FALL HAPPENINGS FPC 2015

Fall Retreat at Christ College: “Waking Up to the Wonder of Jesus”

On Saturday and Sunday, September 19 and 20, we have our all-church retreat at Christ College. The theme is “Waking Up to the Wonder of Jesus.”  In Romans 13, Paul says that it is easy to fall asleep spiritually.  This Sunday is the last day for you to be able to register. Don’t miss out. It will be a time to connect with FPC members and families, and to commit ourselves to 1) regular worship 2) regular community through small groups 3) and regular service. You will also be able to meet Jules Grisham and his family. If you still want to attend, stop by after this Sunday service and register for the retreat or if needed call the church at 2362-1395 to reserve a place.

Jules Grisham to Candidate for Position of Associate Pastor

From September 11 to 21, Jules Grisham along with his wife Virginia and their 11 year old son, Guy, will be visiting FPC. He will speak in the worship services on Sunday, September 13 and at the retreat on September 20. Jules has a wonderful testimony of how he came to Christ in his late 20’s and then was called into the ministry. He has been a successful pastor in the greater Philadelphia area from what wasssentially the same presbytery where I am a member. After his visit, the elders in discussion with Jules will consider the prospects of calling him as a full-time associate pastor in the early months of 2016.

No Worship Service at Friendship Church on September 20.

Instead, join us for worship at the retreat at Christ College at 11:00 am. The retreat will be a significant time for us to grow in Christ and connect with one another and welcome newcomers to our church.

All Church Picnic After Service on Sunday, September 13

Fall is picnic season. Last year, some of the best times were after church at NTU when families and singles could get to know one another. So this Sunday, September 13, you are invited to join us. Just get your lunch and go to the NTU campus near the lake. If you are new and don’t know the way, meet at the Triangle Park at 1:15 pmjust outside the church and Leo Lin will be there to be your guide. After the picnic, we will play softball and soccer. I just found out that the picnic tables have been moved--so you might want to bring a blanket to sit on. Come casual this Sunday and stay for the day.

Leadership Transitions and Saying Thanks

Last Sunday, Jonathan Shumate was elected as an elder of Friendship and willbe installed in the worship service on Sunday, September 27.  This will be Michelle Ko’s last Sunday if she is approved for her visa to Australia. Also, Kin Chong and Rick Chamness are stepping aside as elders for personal reasons. They will still be here and serving in different ways, but just not in the capacity of elders. On this Sunday we want to thank them for the amazing service they have given to the church. Last year we went through a crisis when both pastors lost their visas. Kin and Rick guided the church with great wisdom during that time and the church owes them a huge debt of thanks. Along with welcoming Jonathan, we will be thanking Rick, Kin and Michelle for their service to us. After the service, we will serve a cake and express our appreciation forall of them.

Anna Furness and Sunday School Growth

Last Sunday, the church voted to increase Anna Furness’ role as administrative assistant and leader of children’s ministry. Anna has a great heart for children as well as a sophisticated philosophy of ministry and theological orientation that fits us perfectly. Under her leadership Sunday School has grown. She also assists in general administration of the church. Please support her by volunteering to assist with Sunday School.

Michelle Ko and Future Plans

Michelle Ko has been a rich source of blessing to our church in these past months and years. She was on furlough as a missionary with SIM (Serving in Missions) in recent months and so has been volunteering her service at the church. She has been invaluable particularly with the many projects we have had lately. Many of us for the first time were able to hear about her courageous service for nine years caring for children dying from AIDS in a remote area of Kenya. Michelle has accepted a two year ministerial position with a Chinese church in Adelaide, Australia, and if her visa is approved will be flying there at the end of October.

Jerry Chiao and Joining the October 3 Workshop and Music Jam Session

For the last six years, Jerry Chiao has been our worship director. He coordinates two teams. As a result, worship is consistently excellent. We can often take it for granted. In actuality, our teams are getting a bit weary and we need fresh members on the team. We need committed people not just for Sunday worship, but to lead worship in the small groups, tech support, PowerPoint,  set-up and take down, etc. To encourage all of you, join us on Saturday, October 3 from 10 to 12 for the worship workshop and jam session here at the church.

September Small Group Sign-Ups

September is a time for new beginnings. We always say that you are really not in the church unless you are in a small group. Here are three larger groups you can consider: Martin and Red on Wednesday evenings in Xihu (mostly young adults), Settlers on Thursday evenings at the church (mostly young adults), TGIF on Friday evenings (married and singles). Also there is a couple’s group and as needed we organize Christianity Explored groups for people who are exploring Christianity. If none of the above work, form a quad (three to four people). We can get you curriculum and help. Contact the church office at fpchurch@friendshiptaipei.com.

Jason and Kristie Truell to Vancouver, Canada

Jason and Kristie Truell were with us for several years and gave us excellent service. We are still benefiting from the work they did with community groups, Sunday School, website and other areas of ministry. Jason has recently become a pastor of a church in Vancouver, Canada. They look forward someday to returning to Taiwan--the country they probably love the most. Send them an e-mail letting them know they are in your thoughts and prayers.

Thinking About My LGBT Friends, and Being a Community of Grace and Truth

In the last few weeks, many of us have found ourselves in discussions about the recent US Supreme court discussion on same sex marriage. Many people are asking how should we think about this issue, and how does it impact us as a church. Of course we are in Taiwan and not in the US, and so there are both similarities and differences in the cultural situation.  However, our experience tells us that what happens in the US or the West is often like a tidal wave so that in time its impact is felt here. In fact, we all know that its impact is already being felt.

One of the problems of knowing how to discuss this issue is that there are always different people in the room who need to hear different things.  As Kevin DeYoung has said, “Sometimes there is a need for toughness. At other times there is a need for tears. Sometimes there is a need for defense and sometimes a letting down of our defenses. Sometimes there is a need to rally the troops and other times when we need to put up our hands and come in peace.”

John says, “The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The challenge of a pastor is how do you strike the right balance between grace and truth, i.e. between Biblical conviction and Biblical compassion. Churches that are all grace (totally accepting; “I’m Ok; you’re OK”) usually lose the gospel and the authority of the Word. Churches that are all truth are often brittle, judgmental and often fail to know how to extend grace to people who are struggling or who have embraced LGBT as normative. Actually, this is a little misleading as grace without truth isn’t really grace, and truth without grace isn’t really truth, but that would be a whole other blog. But what does it mean to love our LGBT friends and at the same time be a community of grace and truth?

In framing these thoughts, I have been most helped by my fellow pastors who as shepherds deal with individuals who are impacted by these kind of cultural shifts. They are all wise models of what it means to reflect Jesus’ balance of grace and truth. In particular, Zach Eswine, Kevin DeYoung, Greg Thompson, Scott Sauls and Tim Keller have been a great help. Some of my thoughts echo some of theirs. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject:

Becoming good listeners to each other’s stories

Are we able to listen to each other’s stories without filtering them out?  Jesus often told parables like the story of the Good Samaritan where the characters are juxtaposed in interesting ways. In other words, to Jewish people it would have been odd to hear a story where the Samaritan was the hero. Samaritans were despised by Jews in that day. Jesus is good at offending all of us (religious and non-religious). We need to be able to listen to the people in front of us without censoring their story, and receive Jesus’ critique. We also need to be able to offer people a robust love that goes beyond tolerance. Part of what this means is that we need to be able to disagree without assuming that the disagreement is hatred. Jesus disagreed with all kinds of people while not hating them.

Here are some stories that I have heard:

A certain pastor described a young man who sent his sister to visit his church. The young man was afraid to visit himself. He wondered if it was a safe place to address these issues.

Another young man was kicked out of his home by his father when he said that he was attracted to those of his own sex.

Another person said that they couldn’t find a good church.  He did not want to attend a church that accepted his desire for same sex marriage because he didn’t feel they were being faithful to Scripture.

Another person was seeking to leave his LGBT lifestyle and felt rejection from his LGBT friends.

Another person was raised by his two lesbian mothers. They were divorced and his mother remarried again. He had three lesbian mothers. He said he had been loved well, and he was grateful. But now he said he was married and his wife was having a daughter—and he felt the loss of never having a father figure in his own life. He feels a deep void in his life.

One friend of mine was living a gay lifestyle. He came to Christ. He had a friend who was lesbian. She became a Christian. They married and now share their story with many people.

Some have had surgeries and then wanted to have them undone because it hadn’t produced the changes desired.

There are those among us with same sex attraction who want to be married. And there are others who have chosen to be celibate while living for Jesus.

Can we hear the variety of stories in our midst and around us and prayerfully find the balance of grace and truth that Jesus always modeled?

The diverse opinions that exist among us

There are many among us (myself included) who are sad about this ruling. There are others who are glad. Many don’t know what to think. In short, there are some who believe that God’s word prohibits same-six marriage and believe we should oppose this decision theologically and when needed (like two years ago) to oppose it politically. There are others who believe that while God’s word prohibits same-sex marriage that because we live in a secular democracy that does not reflect the law of God, we should reject it theologically, but permit it politically. Others believe that God’s word allows same-sex unions and thus believe that we should affirm it both theologically and politically.

Where Friendship stands

We have and will continue to embrace the church’s historic teaching on marriage. We believe that marriage is created by God to be a permanent and monogamous relationship between a man and a woman. Jesus in Matthew 19 said that marriage is from the beginning so no human institution has the authority to redefine marriage any more than a human institution has the authority to redefine the gospel, which marriage mysteriously reflects (Eph. 5:32). The Supreme Court’s ruling to redefine marriage demonstrates a mistaken judgment by disregarding what history and countless civilizations have passed on to us.

Practically, this means that all of God’s people are called to take up their cross and follow Jesus. For singles, it will be a challenge to be celibate until marriage. For those married, there will be the challenge of being faithful to their spouse. For those with same sex attraction it will mean that they will need to find support and friendship in Christian community while seeking for God’s strength to remain celibate.

We are all called to help one another in the journey—married and unmarried, heterosexually attracted and same sex attracted. It will require great resources of grace, patience and hope for us to walk together in this journey. At times there will be failures. In those times, we will need to go to Jesus and hear him say, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

What if I am same sex attracted or have friends who are same sex attracted, what can I expect at FPC?

1. Welcome – We are all on a journey as sinners being saved by grace. None of us can boast in anything except the cross. So join us in the journey of being a fellowship of big sinners with an even bigger Savior.
2. Friendship – We will endeavor to be a place where you can find Christian friends who can offer companionship, accountability and who will point you to Jesus and His Word. We need a place of love and laughter where we can bear each other’s burdens.
3. Truth – We will always endeavor to preach the Bible faithfully and not go soft on the hard parts. We will try to let the glorious parts shine and allow the scary parts to do their work. We will always endeavor to embrace the whole counsel of God no matter how difficult, dangerous or unpopular.
4. Gospel– We describe ourselves as a gospel-centered church. This means that we focus on the good news of Jesus and his historic death and resurrection on the cross as the greatest need for every day that we live our lives.  We will always try to be a place where this is central to all we do and say.
5. Hope – Like Wesley said in his hymn,  “Jesus breaks the power of cancelled sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean. His blood availed for me.”  None of us have arrived, but God has promised to give us everything we need for life and godliness. 

Some would argue that this is the way God has made me. But our desires and our sexuality have been impacted by the fall. Our essential identity is to be found not in career, family, sexuality or anything except our relationship with Christ which gives us increasing ability to say yes to Him and no to our frequent, fallen desires.

In short we are committed to helping one another--married and unmarried, heterosexually attracted and same-sex attracted. We desire to be a place where we can be welcomed and nurtured into what God has called us to be. We also want to equip you to follow Christ in a secular age to live as a missionary people.  Historically, the church has usually been a minority and been at its best when it has operated from the margins as a living, loving, grace and truth fellowship that is salt and light in the world. Please come and talk to us. My door is always open to listen carefully and compassionately.

How Michelle Ko Became A Missionary to Africa

How many Taiwanese young women (or men) do you know who are willing to forsake all and follow Jesus--to Africa. Now Africa is a wonderful place and every year we meet new students from Africa who enrich us in many ways. But can you imagine being a young single woman going off on your own to a far away place to care for children affected by AIDS? This is Michelle Ko whom we have supported as a missionary for many years. For the next six months she is on home assignment, and she is volunteering at the church to reach out to members, newcomers, small groups and to raise our vision for global missions. Let me introduce her to you in her own words:

How I became a Christian?

“I was a very rebellious teenager. I left home without telling my parents and ran away from my home city. I went to A Li Mountain and lived there for a year. I lived in a temple with some monks. I was ready to become a Buddhist monk.

While I was preparing to be a monk, I was travelling to the Buddhist school ready to be shaved. I met the first Christian in my life during a three hour bus journey. He shared the gospel with me. To make a long story short---it took me two years of being in and out of the church, reading the Bible and thinking about life before I became a Christian. In the end, it was the Holy Spirit who touched my heart so that I received Jesus as my personal Savior.

Since I was homeless and wandering the streets, an American missionary couple took me into their home. From their life example; I saw joy in serving the Lord. They demonstrated the love of Christ by sharing the gospel with many Taiwanese. They loved and accepted me as I was--a strong-willed, rebellious person. Instead of crushing my spirit they shaped and molded me to be used for His Glory.

How I became a missionary?

After I became a Christian I started thinking:  “What should I do with my life?” Like everyone else, I had a dream to earn big money and to live a comfortable life. As I was setting my life goals and choosing a career, I was aiming to study hotel management. I wanted to live luxurious and glamorous life--- wearing brand name clothing, staying in five-stars hotels, traveling around the world, and meeting celebrities. I had no doubt that I would achieve my goal because I knew I had a gift for business.

But there was a voice in my heart: “Michelle, you are not like everyone else. You are a very special person chosen by God to do His work.  I don’t want you to earn money.  I want you to win lost souls for my name sake.” I struggled and wrestled with God. I asked God,  “Don’t you want me to be happy? If I could have this, this and this I will be very happy!” Then God answered me in His gentle voice: The happiness you are looking for from worldly possessions and wrong relationships will only give you temporary satisfaction. If you trust me and follow my lead I can promise you that you will have the kind of happiness which is not from the world’s wealth but a joy that lasts till eternity.

Here are two verses which have helped me: Things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21).

Connecting with Michelle

Michelle worked for years in Kenya, Africa among children who were affected by the epidemic of AIDS. She also shared the gospel in various ways. The past two years she worked in Australia to recruit younger people for short and long term mission service.

If you want to contact Michele to explore what it means to be a Christian, or to be helped in your growth in Christ, feel free to contact her at michelle.ko@sim.org. Tel: 0905137552. Also Michelle raises support to be a missionary with SIM. She has never had full support. Our church is one of her main supporters. Perhaps some of you would like to help with her support. If so contact her directly to learn more on how you can be a partner her in ministry.