Shalom brothers and sisters,
May the Lord’s love protect and guide you.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers for the Church Council.
We would like to take this opportunity to recap on the sharing of our current church direction based on the announcement in church on the 5th March 2023.
Our church core visions are:
- To promote the advancement of the Christian faith and to preach the Gospel and make disciples of Jesus Christ, primarily, but not exclusively to the Chinese community in Bristol and the surrounding areas.
- To provide a spiritual home for all Christians regardless of denominational differences and to care for their spiritual welfare.
Through the years, God has blessed us to be a multicultural and trilingual church. We praise God for His provision!
In recent years, God has blessed us with a huge opportunity to welcome and spread the good news to the Hong Kong new immigrants. This has become a great vision of the church to care for the newcomers. It is also a challenge for our church to adapt to the exponential growth. We thank God for providing a venue in the morning that would allow us to host an additional service in resolving our current capacity limitation in Tyndale Baptist Church.
Our upcoming direction and vision:
- Develop the Sunday Morning Fellowship into a Sunday Morning Service;
- Hiring a new Pastoral Worker;
- Continue to seek a suitable property for the Church (including the CIO Transfer Process);
- Providing more pastoral care and discipleship support to brothers and sisters.
Once again, we would like to apologise for the previous miscommunication which has caused discomfort and hurtful feelings to brothers and sisters. After the 3 consultations, we have gathered sufficient feedback to allow us to take positive actions to resolve those challenges together as a body of Christ. We would like to encourage us all to continue to love and forgive one another such that we can seize the opportunity God has given us to walk as one body and one family, in unity serving for His kingdom. May BCCC continue to be His lighthouse, may we continue to walk in faith!
This update will mainly be addressing the plan forward for developing the Morning Service. More information regarding the other 3 targets will be shared shortly after the AGM.
After careful considerations and detailed discussions during the Church Council meeting, we have agreed with the following approach:
- The Morning Fellowship will continue to run as it is and our target is to develop it into a Morning Service. We need to cater for their spiritual needs, so we will be focusing on how to work together to accomplish this mission together as a church.
- Morning Service will initially be sitting at the ministry level, similar to ministry subcommittees, directly under the Church Council.
The following steps will be taken by the Church Council to develop the Sunday Morning Fellowship into a Sunday Morning Service:
- Restructure the Morning Service Planning Committee and include current morning fellowship serving teams and various ministries’ serving teams. The Morning Service Planning Committee will be led by the Church Council.
- Revisit current CM, SS and SYS (and Youth) structure to assist in serving teams planning with the Morning Service Planning Committee. More in depth discussions may be held as subgroups within the Morning Service Planning Committee led by the Church Council.
- Produce an initial schedule with clear criteria and timeline for the memberships and congregations with the Morning Service Planning Committee.
- Run 1-2 consultation sessions to collect membership and congregation feedback for use in finalising the proposed schedule and criteria with the Morning Service Planning Committee.
- Prepare and present clear Morning Service readiness criteria and SGM motion(s) for membership to approve.
- Provide clear and regular updates on progress to the congregation with the Morning Service Planning Committee.
Last but not least, we would like to share with you two bible scriptures:
Philippians 3:13-15 (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
Ephesians 4:1-3 (NIV)
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
God bless you all!
BCCC Church Council
