartnership ofthe manybrothers andsisters fromother churchesin the commonmission toreach Sydneyfor Jesus. Weareencouragedand thankful fortheir boldness,courage,faithfulness andsacrifice.

• The Gospel was not only shared with strangers.“Jesus Loves Sydney” also provided theopportunity for the Gospel to be shared withneighbors and loved ones. Some of them having responsesto the Gospel and becoming disciples of Jesus is one of themost memorable and joyful highlights of this mission.



Front lawn Mission

3 of the Cantonese Discipleship groups (young mothers’, young fathers’ and families’) ran craft and other children activities on the front lawn of the church on 17 September. It was a great opportunity to engage with the community. More than 40 families joined the activities. The Mandarin Discipleship group ran a similar program on 24 September.

Chamber Music

On the Saturday evening of 30 September, St George’s Hurstville (Mandarin) hosted an evening of music.

Nursing home visits

Various groups paid visits to the local nursing homes, including the visit to Fairlea Nursing Home in Penshurst by the Cantonese Abraham fellowship and the Mandarin Seniors fellowship. A number of d-groups from CotA were also involved in visiting aged care facilities.

Door knocking and Operation Christmas Child (OCC)

Members were able to engage with the community through the Marriage Survey campaign, where we door knocked households in Hurstville on behalf of the Coalition for Marriage. It was a great opportunity to meet and talk to the members of the community.

Similarly, we are thankful that we were able to be part of the Operation Christmas Child this year. And in particular, we were able to engage with the community in Westfield on the Saturdays of 14 and 21 October, as well as the community packing day. We had many great conversations with the members of the Hurstville community. We are thankful for the support of the centre management of Hurstville Westfield, the generosity of the community and the efforts of our members.

Some of the many gains of the marriage campaign and OCC are the mobilization of our church members, training and experience in engaging the community, and the increase in profile of St George’s Hurstville in the Hurstville.

Gospel Classes and Alpha Course

Last but not least, we are thankful for the Cantonese and Mandarin gospel classes. The September mission also saw the launch of Alpha Course by two of the English d-groups. These classes and group are still running. We thank God the many whom He has called to join.



OPERATIONAL CHRISTMAS CHILD – ALL GLORY TO GOD ADRIAN HO

First of all, Glory to our Lord for every step of life HE has planned for every one of us.

Give Thanks

1. Having the opportunity to promote the shoebox event in Hurstville Westfield and to reach out to thelocal community.

2. The Westfield kids’ area has allowed us to engage with the parents and have the chance to talk.

3. Blessed to be able to unite and work together with brothers and sisters in different congregations.

God’s great plan

To be honest with you, if it wasn’t God’s guidance this whole event would not be such a success. Hosting and organising such a large event is not an easy task, there wasn’t any contact with Westfield and not knowing shops that can donate gifts. I still recall going to Westfield on a weekday afternoon in high spirit hoping to find the Westfield center management team and convince them about the event, but I ended up going to the concierge desk and was told to send the staff an email.



I am a very impatient person, a perfectionist and always want to learn some leadership skills. God has placed me marvelously in such a spot for me to learn patience and work with other brothers and sisters.

A few days later, an email from Westfield saying they are happy to provide a free promotion area to support this community event. This was totally out of my original expectation and since then the number of tasks increased exponentially from design and print flyers, design posters and banners, in-church promotion, kids activities, gifts donation…6 weeks went past very quickly and when we look back, we can see God is with us side by side the whole journey.

When God wants us to do HIS works, do not ask too much or doubt our abilities, God will provide, all we need to do is to step forward.

Pray and HE answers

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)

With the limited time frame, the first priority is to design and print the flyers for promotion. The brother at church who usually helps out this was too busy then. I was having breakfast one day and had no idea whom to approach to design the flyer artwork, I looked up to the ceiling and prayed if God can provide a graphic designer to me and resolve this problem.

2 hours later, one of the sisters in church has provided me a contact that can design the flyer artwork. The design was then completed and sent for printing within 48 hours of my prayer.

When we have faith in HIM and trust that HE will provide, we will be amazed in how God works.

Both physically and mentally are quite exhausted, but still continue to look upon to God, thanks to your prayers.

As we approached closer towards the Shoebox packing Sunday, there were times that I wanted to give up completely as it was quite exhausting having to handle the normal work and also organising this unprecedented shoebox packing day.

This same feeling happened in 2016, but when I realised that it was God doing the work, not by myself, then the focus shifted immediately to HIM and the result didn’t matter as much anymore, as I knew HE would lead us through this.

Praise the Lord for all the supports from my wife, brothers and sisters in different congregation, and also their tolerances to my impatience.

Thanks once again for participating and volunteering in different promotion days, the event would not happen without our collective efforts. All Glory to our providing God!

6 STAFF STRUCTUREWith Rev. Alan Lam joining the pastoral staff as an assistant minister at St George’s Hurstville, there will be a redistribution of responsibility. The ministry structure of the church is now set out in the chart.



MY STORY REV. ALAN LAM

I am one of those people who love durian. It looks impressive with all the spikes poking out and it tastes wonderful. Unfortunately, not everyone shares this love. It seems that people either love it or hate it. Another thing both my wife and I appreciate is God’s love for us in Jesus. I didn’t always comprehend God’s love.

I grew up in a traditional Buddhist family in Cabramatta where I also spoke Cantonese and learnt some Mandarin. My life back then was about pursuing personal perfection and pleasing my parents and other people. By God’s grace and mercy, he saved me out of darkness and adopted me as one of his beloved children. This happened in my first year of studying Medicine at University of New South Wales (UNSW). It was then that I understood that Jesus death isn’t just an example for me to follow but that he actually died on my behalf. As a result, I can be with God. This gave me a peace and purpose which nothing else even came close to giving. From then on, I desired that as many people as possible have this new life. I did a ministry apprenticeship at UNSW and then studied at Moore Theological College. I served at Summer Hill Anglican Church and now have the privilege of serving here. Amongst other responsibilities, I’ll have the privilege of being the pastor of CoTA, Youth and Global Mission.

Glorya and I got married in 2009. My wife was born in Indonesia and came to Australia in 1998 due to riots in Jakarta. She grew in her faith through the University Christian group whilst studying Psychology at UNSW. We are blessed with four children: Josiah (6 years old), Carina (4), Anastasia (2) and Evangeline (8 months old).

Thank you for the opportunity to serve amongst and with you. Please pray that God will use our family’s feeble efforts to help people understand God’s love. Please pray that as we proclaim the good news people will love it rather than hate it.

STAFF CONFERENCE 2017



The pastoral, ministry and operation staff spent 3 days (26-28 October) away to refresh, review, renew, and grow in our leadership competency. The focus at this years’ staff conference is the competencies of Emotional Intelligence (‘EI’). EI competencies include: self awareness, self regulation, adaptability, social awareness, influence, inspirational leadership, conflict management, team work - all essential for good and effective leadership. The staff received input on these competencies. Each of the staff was able to identify areas of personal growth and development.

In additional to competency training, the staff was able to set aside time to pray and plan for 2018. The theme for 2018 will be Grateful Service - one of the 5xGs of our mission. The Lord has blessed St George’s Hurstville with many gifted and wonderful members. The priority for 2018 is to support and develop these disciples for the service of the Kingdom, ensuring that they are properly grounded in the Lord Jesus, equipped for the works of service.

On Saturday 28 October members of the parish council joined the staff for fellowship. Together we were able to spend time praying and dialoguing about where the Lord might be leading our church next. We are thankful for the frank and useful discussions, the many opportunities we have been gifted with as well as the many challenges we face. Whatever the Lord is willing for us to go next, it is essential that the whole church is taking the step together. A priority for 2018 is then to undertake a process that will facilitate this. We invite all the members of the church to join with us to pray for the future of the church:

God our Father, you judge your people with wisdom and rule us with love. Give a spirit of understanding to the leaders of this church that they may make wise decisions about the future that will give glory to you and be a blessing to all people. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

SYNOD 2017 SUNNY YU & SERENA CHEUNG

Synod is the Parliament of the Anglican Church where laws and policies that apply to all local churches are adopted. The 51st Synod - 1st Ordinary Session was held over two weeks (Oct. 9-11, 16-17) with 792 Synod representatives from different Anglican churches and organizations gathering together. Our parish were represented by our senior minister, Rev Brian Tung, and our elected Synod representatives through our Annual General Meeting (AGM), Sunny Yu and Serena Cheung. Representing our parish, we voted on matters that affect our church, as the Diocese adopt the ordinances agreed upon.

Throughout the Synod sessions, there was a time for the representatives to:


iii)

a)b)c)d)e)f)g)

Debate on motions and vote on matters that will apply to all Anglican churches in Sydney.Key matters that were introduced:

Safe Ministry to Children Canon 2017 Adopting Ordinance 2017Ministry Standards Ordinance 2017Provisional Sydney Anglican Policy on Responding to Domestic AbuseGrief and apology in regards to domestic abuseLifelong Ministry Development GuidelinesAssistant Minister Ordinance 2017Property Receipts Levy

If you wish to find out more about the 51st Synod – 1st Ordinary Session, you can find the relevant information from https://www.sds.asn.au/1st-ordinary-session-51st-synod

Your Synod Representatives, Sunny Yu & Serena Cheung

CHURCH WARDENS AND CHURCH EXECUTIVE REPORT

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Please find the latest of our church’s operational matters and updates in our Life Bimonthly here.

Compliance update - Safe Ministry Online – The Sydney Diocese has launched Safe Ministry Online, this allows the SafeMinistry training more accessible to everyone via Internet. Now, our volunteers that are involved withchildren/youth ministry and our church’s leaders and staff can be accredited online. We will be contactingthose that require a Safe Ministry refresher course when the time comes.

Property update - Working Bee: Our last quarterly Working Bee for this year was on 7th October 2017. We would like tothank our volunteers and our Repair & Maintenance team for their hard work throughout the year. We hadaccomplished:

a)b)c)d)e)

Update from Mission 2020 (Diocesan 5-year mission plan),Youthworks partnership with Moore College and the accreditation of MTS program,Safe Ministry training is now available and accessible online,GAFCON 2018 where regional representative meet in Jerusalem for a global summit,New Church in New Community project to have church plants started in new areas.

9 ST GEORGE’S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY – November/December 2017

i) Ask questions and understand data and facts about Anglican churches in Sydney,

Interesting facts: Do you know how many Anglican Chinese congregations run services weekly across Sydney? (There are 37) and do you know how many Anglican churches in Sydney have more than one full-time minister that speaks Chinese? (Only 2 churches if the rector is excluded and we are one of them!)

ii) View presentations from various Anglican organizations to report on some progress of their work.

Key highlights included:

https://www.sds.asn.au/1st-ordinary-session-51st-synod



1) General clean up in all indoor areas of Church, Hall, Main kitchen & the Rectory2) General clean up front and back yards.3) Clearing the gutter for the rectory and the ministry support centre roofs.4) Moving of the green container to the corner location, allowing us to have 6 more car parking spaces.

Before Movement Shifting the Container 5) Paving a foot path along the side of the rectory and knocking off the pillars outside the Rectory.

Removing Pillars Filling Up the Skip Bin

- Upcoming Projects: We are still in the process of improving the audio equipment in the chapel as weawait shipment of the equipments required. With parish council’s permission, we are seeking to raise funds(of up to $30,000) to revitalize our inner lawns with artificial turf and new fencing. Together with amarquee for sheltered space, this will provide us with a refreshed breakout area.

- Property Redevelopment: No further update at this stage, as we are waiting in progress on our nextmilestones (development partner to work on a concrete process to follow and a realistic timeline of eventsto come).

Financial update Please find the snapshot of our offertory (for January to October) and our budget for the same period. We are blessed through your generosity and faithful giving to support our parish.

Weekly Offertory Target

Jan to Oct Actual

Offering Jan to Oct

Budget Target Annual Target % Difference Vs. Budgeted

8:00 & 9:30AM English Services $2,793.10 $113,571.50 $120,172.90 $145,640.00 -5.49%

11:00AM COTA $1,599.93 $67,623.27 $68,837.02 $83,425.00 -1.76%

9:30AM Cantonese $6,265.48 $278,684.90 $269,572.13 $326,700.00 3.38%

11:00AM Mandarin $2,766.15 $120,197.10 $119,013.58 $144,235.00 0.99%



Weekly Offertory Target

Jan to Oct Actual

Offering Jan to Oct

Budget Target Annual Target % Difference Vs. Budgeted

Sunday School $ - $2,688.75 $ - $ -

General Offertory Subtotal $13,424.66 $582,765.52 $577,595.63 $700,000.00 0.90%

Missions @ $ - $19,344.96 $ - $ -

Building Funds # $ - $42,043.66 $ - $ -

Total $ - $644,154.14 $ - $ -

We are very grateful to welcome Rev Alan Lam to join our parish as assistant minister, and he will be involving with our Youth ministry, COTA, and Global Mission. We give thanks to our Lord for His provision, and also to our congregation members who continue to give whole heartedly and generously to support our next generation ministry. Please pray for Rev Alan Lam & his family as they settle in Hurstville.

We are starting to work on our parish’s budget plan for 2018. Please pray for us to have the wisdom, and to be faithful stewards for the abundance that God had given to St. George’s Hurstville.

Your Servants in Christ, Church Wardens and Church Executive Darren Chan / Paul Tan / Sunny Yu

FOR YOUR CALENDAR

November December

Review of ministries 2 D- group 2nd semester ends

6-10 National Training Event

(NTE)

10 Playgroup Christmas event

17 Street Carol Singing

24 Christmas Eve service

25 Christmas Day service (English)

10-12

15-17

Mandarin Life Camp

Music Workshop



THINGS FOR PRAYERS

REV BRAIN TUNG:

1. Praise God for the leaders’ conference. Pray for God’s continual leading.

2. Pray for the last term of 2017. Pray for energy in the busy period that we can remain focused.

3. Pray that God will uphold all those in Ministry that they will be supported well, that they wouldhave grown this year, and that God will continue to use them.

4. For my family - for health issues, for focus, discernment and faithfulness in busyness, for Jen and I

to be godly examples for our children.

REV ALBERT LEUNG:

1. Praise God that some members from Cantonese and Mandarin have joined in Wednesday street/shopping mall outreach. Pray that Christians from St. George’s Hurstville would continue sharinggospel of Jesus in Hurstville district faithfully.

2. Pray for this Christmas and holiday season that we would celebrate the birth of our Saviourmeaningfully. Also pray for our friends and neighbour would be knowing more about the meaningof Christ’s birth.

3. Praise God that Albert and Rosanna have had a happy holiday in Japan and fruitful study trip inHong Kong during the first two weeks of November.

REV VICTOR CHEN:

1. We pray for the spiritual transformation and revival of brothers and sisters in Mandarincongregation. We pray that they may be like-minded and be one in sprit and purpose. We pray that

more brothers and sisters will be involved in ministries like evangelism and pastoral care. 。

2. We pray that those brothers and sisters in the Mandarin music team will work together in unity andlove for the preparation for the Christmas programs and street events during Christmas season.

3. We pray for those new converts and those in preparation for the baptism on 3rd December inMandarin congregation. We pray that their lives will continually be transformed by God’s word, sothat they may be more like Christ.

4. We pray for the pregnancy of Sister Shirley Ding and Jianying Jiang. Pray for God's care.

REV ALAN LAM:

1. Please pray that our family will transition well and quickly into this new neighborhood, school andChurch family. Please pray that our children will also cherish the opportunity to live and serve inHurstville.

2. Please pray that our family will serve with humility, Christlikeness and joy.

3. Please pray that we’ll be able to share our lives and doctrine with the people around us.



PASTOR JOYCE LEUNG:

1. “I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27

Give thanks to our Father for His grace! He has encouraged brothers and sister to come to the churchand attend the 9:30 am prayer meeting on Saturday mornings. We are especially gratified to see thekeen participations from our brothers and sisters who belong to the Mandarin service. Lord, pleaseutilize us as praying warriors!

2. We could see God’s amazing work in the non-

believers through our visits in the nursing

homes. Recently, one elderly man from the

nursing home has declared his faith in Christ.

We would like to thank our heavenly Father

for his grace! God, please give us wisdom

and help us in the following up work of the

“New Believers Nurturing Course”.

3. Thank you God! You have blessed us with

great weather and safe journey during the

Abraham Fellowship outing on 28th October.

Thank God for giving us opportunity to meet new friends and enjoy the wonderful time we have spent

together.

In December, We pray that God will use each and every disciple to spread the great gospel through the celebration of the birth of our saviour Jesus Christ!


ST GEORGE’S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY – November/December 2017

14

REGULAR PROGRAMS AT CHURCH Sunday 8.00am-9.00am Anglican Prayer Book Worship – Church

9.30am-10.30am Cantonese worship – Church

9.30am-10.30am English worship – Hall

9.30am-10.30am Sunday Youth Bible Study – Lawn

9.30am-10.30am Children’s program – Ministry Support Centre/Rectory

11.00am-12.00pm Mandarin worship – Church

11.00am-12.00pm English worship – Hall

11.00am-12.00pm Children’s program – Ministry Support Centre/Rectory

11.00am-12.00pm Cantonese Adult Bible Class – Rectory

12.00pm-1.00pm Lunch – Hall

1.00pm-2.30pm Mandarin Gospel Class – Rectory

Monday Office closed

Tuesday 10.00am-1.00pm Staff meeting – Ministry Support Centre

Wednesday 10.00am-12.00pm English As Second Language Class – Ministry Support Centre

Hall , Rectory

Thursday 10.00am – 11.15am Playgroup – Café Room

7.30pm-9.00pm Mandarin sport night – Hall

Friday 4.00pm-6.30pm Youth program (for high-schoolers) – Hall

Saturday 9.30pm-10.30pm Chinese prayer meeting – Ministry Support Centre

Morning Repair and Maintenance


ST GEORGE’S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY – November/December 2017

15

CONTACTS

Person Phone Email

General enquiries Church office (02) 9580 1482 [email protected]

Facility bookings Church office (02) 9580 1482 [email protected]

Senior Minister Rev. Brian Tung 0411 380 233 [email protected]

Chinese Pastor Rev. Albert Leung 0410 625 648 [email protected]

Mandarin Pastor Rev. Victor Chen 0422 188 102 [email protected]

English Pastor Rev. Alan Lam 0403 191 552 [email protected]

Pastoral Care (Cantonese) Pastor Joyce Leung 0414 602 315 [email protected]

Student Minister Serena Cheung 0404 018 829 [email protected]

Intern Andrew Yu 0424858128 [email protected]

Honorary Pastoral Assistant Paul Tan 0416 150 898 [email protected]

Church Executive (Property,

finance and Compliance) Sunny Yu 0416 170 037

[email protected]

Volunteer support, child

protection

Catherine Chung

June Zhang

0402 052 255

0416 241 395

[email protected]

[email protected]

Playgroup [email protected]

Parish Council [email protected]

Children [email protected]

Youth [email protected]

Mission [email protected]

Account [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]













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