ANNUAL GENERAL
REPORT
2023 ISSUE
C
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\"Praise be to the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great
mercy he has given us new birth into a
living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into
an inheritance that can never perish,
spoil, or fade.\"
1 PETER 1.3-4A
Chairman's letter - 2
ONE COMMUNITY
CCC at a glance - 6
English Ministry - 10
Cantonese Ministry - 17
Mandarin Ministry - 22
Redeemer Ministry - 26
Children's Ministry - 32
Youth Ministry - 35
Women's Ministry - 38
GROWING IN CHRIST
Little things vs big things - 43
A brother who sins against you - 44
SERVING IN LOVE
Church Office - 50
Maintenance Team - 52
REACHING THE WORLD
Community Ministry - 57
Mission Committee - 59
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Financial Report - 66
C
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1
CHAIRMAN'S
LETTER
As I reflected on 2022, it was a busy year
and there are many things to be thankful
for. Being an elder is a great privilege and
a humbling experience. Even though it
requires a significant time commitment,
it is a truly rewarding experience. I truly
thank God for providing me with an
opportunity to serve Him and CCC in this
capacity. I would like to take this
opportunity to thank the elders, pastors,
deacons and ministry leaders for their
diligence and dedication to the ministries
of our church. A special thanks to elder
Frank Lee who was willing to re-join the
eldership after a year’s break. I would also
like to thank all the volunteers in our
church who are involved in supporting
our various ministries and congregations.
There are many brothers and sisters who
work tirelessly behind the scenes from
week to week, Sunday to Sunday, which
often goes unnoticed.
It is encouraging to see many positive
changes occurring over the course of
2022. Many members were able to settle
back into physical services and each
ministry is adapting to the forever
changing “new normal” after COVID-19.
I would like to thank each and every one
of you for your contribution to the life of
our church.
We thank God for leading CCC through
the restructure of the worship services
where the three English services
combined into one along with the
changes to worship times. It is good to
see the English ministry starting to
stabilise through this major structural
change as it continues to build the
community as an intergenerational
service. However, the year has not been
without its challenges. The restructure
has caused additional strain on the
Cantonese ministry, on top of not having
a Pastor, but I thank God for the many
deacons, leaders and volunteers in the
Cantonese ministry stepping up to
continue the running and growth of the
Cantonese ministry.
God has blessed our church abundantly
through the generosity of our members,
both in terms of their time and financial
resources, through fundraising efforts
and increased contributions from our
members. The offertory for both the
General and Mission Funds have
increased compared to prior years. We
pray that this momentum be
maintained to increase the financial
giving so we can continue to invest and
expand the ministries that we are able to
do in 2023 and beyond.
2
In the 2020 AGM, the church voted for
Redeemer to have a branch church
status and since then, the Redeemer
leadership has been working towards
independence. It is encouraging to see
Redeemer has steadily grown in
attendance and offertory over time. They
are reaching a point where they are
ready to become an independent church
and this will be voted on by the
members during the 2023 AGM.
For the first time in many years, the full
Board of Elders (which includes the
elders, pastors and diaconate chairs) had
a weekend retreat in August up the
Central Coast. We discussed the future
direction of the church and our key
priorities. It was a great time of
fellowship between board members and
a time where we had robust discussions
on direction and priorities.
Despite details to be worked
out, we have agreed on three
key priorities for CCC:
3
Intentional church planting.
Building a strong leadership
pipeline.
Focus on the next generation
(children, youth and university
ministries).
1.
2.
3.
Thinking back to my involvement in the
50th Anniversary celebrations back in
2015, I learnt of the rich and successful
history of CCC planting several churches
over the past 50 years and each of them
have grown in their own ways since and
planted other churches. As likeminded
Chinese churches in Sydney, I believe
there are ministry partnership
opportunities and mutual support that
we can offer to each other, so we have
started to build and strengthen
relationships with the churches that we
have planted in the past.
Church ministries have their ups and
downs. Things often may not go
according to the way we planned, but
we need to humble ourselves before God
and seek His will in what we do as a
church. We look forward to what God
has planned for us in 2023. We should
pray earnestly and in unity that CCC can
continue to reach as many people as
possible with the gospel.
SAMMY LIU
BOARD OF ELDERS CHAIRMAN
One of the key decisions that was made
during 2022 was to repurpose the 1C2L
fund into the Future Development Fund
to expand the scope of the use of this
fund for the purpose of church planting
and expansion of ministries through the
purchase or leasing of property soon.
\"This inheritance is kept in heaven
for you, who through faith are
shielded by God’s power until the
coming of the salvation that is
ready to be revealed in the last
time.\"
1 PETER 1.4B-5
ONE
COMMUNITY
ONE
COMMUNITY
GROWING
IN CHRIST
SERVING
IN LOVE
REACHING
THE WORLD
FINANCIAL
REVIEW
CCC
AT A GLANCE
4
CONGREGATIONS ADULTS UNDER 18
CHURCH ADULT
MEMBERS
AVERAGE WEEKLY
ATTENDANCE
AVERAGE WEEKLY
OFFERTORY
635 142
416 529 $21,779
6
CANTONESE
124
ENGLISH
205
WEEKLY SERVICE ATTENDANCE
(INCLUDES MEMBERS AND NON-MEMBERS)
REDEEMER
66
MANDARIN
134
English
$7807
Cantonese
$5748
Mandarin
$5114
Redeemer
$3110
Cantonese
20.4%
English
35.8%
WEEKLY
AVERAGE
OFFERTORY
Redeemer
10.4%
Mandarin
33.4%
7
DISTRIBUTION OF
MEMBERS
DISTRIBUTION OF MEMBERS
WEEKLY GIVING
1 PETER 2.9-10
\"But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special
possession, that you may declare the
praises of him who called you out of
darkness into his wonderful light. Once you
were not a people, but now you are the
people of God;
once you had not received mercy, but now
you have received mercy.
\"
ELDERS
Sammy Liu, Edwin Choi,
Jeremy Tham
From AGM: Frank Lee
PASTORAL TEAM
Rev Chris Chua, Rev Ying Yee, Rev Jeff Wang, Rev
Winston Mah, Rev Joe Cho, Pastor Caroline Dong,
Pastor Dan Shih, Pastor Anita Chan
DIACONATE CHAIRS
Elton Tsang, Marco
Pu, Philip Leung
Admin and
Facilities
Frankie Ng
Finance and HR
Christina Gock
Chair
Swee Yeo
PT Rep
Rev Jeff Wang
Secretary
Esther Lee
Alex Yuen
Treasurer
Jason Foo
Prayer
Carolyn Yee
Promotions
Enyi Lin
Pastor Caroline
Dong
Ken Gock
Russell Loon
Chair
Pastor Dan Shih
Coordinators
Jenny Chan
Carmen Seeto
Jenny Sher
Vincent Fung
Congregational
Representatives
Jeremy Tham
Karen Woo
Ivy Yee Instructor
Kathy Chua
Organiser
Evelyn Lee
Teachers (2)
Rev Ying Yee
Rev Winston
Mah
Pastor Dan Shih
+
English
Diaconate (6)
Phil Leung
Rev Jeff Wang
Rev Chris Chua
Pastor Caroline
Dong
+
Mandarin
Diaconate (6)
Marco Pu
Pastor Anita
Chan*
+
Cantonese
Diaconate (9)
Elton Tsang
Rev Joe Cho
+
Leadership
Team (8)
Grace Mak
Chair
Rev Winston
Mah
+
FY Leaders
(12)
Women's
Conference
Coordinators
English
Ivy Yee
Catherine
O'Chee
Canto
Cecilia Yuen
Mando
Annie Ho
Jane Leung
CCC KEY LEADERSHIP, MINISTRIES
AND COMMITTEES
9
Church Office English
Ministry
Mandarin
Ministry
Cantonese
Ministry
Redeemer City
Church
Children Ministry
Committee
Mission
Committee
Youth Ministry
Committee
Maintenance
Team
Community
Ministries
ESL
Line Dancing
Senior
Citizens
BOARD OF ELDERS
Women's
Committee
*interim pastor
ENGLISH
MINISTRY
ENGLISH LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE
ENGLISH DIACONATE
Phil Leung (Chairman)
Yong Tan (Secretary)
Andrea Leung
Rebecca Yee
Christine O'Chee
Lydia Low
10
We continue to praise God for his goodness to CCC. Despite the challenges, it is very
clear that God is at work in and through his people. Week after week we continue to
see God growing his people in Christ-likeness and spreading his gospel through his
people.
KEY EVENTS
Combined leadership meetings
with all the English leaders, attended by 60 to 70 leaders
Eat, Share, Pray, Love (ESPL)
small group inter-congregational dinners to foster community
building
Basecamp
Katoomba men’s conference
Equip and OneLove
Women’s conferences
Baptism service
Six candidates baptised
HIGHLIGHTS
11
An aging morning congregation.
The loss of generations of young people from our evening service to other
churches.
Detrimental impact on the youth ministries.
The loss of mature English leaders.
The big event of 2022, was the merging of the three English congregations. For
30yrs both the 9:15am and the 4pm congregations, and more recently the
11:15am congregation, have operated as silo ministries. While this might have
served us well in the short term, in the long term it had a negative impact on
CCC as a whole that has resulted in:
With all this in mind it was believed that building long-term discipleship was
best done within an intergenerational context. It was an opportunity where
the young can learn from the wisdom of older and more mature believers. It
also provides the opportunity for the older generation to equally learn from
the creativity and energy of the younger generation.
Generally, the merge has been a large success. It has been exciting to see
both young and old coming together to worship and serve.
THREE INTO ONE
a new beginning for the English ministry
The baptisms of six members.
Investigating Christianity - a short course for those learning
about Christianity.
Training in how to read the bible one on one with people.
Coaching training - learning the skill to coach people.
Monthly morning teas catered by the Growth
Groups.
Onboarding - a half-day session for new
leaders.
While the restructuring has been important, we also recognise that this is purely an
organisational matter. For this reason we need to build a disciple-making culture. The
organisation Vinegrowers has helped us focus on building a culture of discipleship by
working with us to assess our Sunday service, programs and the way we speak of things.
BUILDING A DISCIPLEMAKING CULTURE
12
Engaging and
connecting with
unbelievers around us.
4Es
ENGAGING EVANGELISING ESTABLISHING EMPOWERING
Empowering people
to engage, to
evangelise, to establish
and to empower
others.
Evangelising by
opening our mouths
to share the gospel.
Establishing
believers in the
faith.
13
4Ps
Making disciples is
everyone’s duty and
not just the duty of
the pastor.
PEOPLE PRAYER PROCLAIM PERSEVERANCE
Transformation takes
time and so we need
to persevere with each
other.
It is divine work. It is about
sharing the
word of God
to others.
ENGAGE EVANGELIZE ESTABLISH EMPOWER
PROCLAMATION PRAYER PEOPLE PATIENT
MATURITY IN JESUS
Support ministry
REACH team (our event organisers)
Welcoming team
Music team
AV team
Graphic design team
Much of what we do in the English ministry would not have been possible
without the dedication of our support ministries working behind the scenes, in
particular:
One group that has struggled to come back to CCC because of the
increasing difficulty of logistics, has been our seniors. As many are still
on Zoom, it is important to keep building a community for them. We
have recently started our Seniors ministry which is essentially our
English Seniors lunch at the Epping Church office. The mission of our
seniors ministry is to help them “Grow in Christ as they grow grey.” We
finished 2022 with a great Seniors Christmas potluck luncheon.
We are working out our ministry to the seniors, however, it will probably
take the form of visitations, phone calls and seniors lunches to
encourage them in their walk with God, but it is also a time for them to
invite unchurched seniors to come and hear the gospel.
Fellowship of Young Adults (FYA)
In February 2022, we launched a new young adults ministry we have
called FYA (pronounced “fire”). It started in a shaky way as we were
unsure what to do, but over the months we were finally about to
develop a good program and have built a good FYA community. FYA is a
weekly meeting on Wednesday evening from 7 to 9pm at Milsons Point.
Average attendance is between 20-30. We hope to grow this to a regular
35 in attendance for 2023.
Pastoral Care groups
Any change will be uncomfortable and unsettling. As a way of caring for
people through the transition to one service, we set up pastoral care
groups to ensure that people were cared for throughout the year.
Seniors Ministry
14
Finally, while the report focuses on the programs we ran in 2022, we
continue to praise God that despite all our work, preparation and
planning, we are amazed at God’s faithful, quiet and often unnoticed
work behind the scenes. We have seen many times where God opens
up opportunities, and to the surprise of our members, opportunities to
share his good news to friends, colleagues and family members. We
have seen God continue to grow his people as they wrestle with their
sin and aim to live godly lives.
We finish 2022 praising God for this continued
faithfulness despite our own sinfulness.
All praise be to God.
15
Challenges for 2022
The lack of leaders such as growth group leaders and deacons.
Wisdom to know how to care for our seniors and to keep growing
them in Christ.
Growing our university age ministry.
Growing a disciple-making culture.
While there is so much to praise God for, there are still many challenges
to lift in prayer:
God is at work
“The Lord himself goes before you and
will be with you; he will never leave
you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid;
do not be discouraged.”
DEUTERONOMY 31:8
Interim Pastor Anita Chan
Chairman Elton Tsang
Vice-chairman/Housegroup Mark Herron
Secretary/Mission Maggie Chu
Worship/Communication Lawrence Li
Visitation/Caring Freddie Fung & Yvonne Au
Senior and Prayer Eric Tam
Sunday School Raymond Lee
Evangelism Kris Ma
Children Karen Woo as a co-worker
Youth Anita Chan
Christian Education/Music Joseph Lau as a co-worker
Treasurer Eugenia Fung as a co-worker
Bulletin Cecilia Yuen as a co-worker
May 29 Evangelical Sunday Service
Aug 14 Cantonese training (Rev. Charles Cheung)
Sept 10 Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration
Sept 17
Church-wide leadership vision sharing and
feedback
Oct 22 Planning Day
Diaconate
Major events
17
CANTONESE
MINISTRY
2022 is another year that we witnessed
God’s abundant grace and provision. He
has prepared every leader of the
Cantonese congregation to have a
faithful and serving heart so that the
year 2022 is seen to be fruitful,
encouraging and full of evangelical
opportunities.
The attendance of the Cantonese
service has grown steadily while the
offertory has also improved. Even
though we are still waiting for a new
pastor, we are thankful to have Anita as
our interim pastor to look after the
Cantonese congregation. Praise our
Lord.
Mid-Autumn festival celebration marked
the first major event after almost two
and a half years of the pandemic. It was
thoroughly enjoyed by 150 attending
members, friends and family who were
able to share a meal together, have
good fellowship and build a strong
sense of community.
Church app had been set up after
several sessions of explanation and with
on-going technical assistance. Thus,
church news and updates can be spread
out efficiently and the printing of paper
bulletins was reduced significantly.
Sunday service had been affected by
the pandemic in 2021. Thank God that
from the beginning of 2022, physical
Sunday service gradually returned to
full swing with some members still
using online services due to various
reasons. The department is planning
to keep the YouTube services and
cease the Zoom services in 2023.
18
The evangelical department has
monthly meetings for praying and
organising evangelical events for the
Cantonese demographic who might
have the potential to come to CCC
Cantonese service. In 2022, two leisure
walks have been successfully
launched. Thank God that around 10 to
15 newcomers attended the activity.
The department also supported the
afternoon tea/chatting meetings
organised by the Caring department
for promoting the gospel. In 2022, four
brothers and sisters were converted to
Christianity. They have been closely
followed up with nurturing courses.
\"2022 IS ANOTHER YEAR THAT WE WITNESSED
GOD’S ABUNDANT GRACE AND PROVISION\"
19
The Cantonese caring department
welcomes newcomers during Cantonese
Sunday service and carries out follow-up
accordingly. The department has been able
to organise regular visitation even in the
absence of a Cantonese pastor. The
department has also launched five
afternoon tea/chatting meetings with
specific topics; by which, 10 to 15
newcomers attended regularly. Praise our
Lord for using the team to introduce
gospel-related conversation with the
newcomers during the meetings.
For music ministry, the choir had been able
to present live items every month in 2022,
and most of the choir members were able
to come back to Milsons Point for practice.
In 2023, a concert will be organised which
will be a challenging task. We pray that it
will be a way to bring new people to the
church and spread the gospel.
Adult Sunday School has seen two new
teachers joining the ministry. In 2023, the
department will start implementing a
longer term plan to systematically cover
the books of the Bible in five years.
May our Lord provide enough
manpower and resources to complete
the goal.
With restructuring of the English
services into one, it poses a great
challenge to the children’s Sunday
School and youth ministry. With fewer
classes and less teachers, the current
teachers have been exhausted and
some are unable to attend the service
for most of the year. More helpers are
needed to relieve the pressure for all
those faithful servants.
Mission department has been arranging
missionaries to share during service.
Missionary videos were also played once
or twice every quarter in order to
promote the awareness and importance
of the mission. It will continue in the
coming year.
20
Prayer is the backbone of all ministries.
Prayer meetings have been going on
every Sunday morning from 8am. We
thank God for those who participate
physically or online supporting the
church ministries and caring for all
brothers and sisters in need.
Housegroup and senior fellowship groups
are essential vehicles that the Cantonese
BOD uses to serve our congregation.
More than 80% of the congregation
joined the groups. “Christian Virtue” from
the Lifeguide Bible Study series is being
studied throughout 2022 in all
housegroups to build stronger
housegroups and reconnect brothers and
sisters.
The majority of the Cantonese house
groups had a major shuffle last year. We
pray that God continues to use His
faithful servants to look after His people
and that all members are being spiritually
built up and care for one another.
In the senior groups, the Canaan
Fellowship was moved from Milsons Point
to Epping, while the Eden Fellowship
remained at Milsons Point. The purpose
of this was to spread the word of the
gospel, with one group focused on
outreach around Epping, while the other
served the North Shore. Both groups have
had a large majority of members return
to physical gathering, with newcomers
also attending.
Women’s Fellowship has been growing
closer and stronger over the past year.
They meet once a fortnight and have
been active in outreach and training.
21
with training and has focused on
reaching out to a number of new
brothers who have recently joined
CCC.
After the completion of the men’s
discipleship training in 2021, the
women’s discipleship training groups
were carried out and completed in
2022.
We are also blessed to have Rev.
Charles Cheung to tailor a three halfday training course which was
designed for the Cantonese leaders
and potential leaders. It was
completed in October in order to
equip all leaders to better serve the
church.
With English services merging from
three to one and Cantonese service
time moving from 9:15am to 9:00am,
the challenges imposed on the
Cantonese congregation are
imminent. For the sustainability of the
Cantonese congregation, a long-term
strategy is needed and the church
leaders are working hard on it. We ask
all brothers and sisters to remember
this issue in your prayers. May God
grant us the wisdom and love.
Men’s Fellowship started the year
Marco Pu (Chairman)
Stephen Han
Joanne Luo
Ben Liu
Jed Bian
Tim Dong (on leave)
MANDARIN MINISTRY
2021-2022 Board of Deacons
22
23
Looking back on our Mandarin ministry in the
past year, I am filled with gratitude and
praise. Thank God! During the restricted
period of the pandemic, because of His grace
and mercy, He prepared everything for us,
guided us all the way, and kept us wherever
we were. Facing this extraordinary year,
under the leadership of the Lord Jesus, the
service of Mandarin ministry became a year
of renewed strength and a year of renewed
life.
We survived many restrictions imposed by the
government's measures during the pandemic.
In 2022, the Mandarin Ministry resumed the inperson Sunday services, and the number of
attendees exceeded 100 people weekly.
However, we still maintained the live
broadcast of Sunday services for about onethird of the brothers and sisters who had
difficulties attending in person. Sunday School
and a small number of fellowship groups also
resumed in-person meetings, and at the same
time, most bible study groups and discipleship
training courses remained online.
The theme of the church's pastoral care in
2022 was \"Discipleship\". Mandarin ministry
planned its discipleship approach from:
The goal of this project was to enable the
congregation to grow spiritually through
discipleship training. Not only to pursue their
own spiritual growth, but also to help others
grow together. It also taught us to learn to
love and cooperate with each other in serving
and to ground ourselves more deeply in the
faith and build a closer relationship with God.
This plan can also be based on the
implementation situation. We made
evaluations from time to time, and we made
supplements and adjustments if we found
deficiencies as we went.
I am very grateful that the Mandarin Ministry
held a series of spiritual equipment courses
this year. Many brothers and sisters actively
signed up and participated enthusiastically.
The number of people exceeded expectations.
Catechumens class (six
courses)
Baptism and conversion
Accept (six courses)
The cultivation of new faith
Guide to a stable church
life
Become a member
(requires three courses of
membership class)
Participate in Sunday
service, small groups,
volunteer in church
ministries, providing
advanced discipleship
training until becoming a
church leader.
Six people were baptized this year; 30-40
people attended the sharing session on the
afternoon of the baptism day, and the
testimonies of the newly baptized people
were very inspiring.
Throughout the year (June, August, and
October), Reverend Charles Cheung was
specially invited to give lectures on the
\"Leadership Training Class\" three times, with
the number of attendees between 25-32.
A newly established Welcoming ministry
team consisted of five families (including
Reverend Wang and his wife) forming a
core group to follow up and visit
newcomers. In total:
45 people, including 16 newcomers
attended the Welcome Tea Gathering
on 7 August.
72 people, including 31 newcomers,
attended the Tea Gathering on 18
December.
The Mid-Autumn Festival Gala was held on
3 September, with 102 attendees (including
18 new friends). It included several small
programs to spice up the evening.
The first marriage seminar was held on 13
November. A total of 52 people attended it.
Everyone responded enthusiastically and
looked forward to the next seminar.
On 18 November, the traditional \"Sunday
Christmas Music Worship\" of the Mandarin
Ministry was held as scheduled, with 157 inperson attendees and 44 online attendees,
totaling more than 200 attendees. 13
newcomers attended the Worship.
24
In short, over the past year, Mandarin Ministry
has not only equipped believers and coworkers by offering these systematic training
courses, but also helped us know how to make
disciples and make disciples more effectively.
Through the various fellowship activities we
held, we could care for those in need around
us and spread the gospel. May the power of
the Holy Spirit lead more people to the Lord
Jesus Christ and grow the kingdom of God.
Finally, I would like to thank God for providing
us with a dedicated team of deacons and coworkers. The new Board of Deacons
composed of nine deacons, among which five
key co-workers committed themselves to join
the current deacon board under the call of the
Lord to assist and cooperate with the pastoral
team of the Mandarin Ministry to preach,
shepherd, and serve all believers.
Thanks to the Holy Spirit for leading the
communication in the monthly regular deacon
meetings, which was always warm and indepth. Sometimes everyone inevitably had
different views and opinions, but the coworkers would communicate with each other
with love and patience, and used God's words
to encourage each other, so that the team of
co-workers could be built.
May the Lord give us grace and strength in the
new year. May He give us wisdom and ability,
and allow us to be greatly used as a suitable
vessel in His hands. Glory to the Lord!
25
Reverend Chris Chua
After discussion with the Elders, from May 2022 my ministry in CCC
will be 3 days a week. My responsibilities are Sunday preaching,
teaching, training, and mentoring with the blessing of the Pastoral
Team members. I will assist East Sydney Community Christian
Church (ESCCC) and Chung Chen Chinese Christian Church
(CCCCC), which used to be the branch church of CCC. I will work
with the Elders on the idea of organising the previous branch
churches of CCC to form an Association of Chinese Churches.
I handed over the Mandarin Service to Rev. Jeff Wang. He was
trained and ordained in CCC. God has called him to shepherd
His flock with Jesus as his Chief Shepherd. He has been a
faithful and caring pastor. I will continue to serve as his mentor.
I have continued to preach and lead the different bible study
groups weekly.
As agreed, I have not attended the weekly meetings of the
Pastoral Team, the monthly meetings of the Board of Elders
and the Mandarin Board of Deacons (MBOD).
Cantonese Service is still looking for a full-time pastor. I have
been helping them in the Pastoral Search Committee (PSC),
preaching, conducting the Holy Communion, and Baptism,
guiding the MBOD in some important ministry issues as
requested.
In July 2021, I helped ESCCC to start the Mandarin Service
online because of COVID. I invited Rev. Jeff Wang, Pastor
Caroline Dong and Deacon Marco Pu and other ministers
associated with CCC to assist in the preaching. From July 2022
the members have been worshipping physically. Currently, the
weekly attendance has been steady, around 30 people.
From May 2022:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Ephesians 3:16-19
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your
inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being
rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to
grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that
surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
26
INTRODUCTION
Redeemer City Church is a branch church
of CCC Milsons Point that gathers for
Sunday worship at 10am in the Sebel Hotel
(Chatswood). This year we celebrated five
years since we held our first public service
which is a testament to God's gracious
guidance, the resilience of the
congregation and the support of our
mother church.
This was the second year under Rev. Joe's
oversight and the first full year without
any major COVID related disruptions. We
were eager to continue to get back to
'normal' church rhythms, figure out what
post-pandemic ministry to the world looks
like and continue to be rooted and
established in the love of Christ.
Being a newly established ministry, Redeemer
has a strong sense of purpose and drive to
want to 'do ministry'. But it has been my
prayer that we (and I speak to myself the
most) prioritise our relationship with Christ by
daily being gripped by the great love of
Christ. As we continue to abide in him, we
hope that we will bear fruit for His Kingdom.
Highlights
Sam and Matt's Baptism
20 March 2022
REDEEMER
CITY
CHURCH
27
SUNDAY SERVICE
Two baptisms
12 child dedications
Growth in physical Sunday service
attendance (Q1 to Q2 - 40s to Q3
to Q4 - 60s)
We've continued to faithfully gather in
the name of Jesus, to be encouraged
and equipped to make Jesus known in
Chatswood and beyond.
In our Sunday service we've had:
James pointing to the provider of our spiritual and physical food at the Redeemer Thanksgiving lunch
27 November 2022
Promises made by the parents
at the Child dedication service
22 September 2022
28
DISCIPLESHIP
GROUPS
On top of meeting together for Sunday service,
we also gather in smaller groups to study
God's word, to love each other and to minister
together.
Uncle Joey teaching at Redeemer Kids
18 September 2022
Joe and Sam's Denistone/Carlingford
group looking cosy
30 November 2022
This year we added a 'missional community' element to our groups where we
prayed for and held two or three events for the purpose of connecting with our
non-Christians friends together.
Minis - Age 2 to preschool age (10 regulars).
Kids - Primary school (six regulars).
Teens - High school (two regulars).
Growth groups (around 60 regulars).
Groups include:
29
MISSION
Coming out of a period of isolation, social
distancing and minimal 'meeting with
strangers', we were unsure how willing the
general community would want to engage
with us. To our surprise we greeted many
people going back to church for the first time
(at Sunday service), had many friendly
discussions with people at the park (Tiny
Tunes) and also said 'hello' to many people at
events (Emerge festival).
TINY TUNES
This is our music playgroup outreach ministry
that meets every second and fourth Tuesday
morning at Mandarie Park Lane Cove. Rev. Joe
and a group of our mums and their
babies/toddlers organise to sing songs, read a
story and have conversations with other
parents/carers at the park with the hope of
connecting with them.
EMERGE FESTIVAL
Since 2018, Redeemer has run a community
market stall at the annual Willoughby Council
Emerge Festival Street Fair alongside 150+
stallholders. We offered kid-friendly
activities and a mobile photo booth as a
means to serve and connect with our
community. This was the first time since
COVID struck that it was back on.
WHITEHALL AGED CARE FACILITY
CHRISTMAS VISIT
Redeemer returned to visit the residents at
Whitehall Aged Care Centre Lindfield, which
reopened for visits for the first time since
COVID restrictions had places like this under
lockdown. The best part of visiting Whitehall
is that we are allowed to explicitly share the
Christian Christmas message - which we did
through carols, a skit, bible verses and
conversations.
Alyssa and the boys setting up
despite the rain in the morning
3 September 2022
Mei-Mei reads the story of Jesus’
birthday at the special Tiny Tunes
Christmas event
20 December 2022
30
Andrew and Nicole play the part of two stars
in our Christmas skit at our Whitehall Aged
Care Facility
3 December 2022
Training
Throughout the calendar year, the
congregation attended various training
events for being equipped for Christian life
and ministry. External training events
attended included: Redeemer Retreat,
SMBC Childrens Conference, Reach
Australia Conference, Basecamp, KCC
OneLove. Internal training that was held
included: Fundamentals of Christianity (for
new believers), Baptism course, Deacons
training and Men’s discipleship gathering.
Hanging out during down time at our Redeemer retreat
30 October 2022
SMBC Childrens Conference
7 May 2022
Men's discipleship event - 1 October 2022
Redeemer City Church
By Rev. Joe Cho
Appoint a lead pastor.
Congregational maturity (church
membership, bible studies and sermons).
Leadership maturity (training deacons
and future elders).
Financially self-sufficient (being able to
pay for our own things).
Pathway to independence
Redeemer became a branch church of CCC
at the 2020 AGM. We were recognised to
have our own distinct mission in reaching
Chatswood and beyond and have been
working towards growing into a mature
church that can stand on its own feet (and
God willing plant more churches like us).
Our steps towards maturing and becoming
ready for independence includes:
Projects
Property search
While The Sebel Hotel has been a great
place to meet, we project further growth
and the need for more space. That is why
we've been inquiring and visiting various
locations in Chatswood. We've looked into
commercial office spaces, schools, cinemas
and church buildings, but nothing quite
suitable has popped up. We continue to
trust and ask God to provide for all our
ministry needs.
Stephen and the Wongs checking out a commercial office space - 2 March 2022
31
“PICKLE!” I shouted, straining to
make my already-tired voice heard
over the solid wall of cacophony
erupting out of Room 8 downstairs.
“You’re next, so come up here now!”
The uproar doesn’t abate even
slightly, and I still wonder how the
noisy chatter of a half dozen
preteens can sound akin to the
mightiest hordes of the Lord’s
angelic armies assembled for battle.
32
This year the children’s ministry
began with a monumental challenge:
How will Sunday school fare after the
big English service three to one
restructure? Classes will have to be
rearranged and teaching rosters
adjusted as the English and Mandarin
ministries partner up at the 10:45am
slot and the Cantonese run solo at
9am. This logistical undertaking was
met with zeal and love by the Sunday
School team, and the Sunday School
coordinators went above and beyond
to take care of the considerable
administrative responsibilities all year.
Our church is deeply indebted to the
faithfulness of Karen Woo, Jenny Sher,
Jenny Chan, Carmen Seeto, and
Vincent Fung.
CHILDREN'S
MINISTRY
Children Ministry Committee (CMC)
It was 10:13am on a Sunday morning earlier
in the year, and I was guest teaching one of
the 9am Sunday school classes. The subject
of the lesson was the penultimate verse of
St. Paul’s glorious doxology in Philippians:
“that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth and
under the earth”. I had spent the previous
hour impressing upon the children the
concept of just vindication: There are
people today who will not bow to Jesus,
but one day they will. They all will. If not
today then one day every last man, woman,
and child will confess the truth of who he is
We were taking turns reciting the memory
verse. Earlier in the lesson one of the
students, meeting me for the first time,
decided to introduce himself as “Da Pickle”
(or was it “das pickle?” “darth pickle?” I
didn’t quite catch the first word, but I was
sure he said pickle). He thought it would be
cheeky; a way to troll the substitute. Little
did he know that I wasn’t just any old
substitute, and now he will be known to
me as “Pickle” for at least the rest of the
year, if not beyond. Pickle came up and
laboured out the verse with his eyes closed.
33
One of the core convictions of our
ministry is the importance of
relationships. We are committed to
teaching children, not content. What is
of utmost importance to us is not just
that our kids know a bunch of Bible
stories and trivia, but they experience
belonging to God’s covenant
community. We do not want them
simply to know the Bible, but to identify
themselves as children of God, for whom
God’s Word is a light on their path
(Psalm 119:105). This is not to say that we
don’t care about biblical teaching. One
of the highlights of this year for me was
the end-of-year trivia challenge
organised by our Sunday School
teachers. The 9am and 10:45am kids
faced each other to see who could
answer the most questions, which were
taken from Sunday School lessons
throughout the year. The children’s
memory and enthusiasm thoroughly
impressed me.
If the goal is to disciple our children and
keep them part of our community, our
teachers and assistants are critical to
realising this goal; they are more than
childminders. Each of them throw
themselves into the task of teaching
Sunday School with passion and love
because they do love these kids as their
own spiritual children. I am grateful for
each of our volunteers; many of them
make time out of their very full lives to
plan lessons, prepare games, and give
their physical energy to building
relationships with children on Sundays.
It is an easy mistake to reduce the
Sunday School ministry to just
childminding; “someone’s got to babysit
the kids while the grown-ups worship
God”, but Jesus rebuked his disciples
and told them to “let the little children
come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to
such as these.” (Matthew 19:14).
In 2023, one of our challenges will be to
strengthen the structure of our Sunday
school. I’ve been told that “leadership
pipeline” is the new church buzzword for
the 2020s, just like “Christ-centered” was
for the decade before. For us, raising new
Sunday School teachers is not just a
practical need to keep the ministry
running; it is also a spiritual imperative to
grow the members of our church in love
and servanthood.
Some of our volunteers have been
teaching for many years. Our current
CMC team has been serving nonstop
almost without a break and they all treat
this lay ministry like a second job. It is
important for our future to raise up
leaders at every level, teaching assistants,
teachers, and committee members. We
not only need to train them, but also
support them, give them a vision, and
disciple them. This year, I am working
with the CMC team to develop a formal
training program for new teachers
focused on building character,
conviction, and competence. We want to
raise confidence in Scripture
comprehension by teaching
fundamental exegesis and biblical
theology skills. And we want all our
teachers to feel supported and cared for,
as if they weren’t just a resource but a
team member.
34
We have a lot to do, but God never
gives us the task without also
giving us the provisions.
To the praise of his glory, Amen.
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s including Alpha Youth, a Bible overview and the book of James. These small group studies provided many opportunities for the youth to explore their faith personally and help them begin to explore their own faith in Jesus. Many good discussions were had and it was encouraging to see the youth retaining some great foundational knowledge that will help them in their discipleship in the years ahead. It has been a challenge to resource the Sunday Youth ministry, but I want to really thank the hard working leaders and assistants. They have faithfully prepared studies and have ably led the youth throughout the year and it’s great to see the youth growing in their faith together. YOUTH
Foundation
Youth
Foundation Youth (FY) on Friday
nights is the flagship youth
ministry of CCC, where all of the
youth of CCC come together as a
community. It is a vital and
important part of the faith journey
for youth to have a community of
critical mass where they grow up
together and explore their faith
and it’s been encouraging to see
FY developing.
Last year was a difficult year for FY
with all the lockdowns but it was
capped off with a youth retreat
that proved to be vital for building
the youth community. Many
existing friendships deepened at
the retreat and many new
friendships were formed. These
friendships continued into 2022
and collectively this created a
positive momentum to build upon.
By God’s grace and the hardworking FY leaders, we are seeing
our BBB’s (Believe Belong Branch)
vision being fulfilled in increasing
measure.
We are often seeing new faces at FY as a result
of youth inviting their friends to our Engage
and Evangelism events and many of these
friends are now part of the FY community and
beginning their own faith journey. Praise God!
This year we started the year with a doctrine
series on “Who is God and what is He like?”,
we’ve studied some awesome books of the
Bible including Romans and Exodus and we
finished the year with a very practical series on
“Christian Living for Starters”. It has been a year
filled with great learning and discussions and
it’s been really encouraging to see many youth
really starting to think deeply about their
relationship with God and get more serious
with their faith!
We ran some super fun events this year
including our epic dumpling making night to
raise funds for our Houseparty and a great
Combined Community Night where over 150
youth came together with us from six other
youth groups for fun and games and heard a
Gospel talk from one of our former leaders,
Justin Zhong. These events were a huge
success, but they required a lot of hard work
from the leaders in planning and preparing
these and other events. Thanks to the leaders
for pouring your love into the youth! Also,
thanks to everyone who bought our dumplings!
We sold out and many new friends were able to
come to FY Houseparty for free! Your
partnership was a great encouragement to all
of us! Thanks!
36
37
The FY year was capped off with a
Houseparty and it was great to bring
the whole youth community together
on a weekend of learning and fun. It
was so encouraging to see all the
friendships that had been forming all
year and coming together and bonding
so well. We had an ex-FY leader, Evan
Oei, as our guest speaker who gave
three excellent talks from the book of
Habakkuk. We had some great
discussions in our study groups, and
we ran some seminars that were really
relevant for our youth - including one
on image, another on wealth and
success, one on predestination and
another on two ways to live. We had a
lot of fun and played some pretty
messy games!
Wrap up
Thanks to all leaders for your hard work
and love throughout the year. A big
shoutout to Jessie and Hans who spent
many hours preparing and organising
Houseparty. To Sarah and Zenith for the
massive effort coordinating the
Community night and Anita Chan for all
her planning and preparation for
Sunday Youth!
To all the Youth, thanks for a great year
together. Remember we worship an
awesome God. Greater than we ever
imagined! Eternal and unique, our
creator and redeemer. Full of love and
grace, all poured out for us through His
Son on the cross!
BY GOD’S GRACE LET’S ALL KEEP GROWING.
MINISTRY COMMITTEE
OUR VISION
To evangelise to women of all ages,
edify and encourage them in the faith,
equip them for service and establish
the unity of the church.
WHAT HAPPENED IN 2022
After some difficult months with COVID, the women started meeting up again in
person through the year to study God’s word together.
The group continued to meet on Zoom
throughout the year in 2022 which
began with an informative and
encouraging sharing time from
missionaries Denise Dickson (visiting
from Thailand) and Carolynn Webb
(visiting from Spain). Numbers
fluctuated between 18 and 11 owing to
health concerns, travel and other
issues, but there have been some new
attendees as well. We are grateful to
our Zoom host for her dedication and
commitment each week in allowing
the group to continue in virtual
fellowship together.
The study on Psalms: Prayers of the
Heart, by Eugene Peterson shows how
to pray through our concerns while the
book of James focuses on the practical
life of faith.
Women’s Bible Study Group The fellowship completed the year with
a physical social gathering. We thank
God for His continuing grace in this
group, especially during the past three
years and pray that each member will
be blessed as we learn from God’s Word
together and grow in Christ-likeness.
May He have the glory.
38
1
REGULAR BIBLE
STUDY GROUPS
WOMEN'S
Two groups continued to meet to read the Bible together so that we could encourage
each other in our walks with God and in the raising of our children to know Jesus.
Our Wednesday Mothers’ group has been
meeting fortnightly with an average of three
mums and one child attending. This year we
studied the book of 1 Timothy. We have been
encouraged to pray for our leaders and consider
how we can be Christ-like in our daily lives - in
love, compassion, humility, obedience and
faithfulness.
As all our children will be attending school in 2023
and we are involved in other fellowship groups,
our group decided to wrap up at the end of 2022.
We thank God that we have been able to support
and encourage one another through the
challenges of the early years of motherhood, as
well as during the pandemic. It has been such a
blessing to be able to read God’s word and pray
together over the years. Please pray that we
continue to thirst for God’s Word and to keep
growing in godliness, as we seek to be godly
wives and raise our children to trust in Jesus.
This group had a regular
attendance of four mums of older
youth meeting weekly to study
the Bible together. We were
challenged to understand why
Jesus came to earth through
studying the book of Luke, and
were encouraged to trust God
more through some studies on
Psalms.
Zoom helped to include one
mum who had to go back to full
time work, but was able to study
God’s Word with us through her
lunch break.
Please pray that each of these
mums will keep learning more
about Jesus and come to accept
Jesus into their lives.
Burwood Mothers' Group Young Mothers’ Wednesday Group
39
2 MOTHERS' GROUP
50
New Young Mothers’ Group
Over the last couple of months
of the year, a new mothers’
group has begun meeting at
Epping once a week for a group
of about six new mums. Please
pray for this group as they
establish themselves in 2023.
Each year, women from all
congregations gather together to
attend Women’s conferences to
learn from God’s word with
women across all ages.
Equip Women's Conference
The Equip Women’s Conference
was held in June. The theme for
the conference was “The City of
Tears” covering the book of
Lamentations. We were guided
through Old Testament history to
help us understand the book of
Lamentations in context and we
were challenged to understand
God’s character in the midst of
suffering better.
OneLove Women’s Conference
It was a blessing to finally be able
to attend the OneLove Women’s
Conference in person. The theme
was “Running on Empty” and it
challenged us to be refuelled on
God’s Word and to keep trusting in
Him through all things.
3 WOMEN’S CONFERENCES
\"In all this you greatly rejoice, though now
for a little while you may have had to
suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These
have come so that the proven genuineness
of your faith—of greater worth than gold,
which perishes even though refined by fire
—may result in praise, glory, and honor
when Jesus Christ is revealed.\"
1 PETER 1.6-7
GROWING
IN CHRIST
ONE
COMMUNITY
GROWING
IN CHRIST
SERVING
IN LOVE
REACHING
THE WORLD
FINANCIAL
REVIEW
Isaiah 49:6 says “he says: ‘It is too small a
thing for you to be my servant to restore
the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of
Israel I have kept. I will also make you a
light for the Gentiles, that my salvation
may reach to the ends of the earth.’”
The big thing here means, 'to be a light to
the Gentiles'. Isaiah 49:1-13 is the second
servant song in the Book of Isaiah, which is
an important prophecy about the Messiah.
There are some special descriptions in the
Scriptures, for instance, 49:2 ‘He made my
mouth like a sharpened sword … he made
me into a polished arrow’, 49:6 ‘I will also
make you a light for the Gentiles’, 49:8 ‘I
will keep you and will make you to be a
covenant for the people’ etc, only Jesus
Christ, the Messiah, fulfilled these
descriptions and works. New Testament
writers such as Luke (Acts 13:47), Paul (2
Corinthians 6:2) and John (Revelation 7:16-
17) also quoted directly from these verses.
LITTLE THINGS
VS
BIG THINGS
Rev. Jeff Wang
43
THERE ARE MANY SMALL AND BIG THINGS IN OUR LIFE, IT IS THE
SAME WITH OUR FAITH, WHICH CAN BE DIVIDED INTO SMALL
THINGS AND BIG THINGS.
The Mission of the Servant Messiah
firstly, is to 'restore the tribes of
Jacob' (49:6), but also to be 'a light to
the Gentiles' (49:6). Jesus himself also
said so in John 10:16, “I have other
sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I
must bring them also”. The Great
Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) that
Jesus instructed his disciples to
undertake also speaks to us today.
Brothers and sisters, what is our
response? How should we respond?
May God always remind and move us:
what are the big things in our life?
Not take it to heart.
Not make it a big deal.
Be forbearing and forgiving because our Lord Jesus
tells us to forgive 77 times.
Leave the church and carry the resentment with you.
If your brother or sister in the Lord sins against you in
word or deed, what would you do? Would you:
A BROTHER WHO SINS AGAINST
YOU
(MATTHEW 18:15-17)
Rev. Jeff Wang
Rev. Chris Chua
Jesus teaches us, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault,
between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.”
(Matthew 18:15)
“But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every
charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he
refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to
the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matthew 18:16-17).
44
Go and tell him his fault and how he has sinned against you.
Do not wait. Do not procrastinate. Find an opportunity.
Meet with him alone because the issue is between the two of
you. Involving a third party may complicate the matter. The
brother may feel uncomfortable.
Point out his fault. However, allow possibilities for
misunderstanding due to miscommunication.
If he listens to you, you have gained a brother. He is still your
brother in Christ, not your opponent or enemy. You do not go
to rebuke him. Your ulterior motive is to gain a brother and
win him for Christ.
1. The brother may not listen to you. He may say it is your words
against his. Take one or two witnesses along with you.
According to the Scripture, “Only on the evidence of two
witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established”
(Deuteronomy 19:15).
Jesus is not setting up rules, procedure or policy for the church, nor how
to deal with a brother who sins against you. He is teaching us how to
win a brother who has sinned against you. It is enlightening that the
teaching comes after Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:10-14).
The owner of 100 sheep left the 99 to look for the one sheep that
wandered off. When he found it, he was so happy. Jesus says, “so it is not
the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones
should perish” (Matthew 18:14). The brother who sins is that one sheep
who wandered off.
IN THE CHURCH, AS MUCH AS WE TRY TO LOVE GOD AND LOVE EACH
OTHER, THERE WILL BE TIMES WHEN WE SIN AGAINST ONE ANOTHER. WE
ARE TO DEAL WITH IT PASTORALLY WITH THE PURPOSE OF WINNING THE
PERSON WHO SINS FOR CHRIST. THE PASTORS, ELDERS AND DEACONS
SHOULD LEAD AND GUIDE THE MEMBERS. IN THE END IT IS THE
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH.
2. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, most
likely during the usual gathering of the Christians, rather than
convene a special meeting. It is to give him another
opportunity to admit his fault and ask for forgiveness.
3. If he refuses to listen to them, each member of the church is
to treat him as a Gentile and tax collector, not to socialise with
him (Matthew 18:17). There is no mention of removing him from
the church. The Lord Jesus has not completely rejected him, he
is merciful. When the Pharisees questioned Jesus for having
meal with tax collectors and sinners, he replied to them “for I
came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). One
of Jesus’ disciples, Matthew, is a tax collector.
45
CANTONESE
6
ENGLISH
7
+ ENGLISH INFANT
BAPTISM
1
BAPTISM IN 2022
46
A church united in baptism - photos from Cantonese, Mandarin and English congregations
MANDARIN
8
REDEEMER
2
+ ENGLISH INFANT
DEDICATION
12
47
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\"Though you have not seen him, you
love him; and even though you do not
see him now, you believe in him and
are filled with an inexpressible and
glorious joy, for you are receiving the
end result of your faith, the salvation
of your souls.\"
1 PETER 1.8-9
Replaced non-compliant downpipes of
the main church.
Replaced carpet in the music room and
vestry.
Replaced the defective camera in the
main church.
Replaced the damaged TV in the main
church.
Converted the chapel into a multifunctional room.
Converted the counting room to a
ministers’ office.
Converted the church office to a Sunday
School room.
2022 was a year that the COVID rules were
relaxed and then gradually phased out. We
started to learn how to live with COVID and
resumed in person services and meetings.
The Church Office provided the support for
the transition to the new norm.
In 2022, the following minor maintenance
works were completed:
CHURCH OFFICE
In March, we commissioned a second office
at Epping. It provided an additional place
for the Pastoral Team to meet regularly. The
Epping Office was gradually opened for
access by growth groups, mothers’ groups
and various ministries groups.
The CCC leadership team decided to
convert the chapel into a multi-functional
room with a more flexible seating
configuration. In May, CCC donated its
pews in the chapel to Christian Agape
Church, a young church located at Grose
Vale. We were pleased to know that the
pews continued to serve in a house of the
Lord.
In August, church email accounts were
migrated from Google to Microsoft. Church
employees started transitioning to work on
the Microsoft platform.
WE THANK GOD FOR A YEAR OF BLESSINGS AND PROVISIONS!
50
During 2022, Christina continued
to work in the finance
administrator role to provide
support for the Church Treasurer
in managing the finances of CCC.
As the church resumed much of its
normal ministry activities,
emerging from COVID restrictions
and lockdowns, the financial
activity of CCC likewise increased.
Our new Tithe.ly Church App
provided another avenue for giving
to the church and we purchased
an EFTPOS terminal to allow credit
card payments for events,
merchandise and food, such as
church lunch.
CCC was blessed with financial
resources being used to improve
the facilities of the church, support
missionaries and allow the various
events which brought people
together to learn and grow in
Christ and outreach to others.
Your servants in Christ,
The Church Office team
51
Preparing pews to be moved Pews at their new home
Particularly, giving graphs were introduced to the
church announcements during the year to help our
members understand the financial needs of CCC,
and regular financial reporting continued to help
monitor how the church is progressing. Changes to
our accounting system were made to
accommodate the consolidation of the English
congregation and the re-purposing of the 1C2L
Fund.
The ongoing work of the church is supported by
faithful and generous giving from CCC members,
and we give praise to our Lord for this.
We thank Ivy Yee, Ron Huang and Russell Loon for
their ongoing dedication and hard work behind the
scenes to support the church. We welcome Michael
Zhang who came on board to help upkeep the
premises for our Lord.
We thank God for His guidance and provisions
throughout the year.
We look forward to continuing serving Him in 2023!
MAINTENANCE
TEAM
There are always plenty of
things requiring fixing,
cleaning or replacing on our
church site. A special thank
you to Ron of the English
congregation who tirelessly
maintains the gardens,
repairs the outdoor seats and
fixtures, sweeps the
courtyard early every Sunday
morning and takes out the
rubbish bins each week. Also
a big thank you to Russell on
the maintenance of the
buildings. His extensive
experience in the building
industry has provided much
wisdom in the maintenance
of the church. Rain water
leaks on the site have been
minimised through his
knowledge of the roofing
industry. Michael of the
Mandarin congregation has
also helped a lot in repairing
fixtures around the church.
We also appreciate Frankie’s
help in looking after
contractors onsite and
following up on quotations.
Replaced the PVC downpipes on the southern side
of the church with copper downpipes. Not many
people would notice this, but it was a requirement
by Council due to the heritage nature of the church. Repaired loose, missing and cracked tiles of the
church slate roof which eliminated many of the
church rain water leaks. Sealed the tilt window at the back of the church to
prevent water dripping onto the wall-mounted
screen. Repair concealed box gutter and connection to
downpipe at the southern entrance to the church. Work has not started yet but an order has been
placed with a contractor. This will stop the leaks into
the nave. Replace roof above music room. Again work has not
started, but a contractor has been engaged to do
the work. Replacement of hall windows on the western side
with louvre windows to maximise ventilation on
both rainy and fine days. We give thanks that no
incidents have occurred with the old sliding
windows. The bottom aluminium runners on all the
western side windows were loose and leaning out
due to deterioration of the wooden frame. Bottom
runners were only held in place by the vertical
sections of the frame which themselves were
beginning to deform due to the weight of the
windows.
There have also been many challenges, of which the
most is engaging contractors, not even to do the jobs
but just for quotations. All trades in the building
industry seem to be fully utilised. Despite this, we have
managed to contract companies to do some of the
more major repairs such as:
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k, Alex and Sam of the English congregation to develop a functional specification for the church site. This includes improving street access to the site with disability access to the courtyard, hall, chapel and church. Other items to be reviewed are the functionality of the hall and requirements for bathrooms! Phil and Ivy have consulted with the different ministry groups who use the hall and the data will assist in compiling the functional specifications. We thank God for providing a site where we can worship, fellowship, build-up and encourage one another in Christ. It is a beautiful site and close to public transport, shops and eateries. Parking can be a little difficult, but is only a minor concern if we consider the difficulties our overseas brothers and sisters endure to worship together. We are excited to see how God will provide for the maintenance and development of the church in the coming year. R
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\"In your hearts revere Christ as Lord.
Always be prepared to give an answer to
everyone who asks you to give the reason
for the hope that you have. But do this
with gentleness and respect, keeping a
clear conscience, so that those who
speak maliciously against your good
behavior in Christ may be ashamed of
their slander.\"
1 PETER 3.15-16
REACHING
THE WORLD
ONE
COMMUNITY
GROWING
IN CHRIST
SERVING
IN LOVE
REACHING
THE WORLD
FINANCIAL
REVIEW
56
COMMUNITY MINISTRY
The purpose of CCC's establishment of Community Ministry is to cultivate community life.
Based on the love of Jesus, this ministry serves to bless the CCC community and the general
community. Thank God for leading the Community Ministry this year. Our ministry includes
English classes (ESL), Senior citizens group, and Line dancing ministry. After the pandemic, this
year was not only full of challenges, but also full of joy and gratitude at the same time.
God uses this ministry to give our brothers and sisters from different congregations an
opportunity to serve with one heart. This year, more new friends came to the church through
the community ministry, and there were more opportunities to spread the gospel and share
God's love. The zealous service of the brothers and sisters inspired me, and I am very grateful
to all the staff and volunteers for their faithful service and dedication throughout the year.
Glory be to God!
57
Now to him who can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to
his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21
The Senior Citizens’ Group serves the elderly. Thank you, Lord! Since the pandemic, we
resumed in-person gatherings in March on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. We
arranged different programs for each gathering. The Crows Nest Community Centre is our
partner, assisting in the operation of the fellowship and providing various support. We
arranged health talks, made mooncakes and dumplings during the Mid-Autumn Festival, took a
day trip by bus, and had birthday parties every two months. During Easter and Christmas, we
invited CCC pastors to share the Word of God, hoping that through the message of the
gospel, more new friends who did not believe in the Lord could know Jesus and trust in Him.
Thank the Lord for the rich preparations for us. We are grateful that we had brothers and
sisters from different congregations who prepared delicious lunch and tea for all of our
gatherings so that the elders had a wonderful gathering. May God continue to lead us in the
new year to be a good witness to God.
SENIOR CITIZENS GROUP
THE GOAL OF THE SENIOR CITIZENS GROUP MINISTRY IS TO BE
A BLESSING TO THE COMMUNITY, SHARING JESUS’ LOVE BY
SERVING A GROUP OF CHINESE SENIORS
58
English as a
Second Language (ESL)
Our ESL class remains online for advanced
students only.
There is now only one student in Australia,
with others continuing to join the class from
Japan and China. We discussed news
items as part of the lessons and by God’s
grace had the opportunity to also look at
the bible together in relation to the news
items. We recently read together an article
about weddings and so read the story of
Jacob and his wedding to Leah. We were
able to explain how this story fits into the
bible narrative and have now started an
overview of the bible including the story of
Abraham and God’s promise to bless all
nations through him.
Praise God that the students seem
receptive to learning more about God and
to reading the bible. Continue to pray that
they may come to a saving faith as they
gain a better understanding of God’s love
and mercy and his salvation plan for the
world.
Line Dancing ministry
After a long two-year interruption, we
finally resumed our Line Dancing classes
from 9 March 2022. In 2022, we held two
classes every Wednesday morning with
about 30 to 35 ladies combined.
We thank God for giving us this opportunity
to have connection with ladies outside of
CCC Milsons Point, and for giving us an
opportunity to exercise together. Half of our
members are non-Christians, the other half
are Christians from different churches
(including CCC Milsons Point).
Our last session and end of year Christmas
social was on the 22 December with 32
attendees. We pray that God will continue
to give us the opportunity, gentleness and
boldness to share our Christ-centered life
with the ladies in our class.
Kathy Chua
Chair Swee Yeo (English)
Pastoral Team Rep Rev. Jeff Wang
Secretary
Esther Lee (English)
Alex Yuen (English)
Treasurer Jason Foo (English)
Prayer Facilitator Carolyn Yee (English)
Promotions Enyi Lin (Mandarin)
MISSION COMMITTEE
Committee Members
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The Church, wherever it is, is not only Christ's witness to its own people
and nation, but also the home-base for a mission to the ends of the earth.
~Lesslie Newbigin~
The above quote summarises the vital role of the church not only in local
missions, but also in global cross-cultural missions. Jesus himself gave his
disciples the mission to preach the message of salvation throughout the world,
“and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a
testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). This is our
mission too.
We thank God that through his faithful provision, we at CCC have been able to
partner with eight missionary families serving in Australia and various parts of the
world.
Missionary Family Organisation Field
John & Denise Dickson,
James, Mia & Sean
Pioneers Thailand
H & S, J, E, M & C S.E. Asia/Singapore
J & B, C & L East Asia
Chloe & Conrad Shiao,
Lucas & Daniel
Navigators Mongolia
James & Carolynn
Webb, Toby & Gabriel
ECM Spain
Mike & Joyce Lee,
Olive & Jonathan
Australia
Phil & Miriam Snelling,
Denali & Noemi
FOCUS
Macquarie Uni,
Australia
L & L Africa
Missionary Families / Organisations
60
Some main events in 2022:
Monthly mission updates from our missionaries (either in person or on
Zoom) at our English, Mandarin and Cantonese services. We also heard
from Frank Zheng, a theological student CCC supported, and from
Compassion Australia. Each sharing was an encouragement and a
reminder to continue praying for and supporting the cross-cultural
ministries.
CCC members attended the OMF and ReachOut mission conferences.
Christmas cards for our missionaries signed by CCC members, and a
small love gift. These were very much appreciated by our missionaries.
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2022 has been a year of great challenges, but also immense blessings for our
missionaries. Your prayers have sustained and enabled them to continue
serving with joy and perseverance. For more details, read our Mission
Newsletters http://tiny.cc/MissionNews or subscribe and receive a copy
directly to your mailbox by using this link http://tiny.cc/MissionPrayers
Brief updates on our missionaries:
L and L
They continue to learn the language and build friendships in their local community.
Thank God for different opportunities to serve the university. L is teaching medical
students at the university and L is teaching nutrition to medical students and training
lecturers on course designs, assessments and teaching techniques.
AFRICA
James and Carolynn Webb, with Toby and
Gabriel - Zalla, Basque Country
After four years of praying and planning, James and
Carolynn, and their co-workers, the Aldanas have
finally received approval to open a guesthouse in
Las Encartaciones in Basque Country, Spain. They
are now able to start raising financial support to
purchase a property for The Casa Camino Antiguo
(Ancient Way House) project. The aim of this project
is to share Jesus with pilgrims along the Camino.
EUROPE
John and Denise Dickson, with
James (Australia), Mimi (Australia)
and Sean
Thank God for the continual growth
of the Arun Nakhon Gospel
Community, and the joy and
encouragement they receive from
one another. Praise God that James
and Mimi could spend Christmas
2022 in Thailand, the first time the
whole family could be together.
The Dicksons
H and S, with J, E, M and C
H has started a new role as
the Deputy National Director
of their mission organisation
in Singapore. Praise God that
there is an increasing number
of workers from nontraditional missionarysending countries in Asia,
Africa and South America.
J and B, with C and L
J and B continue to witness for
Jesus through their business,
training events and wellbeing
programs. J is also building
relationships in the sporting
community. The family
experienced two months of
lockdown, three weeks of hospital
isolation and a massive COVID
wave in their city.
EAST ASIA/SINGAPORE
Conrad and Chloe Shiao, with Lucas
and Daniel
Conrad and Chloe continue to minister
amongst university students in Mongolia
and have been officially appointed to
their new missions organisation, the
Navigators. They are currently on
sabbatical.
MONGOLIA
62
THAILAND
Conrad
and Chloe
EAST ASIA
Mike and Joyce, with Olive and
Jonathan
After their difficult transition back to
Sydney, they have settled in well and
are able to support both sets of parents
with significant health issues. Mike
continues to work in the OMF office
supporting Christian workers being sent
to Asia. Joyce is now working part-time
at a Chinese Christian primary school,
and as such she is no longer a member
of OMF but continues to be involved as
a volunteer.
Phil and Miriam Snelling, with Denali and
Noemi – FOCUS Macquarie University
Phil leads the staff team and ministries at
FOCUS, and recently also managed the
Christian Union at Macquarie University.
Praise God for several new students who
are actively exploring the Christian faith for
themselves. The team has restarted the
FOCUS English Conversation Classes, with
many new students arriving, using Bible
stories as part of the lessons.
AUSTRALIA
63
The Lees
The Snellings
\"Therefore, since Christ suffered in
his body, arm yourselves also with
the same attitude, because whoever
suffers in the body is done with sin.
As a result, they do not live the rest
of their earthly lives for evil human
desires, but rather for the will of
God.\"
1 Peter 4.1-2
FINANCIAL
REVIEW
ONE
COMMUNITY
GROWING
IN CHRIST
SERVING
IN LOVE
REACHING
THE WORLD
FINANCIAL
REVIEW
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\"The end of all things is near. Therefore
be alert and of sober mind so that you
may pray. Above all, love each other
deeply, because love covers over a
multitude of sins.\"
1 PETER 4.7-8
2023 ANNUAL GENERAL REPORT