2016 ANNUAL R EPORT ST ANDREW’S CHURCH, KOWLOON
CONTENTS 2016 at a Glance From the Vicar Staff Team The Trustees Finance & Management Committee The Buildings & Grounds Committee Discipleship Volunteering Chinese Ministry Music & Creative Ministry Children’s Ministry Youth Ministry Supporting Departments Resurrection Church Shatin Anglican Church Contact Us
4 6 10 12 14 18 22 26 30 34 36 38 40 42 44 46
(MANDARIN)
11:30AM 5:00PM 97 208
average rostered musicians each service
16
average attendance
average attendance
average rostered media operators each service
6
9:30AM 371
8:30AM 90
average attendance
average attendance
1600
(ENGLISH)
11:30AM 456
average attendance
SUNDAY WELCOME MINISTRY
EACH 175 41 SERVE SUNDAY
Overall Christmas services attendance
3338 1860 39 90 COURSES Overall Easter services attendance
Baptism
FRIENDSHIP JOIN
167
GARDEN
Fusion Youth
4
Women's Ministry
205 3 AVERAGE
40
120
VOLUNTEERS
100
average
TOTAL
attendance
attendance
LEADERS
64 TOTAL
163
attendance
27
PER SUNDAY 11:30AM
Men's Fraternity
160 140
average
PER SUNDAY 9:30AM
180
20 TOTAL
67
attendance
80
CLASS HELD
attendance
PER SUNDAY
ATTENdaNCE
3 Classes 141 attendees
250
TOTAL Volunteers STAFF
average
PER SUNDAY
Children's Ministry
5 Classes 162 attendees
MINISTRIES
Confirmation
7 Classes 161 attendees
SUNDAY SERVICES
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE EVERY SUNDAY
60 40 20 1
2
CHRISTIANITY EXPLORED
3
4
EQUIP
5
6
7
PARTNERSHIP
8
FINANCE
2016 AT A GLANCE
Income / Expenditure 25M 20M
2015 2016
10M
TOTAL
2015 2016
15M
Income
Expenditure
2.18 %
5M 0
TOTAL
-6.95
%
% of offertory used for Ministry 2015
2016
TOTAL
69%
80%
11
%
5
6
FROM THE VICAR At the consecration of St Andrew’s Church on the 6th of October 1906, Archdeacon W. Bannister preached from John 4:37-38. “Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labour.” Using the words of Jesus, Archdeacon Bannister spoke about how that generation had sown for the benefit of future generations. St Andrew’s was built for the purpose of proclaiming Christ. It was hoped that many in future generations would reap eternal life through believing in Jesus as their Saviour. This past year, we celebrated the 110th anniversary of St Andrew’s. We continue to reap from the labours of those before us. However, in recent years we have also done some sowing. We’ve constructed the Life Centre; in many respects as ambitious and exhausting a labor as the construction of the original church building all those years ago.
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The completion of the Life Centre has ‘raised the stakes’ for me. I mean this in a good way. There are very few churches in Hong Kong that have the facilities and location that we have been blessed with. We have such wonderful opportunities to proclaim the gospel and serve our city. Therefore, in response to our 110th anniversary and the opportunities that are given to us, during the last year we have re-articulated St Andrew’s vision: St Andrew’s is a community of people devoted to Jesus Christ, who share his gospel, calling on people to follow him, and seeking the renewal and flourishing of Hong Kong. Practically speaking, how do we fulfill this vision?
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110th Anniversary of St Andrew’s, 16 October 2016
FROM THE VICAR Firstly, we are making some structural adjustments to our ministries. 2016 has been a year of staff transition. This is my first year as Vicar. We also have new staff, welcoming Ian and Narelle Hadfield, Al and Esther Gibbs, Rebecca Ong, Arlene Moran, Charles Reid, Ryan and Dawn Rudolph (Youth Ministry), and we look forward to the arrival of Evan and Claire Brown (Creative Ministries).
Of course, in all of this we are dependent on God. He builds His church as He works through His people. Moreover, we each seek to use what God has given us (our time, talents and treasures) in response to His overwhelming generosity to us in Jesus Christ.
Secondly and more significantly, we want to continue to develop a particular mindset at St Andrew’s. A phrase that I’ve frequently used over the past year is, ‘We’ve got the hardware. Let’s continue to build the software.’ We have the buildings; let’s build the people. This means that we want to focus on equipping and training people for ministry. Making disciples is not the task of paid staff alone. St Andrew’s is about everyone making disciples. Everyone has a part to play as we each discover, develop, and use the gifts that God has given us to grow His Kingdom. In many respects, this means we all continue the work of sowing.
Finally, I would like to thank the staff, Trustees, Council, and ministry leaders for all their effort and support throughout the year. Words are not enough to express my appreciation for them.
The harvest is plentiful. Prayerfully consider how you can be involved.
Revd. Alex McCoy Vicar of St Andrew’s Church
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Rev Alex McCoy
Rev Sok Han Yong
Vicar
Associate Minister
Rev Ian Hadfield
Rev Alistair Gibbs
Associate Minister
Associate Minister
Mrs Juliana Wong
Mrs Diana Barnett
Director of Community Relations
Pastoral Worker, (Discipleship)
Mr Charles Reid
Mrs Lisa Card
Director of Youth Ministry
Pastoral Worker, (Discipleship)
Mrs Carol Strydom
Ms Rebecca Ong
Director of Children’s Ministry
Pastoral worker, (Children Ministry)
Ms Carrie Au-Yeang
Ms Chriserbe Tang
Ministry Associate, (Discipleship)
Pastoral worker, (Chinese Ministry)
Ms June Lee
Ms Arlene Moran
Associate Director of Music and Creative Ministry
Pastoral worker, (Children’s Ministry & Home4U)
Mr Michael Chan
Mr Donald Wong
Administration Manager
Communications Officer
Ms Kit Li
Mr Joseph Ng
Assistant Manager, (Administration)
Graphic Designer
Ms Nancy Chong
Mr Keith Chan
Senior Administrator
Multi-media Staff Worker
Ms Suey Yuen
Mr Hon Cheung
Senior Administrator
Multi-media Staff Worker
Ms Yuki Chan Administrator
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STAFF TEAM
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THE TRUSTEES After all the changes in 2016, 2017 will be a year of rebuilding our core clergy team for us to develop and implement the church’s vision. With much prayer and discussion, the Patronage Board under the chairmanship of the Archbishop selected Rev. Alex McCoy to be the Vicar of St Andrew’s. We are thankful to Rev. Dale Hanson for acting as the Interim Vicar during the interregnum and we are also grateful to him in leading the search committee for a new Associate Minister for our daughter church – Resurrection Church, Sai Kung. We said farewell to Dale (and Pat) when Dale moved during the summer period to take up a new post in Paris and to start a new chapter in his ministry. We also said goodbye to two Ministry Directors – Shirley Cheng and Emma Ash as they left Hong Kong for further theological studies. Much effort has been expended by our new Vicar, Alex to enable the church to conduct “business as usual” even though the clergy team was reduced to two. In this period he has had great support from Rev. Yong (Sok Han). We are thankful for God’s provision of Rev. Ian Hadfield and Rev. Alistair Gibbs as they join the clergy team in Nov 2016 and Jan 2017 respectively. We are planning for more staff to join the church during 2017 to develop, lead and expand our ministries. 12
As far as our daughter churches are concerned, we are thankful to Rev. Heewoo Han for his ministry at Shatin Church and we are excited with their plan to purchase a property as a church office and for ministry use. In early 2016 Rev. Chris Ponniah joined us as the new Associate Minister for Resurrection Church. In terms of our broader connections, we continue to forge a closer relationship with the Province and Diocese especially with Alex as our new Vicar. The Board of Trustees (Church of England Trust) is the historical body that is legally responsible for the running of the 3 main English speaking Anglican churches (St John’s Cathedral, St. Andrew’s Church and Christ Church) under the chairmanship of Archbishop Paul Kwong. The Trustees meet regularly (4 to 5 times per year) to receive reports on each of the three church’s activities and grant approval on crucial church matters. St Andrew’s is also part of the Western Kowloon Diocese and hence, comes under the care and direction of Bishop Andrew Chan. We do enjoy fellowship with our brothers and sisters from the local Cantonese speaking Anglican churches and participate in Diocese committees.
Lastly, we want to thank all for your love and generosity as we serve our God together here at St Andrew’s. Our prayer is that He will continue to lead and enlighten us with knowledge and understanding, that through our lives we may love one another as Christ loved us and be a channel to extend His grace to our neighbours.
Ronny To and David Chui March 2017
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FINANCE & MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
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Anniversary
Our role in the life of St Andrew’s over the past year has been to continue to serve in an advisory capacity in studying, analysing and recommending to the Staff and Council the best ways to use and manage the resources God has so generously provided for us. These resources primarily include our site and buildings, financial (giving, funding and expenditure) and human (structure, policies and administrative). The increasing use of the Life Centre and our other facilities by both church ministries and external users is reflected in the growing contribution to the church’s ‘other’ income (2016 - HK$2,326,549). Our strategic aim in time is to increase this income to cover all the ‘hard’ running costs of the church (utilities, cleaning, security, caretaking etc.) so that our offertory giving can be exclusively used for ministry and pastoral work. This past year saw a very promising start to achieving this and we expect 2017 to move further towards this goal. 15
Overall financially, we are pleased to report we ended 2016 with a surplus in the General Fund (HK$2,235,293) which the F&MC has recommended be transferred to the Capital Projects Fund where monies are still required to meet outstanding loans and other costs. In part this surplus was due to lower staff costs, although it should be reported that the staff also continually seek to manage expenditure efficiently to keep running costs as low as possible. With the final payments for the construction of the Life Centre and
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loan repayments due in the first half of 2017, the focus will move from Capital Expenditure to the General Fund where increasing staff costs and new ministries will need to be supported. While we will still have loans taken for the Life Centre development to repay in the coming years, we believe this can be covered through giving to the General Fund avoiding the need for further specific 2020 Fundraising appeals.
FINANCE & MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE The past year has seen numerous changes in the way our facilities are managed, which may not be obvious to all, but we trust will help us use our resources more efficiently as the church grows in both numbers attending weekly and overall facilities usage. Our increased visibility on Nathan Road and our desire to fulfill all 5 values of the church (Love Jesus, Teach the Bible, Build Community, Share the Gospel and Love the City) inevitably mean we become a growing church with increasing demands on time, finances and resources. Issues such as maintenance, safety, insurances, legal issues, security, cleaning, caretaking and a host of other matters are becoming more complex as we are open more to the community and are regularly considered by the Committee. We have long believed we have been effective if these matters become ‘non-issues’ to the church at large so that the pastoral staff can concentrate on the main purpose of the church in ministries and extending God’s Kingdom here on earth. In achieving this, our thanks must go
to Michael Chan, Administration Manager and his team, as well as Juliana Wong who has worked tirelessly over the past year to build relations with the community and increase the use of the Life Centre and our other resources. Thanks must also go to members of the Committee Alfred Li, David Rainsford, James Mak, Mau But, Gabrielle Colwill and Garry Willinge for their continued willingness to serve and make time available for Committee meetings.
John Mitchell (Charirman) Finance & Management Committee
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The Buildings & Grounds Committee (BGC) is responsible for the faithful stewardship of the St. Andrew’s site, consisting of the historical and modern buildings including the Christian Centre and landscaped grounds, in service to our congregation and community. BGC looks after the maintaining, repairing and upgrading of our our facilities and, when required, providing advice to the Council for planning and facilities development.
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In 2016 we undertook the following: Church Bell Tower Significant cracking was noted on the inside wall of the bell-tower drum above the bell floor. Long-term solutions for the necessary repairs were proposed for the Church’s consideration. O/V Children’s Playground Refurbishment proposals including the replacement of the safety mat; upgrading the equipment; additional benches; zoning for a multipurpose area and enhancement of power supply & lighting were suggested.
THE BUILDINGS & GROUNDS COMMITTEE Initial quotations were invited from potential playground suppliers and BGC members sorted out the details for the funding approval. The playground ‘softfall’ flooring was replaced, as well as the swing seats. Church Building Extensive renovations were conducted to the interior of the church building. The air-conditioners and the carpets were replaced. There were also other new furnishings installed including a new baptismal font and communion table.
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Christian Centre We have studied the facilities upgrades required including the installation of a new lift system and a long-term solution to the water supply system. Management Proposal We have also recommended management and maintenance options in consideration of forthcoming staff retirement changes and the additional workload for the maintenance and operation of the Life Centre. Giving Thanks With the opening of the Life Centre, 2016 has been a challenging year. God has provided for us in abundance, and despite all committee members having busy schedules, they have continuously served as faithful stewards of His church. We expect 2017 20
THE BUILDINGS & GROUNDS COMMITTEE to be another exciting year. We pray earnestly for His provision for the outstanding funds to revamp existing facilities in order to serve his people. Thank you to all brothers and sisters who have voluntarily served the BGC, for your heart to serve and for sharing your professional knowledge to assist in pushing the issues forward. They include T C Lam, Taylor Wong, Gabrielle Colwill, Jango Wong, Betty Lo; our voluntary advisor, Paul Wu; and Administration Manager, Michael Chan. I also particularly offer my heartfelt thanks to Juliana Wong for her constant exemplary support.
I am looking forward to continued teamwork with the Buildings and Ground Committee in the coming year. It is so good that we can serve together.
Daniel Chow (Charirman) The Buildings & Grounds Committee
‘Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.’ Psalms 127:1
With the opening of the Life Centre and the revamp of facilities, more services are expected from the BGC in the future. We pray earnestly for God’s provision for more professional members to join our team to serve Jesus with their gifts. If you are interested in joining our team, you are most welcome to contact Michael Chan or myself.
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A Christian is a disciple of Jesus; someone who trusts in and follows the beliefs and practises of their Lord. A disciple is also someone who makes other disciples, just as a fruit tree bears fruit and seeds to make other fruit trees. Discipleship at St Andrew’s is about making our members into disciples who are involved in making other disciples. How have you grown in your Christian discipleship in 2016 and what about 2017? Here are some of the ways discipleship was developed formally at St Andrew’s in 2016: Growth Groups In total we have about 30 groups meeting throughout the week, at different times of the day and in various locations (on and off the St Andrews’ site). Growth Groups are a place to get to know God and his Word and to get to know a small number of God’s people more closely who support each other in living out the Christian life. Join a group in 2017! 22
DISCIPLESHIP Equip. These are courses run for adults to equip us as disciples to know our faith more deeply, to live it out, and to be able to share it with others. The courses in 2016 were: Bible – Handle with Care, New Testament 1, Ephesians, Promise to Fulfilment. Men’s and Women’s Ministry Men’s Fraternity ran 2 different courses this year using video and small group materials called ‘Authentic Manhood’ (3 times in 2016) and ‘Winning at Work and Home’ (this course ran twice). Some wives of the participants also began to meet with the aim of understanding more about what their husbands were
learning at Men’s Fraternity. Women’s ministry took the form of regular Women’s Growth Groups, one to one pastoral care and events which included dinner, movies and a retreat. Introductory Courses Welcome Morning Tea and the Partnership Course are run 6 times a year to introduce new people to our Sunday services and ministries of the church. The Partnership Course is also a requirement for people who are inquiring about baptism. Baptisms Baptism is a public statement of discipleship and Baptismal services are held in February, May and October.
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Parenting Support, Marriage Preparation and Enrichment A Joint Parenting Teen Workshop was run at King George V Secondary School with a Parenting Children course at St Andrew’s. A support group was formed for families with children applying for Primary 1 (school year 2017-18). For Marriage Preparation all couples being married at St Andrew’s complete a “Prepare” Marriage Preparation Questionnaire and are walked through the results over the course of several meetings with our ‘Prepare/Enrich’ trained ‘Marriage Mentors’. Schools Ministry St Andrew’s has a close link with Diocesan Girls’ Junior School (DGJS) and Diocesan Girls’ School (DGS). We ran a P6 Retreat to help equip the girls to make the transition from primary to secondary school. Other ministries include weekly assemblies for DGJS and DGS, a Christian mothers’ group for DGJS and a lunch time discipleship group for the P3’s called JAFFA.
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DISCIPLESHIP Ministry Associate Program (MAP) MAP is a program to help train and equip the next generation of church gospel workers through focusing on building character, conviction and competency. It is done in partnership with Shatin Anglican Church and Ambassador International Church. Carrie AuYeang was the Ministry Associate for 2016. May God continue to build his Kingdom in and through us all at St Andrew’s in 2017.
Revd. Ian Hadfield Revd. Alistair Gibbs Lisa Card Diana Barnett Carrie Au-Yeang
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I served as 2020 Vision Executive Director for 4 years until May 2016 when the Life Centre was completed and Rev. Alex McCoy was appointed as the new Vicar. Alex asked that I take up a new position as Director of Community Relations to build relationships both within and outside the church and therefore my main focus is on networking. Areas of work include volunteering, welcome ministry, connecting with our Global Partners, exploring partnership opportunities to serve the local community, event management and fundraising. I am excited about this new role. Highlights of the year include: 26
Welcome Ministry • Praise God for the growth of the Welcome Ministry Team both in the number of ushers/ welcomers as well as bonding and excellence. Special thanks to the team leaders for their effort in coordinating and building their teams. • Monthly Welcome Tea for newcomers • A Celebration/training night for all involved in Welcome Ministry was held on 3 June 2016. • We have also extended welcoming to the Kidzone registration area.
VOLUNTEERING Mission & Volunteering • Participated in the 10.10.10 Campaign in October organised by Hong Kong Church Network for the Poor to bring awareness of poverty among churches in Hong Kong. St Andrew’s raised over HK$100,000 to support the “Starfish” ladies, homeless, and refugees & asylum seekers (RAS). • Supporting Christian Action, Centre for Refugees in the Winter Clothes drive. St Andrew’s ladies’ growth groups helped sort the clothes. Over 300 families and individual RAS received warm clothes. • Dental check-ups for the RAS organized by Christian Action Centre for Refugees and Health in Action. St Andrew’s sponsored a facility for them. • Knitting for Nepal – over 1,000+ knitted items were received and sent through Cedar Fund contacts. • Prison Ministry - We are thankful to see this ministry grow. Many new volunteers have joined the letter writing ministry and in making regular prison visits to Lai Chi Kok and Stanley as well as supporting the Christmas Outreach. • Child Development Fund Mentorship 3 year programme – 12 church members have
•
•
participated as mentors to students since July 2015. Praise God for the good relationships built over the year and the opportunity to share Christian values with the mentees. At Christmas, members of the Church were involved in packing Christmas gifts; organising a party for RAS; visiting the SKH elderly homes, and reaching out to cancer children and other inmates. Rejoice with Kamjoo & Sima Abak, Ida & Aryan, a refugee family from Iran who met with us at St Andrew’s who were granted visas to settle in Adelaide, Australia in December. St Andrew’s members gave them a gift to help them start up a new home in Australia.
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Fundraising • Triathlon – 22 teams including 8 teams from Youth/Kidzone and a few individuals completed the full event on 15 October 2016! It was wonderful to see many new faces from across our services and to see a number of non-St Andrew’s people joining. A great community building and fundraising event. HK$243,676.10 was raised for the 2020 Vision Fund. • A Dollar for Dollar Appeal was initiated by a 5pm Growth Group in November which raised HK$870,000. 28
Community It is encouraging to see St Andrew’s facilities being used to serve the local community. • The Ladies Bible Study Fellowship started using the 1/F Hall Christian Centre for their satellite class from September. • The Amazing Grace Worship Music Ministry has been using our facilities for their “Happy Family Fellowship” regularly. This is a non-profit, nondenominational Christian organization reaching out through music coupled with biblically-based lyrics to glorify, praise and worship God.
VOLUNTEERING • •
•
•
An Alcoholic Anonymous group has been meeting in St Andrew’s since July 2016. Cyber Run/Walk for Rehab – On 27 November we partnered with the HK Society for Rehabilitation, at Cyberport to support their rehabilitation services in the HKSAR and Mainland China. Around 35 people joined. Care for (dementia) Senior programme for Positive Ageing and offered by Jockey Club to church members was held on 6 November. It was very well received. We have Actively discussed with SKH Social Welfare Council about collaboration and using the 3/F Christian Centre offices as an integrated service and training centre to provide comprehensive and professional supportive services for children with special education needs, counselling and career training. We are looking forward to the opening of this centre in 2017.
110th thanksgiving service On Sunday 16 October 2016 St Andrew’s celebrated its 110th anniversary with a combined 9.30am and 11.30am service. 880 attended the service and 360 joined the celebration lunch in the church grounds afterwards.
Praise the Lord for raising up many leaders and volunteers who serve faithfully and joyfully in the church and local community. Thank you for all your support!! Juliana Wong Director of Community Relations 29
CHINESE MINISTRY 2016 was full of change and challenge. We continue to marvel at God’s provision, protection, and faithfulness. St Andrew’s unique location has attracted many mainland visitors which has energized us to fulfill our Lord’s mandate the Great Commission as given in Matthew 28.
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Some of the highlights from 2016 were: The Putonghua Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services attracted over 500 people. Approximately half were mainland China visitors. The Putonghua Church has seen significant growth in discipleship. 35 volunteers have been recruited and serve at church each Sunday. 45 participants have completed Christianity Explored, The Partnership Course, Alpha and the Alpha Marriage Course. The 2016 Summer Camp successfully strengthened the congregation. •
Kidzone has 12 children, and is blessed with 8 teachers volunteering to serve on a rotation basis.
•
12 children attended the Summer Vacation Bible School children, with 9 volunteers as teachers.
•
Family Growth Groups meet regularly for bible study, accountability and prayer. 2 new families have joined us. The Youth and Teens meet regularly for Putonghua language tuition and Bible study. 31
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•
We carry out Street Evangelism with the purpose of equipping disciples to make disciples. We have now done this 3 times with the highlight being the Pre-Christmas outreach in which 21 adults and 4 children participated.
•
In October, PTH explored opportunities with Seafarers. We started a Putonghua bible study group for seafarers in December. So far 2 have accepted Christ.
•
The Pre-service Prayer Meeting 11:00am on Sundays has an average attendance of 50 people. We believe this is a significant indicator of growth in discipleship and commitment.
CHINESE MINISTRY Looking ahead The Elderly Ministry will launch a Christianity Explored course in February with a 12 seniors registered. We welcome Eileen Yim, a student at Ming Hua College commences her Internship in February 2017. Jimmy Thong currently received training at HK Mission School. Chriserbe, our Pastoral worker will seek parttime theological studies. Pray with us that the Putonghua Ministry will advance
the Kingdom of God in taking small steps at a time; focusing on nurturing our spiritual life, strengthening teaching programmes in Growth Groups and encouraging prayer life individually and corporately.
“To God be the glory, for the things He had done!�
Revd. Sok Han Yong Associate Minister
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MUSIC & CREATIVE MINISTRY Since the opening of the Life Centre our mid-morning, late morning and evening services have grown. In order to serve a larger congregation, we keep bringing in new songs while reviving traditional hymns with solid biblical content. The weekly process of selecting music is part of the continual ministry training for song leaders and musicians.
Musicians Joining In order to encourage and equip more devoted musicians to volunteer, the first TWIST Conference focusing on musical worship training took place in February. Later in July a 6-week course on music theory and study of the book “Then Sings My Soul” by Philip Percival was held for our musicians. Both events helped build our understanding about worship in the church context. We look forward to more training.
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TWIST MUSIC CONFERENCE: ‘A Night in with EMU’ 27 February 2016’
Easter and Christmas programs are the two ministry highlights of the year. We were glad to see a full house at all of the Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Carols by Candlelight, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services last year. Our ensemble has grown steadily in both quality and quantity with an average size now of 40 musicians (12 instrumentalists and 28 singers) who delivered 30 pieces of choral items altogether.
During 2016 we improved our hardware when we purchased of a 6-unit custom made choral riser; a drum shield for the Auditorium stage and 10 music stands to replace the broken ones in old church and 1/F Hall, Christian Centre. The choral riser is a necessary facility for musical events and becomes also a rental resource to outside bookings also, thereby adding value to the Life Centre.
June Lee Associate Director, Music and Creative Ministry
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St Andrew’s Children’s Ministry runs a number of programmes during the week teaching children about who God is and encouraging them to grow in their faith. We reach out to our community, supporting parents with young children and serving those less fortunate. On Sundays, together with a group of about 80+ volunteers we teach Sunday School and Creche to an average 250 children aged 0-10 years old. Since September 2016 we have seen an increase of 16 % in average attendance.
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CHILDREN’S MINISTRY
On Wednesdays and Thursdays, we run a playgroup for toddlers and parents called Friendship Garden Playgroup reaching out to our community. Since September our Thursday classes have increased by 50%. On Wednesdays we also have a team of committed volunteers and staff partnering with the Diocesan Junior School teaching the Bible to the 900+ girls during morning assemblies. Throughout the year our special events continue to focus on teaching, reaching and serving. One highlight was seeing the105 children who joined our annual High 5 Performing Arts Day Camp run a programme for the Lee Kah Shing Elderly Home. The children led the elderly in games and dances. They shared the gospel with them through dance and drama and made cards and gave them gift bags. Some even prayed with the elderly for salvation!
Some new initiatives include: • 7 Youth joining the High 5 camp as junior leaders and as a result more Youth are volunteering in our children’s programs on Sundays. • Changing all our programme sign-in systems to an electronic system. • Inviting parents to meet the class volunteers serving their children on Sunday for a class morning tea, resulting in building deeper relationships and helping community building. • Seeing our annual Bus Carolling participation increase by 45%. We could not serve the children who are a part of our church community if it wasn’t for all the help we get from our volunteers. They continue to be God’s hands and feet to the children.
Carol Strydom Children’s Ministry Director High 5 Performing Arts Day Camp 18-22 July 2016’
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YOUTH MINISTRY It is not easy being a young person in Hong Kong, especially with social and academic pressures. They need to hear the good news of Jesus as much as anyone. With thanks to Emma for her leadership over the past few years, we have continued to build on a foundation of regular Bible teaching and small groups each Sunday. The aim, as ever, being to make and grow disciples of the Lord Jesus. Fridays nights have provided an opportunity to build community giving the youth a chance to know more of the Christian faith in a relaxed environment. One of our aims is for the youth to take ownership of the ministry, with leaders for worship, activities and some of the small groups coming from within the youth themselves as well as other church members.
The youth have continued to be involved in the life of St Andrew’s in general, participating in events such as bus carolling, the 2020 triathlon, and barndancing, among other things. Youth also helped serve the congregation in family services and leading in the children’s ministry. None of the above is possible without the support, time, wisdom and mentorship given by the team of leaders each week who serve the youth. Huge thanks are owed to all of them. We look forward to the upcoming Youth camp in the Summer along with the new Youth Director’s arrival, and new opportunities for the youth to grow in their love and faith in God.
Charles Reid Associate Director Youth Ministry
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SUPPORTING DEPARTMENTS
In 2016, we continued to serve the church through improving our administration and support systems. We witnessed our years-old website being revamped. At the same time, we digitised our operations, both internally and externally, at an accelerated rate. Most of the church functions can now be done via electronic means – saving cost and increasing accuracy. Our accounting principles were updated to better reflect the cost of different ministries and departments.
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An online system is now in place to assist ministry staff in preparing their annual budget. Likewise, a system is now in trial for ministry staff to evaluate different events and activities. The ICT network backbone of the church has also been upgraded. Our network is now more secured and more capable in handling different kinds of data and rich media. The property management process has also been streamlined to reduce wastage and increase versatility.
Lastly, we started to share and integrate our systems with our daughter churches. Both Resurrection Church and Shatin Anglican are on our human resources system and Resurrection Church would soon be sharing our web services and email system. To conclude, the infrastructure is now better able to facilitate the growth of the church.
Michael Chan Administration Manager
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RESURRECTION CHURCH From January to March, Heather Xie was the Lay Director of Ministry and she looked after the church during the interregnum. I started work as Priest-inCharge on 13 March.
Kung. We invited Revd. Alex McCoy to lead the devotions at this retreat so that the committee could be introduced to the new Vicar of St Andrews. At this retreat, we came up with this vision:
In the past year, we have seen some expat church members leave to return home, or to head to new postings. We have also seen new members join the church. Our regular attendance in 2016 has not changed much from previous years with the average attendance being 115 per week. Our regular giving has declined but due to some generous one-off gifts, we finished the financial year with a surplus.
“Resurrection Church will be a community bringing God’s resurrection hope and healing to Sai Kung, Clearwater Bay and beyond, helping people to discover and experience for themselves the spiritual freedom they have in Christ.” We also came up with our mission. “Bringing life and freedom through the resurrected Christ”
Some of the highlights of 2016 include:
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Bishop Timothy Kwok visited Resurrection Church on Sunday 10th April where he preached, licensed Revd. Chris Ponniah as Priest-in-Charge and celebrated Holy Communion.
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We had a church committee retreat on 14 May at St Andrew’s to prayerfully discuss and develop our congregation’s vision and mission in this new season of our life as a community of faith in Sai
A new Steering Committee was formed to explore possible sites in Sai Kung so that Resurrection Church can have a permanent home. The committee is chaired by Revd. Alex McCoy (Vicar) and consists of Bo Cowperthwaite (Secretary) Revd. Chris Ponniah (Priest-in-Charge) and Guy Devenish, who are Resurrection Church Representatives, Jane Lee representing the HKSKH Welfare Council and David Au representing the Diocese of eastern Kowloon. Revd. Chris Ponniah Minister of Resurrection Church
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“The last command Jesus gave the church before he ascended to heaven was the Great Commission, the call for Christians to ‘make disciples of all nations.’ But Christians have responded by making ‘Christians,’ not ‘disciples’”, wrote Dallas Willard in his book The Great Omission. At Shatin Anglican Church, we aim to not make that mistake. In fact ‘discipleship’ was the main theme 44
behind much of what we did this past year. We began the year with a sermon series entitled ‘Simply Gospel’ and reviewed the basics through the letter to the Galatians. We then covered topics of evangelism, generosity and living as foreigners and aliens through the books of Daniel and 1 Peter. Further, with the aim of launching 1-2-1 Bible reading, we hashed through the difficult sections of the gospel of Mark.
SHATIN CHURCH
The biggest change we made, however, was hiring Niels van de Kasteele as the ‘Director of Discipleship.’ Niels is a Dutchman who comes from great places like St. Helen’s Bishopsgate and Oakhill Theological College in England. In a short period he added depth to our teaching programs and helped our members become disciples who make disciples by running training courses on 1-2-1 Bible reading, doctrine of the Bible and guidance.
One hindrance to our discipleship ministry was not having a place of our own. Thus at the 2016 AGM, Shatin Anglican Church decided to raise funds to buy a Church Centre. On Sundays, we would continue to meet at SKH Tsang Shiu Tim School, while the Centre would house the staff and our mid-week activities. In the second half of 2016, members gave what they could and we were able to sign the preliminary agreement about a month ago. We are well on our way to getting our keys to the new Centre at the end of March. We are excited because the Centre will be a place where disciples of Jesus will be made and grown. It’s been another exciting year at Shatin and we’re thankful for all that God is doing among the church!
Revd. Heèwoo Han Minister of Shatin Anglican Church
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