The Sunday Disciple

January 26, 2011

Dear Canaan EM’ers and friends,

I look forward to the day when Canaan’s English ministry is known as a community through which Jesus Christ transforms lives. I want to hear people share how their lives were given meaning, purpose, and direction as a result of being part of our church.

For this to happen, more of us have to be Sunday disciples (truth be told, one cannot really be an “everyday disciple” without learning how to be “Sunday” disciple). Remember that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath. Theoretically, the entire day should be devoted to God, not just between 10:20-11:30 AM.

So here are six easy steps to walking like a Sunday disciple:

1. Prepare yourselves and your family to come to church early – or at least, on time. We don’t make it a habit to go to school or work 20 minutes late, so why do we take our commitment to Christ and his church so lightly? Furthermore, most visitors come to church early. A full house that joins the Praise Band in worship helps our guests see that we really want to worship. The best way to get to church on time is to not stay up late on Saturday. Most of us have DVRs and can record SNL. Most of us can afford to get off the internet and sleep earlier.
2. If you are not in children’s or youth ministry, choose a ministry group to support and devote a few consecutive months (or longer) to it. I’ll use the young adults as an example. If you are a young adult or want to support young adults, come each Sunday ready to meet and listen to the young adults at worship service. Connect young adult guests to other young adults.
3. Encourage young adults to participate in H2O. Set an example by participating in H2O rather than leaving with your social clique (try to encourage your clique to join).
4. Stay through lunch and look for opportunities to invite guests for lunch in the fellowship hall or in a local restaurant.
5. If you are inclined to reach unchurched young adults, the Taiwanese school that meets in the afternoon is a good place to make connections.
6. Follow up on the young adults you meet during the week – find out how they are doing and if they need any prayer support.

Every believer (young and old), not just the “official” church leaders, can follow these six steps. Lives are transformed when we create opportunities for fellowship on Sundays. So come each Sunday with a plan to impact someone for Christ!

See you Sunday!

Tim Tseng , Ph.D. 曾 祥 雨
Pastor of English Ministries

P.S. Volunteers needed to donate snacks and clean up as well read scripture, serve as MCs, and give offertories during worship – especially in February and March. Contact James Chang or sign up at http://bit.ly/emworship12

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• $10 tickets for the Canaan Awards Night (Sat. Feb 25, 2012 6 PM) are now available from Chris Su.
• Taiwan Summer Missions is coming! Brochures will be available soon. Contact Pastor Tim if you are interested.
• Register now for Perspectives on the World Christian Movement spring courses [http://canaanem.org/2011/12/22/perspectives-on-world-christianity-classes-in-the-south-bay/] Financial assistance available!
• Register now for World Christian Conference 2012 at Redwood Christian Park (Feb. 17-20). [http://canaanem.org/2011/12/22/1881/] Financial assistance available!
• Be equipped at the BASS Convention this March 1-3. Our church is registered. If you want to attend for free, sign up for an account at the BASS site (bassconvention.org). Then input our church registration code (HCGNW). You can get the name tag when you arrive at BASS.