圣旨到~！

30/11/2008，the day CLMC has been waiting for. Finally, after all these months of waiting & praying, we had our answer.

For those long timers, after years & years of prayers, years & years of disappointments, it's just a great relief! We finally see more smiles & looks of relief after hearing the news on Sunday night. For those who went back & didn't get to listen to the news: for 2009, CLMC will have a new pastor!~ Her name is Rev. Melody Ting, currently in Perth. Previously, she was from Camberwell church as well. By the way, she's serving in the English Congregation in Grace Methodist Church. Could she be serving in our English Congregation too? Seems likely! Also good for the English Congregation as they have complaining about lack of pastoral care for ever since they started. Some info about Rev Ting from GMC below:

The Annual Conference (AC) has designated a pastor for our english congregation! Praise God. Rev Melody Ting will be transfering from the church at Papua New Guinea to Grace MC in February 2008. I met her at Sydney during the youth convention, and she's a very friendly and approachable person. So guys, pray for her safe arrival to Perth next year, and also that she can find a home to live in. Above all, please make her feel at home and work alongside her. 2008 is truly going to be a new chapter in GMC. New pastor and new venue. More

CLMC also will have a theological student, name Simon (Tan or Tang?). I think he's Mandarin & English capable as well. Currently, he's serving in Trinity church. Not sure whether he's serving in our Mandarin Congregation or not, it'll all depend on how Rev Ting arranges it.

Will the LCEC read and maybe some apply some of my proposals for them, especially for the pastor & theological student? Let's wait & see.

Before we go any further, we need to thank Rev Loi who has been with us for the past 6 years or so. We thank her for the sweats (hard works) & tears (prayers). Hope that she'll get used to her new role as the Annual Conference Pastor. For her to minister our church, as inexperience as she was, she did a pretty good job to stand till the end because our church is different to those traditional family churches setting.

Anyway, a week ago before the 30th Nov, most of us has already given up hope not just on the AC, Bishop, etc but also on God. On the 28th (Friday), where we normally catch up for prayers and stuffs, we called it off because we felt helpless, we felt the end-game has been set and there's no need for us to do anything else. We just gave up.

Again, God proves to us that we are wrong and if we could persevere that extra week, we could have truly experience God's power & faithfulness! Now, though God open the way when there seems to be no way, we are at the "lowest point" or less ideal position to accept His wonderful grace. I just hope that we all learnt that lesson and will not give up in the future should similar situations occur.

Though we had a change of pastor, the journey ahead is still long & blurry. It's going to take time to rebuild and gain momentum. She's only expected to join us on 1st March 09. Let's all not take this for granted and start praying for our church from this moment on.

Our church needs leaderships & directions. By just saying "let's listen to God, let God choose, let God's will be done, etc" wouldn't help. The church expects the leaders to have heard it & bring it to them. Let's hear you say "God wants us to this way, that way, let's do it, etc". How good is our current leaders relationship with God? If the answers are typical "i'm reading bible daily, i pray a few times a day, etc", I would be really worried.

God has again opened His door for us, it's up to us how we walk through it.

By the way, Oliver is our new zone leader according to reliable sources. Let's support him in prayer too and give out what we can to support the small group ministry. He's a small group leader with 5-6 years experience.

Also, a big thank you to the AC board of Appoinments for allowing CLMC to experience a little change. Otherwise, the exodus might be too hard to be prevented.