20210725 English Bulletin

Vision: Building a Church after God's Own Heart SUNDAY 25th JULY WELCOME TO CAMBERWELL METHODIST CHURCH We are a faith community that is growing in our love for Jesus, who died for our sins, and is raised from the death. We are called to follow Jesus, and to make disciple of all nations. If you would like to know more about God, Jesus, or our church or the bible, please use [email protected] / Minister-in-Charge Rev. James Kong 0413 953 238 / English Pastor (Part Time) Ps. Allan Quah 0402 675 219 to Get in Touch. 58 Cooloongatta Road, Camberwell, VIC 3124 • Tel: (03) 9889 0702 • www.cmca-camberwell.org.au

Silent Prayer ORDER OF WORSHIP Call to Worship Adoration & Praise (25 July 2021) Prayer Responsive Reading <Be Still in the Presence of the Lord> The Lord’s Prayer Welcome/Notices Psalm 30:1-12 Offering Intercessory Prayer 398 <All to Jesus I Surrender> Scripture Reading Colossians 2:6-10 Proclamation of the Word Equipping ourselves – Christian Life is about maturity in Chorus of Response Christ, not longevity. Benediction Ministry Roster 25/7/2021 Preacher Ps. Allan Quah Worship Leader Rev. James Kong Song Leader Jin Loong Wong Backup - Pianist Jiaxin Wong Keyboardist - Accompaniment - Cajon - Bible Reader - Multimedia Wesley Chew Live Stream/PA Jonathan Liew Ushers - Floral - HC Prep - Ministry Roster 25/7/2021 Preacher Rev. James Kong Worship Leader Daniel Ha Song Leader Felicia Teng Backup - Pianist Adeline See Keyboardist - Accompaniment - Cajon - Bible Reader - Multimedia Yew Fong Lim Live Stream/PA Gerald Wong & Jonathan Liew Ushers - Floral - HC Prep - 2

“God looks for those whose hearts are prepared to be intercessors before Him ...Intercessors can be the only ones standing between an individual or a nation and God’s wrath.” Henry Blackaby Weekly Praying for the Church 1. Pray for coming back to church to 2. P ray for LCEC 2021 and English working worship Committee that they may work together to reach out to families, our 2.1 Pray for ongoing streaming work to young people, and our community. be effective, and glorifying God; Please pray for the search of suirtable new pastor for English Congregation. 2.2 Pray for wisdom to discern how to allow congregation to come back to 3. Pray for Annual Conference continue worship with limited seat capacity due to be faithful in leading all churches in to social distancing; Australia, that we may work together to bring the gospel to the those who are 2.3 Pray for the small groups, and lost, and discipled to be fisher of men fellowships continue to connect with and women. each other, and reach out to other; 4. Pray for Boon Koh’s sister, Christina, 2.4 Pray for God’s break through in and her family in Canada: Samuel all that church is doing so that we and Ruth; Flora’s recovery; Ben; Mr. may experience renewal in the life of Tan (Angeline’s father); Recovery community and ministry. after surgery: Jimmy Kong; Bick Seng; Recovering at home: Uncle Lu, Rev. Y.C. Liong. 3

“God looks for those whose hearts are prepared to be intercessors before Him ...Intercessors can be the only ones standing between an individual or a nation and God’s wrath.” Henry Blackaby Weekly Praying for the Church 5. P ray for our church family continue to 6. P ray for spiritual awakening experience living God in each of these household at Camberwell Methodist 1.1 your plead with the Lord to be Church. We pray for deeper relationship merciful to us and graciously draw us among the family members, deeper back to Himself and His ways. Ask Him to relationship between husband and show us unfailing love and grant us His wife, and deeper relationship between salvation that we may rejoice in Him. parents and children. I cannot stress more than saying this is the time, God 1.2 restore us again, O God our is at work through and in our families. Saviour...Will you not revive us again, Let us not look else where but instead that your people may rejoice in you? look within our daily relationship and Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and our family. God is right there with us. grant us your salvation (Psalm 85:4,6-7); Seek Him first and His kingdom, all these things shall be added to you. 1.3 Thank God that He is willing to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. Cry out to Him for an outpouring and mighty working of the Holy Spirit in our day. 1.4 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. (Luke 11:13) 4

All that’s going on around Camberwell Methodist Church COMMUNITY WATCH Welcome Prayer Meeting Thursday (29/7) 7:30PM We welcome everyone who join our worship Combined Bilingual Mission Prayer Meeting to service. May the peace of God be with you! If you be led by Rev. James Kong through Facebook: are a new friend to the church, please introduce Camberwell MC Online group. Let us serve one yourself. another through prayer. Restrictions Pastoral Needs RESTRICTIONS FOR MELBOURNE (FROM 11:59PM If you have any pastoral needs, please do not 15 JULY 2021 to 11:59PM 27 July 2021) Religious hesitate to seek Rev. James Kong (0413 953 238), gatherings and ceremonies: No in-person Ps. Allan Quah (0402 675 219) or local preacher: gatherings permitted. Broadcast permitted. Lina Lim, Chris Ting, or Joo Soo Lim. If you need the pastor to pray for you, do approach Rev. James Please take note: For coming Sunday (25/7/2021), Kong or Ps. Allan Quah after the service. Camberwell MC will not have physical worship on site. There will only be live streaming team doing Family Devotion the live broadcasting in church. We encourage families to start a regular family The YouTube live streaming will be continued for devotion each week. It is our main thing for our the worship service. At the same time, Sunday church because we will grow stronger, closer, and school will announce its own arrangement through more love for God and one another. Let us not its group. Thank you all for your cooperation. Do waste this time of being together…. explore every take good care, follow the restrictions, continue to opportunity to play, to read, to do something love others as ourselves, step forward for COVID together, to pray and to sing together. vaccination and continue to pray. CMC Youth Camp 19th – 22nd September Church Camp 2022 2021 Dates: 07-10 January 2022 (Friday to Monday). Theme: “The Simple Gospel”. Speaker: Ps. Stephen Venue: Philip Island Adventure Resort. Theme: Tan. Encourage all the youths to register for the “Growing a gospel-centered Family”. Speaker: Youth Camp with QR Code in the Lobby. Do Brett Ryan (CEO of Focus on the Family). Please approach Oscar Ling or Wesley Chew for further scan the QR Code to register. Closing Date for details. Early Bird Registration: 26/9/2021 Official Closing Date for Registration(31/10/2021. Early Bird 2021 Family Discipleship Seminar 10-12 Registration Fees(13years old and above $180; 13 September (English) years old and above (student)$140; 9-13years old $110; 2-8years old $80; Below 2 years old: Free. Theme: God’s Kingdom Blessings: The Gospel and Person to contact: Rev. James Kong 0413 953 238; the Family. Speaker: Rev. Dr Moses Tey (and Cathy Gabriel Ting: 0422 265 545; Frederick Wong: 0423 Tey). Please scan the QR code for registration, and 032 818. (Refer Page 13-14) contact your local church pastor in-charge for more information, if needed. (See Page 10) 5

All that’s going on around Camberwell Methodist Church COMMUNITY WATCH Board of Christian Social Concerns Prayer property is scheduled for 5th July, 2021. At present, Letter (June-July 2021) Mercy Methodist Church had raised a total of AUD$820,000, which means we are AUD$180,000 Please continue to care for our community and short of our target. This will cover basic renovation pray for the prayer items listed. (Refer Page 9) costs as mentioned as well as the purchase and installation of necessary equipment and furniture, Theological Education Scholarship Fund plus clearing a dozen trees to establish ditches to prevent flooding on site. Hence, we would like to Today is the Theological Education Sunday, the invite you to participate in the fundraising for the offering (except all itemised offerings) will be put purchase of our church property. We hope that aside for the Theological Education Scholarship you will find joy in giving, knowing that God will Fund. We also attached herewith the letter from reward you in heaven. MMC’s account detail: the Board on Theological Education Scholarship Mercy Methodist Church, BSB:484799 Account: Fund to encourage all of you to contribute to, 609503161, you can transfer direct to their in support of the CMCA theological students. account. (Refer Page 11-12) Account Name: Chinese Methodist Church in Australia Inc BSB: 013-225 Account: 268138975 Holiday Children Character Camp (Please specify offering to BoTesF during transaction so the fund will be allocated correctly.) Date: 24-25 September 2021 Venue: Camberwell (Refer Page 16-17) MC. A day camp over two days - fun times for year 1 to year 9 children of family and friends to learn Mercy Methodist Church about exciting characters from the Bible through story-telling, sing-a-longs, games, arts and crafts. Mercy Methodist Church has successfully secured There will be a special theatrical performance by an existing church in the Tanah Merah suburb on the children about the adventures they discover May 31 2021, with a land area of 3,594m2and on the second day of the camp. Registration is an existing building area of 356m2. The purchase open! To register, please use the CHAT box on the price is eight hundred and fifty thousand page or email to: vchairman.cmcacamberwell@ Australian dollars ($850,000), with addition of gmail.com 1. Your children’s name and age 2. administration fees and basic renovation costs Return contact number. (Please see page 15) totalling an estimated one million Australian dollars (AUD $1,000,000). Settlement of the Offering detail Description Abbreviations Bank reference Thank you once again for Tithing TIT C9/E11 C9 TIT Paul WONG brothers and sisters who faithfully support the ministry of the church General GEN C9/E11 C9 GEN Paul WONG through finance, prayers, and participation. May God bless Thanksgiving TKS C9/E11 C9 TKS Paul WONG you. Here is the bank detail for your reference: Account name: Mission MIS C9/E11 C9 MIS Paul WONG Chinese Methodist Church in Australia Camberwell; BANK: ANZ; Theological student THE C9/E11 C9 THE Paul WONG BSB: 013 225; A.N: 4939 79025 Special SPE C9/E11 C9 SPE Paul WONG Offering Others OTH C9/E11 C9 OTH Paul WONG $7,261.10 (11/7 - 16/7/2021) Building fund C9/E11 C9 Camberwell mc Paul WONG, E11 Mercy mc Paul WONG…...... 6

Devotion Week 25: 25th July 2021 Theme: God’s Solution to Fear and Anxiety Bible verses: Philippians 4:6-7 ESV 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Written by Gary Fleetwood How to face our fear and anxiety is clearly laid out in scripture. Everyone has fears, everyone becomes anxious, and everyone experiences very stressful moments in their life. Just because someone is a Christian does not exempt them from the stressful events or from the effects that fear and anxiety can produce in their life. For instance, medical science has been saying for a long time that stress, fear, and anxiety are very harmful to the body because they destroy a person’s immune system. So, the more that someone worries about things that they often cannot change, the greater will be the negative effects on their life. Stressful events are more than able to take a person’s focus off of God and to place it on their difficult circumstances. So, what we want to do is to see what God’s Word says about how a believer can actually win their battle over fear and anxiety. What does it really mean to be “anxious”? The word “anxious” means to become troubled, unsettled, and deeply concerned about something. It means to constantly be worrying about something that most of the time that we cannot change. It refers to the person who seems to worry about everything. Something happens in their life and they begin to worry about it so much that it consumes their thought life. They cannot rest for worrying about something. It affects their sleep and their eating, and the fear of something negative that may happen begins to control their life. Several years ago my oldest son was working in a very dangerous part of the world. He had to travel every day on what was considered at that time as the most dangerous 10 miles of road in the world. Obviously, it was something that made our family very anxious. However, it was during that time that God began to teach me about Philippians 4:6-7 and it became one of my two life verses. What I learned was how to handle that which made me anxious. So, what is God’s solution to fear and anxiety in our life? God’s solution is simple. It is to bring our concerns to Him in prayer and He will provide His peace in our life – which He did for me about my son’s daily safety. These verses do not say that God will change our difficult and stressful circumstances, but rather that God will provide an inner and supernatural peace that will “guard” and protect our heart and mind so that our difficult circumstances will no longer consume our life. Rather than always being anxious about my son’s safety, I simply began to pray each morning for God to protect him. Rather 7

than worrying about something that I could not change or control, I began committing my son into God’s care each day. Once that happened, God’s supernatural peace began to deeply influence my heart and mind and helped me to rest in His control over all things. What does it mean to “guard” our heart and mind? The word “guard” means to keep someone safe with a military guard. Everywhere that the President of the United States goes, he always has people guarding him. That is the idea with the word “guard”. It is knowing that God will always protect the believer’s heart and mind so that worrying and being afraid will not consume their life. Some people seem to worry about everything in life. Almost anything can make them anxious, and as soon as something goes wrong, they begin to worry. What that anxiety does is to immediately take their heart and mind off of God. In reality, God is always the believer’s solution to anxiety and fear. Jesus provided a great encouragement in Matthew 6:25-26: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? So, what God does when the believer comes to Him in prayer is to “guard” their heart, protect their heart, and shield their heart from things that He knows can hurt them. He is always wanting us to trust Him in every difficult circumstance of our life. Can fear or anxiety be a good thing? It is important to understand that some level of fear and anxiety often can be a good thing because it forces us to be more careful and to be much more cautious. I love to work with wood and have been making things for over 40 years. Several years ago I was working next to a wood machine, my hand too close to it and part of my thumb was cut off. Today, I am so respectful of that saw that I will never make that same mistake again. In fact, I have made a guard and I use it every time I have to use the wood machine. So, in my case, having a healthy fear is a very good thing. It is the fear of what the saw can do to me that actually keeps me safe. So, what we want to see in this series is how God actually uses the things that make us afraid as His supernatural tools to strengthen our life to trust Him in every circumstance of our life. Coming to God in the midst of troubling and stressful situations is always God’s solution to fear and anxiety. Talk it over Are you willing to make a list of all of the different things that you are constantly worrying about and then commit them each day to your heavenly Father with a grateful heart as to what He is doing through those stressful moments to draw you closer to Him? Pray this week: Father, will you please help me to see how you are able to use the stressful moments of my life to draw me closer into your supernatural peace? 8

Board of Christian Social Concern 2021 六-七月祷告事项 June – July Prayer Items: Bible verses: 耶稣说，我就是道路，真理，与生命，若不藉着我没有人能 到父那里去。Jesus said, “I am the way, the Truth, and the Light, no one come to the Father except through me.” （约翰福音 John 14:6） 1. 为那些曾经被歧视，被欺压祷告。求圣灵赐帮助他们能够从悲伤和 苦毒中走出来。并能以神的爱去饶恕那曾伤加害他们的人。Pray for those who have been discriminated, and oppressed. Pray for Holy Spirit to bring them out of pains and bitterness. 2. 为着澳洲的原住民仍面对着酗酒，家庭暴力，高失业率和高辍学率 等问题祷告。求神透过政府的政策和社会关怀能帮助原住民脱离现 状。Pray for our aboriginal community in Australia to be free from alcohol addiction, family violence, high unemployment and low schooling. Pray for God to restore and deliver our people from these conditions through the policy of government and the assistance of our society. 3. 求圣灵使信徒们走出教会去关心及看见他们社区里的需要如流浪 汉，精神疾病，高自杀率，失业，新移民问题等使神的名在世人中 间被彰显。Pray for Holy Spirit to compel our church members to walk out of the church into our community, especially to help the homeless, mental illness, suicidal persons, unemployment and new migrants so that the name of God will be manifested among His people. 4. 继续为世界的疫情祷告，求神医治这大地並恳求圣灵在每个国家呼 召神的子民来归向事奉祂。Continue to pray for covid19 in global setting, we pray for God to heal this land and ask Holy Spirit to call upon God’s people to turn to Him. 5. 为我们的教会祷告，求神帮助我们成为世界的光，地上的盐，来面 对我们目前社会的挑战。Pray for our church to be the light of the world and be salt of the earth to stand on biblical ground as we face various challenge of our own society in Australia. 9

2021 Family Discipleship Seminar 13-15 August (Chinese) & 10-12 September (English) What is God’s purpose for marriage? What is God’s purpose for family? Can every individual or family be a gospel-centred, Christ-centred and God-glorifying person for God? And how does that look like? We will try to answer some of these questions … God’s Kingdom Blessings: The Gospel and the Family Theme Talks Speaker: Rev. Dr Moses Tey (and Cathy Tey) Date and Time: Based on Melbourne time (AEST, UTC/GMT +10 hrs) Chinese Seminar Session 1 (Friday 13 August 8:30-10:00 pm) Session 2 (Saturday 14 August 11:00 am-12:30 pm) Session 3 (Saturday 14 August 8:30-10:00 pm) Session 4 (Sunday 15 August 8:30-10:00 pm) English Seminar Session 1 (Friday 10 September, 8:30-10:00 pm) Session 2 (Saturday 11 September, 11:00 am-12:30 pm) Session 3 (Saturday 11 September, 8:30-10:00 pm) Session 4 (Sunday 12 September, 8:30-10:00 pm) *Session 1 Topic 1 – 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 – Gospel of First Importance *Session 2 Topic 2 – Genesis 1 – The Family at the Heart of God’s Kingdom *Session 3 Topic 3 – Luke 2 – A Key for Next Generation’s Faithfulness *Session 4 Topic 4 – Deuteronomy 6 – Family Discipleship at the Heart of God’s Great Commandment -Event Coordinator – Rev. Gloria Ling, Rev. Michael Ting, Board of Christian Education, CMCA -IT, Zoom and YouTube (and registration) etc. – Dennis Wong -For more information and registration etc. – Please scan the QR code for registration, and also contact your local church pastor in-charge for registration and more information Moses’ intensive biblical exploration of how God builds His church spans from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. At the heart of this comprehensive framework is the family of God. This framework address many challenges churches face, including developing authentic leaders, marriages, children as they become adults, and the explosion of church programs. Moses’ team serves in China (2.5 million live attendance), USA, and part of SE Asia. Upon graduating with an Electrical Engineering degree, Moses pursued a M.Div at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, ThM at Asbury Theological Seminary, PhD of Communications at the University of Kentucky. He and his wife, Cathy, are currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Church and Family. They have been married 27 years with two adult sons who love the Lord. 1 10

CMCA Mercy Methodist Church 11.06.2021 Dear Reverends, Pastors, Brothers and Sisters in Christ of CMCA, Peace in the Lord! We thank God for His grace and love for choosing us to serve the Him with one heart and one mind in all the churches and preaching point in Australia! 1. Our Story It all began in September 2013, with the encouragement of then Bishop Kwang, under the leadership of Rev. Alexis Lui and LCEC of EMP Methodist Church, the first Chinese Worship Service of EMP Preaching Point was held at a rented venue at Sunnybank Community Centre in Brisbane, giving birth to a church planting ministry. After about a year, due to the increased rental cost of the Sunny bank venue, the church then secured the rental of Mansfield Christian Reformed Church venue in January 2015 (the current rented worship place) to continue to reach out to the Chinese community and entrusted a group of brothers and sisters from EMP Methodist Church to commit and serve in the Preaching Point. Praise the Lord, for over the next few years, through the passionate pastoral care of Rev. Alexis Lui and Rev. Tay and the faithful brothers and sisters in serving the Lord, the congregation number and the financial capability of the Preaching Point gradually increased. 2. Establishment of Mercy Methodist Church In order to move towards becoming a church, a working committee team (including the church building team) was set up at the end of 2018 with the consent of the LCEC and Reverends of the EMP Methodist Church, in order to work together with EMP church executive committee to manage the ministries in the preaching point. By the grace of the Lord, the inauguration of the Chinese Methodist Church of Australia (CMCA) Mercy Methodist Church was held during the Thanksgiving Sunday Service on 29th December, 2019 under the auspices of Bishop Albert Wong. 3. Church Purchase Plan As a relatively newly established Church, building or purchasing an existing church is an extremely challenging task. However, the executive committee of Mercy Methodist Church, the church building team, and brothers and sisters have the same vision that Mercy Methodist Church needed to have our own worship venue to continue to expand its church ministries mainly because: ) Our Sunday Service is allocated to 3:00pm as the current rented venue also accommodates the worship times of other congregations. 2) We do not have a formal lease agreement for the rented venue, and so may be forced to relocate at any time. 3) There is a lack of classrooms for adult and children's Sunday School classes at the current venue, therefore some of the Sunday school classes are currently held at home prior to Sunday Service. 11

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!\"#$%&'()*+, -\"./01/2343/5/6, 78.9:;, <=., >\"?@AB-'CDEBFGH)EIFGAJKLMNEOP QRSCTUVWCXYZ[\\]^_PQ)A`abJKLcd !\"%&'AefB@ghBijkAlmb, nQopqrb, stuvwxA CHAT box,yz{| [email protected],, s}~., 6JKAÄrÅFÇ,, /ÉAÑÖÜáZz{7à, Holiday Children Character Camp (Chinese) Date: 24-25 September 2021 Venue: Camberwell Methodist Church Introduction: A day camp over two days - fun times for year 1 to year 9 children of family and friends to learn about exciting characters from the Bible through story-telling, sing-a-longs, games, arts and crafts. There will be a special theatrical performance by the children about the adventures they discover on the second day of the camp. Registration is open! To register, please use the CHAT box on the page or email to: [email protected] 1. Your children’s name and age 2. Return contact number 15

澳洲基督教華人衛理公會 Chinese Methodist Church in Australia 神學教育助學金部 Board on Theological Education Scholarship Fund (BoTESF) Dear Bishop, Reverends, Pastors, Co-workers and Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Re: CMCA Theological Education Sunday Appeal Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. As per our CMCA calendar 24th July 2021 is the Theological Education Sunday. Theological Education Sunday is the day when church reflects on the contribution and significances of Theological education. And at the same time, we remember those who are directly or indirectly involved in theological education, be it students, teachers, or other supporting roles. CMCA currently has 3 sponsored theological students under BoTESF. They are: a. Johnny Hii, a. Bernie, Tasmania b. Third year student b. Tim Gao a. Melbourne, Victoria b. First year student c. Richard Leong, a. Perth, Western Australia b. First year student Please continue to keep them in your prayers, and to support them in this wonderful journey of faith. In 2021 the Board has agreed to increase the allowances to each theological students by 25%. Despite the increase, we acknowledge that the Theological fund provided to each Theological students are still inadequate, considering the rising cost of living in Australia. While we would like to provide more support to our Theological students, especially financially, this would not be possible without a strong support from various churches and preaching centres under the umbrella of CMCA. In 2021, we have set our budget of $45,000.00 to support our three theological students. During this coming Theological Education Sunday, the Board would like to appeal to various churches under CMCA to support our Theological Education Scholarship Fund. Traditionally a second offering will be collected during Theological Sunday service for this purpose. With some churches are still under the order of COVID restrictions by the state governments second offering might be hard to be conducted therefore we encourage churches in this case to set aside a nominated percentage of electronic offering collected for this purpose. (For your information our collections for 2019 and 2020 were $16,174.82 and $21392.00 respectively.) 16

We understand offering for one Sunday may be limited, therefore in order not to put too much pressure on individual church and member, we encourage brothers and sisters in Christ to contribute to BoTESF in other occasions directly via bank details below: Account Name: Chinese Methodist Church in Australia Inc BSB: 013-225 Account: 268138975 (Please specify offering to BoTesF during transaction so the fund will be allocated correctly.) We thank you in advance for your continual support to BoTESF. During our first Board meeting we have agreed to carry out study on our pastorals need for the next 10 years. This will enable us to set our vision and target for the next 10 years. Once this target and vision is set this will be shared across CMCA for support and prayers. This is still work in progress. Should you have any suggestion for this matter please contact me directly. Should you have further questions on BoTESF’s ministry please feel free to contact myself. We look forward to a fruitful Theological Sunday this year. In Christ, Dennis Wong BoTESF 17