Pastor Blog (Page 3)

Last Sunday, I forgot to import keynote to our worship presentation software. I didn’t realize it until I saw the media team scrambling to find missing slides in the middle of my sermon. It just dawned on me that physically, I am declining. I apologized after the service to the media team because some may think they made the mistake. I begin to understand more why older people often say, “My mind is still in my 20s”. I feel the…

Cohabitation is defined as “the state of living together and having a sexual relationship without being married.” It is commonly referred to as simply “living together” but cohabitation specifically implies the presence of sexual activity. The trend is that many couples, including Christian couples, decide to live together before they get married. The main reasons seem to be convenience, saving money, and getting more data about the other person to avoid potential divorce. At first, it makes logical sense, in…

A few years ago, I read a book, “Never Split The Difference” written by Chris Voss. What is unique about him is that he was the Top FBI Hostage negotiator. Negotiation is not just for businessman. In every situation where there is potential difference in “needs”, we need to negotiate. We negotiate prices when buying a home or a car. We negotiate our salary and promotions. Parents have to negotiate with their kids. Kids have to negotiate with their parents.…

We are going on a joint mission trip with KSC to Nicaragua this July. We haven’t gone on a mission trip for a few years and as we now have a mission team leader, we plan to resume going on a mission trip. We made a promise to go together with KSC before the pandemic, so we want to honour the promise, through we have plans to go on our own mission trip with The Seed members in the future.…

In our shepherd’s vow, one of the commitments is “I will do my best to help one VIP to get baptized every year”. This is not a quota to fill for shepherds. But having such a numerical goal is necessary because it helps us to not lose the necessary tension we need to advance the mission of the church. A few years ago, I set a very specific goal of reading 36 books every year. The number was based on…

I set a personal policy a few years ago that I won’t accept regular church speaking requests. (though there might be some exceptions) The reason was to be able to say yes to requests from churches that do house church ministry. I respectfully declined a few invitations last year. Not that I am trying to be picky or ungrateful for the invitation, but I have concluded that I would be a better help to churches in the same ministry context.…

Many Christians question whether being part of a local church is a must for them. They say they have good Christian friends around them and that is enough for them. At first, it sounds plausible, as many Christian activities can happen in such settings. But a gathering of Christians and a local church is fundamentally different in three important ways: The preaching of God’s Word, the sacraments, and headship. First, what doesn’t happen among Christian friends is preaching of God’s…

There are two great preaching advices that I received, which I practice today. I think they are not only beneficial for communicators like myself, but also for listeners as well. It will help you understand better why I preach a certain way. The first advice is “Preach to persuade, not just to proclaim.” In seminary, we are taught that preaching is mainly “proclaiming” God’s Word to people. There is certainly a big element of proclamation in the work of preaching.…

The Holy Communion, also known as “Lord’s supper” or Eucharist, has been a main christian ritual accepted by almost all denominations throughout the church history. But few people know that the Lutheran and Reformed got divided into different denomination over the issue of Lord’s supper. It shows how important the Holy Communion was to early Reformers. The Lord’s supper was actually instituted by Jesus himself. On the night of Passover, right before he was arrested to be crucified, he broke…

Starting from next ministry term (starts in October this year), team leader qualification is changing to acting shepherds and spouses/ youth shepherds and former shepherds and spouses/youth shepherds. Pastor Rick Warren once said that one way to know a church is maturing is when leadership qualification is increasing. Team ministry is where our house church VIPs make first contact with church ministry and learn to grow in serving. Its primary role is to assist house church ministry, not just to…

We all want a “better” life. Regardless of our age, life stage, or faith, we can all agree this desire is where we begin. When we are young, we don’t have much money, so we start with what we can have right away, “better self”. So, we study harder and acquire more skills. Once we get a bit older, we begin to acquire “better things”, such as car, gadgets, and house. Then we realize things don’t satisfy too long. So,…

We have two joint services. One is outdoor service and the other is Christmas service. Two years ago, KSC has suggested using Christmas joint offering to support our local community. We gladly agreed and started our search for the charity. Last year, our “Outreach Search Committee” has decided on an organization called, “M.I.N.D” (Moving In New Direction). It primarily serves low-income families, providing food and care they need in Toronto. ESC collected both KSC and ESC Christmas offering last year…