COVID-19 Virus – Your Church and Our Faith

Jubilee Chapel

– our LPD Church of the Week

– thanks to Anna Crumback (Ben) of Sointula Community Church for producing the Church of the Week.

Jubilee Chapel is pastored by Dr. Rev. Paul (Seung-Hun) and Jin Yang. Paul is Professor of Worldview & Creation Studies at ACTS Seminaries, and also has planted and pastors Jubilee Chapel.

This church was birthed on the ACTS Campus, and has now moved to Fort Langley EFC, where it meets each Sunday afternoon. Fort Langley EFC also gave birth to our first Korean Church, The Church of the Sent For Life Proclamation, planted and pastored by Dr. Rev. Namgyu and Heejoung Lee in 2002.

Jubilee Chapel inclcudes many Korean students and their families. They have come to Canada to study at ACTS, and serve and grow in the church while studying. Others are residents of Canada.

We are thankful for Jubilee Chapel as a part of the LPD/EFCC Family, and invite you to join us in praying for them and their ministry. As of our LPD Conference, Paul Yang completed his term on service on our LPD Board, and we are thankful for his ministry among us. He also recently translated the EFCC Booklet, “A Closer Look” into Korean, and this has been a great blessing to our Korean family members. Thank you Paul and Jin!

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COVID-19 Virus – Your Church and Our Faith
Over recent weeks, our newscasts, conversations and lives have been impacted by concern over the covid-19 virus.

What began as a seemingly-isolated outbreak has captured global attention and daily, we hear of both the spread and impact of this virus.

I participated in EFCC Meetings this week, and as these included a Prayer and Leadership Retreat at Cedar Springs in Washington State. Upon news of recommendations regarding travel to the USA.  we all rushed home yesterday afternoon. My preaching and working style will be altered as I, and others seek to honour the recommendations of the BC Provincial Medical Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry and BC Minister of Health, Adrian Dix.

We are all impacted by this virus “pandemic.” Government recommendations will curb gatherings of more than 250 people.  Many are asked to work from home. Some will choose to simply stay home. Travel and spring break plans are impacted – Disneyland is closed…

People are not only impacted by virus concerns – the stockmarket, and with this, investments,  retirement savings and hopes for retirement are put into jeopardy.

So – what is our response as believers today? What difference does our faith make?

First of all, I am comforted, knowing that God is not caught off guard by covid-19. He was not caught off guard by SARS or by other pandemics/epidemics/world events.

While we appreciate our authorities and their efforts, our hope and confidence are not in them, but in our Lord. My life, my health, my hope and my future are in His hands. Here is the Word of the Lord.
Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

⁷ The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

⁸ Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

¹¹ The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Of all people, we can be people of both hope and peace today!

Here are some thoughts for you and your church today:

1. Honour Recommended Precautions, as prescribed by our authorities.

We are to honour our authorities as citizens, and to cooperate with them.

Churches – please see the following link for information on gathering people together for worship or other events:

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/health-professionals/mass-gatherings-risk-assesment.html

Here is a useful chart from Christianity Today:

Here is the link to this information and several articles:

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/march-web-only/seattle-churches-stop-meeting-to-slow-covid-19-coronavirus.html?share=

At our conference last weekend, we took and recommended the following precautions, based upon the government recommendations available. I have updated this, based on the most current information:

Please help keep everyone safe by taking the follow precautionary measures:

1. Wash your hands regularly and avoid touching your face.  Hands should be washed with soap for thirty seconds. For added protection there can be hand sanitizers placed in various locations for your use.
2. Avoid handshakes to minimize contact.
3. If you are sick yourself, stay away from others. Contact your health-care provider ahead of time so you can be safely assessed.
4. We encourage a 14 day self-quarantine if you or anyone from you home have recently come from or visited any foreign country.
5. Masks may be used to prevent transmission to others: please note a mask keeps a person’s droplets in.  Cover your month/nose using the inside sleeves when you cough so others are not exposed.
6. Many churches are choosing to not serve food and are taking every precaution in serving coffee and tea.

Here is a link to the BC Government Website with comprehensive information:
http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/coronavirus-(novel)

2. Seize this Opportunity to Serve!

   As people face uncertainty, as life is forced to slow down and travel is curtailed, what a great time to know Jesus and to share our wonderful hope in Him!

   Don’t simply disappear in the “crisis” – share our hope! Here are some thoughts:

• If you need to cancel your Sunday gathering – encourage to people to pray!
• use social media to connect and to engage your people!
• take time to contact “shut-ins” and to simply encourage people to connect with one another!
• Change things up on Sunday. Don’t ignore the “elephant in the room,” but use the this time of uncertainty to share together on Sunday, to encourage one another through Scripture and prayer, and to talk. Whatever you choose to preach on this Sunday, you know what people are thinking about – speak to the moment! It is, as they say, “a teachable moment.”

Here is a word of encouragement as to how Charles Spurgeon ministered in the Cholera epidemic that rocked England/Europe in 1854. May we have stories from the 2020 virus outbreak!
spurgeon-and-the-cholera-outbreak-of-1854

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LPD Conference Report

We are so thankful for a wonderful LPD Conference at Grace Hanin Community Church last weekend! We will provide a more thorough report next week, but here are some quick highlights:

• Thank you so  much, Grace Hanin Community Church, for your warm, kind and generous hospitality.
• We welcome both Vancouver Gospel Home Church and the Home Church Network into the LPD/EFCC Family!
• We elected Philip Leung (Chinese Church Liaison) and Sang Hyun (Sam) Cho (Korean Church Liaison) to our LPD Board.
• Speaker Randy Wollf was very much appreciated, and people were blessed through his ministry.
• Almost all of our LPD Churches were represented, and we so much enjoyed being with you all!

Henry and Kim Ngugi

EFCCM Missionaries to Kenya
It is exciting to know that God is calling some of our own to service overseas! I had the privilege of being Kim’s (then Kim Holbrook) pastor at North Delta EFC, and her dad, Bruce served alongside as youth pastor. She married Henry, after meeting him in Kenya while on a short term mission, and they returned to Canada so Henry could pursue theological studies. While studying, Henry interned at New Westminster EFC, while our son, Tim (Emily) Stewart pastored there.

We are excited and thankful for how God has led and called Henry and Kim, and we invite you to join in their prayer and support team. They trust to travel to Kenya to begin this ministry in September of this year. Here is a link to their newsletter, “The Daily Move.”

TheDailyMoveMarch.pdf

Website:

https://movedchurch.org/

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Please pray for:

• Tom and Sandy Ford and family, as he awaits transplants, made necessary through the impact of his diabetes. He asks for urgent prayer for healing of the ulcer on his foot and for physical strength to undergo a kidney transplant. Hosanna EFC, where Tom has served have set up a GoFundMe page for Tom and family, and we encourage you to participate in this ministry to Tom and his family http:// https://www.gofundme.com/f/2020-care-package-for-the-ford-family
• Praise God for good EFCC Leadership Meetings and Prayer Retreat, March 10-13. As we met at Cedar Springs in Washington State. Though we met just south of the border, we all hurried home with the growing precautions taken about the COVID-19 virus.
• Josh and Clara Lok, as they have successfully completed their church planter assessment, and we look forward to moving forward with them toward church planting.
• Town + Field Church, in their time of pastoral transition. Pray for Matt (Val) Myers and team, as they provide interim leadership. Pray for their pastoral search process. http://townandfield.ca/leadpastorhiring/.
• Fort Langley EFC, in their search for an Associate Pastor of Youth and Young Adults. https://www.flefc.org/news/hiring-associate-pastor-of-youth-and-young-adults–210
• Joshua and Nicole Fast, LPD Missionary, beginning “Priceless Youth Ministries,“ a ministry to families of special needs children/youth.
• The Steveston Project Team – Allen and Hannah Chang and Daniel and Joyce Wong. We are thankful for their fresh vision and growth, and we look forward to what God will do in the days ahead. Our LPD Board approved a fresh and refined project for the Steveston Project on February 19.
• LPD Board. Board members are Randy Lemke (Allana) – Chair, Patrick Chan (Sarah) – Property and Finance, Ben Crumback (Anna) – Island Liaison, Charles Labun (Carolyn) – Church Board Liaison, Rob Stewart (Karen) – D.S., Tim Stewart (Emily) – Innovative Ministries, Sang Hyun (Sam) Cho (Eun Young) – Korean Church Liaison; Phil Yung (Grace) – Church Planting, Philip Leung (Karen) – Chinese Church Liaison and Josephine Papp, LPD Office Administrator – Recording Secretary.