MCCC Fellowship Group Quarterly Newsletter
October – December 2006
美門教會季刊 2006 年十月至十二月
Editorial
The purposes of the MCCC Fellowship Group Newsletter are:
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To provide a platform for sharing information among fellowship groups
To enhance the bonding of brotherhood/sisterhood in Christ
To share experiences in caring, outreach, and discipleship
To magnify the power of joint prayers for our church and people in illness and need
Please share this newsletter with the members of your fellowship group. Fellowship group
leaders, please share the newsletter at your next gathering. There is also a Chinese version of this
newsletter. You are welcome to print it if you desire. Previous issues of the newsletter are also
available on the MCCC website http://www.mccc.org/.
If you have any suggestions about the Newsletter or need any further information from the
contributors, please contact Kam Lam (林慶淦) at 1-732-591-0988. The MCCC Fellowship
Ministry thanks Brother Joe Cheung (張惠冬) and Sister Huei-Hsiu (Julia) Pang (龐慧修) for the
English and Chinese translation.
Help Needed
 Pine Fellowship needs help transporting the elderly to their Bible Study. If you can help,
please contact Chu-Yeh Chang (章楚業) via phone at 732-671-1751 or via E-mail at
margaret@mccc.org. Additionally, from time to time the elderly need help verbally
translating letters or documents from English to Chinese. Any help you can provide will
be greatly appreciated.
 If anyone is familiar with Microsoft Access and is willing to give a helping hand to a
small project of the MCCC Library, please contact Chih-Cheng (Henk) Chu (朱志成) at
732-972-1954 or Elder Ron Lo (羅榮長老) at 732-888-7955.
Message from Pastor Paul
Go onto the Perfection of Christ
As Robert Morrison (1782-1834), the first missionary to China, boarded the ship bound for
China, the captain asked him, “Can you really make the Imperial Chinese turn away from their
idols?” His answer was “I cannot, but God can.” God continues to use these words to encourage
us. May the Monmouth Chinese Christian Church be brought into the perfection of Christ during
this year of its 25th anniversary!
The church’s theme for this year — Go onto the Perfection of Christ — is from Heb 6.1a: “So
then, let us… be carried forward to the goal of spiritual perfection.” This, not the process of
maturity, is the goal of perfection emphasized by Jesus. In other words, believers are called to go
toward the perfection of Christ into a new spiritual realm; the realm is not entered after a long
heavenly walk, but by being carried by God. This is the work of God’s grace, this is passive and
holy, and the carrying is continuously sustained by God who shall not rest until the objective is
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reached.
A giraffe can start walking and running about 30 minutes after it is born. God gives the giraffe
this ability. How long does it take before a new Christian walks the righteous path and runs the
heavenly way? The answer is the same as the giraffe’s. The miracle at the Temple’s Beautiful
Gate (Acts 3) describes a cripple living as a beggar. Peter, however, said to him, “Silver or gold I
do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” A
miracle happened. How was he healed? Did he slowly stand up, go to physical therapy for a few
months, and then begin to walk with a walker that would eventually be discarded? No, his feet
and ankles became strong immediately. He walked, jumped, and praised God. There is no wait
with God’s antidote for the church. Let the wind of the Holy Spirit bring us into the perfection of
Christ. Do you want to go? I myself cannot, but God can.
The goal of perfection is neither a set of doctrine nor a series of experiences. Rather, it is Christ
Himself. The key to reaching that perfection is to recognize and affirm Christ, to look at Him and
Him only, Heb 12.2a. The secret is to look at Jesus right after one is saved. Heb 5.11 contains a
pronoun that can be translated from Greek as either a neuter “this” or a masculine “being.” The
word actually refers to a person, the most important person on earth and in the universe: Jesus.
He is perfection, the goal of our heavenly walk, the realm of blessedness. Jesus is like a peak
visible from all areas of our lives.
When Peter asked in the name of Jesus the cripple to stand up and walk, were the cripple’s eyes
focused on his handicap? No, from that instant on, the Holy Spirit opened the cripple’s eyes so
he could see the resurrected Jesus! So he immediately stood up, “… walking and jumping and
praising God.” Like the cripple, the key is to fix one’s eyes upon Jesus.
The Israelites sent 12 spies, one from each tribe, to explore Canaan. There were two reports from
the group; the reports were the same, but the conclusions differed. What was the difference?
The difference was in what they saw. Ten spies saw only the fearsome enemy. They said, we
could not, and neither could God. But Caleb and Joshua’s eyes of faith saw the Lord, and they
said, we cannot, but God can. The key is to fix your eyes on Jesus.
How do we reach the realm of Christ’s perfection?
(1) Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Rom 12:2 talks of how our minds can be
exercised and transformed. The bible reveals to us how the Lord, sitting on the throne, leads the
way. Through studying the bible, our minds are transformed by God, and in this way, we can
quickly know God and fix our eyes on Jesus.
(2) Resolve to follow Jesus. After we know God’s will, Heb 6.3 continues: if it is God’s will, we
will do so. Just as Caleb said: Let us go and take the land, we will be victorious. Not only should
we obey, but we also need to have a seeking heart. Christ has released us so we can use our free
will to love God and to serve Him.
(3) Experience is not the indicator. Many Christians seek after experiences or emotional episodes,
but Heb 6.4-8 reminds us these are not indicators of our spiritual life. The true index is how
much we are rooted in God’s word, Matt 13.20-21.
(4) Only diligent service counts. After Missionary Barbara passed away, a sister told me
whenever she thought of Barbara, she thought of the verse “it is more blessed to give than to
receive.” Missionary Barbara spent her entire life giving, yet she was rich in the Lord. Heb
6.9-12 says a reliable spiritual index can be found in our diligent service to others. When we
speak of experience, we speak of receiving; but the real index is what we give to glorify God.
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The best way to give away Jesus is through life evangelism. If we set our mind to this, then the
office where we work, Chinese school and shopping malls, all become opportunities for
evangelism. If you do not know how to talk to others, come to our evangelism training sessions.
God has given you the gift to serve diligently.
During the gold rush days in California, several prospectors found a vein of gold. They swore to
each other that no one would let out the secret until they secured the legal papers and purchased
the mining equipment. Soon after they went to town to accomplish these tasks, they discovered
that half the town knew the secret. They were all upset at the secret being leaked, and got
together to find out who did it. Someone in town told them: “I know! Each and every one of you
leaked the secret! All we had to do was to look at the smiles on your faces and we could guess
you found a gold mine.” God calls us to enter the perfection of Christ. If you have entered into
this realm, everyone looking at you will know: they have found a gold mine at the Monmouth
Church. Let us also go!
Message from Elder Ron Lo
In the course of preparing for the 2006 Christmas special music program, I had the opportunity
to learn from the effort and encouragement of our many musically gifted coworkers. I want to
briefly share some of my observations. Well-matched vocal parts produce harmonious sounds
that are not only pleasant to the ear, but can also work closely with the lyrics to become a tool of
the Holy Spirit capable of moving and opening our hearts. But the choir members must do the
following. (1) They must work hard, practice individually and as a group, and do their part.
Otherwise they will miss their parts by coming in either too early or too late. (2) They must be
willing to follow the music. A song has rhythm, tempo, pitch, rests, repetitions, solos, parts,
dynamics, and unisons. If on top of that you add instruments, then all the participants must
follow the music and the accompaniment, and perform their parts. Otherwise the song would
sound strange to the listener, and cannot have the desired effect. (3) They must encourage and
support one another and work together diligently towards the same target. People are not
machines and will make mistakes; to mature our gifts need time and exercise to develop. It is
precious that partners and senior members encourage the newer and younger members as part of
their service. Their beautiful service is to help others develop and perfect their gifts. Saplings
cannot grow if there is too much shade around them (no chance to practice) or if they are
chopped down while still small (little encouragement).
It is more important for the singers to immerse their souls in the music than to have mature
techniques. A willingness to serve is more beloved by God than the showing of gifts and talents.
The building up of a believer is more important than the ministry itself. Aren’t these the
principles we have when we serve the church with our brothers and sisters?
I wish that our dear Lord will raise a group of MCCC brothers and sisters to help other
fellowships through songs and a beautiful life service to witness and spread the gospel in our
communities through either regular or special services. Dear brothers and sisters, are you willing
to pray for this vision? Are you willing to accept the challenge of this?
Cantonese Fellowship (Anny Wong, Wilson & Jane Li, Sau Chin, and Pauline Chu)
Sharing from Wilson & Jane Li
We praise and thank God for the opportunity and privilege to serve His people in the Cantonese
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ministry. His grace has been apparent; ever since we started coming to MCCC about ten months
ago, the Cantonese congregation has kindly and lovingly accepted us as its own and introduced
us to the different ministries here at church, allowing us to find and fulfill our purpose in this
body of Christ. The warm welcome and unconditional love thereafter has given us much
encouragement.
We have witnessed God’s work in the Cantonese Worship Fellowship, which has grown from a
monthly meeting into one with a choir practice that meets two to three times a month. All this
has occurred with the earnest enthusiasm for His glory, as He is our Source.
We have surely been touched by God’s awesome works at MCCC and pray that He will continue
to lead and bless His people.
Sharing from Sau Chin
Lord, I praise you and give thanks to you. How wonderful is your grace! I thank you for bringing
my family here to MCCC. My husband’s health has been restored and we have experienced
peace and joy in the spirit of God.
May God bless everyone and may they have a great holiday and a Happy New Year!
Sharing from Pauline Chu
Besides Pastor David Tsang’s monthly teachings during fellowship time, we hosted the October
“Bible Quiz and Game” activity. It was a blast! All the brothers and sisters were totally immersed
in the game and had a really fun time. We decided to do it again next year, so we all need to
study the bible more for it to be a good competition.
We gathered together at Johnson Eng’s house for our Thanksgiving fellowship and we each took
turns to count our blessings and sing praises together to give glory to our Almighty God.
We caroled during December and we still continue to learn and practice new songs. Devotional
sharing and praying in small groups also takes place during fellowship. We strongly encourage
our brothers and sisters to join our fellowship group!
I thank God for His abundant grace, loving guidance, and infinite protection. I ask other
fellowships to continue praying for the needs of the Cantonese fellowship.
Freehold Fellowship (Yung-Chao Yu)
Just before Thanksgiving, Jinfen (靜芬) and Qinglin (青林) sold their house and bought a new
one in the course of a week, without a glitch. Jinfen says she sees God’s bountiful grace in this,
and we all admire how well the couple works together. We visited their new house during our
Thanksgiving fellowship dinner. The drapes that Qinglin brought back from China added a nice
touch to the new house.
December was a busy month. On December 1, we and the Marlboro Fellowship were honored to
be able to invite Grace Lan (藍逸明), a missionary from Taiwan to Israelis in Scotland, to share
with us the culture of the Israeli people and her experiences in sharing the gospel with them. The
missionary also displayed traditional Israeli clothing and put a traditional Jewish hat on Lo-Min
(劉樂民), the leader of the Marlboro fellowship.
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After much discussion, the fellowship agreed to have a year-end fellowship dinner and a“White
Elephant”gift exchange on December 21 (Thursday). We thank Chikung (趙繼光) and Su-Yin
(素英) for opening up their home once again. We were delighted that Bob, Julie’s (朱敏)
husband, also attended the meeting. We should also thank brother Chen-Hsien (董鎮賢) who
worked very hard as the bible study teacher; we all benefited greatly. We started studying the
Gospel of Matthew of the New Testament in September, and finished“The Sermon on the
Mount”in December. Phee (鍾飛) and Ping-Yu (平玉) moved into the area in December and are
our newest members.
Holmdel North Fellowship (Ming-jye William Ferng)
We are very happy to see two church families recently join our fellowship. Our fellowship
attendance has been steady as usual. I think one good part of our fellowship is that the majority
of us feel free to pray before our study begins. The prayer time brings us closer in the Lord. It
also gives us an opportunity to plead for others at the throne of God. We hope on top of this,
everyone will be willing to share his/her needs and true feeling about anything. That is, we can
trust and care for each other.
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We are close to finishing the study of Romans. It is encouraging to see our dear new believer
pick up the responsibility of leading the Bible study. We pray that each of us can grow to be a
mature Christian and share our belief to non-believing family members and friends. May the year
of 2007 be a year of growth and break through.
Joy Fellowship (Helen and Dah-Min Hwang)
Praise the Lord. Joy Fellowship had another successful year of 2006. We decided to be more
serious in pursuing spiritual growth from the beginning of the year. We devoted the first four
months to Introduction to the Christian Doctrine, studying the following four topics: Bible and
God's Creation (神的創造和神所默示的聖經); God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost
(三一的真神); Man, Angels, Salvation, and Spiritual Gifts (人, 天使, 罪, 和屬靈的恩賜); and
Church and the Future Events (教會和將來必成的事) during both the Saturday fellowships and
the Monday Bible studies. Thanks to Brother Kevin Whang for leading the preview on
systematic theology, and to Pastor and Mrs. Chang for their support. Our initial concerns that
these subjects might be too serious or too boring for seekers turned out unnecessary. We
maintained a good 30+ attendance throughout the series and held many enthusiastic discussions.
After May, we came back to the Life Application Series: Building Up (生活造就系列: 再造之
恩) by Gordon Lee (李順長) for the Saturday Fellowships. During Monday night Bible studies,
we finished Romans in September and are continuing into Ephesians.
We had a New Year Celebration with Cantonese Fellowship and a Thanksgiving Sharing with
English Family Fellowship. We celebrated many 60+ birthdays, 30+ anniversaries, retirements,
weddings of our children, and births of our grandchildren. We also supported each other to face
treatment during sickness and mourned the loss of loved ones together. We shared laughter and
tears, food and drinks. We enjoyed cooking and cleaning, dancing and hiking. We thank the Lord
for all the blessing and discipline. Many members, both seekers and believers, consider this
fellowship as an essential part of their lives and look forward to every gathering.
We have grown into a group with 40+ members that became difficult to accommodate physically
and to fellowship intimately. We held three core meetings recently to brainstorm the possibility
of splitting, but had not found a good way to do it. We decided to hold a core meeting every
quarter to look into the future directions.
Many of our seekers are very interested in Chinese history but we are not equipped to answer
many of their questions. Some of us were very excited to watch the DVDs of Chinese Christian
History (中國基督教會史) during the Sunday Schools in the last couple months. We decided to
adapt them into our Saturday programs of 2007. We will watch the DVD series together,
followed by sub-group discussions, to learn how China has changed in the last 200 years.
In synchronizing with the historical theme of 2007, we will study Acts during the Monday Bible
studies after finishing Ephesians in March. We want to learn how the early churches, after the
sacrifice of one Man, started to grow to cover the whole world in 2000 years.
We are glad that Autumn Fan accepted the nomination to be the Joy Coordinator of 2007. Her
contact is 732-946-9584 or autumnfan928@yahoo.com. Please join us if you are empty nesters
with young hearts. We meet on the second and third Monday nights for Bible study, as well as
the last Saturday from 3:30 PM to 10 PM for fellowship, every month. We are looking forward to
another prosperous year of spiritual growth.
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Old Bridge Fellowship (Man-Yan Lam)
On December 23, 2006, brothers and sisters of all different ages and fellowship groups of MCCC
joined together to give a special Christmas presentation to the Rose Mount Nursing Home in
New Brunswick. While many of our fellow Christians visit this nursing home on a weekly basis,
this morning was particularly distinctive, with the incorporation of the younger brothers and
sisters from our church. Matthew Liu (劉太如) danced to the delight of the older folks, and
Man-Yan Lam (林敏欣) and Martin Liu (劉九如) played a violin-cello duet to a popular Nativity
carol. The adults then re-enacted the story of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus’ birth and lovingly sang
about Jesus’ humble birth. After we all sang songs together and listened to a message given by
elder Martin Tu, Christmas presents were presented to all the senior citizens to spread the joy of
our Savior’s coming to earth.
Pine Fellowship (Chu-Yeh Chang 章楚業)
The Pine Fellowship met a total of 15 times during the fall quarter (September 9 to December
21). The average attendance was over 20, yet there were still some who couldn’t come due to
lack of transportation.
We focused on Psalms this quarter, and Pastor Chang taught from Ps 30 to 46. The Pastor
described the deep and sad feelings of the Israelites as they were held captive in a strange land,
persecuted, and laughed at by their enemies because of their desire to worship God in the temple.
We are the same way. David’s psalms are filled with repentance and reverence, and he knew
God’s heart, and was willing to repent, trust, and obey. These are all examples for us to follow.
The fellowship went to the church picnic at Holmdel Park on September 10th, we demonstrated 8
different gymnastic exercises to encourage others to exercise. We also went to the Middletown
9/11 memorial service and listened to our youth orchestra and our choir.
27 members in four vehicles toured the Bear Mountains in the North to view the fall foliage.
We enjoyed the trip immensely. We are reminded of a famous Chinese poem talking about how
enjoyable it is for friends to enjoy each other’s presence and to praise God for His graciousness
in the mountains on a nice fall day.
Our meetings were used to study the“Quiz on Bible Reading”in the weekly bulletins. We
followed the prescribed pace to lead the members in bible study. 孫永光、饒招治、and 張傳鳳
are our newest members.
Spring fellowship meetings will start on January 11 (Thursday).
Rev. Liu (劉東崑) on the Meaning of Life (Chu-Yeh Chang)
Rev. Liu is no stranger to us; he last visited on July 18-19, 2001. When we were informed by
John Sun that Rev. Liu would be in NJ on August 9, the Pine Fellowship used our news network
to encourage our members to listen to his talk on the Meaning of Life.
Rev. Liu is 86 years old and wants to use his remaining time to spread God’s good news. We
admire his faithful service, his willingness to go where he is invited without regard to location
and hardship.
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Rev. Liu is famous for not using sermon notes or outlines, and he does not need to refer to the
Bible either. He expects his listeners to have their bibles ready and turn to whatever passage he
refers to, without error. His knowledge of the Bible is amazing.
He told us the Bible is the main instruction manual for God’s created universe, it records God’s
word to man, a little here, a little there (Isa 28:10-13). We must listen and pay attention to God’s
word (Isa 28:23).
Rev. Liu said humans have a spirit and a soul. The spirit belongs to heaven, and can
communicate with God; the soul is earthly, and seeks after fame, fortune, and social position.
There is not much “quantity” to a person’s decades of life, but there is a great variation in the
“quality” of that life. We often feel good days go by quickly, and difficult days seem to crawl
along. How can we spend our days with meaning? First is to fill it with joy (1 John 1:4);
second is to make it everlasting (1 John 2:17).
He encouraged his listeners to connect with God’s love, the source of all love, it can comfort the
thirsty spirit; study the bible well, drink from the stream of happiness, it can add to our power for
living. The Chinese talk about the three immortals (good deeds, good works, and good words) so
as to not waste our time on earth. It would be great if our lives have eternal meaning; it would be
horrible if we fall short of God’s mission.
___________________
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