26th SESSION OF CHINESE ANNUAL CONFERENCE: Nov 13-15, 2001

                                   Make disciples, CAC told
                                         President: Our churches have mission to fulfil

By CHEN YI RENG

"BECOMING a Christ-like people, full of grace and love, reaching the community through disciple-making." This was the mission statement raised by the Strategy Committee during the 26th Session of the Chinese Annual Conference (CAC) at Bukit Panjang Methodist Church from Nov 13-15, 2001.

And in his Presidential Address at the opening of the session, the Rev Khoo Cheng Hoot laid down the challenge of "Making Disciples" in the years ahead.

Making disciples, he said, which goes beyond programmes and courses, "needs us to pray for a change of life for those in the pulpit as well as for those in the pews. It needs for us to watch over one another in love."

Conference members and delegates voting on a proposal to give financial assistance to the Methodist School of Music. -- Methodist Message picture by TAN WEE PIN, a member of the MM Editorial Board.

"The CAC has a mission to fulfil. It has a responsibility to the community. Making disciples is our approach and being connectional is our strength. It is time for conference members to take the lead, and all the people called Methodists should stand together and be partners in the mission," he stressed.

In order to fulfil the mission, the Strategy Committee has targeted three short-term and three long-term goals, which the CAC aims to achieve by year 2004 and 2010 respectively.

The short-term goals are to: Baptise 2,000 adults, Develop a common leadership programme for all CAC churches, and Raise $17.5m for Sengkang Methodist Church.            The long-term goals are to: Double the church membership, Double the number of leaders, and Build three churches at strategic locations in Singapore.

These goals will form the basis of a 10-year direction for the CAC.

As for equipping members of the CAC churches, two new programmes are introduced: Growing a Healthy Church (GHC), for strategic planning, and Covenant Discipleship (CD), for developing people to be accountable for Christian living.

Apart from the mission statement, the Rev Khoo also announced an extension of the CAC's ministry to serve in the General Conference and its partnership with ETAC, TRAC and the World Federation of Chinese Methodist Churches (WFCMC).

In addition, he encouraged a closer co-labouring with the Methodist Missions Society (MMS), Methodist Welfare Services (MWS), Methodist School of Music (MSM), Disciple Agency (DA), Trinity Theological College (TTC), Methodist Book Room (MBR) and the Methodist schools.

Referring to the Sengkang Methodist Church project, the Rev Khoo expressed his gratitude for the support from different churches. "We pray that when the building is ready, Sengkang MC is there to take on the challenge of reaching out to the 500,000 people who will live in the Sengkang Punggol area," he said.

The main theme of the CAC for the quadrennium (2001-2004) is to "Enrich God's Family, Enlarge God's Kingdom". For the 27th Session of the CAC next year, the theme will be "Building up Christian Home to Honour the Lord".

Chen Yi Reng is a part-time Correspondent for Methodist Message.



                                   Family life education centre gets nod

              

THE CAC has approved a plan to set up immediately the Oasis Family Life Education Centre.

The Rev Dr Francis Ngoi Ngie Huat, the outgoing Pastor-in-Charge of Grace Methodist Church, has been appointed the Director of the centre.

Proposed by the Board of Discipleship and Nurture, Oasis Family Life Education Centre aims to conduct programmes for the wellness of families and services for dysfunctional families and prepare leadership for the caring ministry for the family life.

The word "Oasis" is selected for two reasons. Generally, it will appeal both to the Christian and non-Christian communities as it has little religious connotations, and spiritually, it serves as a reminder of Jacob's well where our Lord Jesus met the Samaritan woman in the account described in John chapter four.

It was at this well where the Samaritan woman, who came with the intention of meeting her own daily need of water, found the living water from the Lord to be a "a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14).

Therefore, Oasis Family Life Education Centre seeks to be a place where individuals and families who go through tough experiences in life will be refreshed and replenished just as the Samaritan woman was.

An operational office will be set up at Ruth Home, next to Grace Methodist Church at 434A Telok Blangah Road, where training and teaching facilities will be available.