LIFE BI-MONTHLY. Making mature disciples in a healthy environment. May Website: Address:

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1 St George s Hurstville LIFE BI-MONTHLY May 2017 Making mature disciples in a healthy environment Website: Address: 2 The Avenue Hurstville NSW 2220

2 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENDING TOGETHER REV. BRIAN TUNG... 2 A TESTIMONY OF JESUS LOVES MISSION REV. ALBERT LEUNG... 3 SHARING ON THE ONE CONFERENCE CANTONESE MUSIC TEAM... 4 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING KATOOMBA YOUTH CONFERENCE 2017 ANNIE ZHANG RADICAL HOSPITALITY REV. BRIAN TUNG HOW MINISTRY IS ORGANIZED AT ST GEORGE S A CHURCH BY ANY OTHER NAME FOR YOUR CALENDAR WARDENS REPORT THINGS FOR PRAYER REGULAR PROGRAMS AT CHURCH CONTACTS St George s Life Monthly Team Chief Editor: Rev Brian Tung Translation Team: Desktop Publisher: Nancy Tung Fiona Sit Janet Li Lam Cheng Mandy Leung Denise Tam Ken Ho Kevin Lee / Minnie Liu Printing: Goodness Discipleship group (Cantonese)

3 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY CONTENDING TOGETHER REV. BRIAN TUNG Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27) Church is a team sport. This is pragmatically true. If we were rowing a boat, we will not go very far if we are not rowing together as a team. We cannot grow, whether spiritually or personally, alone. We need one another to grow. More importantly, this way of doing things is chosen for us - by our Lord. If we want to go far, we need to work together as one. In November 2016 we participated in a church census called the National Church Life Survey ( NCLS ). We will report more fully on the result when they are available. But one aspect that is highlighted in the preliminary report is our common direction or vision. The survey found that only 22% of the members are both aware of and strongly committed to the vision, goals and directions for the church. 30% are aware and partly committed. 11% are aware and not committed. 21% says that there is no clear vision, and 16% are not aware of the vision. This indicates that there are clear challenges for us as a team. We are not all travelling on the same boat. For those of us in the boat, not all of us are rowing in the same direction - either because we are not convinced that it is the right direction, or we don t know what direction we are rowing towards. It is little wonder that sometimes, it feels like we are going nowhere or that we are moving forward exceedingly slowly.

4 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY As a first step we should be absolutely clear about where we are going. The direction that we are rowing towards is very simple: To expand on this: TO MAKE MATURE DISCIPLES WHO MAKE OTHER DISCIPLES IN A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT 1. We are a church that aims to make disciple. 2. We are a church that aims to make a certain kind of disciple - mature disciples, that is, we are seeking quality not just quantity. We aim to grow up and to grow deep. 3. Lastly we are seeking to produce disciples who reproduce themselves. That is, we are seeking to grow out and to grow far. How should we know that we are achieving this? Our goal will never reach on this side of heaven. But a church of mature disciples making other disciples will be a church that: 1. considers the glory of God as more important than anything else in life, 2. is actively committed to living missionally, 3. loves, forgives and cares for one another that is like Jesus, 4. hungers to grow ever deeper, higher, further in our Christ likeness, and 5. characterized by other-person centeredness, service and thankfulness. There is an African proverb: if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go with someone. If we want to go anywhere (not only collectively as a church but also individually as followers of Jesus) we need one another. We need to work hard with one another to make sure that our effort is being used to achieve the one common purpose. A TESTIMONY OF JESUS LOVES MISSION REV. ALBERT LEUNG The theme of 2016 mission week was Jesus Loves. The women s discipleship group Lily of the Cantonese congregation held a Christmas morning tea at Hurstville Oval Park on 8th December. The reason to choose this venue is because one of the group members, Jenny, has been leading morning exercise at that park for a long time. She and some of our church members have befriended with the people at that park and hope to use this opportunity the share the love of Jesus with them. On that morning around 8am, the Lily ladies went to that park, bringing along a lot of food, drinks, portable tables and chairs, and different kinds of gospel tracts. They decorated the pergola and got ready for the party. Around 9am, people from the exercise groups arrived and there were about fifty people. Among them many are Chinese, but also a few Westerners and people from Southern Asian. Our ladies were gladly serving them with food and drinks, and interacting with this group of neighbours in a friendly way. They also introduced our church s Christmas activities

5 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY to them and gave out gospel tracts. Finally, the group members, all dressing in red and wearing Christmas hats, sang several Christmas carols and wished them a Merry Christmas! Although the party has finished, the gospel outreach continues. One of the people in the park, Mr. Tsui, who is our church member Stephen s father, is a Tai Chi teacher. A few people wanted to learn Tai Chi from him, so Rosanna and I supported the idea to start a beginner s class at 8-9am from Monday to Friday. Eventually a class of around ten people continued to run in the last five months. Beside regular exercise, we set up a communication group in WeChat messenger and held several lunch gatherings in the Chinese New The Park Year, after English as Second Language Class (ESL) on Wednesdays and farewell for some members going back to China. Farewell Lunch Thanks be to God, our friendship is going deeper and the group has become a bridge for sharing our belief. Three of them have joined our ESL class and even one stayed on to join the Bible study after the class. Another man whose wife is our church member has started to attend Cantonese service regularly. Although our teacher has returned to China at the end of April, we still meet up every weekday for Tai Chi exercise and continue to grow our friendship. Each of us who has participated in this mission experienced that all have been done by our God. He cares the people outside of our church. His aim is to work through us to connect with people in the community and spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:16). May the love of God could reach the people through our lives. SHARING ON THE ONE CONFERENCE CANTONESE MUSIC TEAM Last year, The Worshipers TWS One Circle came to serve in our church. Our brothers and sisters (especially from the Cantonese service) had benefited immensely. In the music ministry, our choir and our worship team have learnt to improve the way they sing and worship. We can see the Lord has greatly blessed His own music ministry. Thank God for bringing The Worshipers TWS One Circle to Sydney again this year. They held a one night and one day conference (The One Conference) for our church and other churches in Sydney. The theme was Be the Lord s Disciples. There were 19 brothers and sisters from our Cantonese service who participated. After the conference, The Worshipers TWS One Circle came to our church and led the whole Cantonese and Mandarin Sunday services. Thank God for

6 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY sending these faithful and loyal disciples and through them brought us blessings and inspirations. The following are the grateful sharing from our brothers and sisters: Sindy Cheng The theme for this special camp conference was Be the Lord s Disciples. We needed to be clear about our callings and committed to serve. For the followers of Christ, this was indeed a meeting to revive our own spiritual growth. There were many brothers and sisters from various churches who attended this conference and we could see our Lord cares for the needs of His disciples on earth. The way The Worshipers TWS One Circle served was a living example of the way we should serve God. Their team flew from Canada immediately after they finished their mission work there and continued to serve in the churches in Sydney as soon as they arrived in Australia. Despite the time zone difference between Canada and Australia which led to jet lag, they continued to serve endlessly. We must learn from their serving spirit and should not be lazy. Mr. Thomas Fok, the Director of The Worshipers TWS One Circle, was the speaker for this conference. He quoted Matthew 5:1-10 and Luke 6:12-26 from the bible. The messages were the same for both scriptures which was the Sermon on the Mount. These were the words of Jesus for the disciples. I could not elaborate on the whole message of the sermon here but I would like to share part of what I received. In Matthew 5:1-2 and Luke 6:12-3 & 17-19, there were many people, apart from the disciples, who followed Jesus. But only the disciples were allowed to hike with Him to the mount and to discuss the deeper meaning of the Beatitudes. Mr. Fok used these passages in the Bible to remind us the reason why Jesus only taught His disciples. This is because He was serious with His teaching and wanted the disciple to understand clearly and receive His message. As for the other followers, they had their needs in mind when they followed Jesus, for example, casting out evil spirits or healing diseases etc. They did not want to listen to the words of Jesus and His sermons. From this, I understand that Jesus is more than willing to speak to His disciples and we, as His disciples, should always have a keen heart for God s words. We should focus on looking upon Jesus, receive and obey the words and teachings from God. Thank God for letting us to hear such a wonderful message again and allow me to have a moment of reflection. In addition, Mr. Fok shared a story of a brother from their group who was applying for migration to Africa for missionary work. It is very hard to believe that there are people who are willing to migrate to a poor country. Reflecting on myself, living in such a comfortable place (Australia) and received the Lord's salvation, this made me to ponder as on what I have done for the Lord! Andrew Yu This was the first time that I attended One Circle s camp - Be the Lord s disciples. I was blessed to be able to hear the messages and songs shared by the One Circle from Hong Kong. I was touched by the brothers and sisters who were willing to put aside their own interest and be able to serve the mission in both Canada and Australia against all the odds. Their faces were full of joy and commitment to serve. I think they are role models for each Christian. Brother Thomas Fok spoke a very important message on Mathew 5:1-6 about the price of becoming disciples. He reminded us that our biggest enemy is stability. We have to step out from the comfort zone to testify for the Lord. This message made me reflected on my life and my future direction to serve. My biggest stability is having a comfortable life. Gradually I become a slave of making a living and aims at working hard to make savings. However, I forget the great commission

7 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY for each Christian is to share the good news. I have to pay a price to work for the Lord which is to give up a comfortable job. The price to become the Lord s disciple is different for everybody. To become a disciple is not just about to be a weekly church goer and read the Bible. On the contrary, it requires us to reflect our belief through our lives and be able to share the good news with others. Nowadays most of the churches are not running short of orthodox belief. However, they are lack of committed people who are willing to serve. Most of us keep focusing on being cautious of false prophets, but we forget to take notice of the challenge from a stable life. Because of this message, I would like to encourage each of us to reflect on our stability and to respond to the challenge. Let s pray for each other s spiritual life and encourage each other to serve with a joyful heart. Wilson Chow I know a lot about Be the Lord s Disciples" but most of the knowledge are head knowledge. The Worshipers TWS One Circle showed me what it means by Being Lord s Disciples. They all have their own job, their own family and their own burdens but they can still dedicate themselves completely to the Lord. When I heard the speaker shared that all the words of God are serious, I asked myself if I had always listen to the words of God with the heart of desire? As a disciple of the Lord, how much am I willing to sacrifice for Him? When I looked at the conference timetable, there scheduled an hour and a half for devotion, I thought to myself that it seemed a bit long! I would rather shorten it to 1 hour and have half an hour morning tea. However, the feeling of being close to the Lord and had devotion time in the nature was wonderful. We also had opportunity to share our own devotion with several brothers and sisters. It is just too beautiful. Thank you Lord! Raymond Kwok I have gained a lot from The One Conference camp and it was also a great reminder. It reminded us that we should be well prepared to listen to God s word through the sermon. We should be like the good soil that could absorb all the nutrients. They also talked about how Christians in some churches do not live according to what the Lord has asked us to. They speak like Christians but do not act like one. This led to the rejection of our God in their next generation. In fact, this problem could happen anytime in any church regardless how spiritual they are. This is a great reminder for me to do my best to be a good example for the next generation. Michelle Kwok (Raymond s 9 years old daughter) Church camp is fun. I've made a new friend there and we learnt disciple is a student and follower of Jesus. Follow! Follow! I will follow Jesus, anywhere everywhere, I'll follow on. Nicole Lam To be the Lord s disciples What does it mean to us as Christians? What does a disciple should look like? During the conference, the One Circle worship team led us to study the meaning of the Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5:1-6). Although the conference only lasted for two days, it made me

8 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY reflected lots of stuff. The most impressive ones were the meaning of going up the mount and going down the mount. In the scripture, there were different people including Jesus, the disciples, the apostles and the people. Going up the mount implies those apostles who followed Jesus to go up the mount and listened to the teachings. They were willing to pay a price to leave their lives for the sake of the Lord. Going down the mount means carrying the mission to spread the good news. As for us Christians, should we be like the people down the mount who only seek Jesus for our own needs? Or should we be willing to pay a price to follow the Lord up the mount to seek God and become the Lord s disciples? When we are willing to pay the price to follow the Lord, have we followed the examples of the disciples who went down the mount to serve the people and spread the good news? I had deep reflections through this conference. May be due to personal reasons we came forth to God. However, to become a real Christian, we should not be seeking only for our self interest. On the contrary, in order to become the Lord s true disciples, we should bear the cross and spread the good news to different parts of the world. Anita Cheung The main theme of the One Circle conference is to be the Lord s disciples. In the conference magazine, the small fonts read clearly to revive the spirit, to clarify the calling, and to commit ourselves to serve. These are the key messages of this conference. My desire to attend this conference is to revive the spirit. The speakers delivered a few messages that stayed deep in my mind. Do you ever think about what message will you hear when you go to church on Sunday? Am I an eccentric person? Do I first seek God when dealing with things? Am I willing to pay a price for the sake of God? These series of questions made me reflect whether I could pay a price for the sake of God. Am I willing to step out of my comfort zone for the sake of God? The speakers reminded us of the right attitudes to become a disciple. He used the Teaching in the Mount in Mathew Chapter 5 to explain to us: God is willing to listen to our prayers seriously. There were so much to share from the conference, but I could not list out the whole lot. However, I really want to share with the series of questions that I had for us to think about. Let us respond to God in our own space. Samuel Chan The conference at the One Circle gave me awakening a big time. The conference made me understood that spiritual life needs an ongoing renewal that include daily reading of bible, prayers as well as communications and reminding among brothers and sisters. As a result of the ongoing renewal, it keeps our spirit on fire that enables us to serve as a good disciple for the Lord. I was brought up in a Christian background, but the most heartbreaking thing was seeing peers who grew up with me left church one after the others. I wish we can understand the importance of the connectivity of spiritual life, so that we can behave like a good disciple in the sight of the Lord.

9 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY Janet Lai At the evening of 21st of April, after going through the dark and breeze, we arrived at the conference site. There were about 80 to 90 participants at this conference and majority of them were young people. Initially I thought I would fall into sleep at the middle of the conference as I would be tired after a whole day s work. However, I felt like being fully recharged after standing up to sing praises for an hour. All my desire for sleep was completely gone. Mr. Fok chose the Beatitudes from the Teaching in the Mount as the main theme for this conference. This conference gave me plenty of rooms for thoughts and reflections. To be a disciple for the Lord requires Christians like us to respond to God, to be awakened, and be willing to pay for a price for the sake of Christ. As the source of love is from God, this love from God is the drive to influence a person s entire life. Our identity as a disciple is to adopt the attitude to give testimony in God s Kingdom! A soft heart is like a big sponge with strong capacity to hold. It is also a repenting heart that holds spiritual tears. May God guide our hearts and our thoughts and let us be able to learn to listen and be able to take up any challenges. Amen! Fiona Cheung Thank you Lord for bringing One Circle to St. George s Hurstville Anglican Church. They led us in music worshiping and shared great messages from the Lord. When Mr. Thomas Fok shared the message in Romans 12:9-13, he reminded us as Christian, we should have a fiery spirit. He used double-stewed soup (soup that are stewed for a long time) as a metaphor for Christian s spiritual life. At the beginning of stew, we need to use high heat. This is like when we first believe in God, we should have an eager heart to serve the Lord. After a while, this keen heart may change into a steady heart, just like stewing the soup further to get more flavor by turning the heat to low. However, the most important thing is that we cannot let the fire go off in our spirit and not let it become neither hot nor cold. As a Christian, I have believed in the Lord for quite some time, what is worth reflecting is how is my mentality in serving the Lord at present? Is it like when I first believe in the Lord and still have an eager heart to serve or is it at the simmer stage? Sometimes we may face others who do not understand us when doing ministry, which makes us feel frustrated. Thank Holy Spirit for the always great reminders. Although the road in serving the Lord is not easy and may face lots of challenges and difficulties, but God is always with us. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer (Romans 12:12). Serving our Lord is a response to God s great love. May everyone who is serving the Lord encourage and support each other and do not let your eager heart and spirit for our Lord get cooling down.

10 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2017 St George s held its Annual General Meeting on 26 March Below is a summary of the outcomes of the meeting: 1. Election of church officers: Wardens - Paul Tan and Darren Chen. Auditor - WSC Group - Audit Pty Ltd of Bangor. Parish council - Howard Law, Jim Huang, Anthony Ko, Raymond Kwok, Gilbert Wong and Warren Rennie. Synod representative Serena Cheung and Sunny Yu. Parish nominators - Tim Wong, Daisy Wu, Kai Xu, Ada Fong, and Jim Huang. 2. Resolutions: The church gave thanks to God for the Pastors of the Church and resolved to pray for them to continue to lead the Church forward. The church further gave thanks for members of the maintenance and administration teams for their service in the practical running of the Church. The church thanked the outgoing Wardens and Parish Councilors for their service, special mention of Tim Wong, and Koman Law and especially Jeanne Bow for her many years of service.

11 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY KATOOMBA YOUTH CONFERENCE 2017 ANNIE ZHANG Katoomba Youth Conference (KYCK) is an evangelistic camp for teenagers in high school, gathering with the purpose to glorify God through talks, discussion groups, seminars, prayer, singing, and fellowship with one another. The camp is run annually by Katoomba Christian Convention (KCC) over three weekends during the April school holidays, catering to thousands in Sydney and beyond. The theme for KYCK 2017 was Standing for the King, led by three speakers Dan Wu, Brett Middleton, and Ross Ciano. They preached from the book of Daniel and focused on rooting our identity in Christ, to stand firm in this identity, which surpasses the approval of others. Twenty-five youths and eleven leaders attended the camp on the 21st to the 23rd of April. This year, we opted to stay off-site at two houses, and we would like to thank those who volunteered to help with transportation. Youths and leaders hung out together before and after the talks, and over meals at one of the houses during the weekend, which allowed us to bond and build our relationship with each other. Upon arrival, Wu challenged us with the question Do we resolve to live for God? even if it costs us, followed by Middleton s confrontation, asking whether we were craving for people s approval for a temporary identity but losing God s approval, our eternal identity. Are we bold enough to stand for God our King, during unfavorable situations or persecution? Do we trust God? On the Saturday night, Ciano underlined the dangers and war against the The Youths and the leaders deceptions of this world, however the ultimate victory is in Jesus whom has already won the battle for us. Now knowing that, Ciano urged everyone to discover who Jesus is to them personally. The following morning, Middleton highlighted that we do not stand for the King on the basis of a promise made, but rather on the basis of a promise kept, which is an encouragement to stay rooted in our faith with the assurance of this hope we have in God s promise. The talks prompted challenging discussions between the youths and leaders during discussion group time. This allowed for the opportunity to share testimonies, personal struggles about standing for God, and pray for one another. Albeit tiring, it was an immense encouragement to see God s work amongst thousands of people.

12 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY We pray that what the youths and leaders had been challenged by at KYCK will extend beyond that weekend, and will influence our daily lives as we are exhorted to stand firm in our faith for God our King. The talk RADICAL HOSPITALITY REV. BRIAN TUNG Charles Spurgeon says, Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor. This is the confronting truth that we are seeing from the Bible in our teaching series on Global Mission. The great news about mission is that we can start anywhere, at any time with whatever opportunity the Lord gives us. The best and easiest place to start is where we are. This is why welcoming or hospitality is an important part of mission. A missional church is radically hospitable and welcoming. Radical hospitality exists when out of genuine love for God and others, everyone at church take the initiative to invite, welcome, include and support those who are new to our church. The genuineness and depth of their love can be sensed by newcomers. It is natural for those who are radically hospitable to anticipate the needs of those who are new to us, and to do our best to meet those needs. Those needs might include: the need for information, the need to feel safe, the needs to feel that they are valued, the need for friendship and community. We are embarking on some modest attempts to meet some of those possible needs: Setting up of an information hub somewhere prominent and accessible before and after the worship services, where information and help will be readily available, Installing adequate signage in our facilities, Improve our website and social media. We are hopeful that these will be done in the course of However, these are just tools to help us to create an environment of radical hospitality. The real and more important step we need to take as a church is to change our thinking on a simple question: whose job is it to love and welcome the stranger?

13 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY HOW MINISTRY IS ORGANIZED AT ST GEORGE S Who can help you (straight away) if the toilet paper runs out on a Sunday morning? Who do you talk to if you have a great idea about how to improve Sunday worship or if you want to give some feedback on the sermon (and for your idea and feedback to be acted on!)? Who picks up the pieces of paper at the end worship service on a Sunday? How do you get a car parking access card? Who do you talk to if your car has been parked in on a Sunday? Who is responsible for looking after people who are visiting your service? Who decides how missionaries are supported, which mission agency to support? And how are these decision made? These are some of the many questions or situations that we may face from time to time at church. Most of the time, we either don t know the answer or assume that we know the answer and find out that we have made the wrong assumptions. Have some clarity on: Who does what at St George s. How the ministry is co-ordinated. How decisions are made at St George s. Who has responsibility and control over what. Will be great help with a number of things including: 1. Communication, communication flow. 2. Building a caring, welcoming community. 3. Getting things done. 4. Fixing problems in a timely manner. 5. Improve on how we do things. 6. Innovation and take advantage of opportunities. To begin the process of making things clearer, we have written out a diagram on how things work (or should work) at St George s. It seeks to provide guidelines to the type of questions set out above. This diagram is a living document and will change from time to time.

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15 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY A CHURCH BY ANY OTHER NAME When someone invites their friend to our church they would invite them to: At St George s St George s Anglican St George s Hurstville St George Anglican (what our bank insist on calling us) Hurstville Anglican Church C.o.t.A. (Church on the Avenue) St George s Parish of Hurstville (the legal name) 基督教好士圍聖公會 ( Hurstville Anglican Christian Church the name on our sign board), or 好士圍聖公會 ( Hurstville Anglican Church ), the corner of the Avenue and Forest Road, 2 the Avenue (where most of our mail is delivered), or 144 Forest Rd (the legal address of our church). To avoid confusion in the future, we will standardise the name of the church to be: St George s Hurstville 好士圍聖公會 (in Chinese)

16 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY FOR YOUR CALENDAR May September 2,9,16 World of Life Bible study (Cantonese) 5,12,19,26 World of Life Bible study (Cantonese) 13,20 Training the teachers for New 7-9 Staff and leaders annual retreat Beliver s nurturers And conference (Cantonese/Mandarin) Jesus loves Sydney mission 21 Baptism Sunday 30 Working bee 3 (Cantonese/Mandarin) 28 Confirmation Sunday October SCCCA (Sydney Chinese June Christian Churches Association) 10 Working bee 2 Event July November 1 Discipleship group semester 1 ends Review of ministries 8-30 Discipleship group sign-up 25 Working bee 4 9 Sunday school team training 29 Discipleship group leaders December /Volunteer Support training 2 Discipleship group second ministry coordinators training semester ends 30 Discipleship semester 2 starts 10 Playgroup Christmas August celebration 8,15,22,29 World of Life Bible study 24 (Sunday) Christmas eve services (Cantonese) 25 Christmas day services 25,26 Intentional Discipleship Making Church conference Marketplace Discipleship WARDENS REPORT Dear Brothers and Sisters, As this is our first Warden s Report after our Annual General Meeting 2017, we would like to use this opportunity to give thanks to our previous warders, Koman Law and Kai Xu, for their passionate and tireless work for our church s operational matters. We would also like to welcome Paul Tan as our new warden working alongside with Darren Chan as our church wardens for this year. We will keep the congregation informed of our church s operational matters and updates periodically through our St. George s Life Bi-monthly newsletter. Compliance matters: - Safety measures: With the help from our children Sunday school coordinators, we had addressed areas that required additional safety measures to ensure a safe environment for our children.

17 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY First Aid: We partnered with Red Cross to conduct a certified First Aid Training for our ministers, Sunday school coordinators, youth leaders, and lay leaders. We are working on updating our first aid procedures, guidelines and policies as soon as possible. Property matters: - Hand Dryers: Do you know that we use over 7,000 pieces of hand paper towels each month? From an initiative to reduce waste and be more environmental friendly, we had replaced the hand paper towels with the installation of powerful Dyson hand dryers. - Pest Control: Pest control to both interior and exterior church areas was conducted in March - Working Bee: We gave thanks to our volunteers that came and participated in working bee. Over 40 brothers and sisters helped out in various tasks to keep our church grounds clean and tidy. - Upcoming Projects: We are looking into ways of optimizing the usage of church grounds as we are stretched in Sunday mornings. We are investigating the option of making a concrete ground area with some shelter. Financial matters: - General offertory: When compared with the same time last year, we have increased our giving by $25,418 in the first quarters (Jan-Mar), we have met our budget in general offertory and beat it by $2, Global mission: We tithe 10% of our general offertory towards global mission. We have committed $41,500 to our mission partners - Wycliffe, Christian Education Board for Hurstville District High Schools, Culture Connect and Church Missionary Society this year. In March 2017, we have distributed $45,000 unallocated mission funds from past years to five different mission partners/projects under Parish Council s resolution. - Good Friday Offertory: Thank you to everyone's faithful giving and care, our Good Friday offertory has been sent to aid appeals for both cyclone Debbie ($2,950) and to the Diocese of Egypt ($2,950) in relation to the Palm Sunday incident in Egypt through Anglican Aid. - Building Project: We receive offering from our congregation toward the church roofing for total amount of $11,000 this year. Please continue to keep our church building projects in mind. Your Servants in Christ, Church Wardens Darren Chan Paul Tan

18 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY THINGS FOR PRAYER REV. BRAIN TUNG Rev. Brian Tung Please pray for: Those preparing for baptism and confirmation on May 28th That our church will grow in our hospitality that we will be a radically hospitable and welcoming church. That our church will move in a same direction of making disciples of the nations. That we will continue in holiness and godliness under the lordship of Jesus and the leading of the Spirit to the glory of the Father. Rev. Albert Leung: Thank God for His provision and guidance in our ministry for Pray that the whole parish will follow God s purpose on Global Mission. Pray for the three believers who will receive baptism on May 21 and many others who will receive Confirmation on May 28. Pray for Albert s two weeks study trip for his doctoral research and one week annual leave to Hong Kong from May 27 to June 16. Rev. Victor Chen: We pray for those who will be baptised and confirmed in May. Pray that they will know our Lord more and more and submit to Him in their lives. We pray for the D-group ministry. Pray that many of us may become mature Disciples of Christ, and we may serve God by living our lives by following the examples of Christ. We pray for the brothers and sisters in Mandarin congregation. Pray that the love of God may bind them in perfect unity, so that God may be glorified in their godly relationships. Thank God for giving Victor an opportunity to study a five-day intensive course on Christian Coaching in May. May God continue to equip him so that he can equip more mature Christian leaders. Pastor Joyce Leung: Please Remember in your prayers that in the third Saturday morning each month, we will visit Penshurst Fairlea nursing home (with Cantonese congregation visiting in the odd month and Mandarin the even month). Please pray that God would use us as the ambassadors of His word, such that through hymns, messages as well as loving care, the elderly there can recognize His great love for them.

19 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY With our Wednesday ESL class and Thursday playgroup, please pray that God would use these programs as a platform for spreading His good news. Through these programs the unbelieving friends and parents can feel the warmth of our church God s family, and be more ready to know Him. Also, we pray that the sisters in Christ who serve there can be much strengthened by God s grace! Please pray for Joyce who will be travelling with her mother back to China to visit her 100 year-old aunt (Ms Sau Mui Leung) from May 8 to May 21. Her aunt had a fall recently and is bedridden; pray that God will heal and have mercy on her. Let us pray also that Joyce can effectively share the gospel with her unbelieving relatives and friends during her trip. REGULAR PROGRAMS AT CHURCH Sunday 8.00am-9.00am Anglican Prayer Book Worship Chapel 10.00am-11.15am Cantonese worship Chapel 10.00am-11.15am English worship Hall 10.00am-11.00am Sunday Youth Bible Study Rectory 10.00am-11.15am Children s program Ministry Support Centre/Rectory 11.45am-1.00pm Mandarin worship Chapel 11.45am-1.00pm English worship Hall 11.45am-1.00pm Children s program Ministry Support Centre/Rectory 11:45am-1:00pm Cantonese Adult Bible Class/Gospel Class Rectory 1.00pm-2.00pm Lunch Hall 2.00pm-3.30pm 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 11.30am Playgroup Café Room 7.30pm-9.00pm Mandarin sport night Hall Friday 10.00am-1.00pm Noble mums (for Mandarin-speaking mothers and carers) Hall 4.00pm-6.30pm Youth in Christ (for high-schoolers) Hall Saturday 9.30pm-10.30pm Cantonese prayer meeting Ministry Support Centre Morning Repair and Maintenance

20 ST GEORGE S HURSTVILLE LIFE BI-MONTHLY MAY CONTACTS Person Phone General enquiries Church office (02) church_admin@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Facility bookings Church office (02) bookings@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Senior Minister Rev. Brian Tung brian.tung@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Cantonese Pastor Rev. Albert Leung albert.leung@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Mandarin Pastor Rev. Victor Chen victor.chen@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Pastoral Care (Cantonese) Pastor Joyce Leung joyce.leung@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Student Minister Serena Cheung Tracy Wang serena.cheung@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au chlwang2008@hotmail.com Honorary Pastoral Assistant Church Executive (Property, finance and Compliance) Paul Tan paul.tan@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Sunny Yu sunny.yu@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Volunteer support, child protection Catherine Chung June Zhang catherine.chung@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au june.zhang@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Playgroup playgroup@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Parish Council pc_secretary@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Discipleship group (D-group) dgroup@stgoregeshurstville.org.au Children children@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Youth youth@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Mission missions@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au Account accounts@stgeorgeshurstville.org.au