Annual Report 2005
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Annual Report 2016 Mount Carmel BP Church I. GENERAL 1.0 Session Rev Oh Boon Leong (Moderator), Dn Agus Djunaedi (Clerk of Session), Eld Yeo Siew Yam (Standing Committee Chairman), Dns Samantha Tsang (Treasurer), Eld Bruce Lockhart (Chairman of Board of Elders), Eld Ho Peng Kee, Rev Peter Teo, Rev Lim Kheng Hai, Dn Jonathan Lum Yan Thong, Dn Loh Pin Chuan, Dn Adrian Wong Wei Ern, Dn Kelvin Teo Yoong Huat, Dns Serene Lim Kit Ping, Dn Foo Kim Peng, Dn David Chua. 2.0 Membership As of 30 November there were 1075 members (including 95 living overseas) 3.0 Church Staff Movement 3.1 Ps Tang Bin left on 19 March 2016. 3.2 Erh Pheck Hoon joined the church office admin team on 1 Aug 2016. 3.3 Fiona Yang left on 31 August 2016. 3.4 The pastoral staff went to Kota Kinabalu for retreat on 21-25 August 2016. II. WORSHIP SERVICES 4.0 Worship Services 4.1 Attendances Average attendance of the worship services were as follows: 1st Service (including Youth service) 429 (433 in 2015) 2nd Service 346 (340 in 2015) Saturday Evening Service 94 ( 91 in 2015) Chinese Service 152 (163 in 2015) Sunday Evening Mandarin Service 116 (154 in 2015) Filipino (Rhoda) Service 15 ( 17 in 2015) 4.2 Worship Ministry Pursuing Holiness - Serving With Excellence - Love In All Things “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy— think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 We thank God for the faithfulness of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in their continued service in the worship ministry. An aim for 2016 was to consolidate and stabilize the team. We implemented a “fixed music team roster” where musicians were rostered on fixed weeks in a month. This was aimed at allowing for a growing familiarity of team members with each other and also to allow a more stable schedule for everyone to commit to. A number of our members experienced the joy of parenthood (hopefully more little musicians for the future!) this year and I want to thank the rest of the team for stepping up and “mucking in”. We pray that God will provide us more resources in 2017 particularly on the Bass and Guitar. We also tried to harness technology to try to smoothen the various activities required in preparing for each Sunday’s worship service - Thank you to Michelle Wong for a faithful year of service as music team coordinator. She worked tirelessly setting up various Whatsapp groups for each Week’s music team and worship leader to allow for better coordination and discussion. - Thank you to Shawn Poon and Matthew Siew for sourcing and writing (often from scratch!) each week’s music charts and placing them in the Google Drive for efficient access by all. And thereafter maintaining our steadily growing digital library of scores. 1 - You may notice that the musicians are swiping at our Ipads/tablets/Surface Pros during service. No, we are not surfing the internet but reading from our digital music scores! We thank the Lord for being gracious to each of us and for sustaining us through the year. It is my prayer that even as we continue to lead God’s people into worship every Sunday, each of us will be spiritually refreshed and fed in this act of service to Him. To God be the glory! 4.4 Choir The choir typically ministers to the congregation through songs and hymns during worship services on Sundays. Most of the pieces are centered on themes of Praise and Worship and God’s love and grace. The choir usually presents song anthems on 3rd Sundays of each month and also will lead the congregation with a hymn during the Holy Communion services on 1st Sundays. The choir’s hope and desire is that these songs will glorify God and edify the congregation. This year, for the Maundy Thursday Service, the choir presented a choral presentation entitled “Once and For All”, which retells in music the story of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. The songs presented were: Broken and Spilled Out, Once and For All, O Gethsemane, They Should Have Cried, ‘Holy’, Via Dolorosa, Zion Shout!, By His Stripes, Grace Medley, God So Loved The World, Glory Hallelujah! He’s Alive! The service ended with a message by Rev Lim Kheng Hai, based on Romans 6:10, “For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.” Other special events in the year include Dedication Sunday, Church Anniversary, Mission Sunday and Reformation Sunday. These presentations were both uplifting and a blessing to congregation and members alike. The choir continues to practice every Thursday evening for one and half hours from 8pm. We have the privilege to have student-conductor Moe Kafat, who is also a graduate student in Singapore Bible College (SBC), to lead us in conducting the choir and to impart good vocal and singing techniques. The choir also had the privilege to work with other conductors like Yang Kai, Vimezo Iralu and Shiela, whom are also from SBC, whenever Kafat is travelling or unavailable. Besides the singing, the choir also organises fun and social events. Once a month, the choir will celebrate members’ birthdays. To enable even closer bonding, the choir will organize choir thanksgiving and fellowship events at the home of one of the choir members. During this time, members together with their families and loved ones, come together for a time of makan, games, singing, fellowship, thanksgiving and sharing. As with other ministries in the church, the choir has its share of challenges. As some members are not able to make it for the practices on a week nights, our pianist Joshua Lim painstakingly prepares 4-part practice tracks for members to learn and practice at home. We also record practice sessions for members to listen and typically shares it in the choir’s Whatsapp chat group. These measures have been a great help for members, especially for those who struggle to attend. Moving forward, the choir needs to have one or two more piano accompanists, to share the workload and commitment. It would also be ideal to have a permanent conductor or Music Director, so that there will be consistency and improvement over time in worship, choral presentations and direction. Another challenge is that of recruiting new members into the choir. Ideally we would like to grow the choir to more than 30 members, so that the choir can sing and harmonize even when some members are not present. We encourage church members to consider serving in the choir for 2017. The songs being presented will be a blessing both to church and members alike. The only requirement is the commitment to serve faithfully and the ability to carry a tune. Members are also welcome to serve a period of time, or commit to specific projects (e.g. like 2017 Maundy Thursday Service, Mission Sunday and Christmas etc) if they are unable to commit the full year. "Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise Him." Ps 33:1. 2 5.0 Saturday Evening Service (SES) We thank God for the 15 years of God’s grace and growth in the Saturday Evening Service (SES). We also thank God for what He has done and continues to do through the congregation. We have seen God’s blessings as His people grow in the knowledge of God’s Word and in their love for one another. SES remains committed to the discipleship of all members and the welcoming of newcomers. This year we introduced “after worship events” where people stay behind after dinner fellowship to participate in these events. These events include the once a month Reframe video viewing cum discussion, special presentation, interview session and games night. Some of the youths from the KidSparks will continue in SES Kingdom Seekers (our youth ministry). It is our prayer that they will grow in their walk with the Lord. We also thank God for the joy of witnessing baptisms and transfers of membership in Easter and Christmas. We thank God for the current SES core committee members who have served faithfully. They are: Tan Thien Choon, Andrew Tan, Lim Chee Wee, Melissa Choo and Kwok Wai Ling. The committee has drafted a 3-year SES Vision 2020 document to help steer the ministry forward. KidSparks ministry continues to be an effective outreach to children of our members and friends in the neighbourhood, through their enrichment and Bible classes. Besides ministering to the children, our teachers also reach out to the parents by befriending and witnessing to them. We hope we can shine for our Lord Jesus in these families through this education outreach. The four Discipleship Groups continue to grow in the Word and in fellowship with one another. SES also continues to support the wider ministry of Carmel. A group of us joined the annual church camp. Several of us have gone on the various mission trips organised by our Overseas Missions Ministry. Pray for us as we press on for the Lord especially next year 2017 - Carmel’s Golden Jubilee Year. May the Lord grant to us the joy of serving Him. As for all SESians, the Apostle Paul encourages us with these words, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11). 6.0 Mandarin Worship Service (MWS) Theme for Year 2016: “ Equipping Disciple for the Expansion of the Kingdom” Average attendance: Av.140+ weekly, total regular worshiper monthly about 170+ Pulpit/Sermon: Base on The book of prison Epistle.