Bulletin Announcements – 15 May 2016
- Sunday school reminder – Parents, just a friendly reminder come on time and pick your children up promptly before going for morning tea. You are welcome to chat about the class with our leaders as well.
- Ladies Fellowship Evangelistic Event – Calling all women!!……Are you looking for a relaxed and informal way to invite your female friends to church? Have you noticed the amount of colouring books showing up in every shop corner? Come to this event and see how colouring scripture can lead to gospel opportunities! Save this date: Saturday 25th June from 1.00-3:30pm. More details to follow. Contact: Betty Wong. Email: wai.betty@gmail.com
- Baptism Service will be held on the 22nd May 12:30pm at WSCCC Strathfield (Chapel). Please come along and support those who will be making a public declaration of their faith in Jesus. English: Zachary Cai, Jessica He, Jessica Liew, Allen Lin; Cantonese: Annie Lau, Kee Lee, Simon Thi, Shirley Yeung; Mandarin: Joanna Chen, Sarah Du, Ya Dong Lin, Yan Qiu Liu, Xi Bai Miao, Yao Wang, Kathy Wei.
- WSCCC Combined Service – “United in Love” Date: Sunday 29th May 2016, 9.30am-12pm Location: Trinity Grammar School, 119 Prospect Rd, Summer Hill. Speakers: Rev Dominic Ku and Rev Dr Sam Chan, Children’s program available.
- Taiwan Short Term Mission (Dec 2016) – If you are interested in this but were unable to attend the information afternoon, please contact Anthony Choong (anthony.choong@gmail.com or 0411246506) who will be able to provide you with details or speak with one of the ministers or GMC team. Expressions of interest to be given to the ministers or GMC by today.
- Wong’s Visit: Andrew, Jo, Emily and Hannah Wong is holidaying in Sydney. They will be holding an open afternoon tea today, 2pm-4pm at our CP hall. This event will continue at The Ranch, North Ryde for dinner from 5pm for those who wish to attend. If you wish to attend either of these events or if you are able to bring food/drinks to the afternoon tea, please contact Fiona Liang (CP10).
- Announcement from the Diaconate: Following last Sunday’s EGM, the members have passed both motions announced previously (91.7% for motion 1, and 100% for motion 2). As a result, the Croydon Park Mandarin service will no longer be considered a branch church, but continues as one of the 6 services of the wider WSCCC. Also, it was agreed that all future Annual General Meetings for WSCCC will be held on the last Sunday in September each year.
- The Diaconate has decided to change the Church Combined Prayer Meeting currently held on every Wednesday evening to the first Wednesday evening of every ‘even’ month. This would mean that starting from June; this Church Combined Prayer Meeting will be held on 1 June, 3 August, 5 October and 7 December (all at 8:00pm). There will be two sessions in this Combined Prayer Meeting, the first session will mainly focus on worshipping and praying together for some common ministry of the church and it will be conducted in two languages including English and Chinese (either Cantonese or Mandarin). For the second part, we will be splitting into language groups so that people could pray in their own language. The church ministry needs your prayer support and we encourage you to come and join together in this Prayer Meeting.
Ariel writes – a weekly Scriptural devotion:
“He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”” (Romans 4:17b-18 NIV)
The focus in this section falls on the words; “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed…”. It’s an interesting turn of phrase. How is it that “against” all hope “in” hope he believed? The answer comes to us in how the word “hope” is used in this sentence. The phrase “against all hope” means “against all humankind of wishful thinking”. A bit like us saying; “I really “hope” it’s not going to rain today”, when the forecast is for 100% rain. It’s a hopeless kind of wishful thinking. However, “in hope believed” means “in a God who keeps his promises”. It’s like us saying; “I’m really “hoping” it’s going to rain today”, when the forecast is for 100% rain. It’s a strong certainty. Therefore, Abraham had hope (expected certainty) in God’s promise in a situation which looked hopeless precisely because God is a promise keeping God. He never ever fails to deliver. And that’s why we too can put our hope in God against all hope.
from pastor Ariel