2019 Church Ministry Annual Report

如果想參閱中文報告, 請到 : 教會事工年度報告(繁体中文) 或 教会事工年度报告(简体中文)

2019 is the 50^th anniversary of moon landing. Neil Armstrong, the first human being to set foot on the moon proclaimed upon landing, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The Apollo moon landing mission was due to the vision and decision of President John F. Kennedy, who announced on May 25, 1961 to a joint session of the Congress:

“Now it is time to take longer strides—time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth. ...we have never made the national decisions or marshaled the national resources required for such leadership. We have never specified long-range goals on an urgent time schedule... Space is open to us now; and our eagerness to share its meaning is not governed by the efforts of others. We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share...”

In response, the United States channeled all its strength and resources on moon landing. Although President Kennedy was assassinated at Dallas in 1964, his vision and effort made the United States the only country to land on the moon so far.

Dallas Chinese Bible Church celebrated our 50^th anniversary on a grand scale last year. We rejoice at God’s grace, and pursue unity and harmony together. We celebrated with sacred music concert, had a joint thanksgiving Sunday service together with Frisco Community Bible Church, our sister church, and topped the day with a celebratory banquet consisting of 74 tables. As we now step into our 51^st year, let us talk about renewal.

The members of the Church Development Committee [CDC] have been working incessantly this year, in preparation for putting together an advanced strategic plan. At the Pastors, Elders & Deacons Retreat this year, we invited the experts from Malphurs Church Consultant Group to introduce and explain about advanced strategic planning. After much discussion, the CDC decided to follow the steps advocated in Dr. Aubrey Malphurs’ book Advanced Strategic Planning. Dr. Malphurs is a well-respected professor of Dallas Theological Seminary. The Deacon Board in September has authorized the formation of the Strategic Leadership Team [SLT], which would be responsible for producing the strategic plan. The SLT would consist of representatives from different ministry groups of the church. We would develop a Biblical mission, a compelling vision, discover core values, and introduce ministry strategy. The ministry strategy is to: reach the church’s community, make mature disciples, build ministry team, assess ministry setting, raise and manage finances.

When the people of God ventured into the Promise Land, the River Jordan was in their way. At that time of harvest, the water overflowed the banks. Yet as soon as the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of water, the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away. “Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until the nation finished passing over the Jordan.” (Joshua 3:17) As we face the future with its challenges and opportunities, let us be faithful, united, and willingly serve the Lord. Let us incessantly labor for the household of God, which is our spiritual home, and expect the Lord to bless us with a promising tomorrow.

Praise Him for the beginning of our second 50-years serving the Lord at DCBC!

We, as deacons, continue to co-labor in unity through the Holy Spirit with Pastoral Staff and Elders in preaching the Gospel in 2019. I continued to witness His Grace in DCBC. Fellowships and community groups in Cantonese, English and Mandarin continue to grow and evolve. God answered our prayers with deploying Brother Ken Yu and his family as missionary in Germany. Many brothers and sisters continued to serve with passion and dedication in different ministries at DCBC. I personally invite each of you to join the Wednesday night prayer meeting and attend Sunday school. I pray you will find like-minded brothers or sisters in Christ in our fellowships and/or community groups at DCBC.

We asked for your prayers and support in serving the Lord at DCBC. As Church Development Committee continued to review how we can serve the Lord effectively in the medium and long term, Deacons continue to seek wisdom and act to enable Pastoral staff and Elders to preach the Gospel; making disciples while being good stewards of resources. We continue to update and maintain the church as needed (see Children Playground update, Chain link fence repair along with many others). Praise the Lord that the Family Center dedication ceremony was held a decade ago.

We welcome Sister Grace Tu to serve as part-time music director and Minister Abraham Feng to co-labor with Minister Max Kung as Mandarin Minister. It was such a privilege to lead a group of loving brothers in Christ on the deacon board and co-labor with Pastor Ling and our Elders throughout the year. We are very thankful for the Pastoral and office staff.

We continue to pray and apply His resources for His purpose at DCBC. Together with our pastoral staff, the Elders, deacons, brothers, sisters, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we pray that DCBC will continue to love the Lord and act through His wisdom so we are worthy servants for the Gospel for the next 50 years.

Romans 8:28 (NIV)

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Philippians 3:13-16

¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. ¹⁶ Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Ministry report is in Chinese only. Please see 教會事工年度報告(繁体中文), or 教会事工年度报告(简体中文).

Minister Cheng's Report

The mission of DCBC kids is to reach kids by partnering with parents so that they have the greatest opportunity to become mature followers of Christ. We praise God for all the loving brothers and sisters who participated in this mission and served in children’s ministry this past school year! Below are the programs we currently run to achieve our mission.

• Children’s Worship seeks to train kids to worship God corporately by providing a worship experience appropriate to their development. We hold two services that run simultaneously on Sundays at 9:30am—Preschool (3-5 years old) and Elementary (1st-6th grade). Children listen to Bible lessons from the Gospel Storybook Bible curriculum, which goes through the Bible in 3 years and emphasizes the gospel in every lesson. Each week, around 60 kids and 8 leaders gather to sing songs, hear God’s Word, and respond to His Word. We appreciate our 24 volunteers (including song leaders, Bible teachers, and room coordinators) that led our worship services this year. In Elementary Worship, elementary children served by playing the piano and reading Scripture passages. In addition, our 5th & 6th graders serve on ministry teams (A/V, Welcome, and Offering Teams) to take ownership of their worship service and learn to serve others. We especially appreciate the youth students who have partnered with us to lead Preschool Worship throughout the school year.

• Children’s Sunday School seeks to disciple kids through Biblical instruction and life application in small groups. We have four classes that run simultaneously on Sundays at 11am—2 year olds, 3’s-Kinder, 1st-4th, 5th-6th. We have aligned preschool and elementary classes to use Lifeway’s Gospel Project curriculum. Each week, 80 kids and 20 leaders meet in the Large Group/Small Group format. Our leaders serve for an entire school year! We are so grateful for our Sunday School coordinators—Linda Chen and Stephanie Shyu—who dedicated their time to recruit and lead their teams. We also appreciate the youth students for partnering with us to serve both Preschool and Elementary classes in the summer.

• Nursery classes help kids 0-2 years old know and love Jesus by providing a safe and caring environment that fosters growth and learning. Nursery is provided Sundays, Fridays, and during church-wide events. This past year, we had 15 young ones go through our nursery. We really appreciate our 3 paid-sitters and 15 volunteers who get to know our babies really well. Furthermore, we are extremely blessed to have Pat Lee coordinate our nursery!

• The Welcome Team seeks to create a friendly and welcoming environment on Sundays, as well as a fast and accurate check-in experience. We are grateful for our team of 8 greeters for welcoming and checking in our kids every Sunday. We currently have electronic check-in on Sunday mornings and Friday nights (Awana).

• Awana is an international ministry that seeks to help churches and parents raise children to know, love, and serve Christ. At DCBC, leaders and kids meet in three Awana Clubs—Cubbies (3-4 yrs. old), Sparks (K-2nd grade), and T&T (3rd-4th grade)—on Friday nights during the school year. This past school year, we have run LIT (Leaders in Training) for our preteens (5th-6th grade) for the third year in a row. LIT aims to empower the next generation by recognizing the uniqueness of every child, reaching them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, disciple them in their personal walk with Him, equip them to do ministry, and then release them to serve in the church and in the world. This past school year, around 70 kids and 25 Awana-LIT leaders met each week for games, ministry teams, D-group/handbook time, and large group time. We are grateful for Adam Wong’s dedication and leadership in his first year as Awana-LIT Commander! We are also thankful for the many college students who take time in their schedule to serve our kids!

• Children’s Special Events are one-time or annual ministries that have a specific purpose in reaching, teaching, and equipping kids to be like Jesus. VBS was a 5-day summer program that brought kids on an adventure where they learn more about Jesus. Kids moved in crews to the crafts, snacks, games, and Bible station. We are thankful for Stephanie Shyu for directing our VBS team this year. And we are extremely thankful for the VBS core team, teens, and adult volunteers that made the event possible!

• Aside from our programs, Children’s Ministry could not run without the vital support of our Resource Room ministry. Pady Hoh and Linda Chen have devoted countless hours to organizing and managing our awesome Resource Room. Every year, over 70 volunteers are served through this important resource that God has given us.

In August 2019, we celebrated Minister Sherry Cheng’s seventh year anniversary as full-time Children’s Minister. She was able to go on sabbatical in summer of 2019 due to the wonderful help of the DCBC Kids team. In addition, we are grateful for our Children’s Deacon Adam Wong for his amazing passion in ministering to our kids and his creative and energetic leadership in the past four years! We continue to pray that God would use all the parents and volunteers to challenge our children to become committed followers of Christ!

Deacon Wong's Report

Praise the Lord for another blessed and fruitful year in children’s ministry. The children attendance is gradually steady, and we continue to receive new volunteers with a heart for children. The ministry continues to grow under the leadership of Minister Sherry Cheng. We are truly blessed to have Stephanie Shyu to be our Sunday School coordinator, Assistant Director and Awana Sparks Director in our Children’s Ministry team. Moreover, we also appreciate many parents, youth students and college students serving in different capacities of Children’s Ministry team.

While all of our teachers and volunteers are amazing, I’d like to give a special “thank you” to our CM core team: Sherry Cheng, Jerry and Linda Chen, Pat Lee and Stephanie Shyu, giving of their time, energy and talents to share the love of God with our infants through elementary children. We continue serving DCBC Kids with six aspects of our core values:

• 1. Safety and Security

  2. Leadership Development

  3. Gospel Centered Content

  4. Relationship Building

  5. Relevance

  6. Parent Discipleship

On any given Friday evening and Sunday morning, you can find me teaching large group time to a group of three or four year olds, picking up Goldfish before they get eaten off the floor and leading game time with a group of nine or ten year olds after an exhausting day at work. I get to teach foundational truths of the Bible—God made everything, God is in charge of everything, God is good, Jesus came to save sinners and God wants to talk with us—using simple sentences, creative illustrations and a lot of repetition. I get to sing and dance, telling His stories and read bible verses, all while giving moms and dads the opportunity to participate in Fellowship night or Sunday worship without worrying about what their children are doing.

I serve with these kids each Friday night and Sunday morning not just because I love kids (although I do) or because the church needs volunteers (although it does) but because serving allows me to participate in the mission of the church, increases my own faith and is preparing me for the future.

Of course, I had ups and downs in my spiritual growth and I’m still growing toward maturity, but by God’s grace I always knew where to turn when life got difficult because I’d been taught nothing else. I may not have a defining moment in my story where I hit rock bottom and Jesus turned my life around, but I know that I was sick with sin and an enemy of God before Christ rescued me and sent His Spirit to give me a new, healthy heart. I long for this to be the story of more children who grow up here at DCBC.

Serving with kids this age is an exercise in consistent prayer. In these classrooms, we teach truths from the Bible, sing songs based on Scripture and pray, pray, pray. We’re asking Him to save young kids, and He is doing so. When I hear stories about three year olds telling their parents, “God wants to talk with us,” or four year olds reciting Bible verses from memory, I am reminded of God’s faithfulness to draw us to Himself, regardless of age.

I’ve often heard that one way to know if you really understand something is to try to teach it to someone else. Sometimes it’s good for us as adults to return to simple definitions we understood as a child. When we say that God is wise, we mean that He knows what is best. When we say that He is loving, we mean that He does what is best. And when we say that He is faithful, we mean that He always does what He says He will do. These simple truths remain true, even as we grow and understand more and more of who God is. When I find myself struggling through a difficult situation, these simple definitions help me cling to the truth.

One of the most common mistakes I see others making, and even make myself, is reading the Bible as if it’s about me. “What am I getting out of this passage?” I’ll ask myself, and it isn’t a bad question, but if the answer is all about me, it’s a bad answer. In DCBC Kids we teach that the Bible is from God and about God. Period. Yes, it includes instructions for us and there are certainly many applications we’re supposed to make, but God’s Word is first and foremost about Him. As we know Him more, we love Him more, we trust Him more and we obey Him more. This is true whether we’re two or 82. We will never learn all there is to know about the Lord.

Serving in the church has been a great way to begin building relationships—with kids, parents and fellow volunteers. While I have floated to other classrooms when needed, I’ve been serving most often in the preschool school and Awana/LIT for the last four years. The kids I first taught and sang the song of “Jesus loves me” with are now having spiritual conversations with their teachers and memorizing some long Scriptures in Awana/LIT on Friday evening. I know what toys or books each kid likes, how long they usually take to calm down after play games and who needs to be reminded not to run into each other. Some may not be able to remember my name sometimes, but I love getting to serve with the same children week after week.

As the people of God, we’re called to be His ambassadors in this world (Matthew 28:19-20). Sometimes that means going on mission trips to a foreign country. Sometimes it means sharing the gospel with a coworker or neighbor. And sometimes it means serving the church by praying over kids and telling Bible stories to kids while their parents participate in corporate worship. Children Ministry is a mission field, and as I spend my Friday evenings and Sunday mornings planning lessons and playing games with kids, God is building a biblical foundation for the kids in our church, and He is using them to help me grow.

DCBC’s English ministry exists to help all generations follow Christ and grow in his family. The core values are God’s word, community, evangelism, equipping, and unity. We will make the report in light of our core values.

• God’s Word

  • During the worship service, the main way God’s word is taught is through the sermon. This year we have been going through the Gospel of Luke expositionally.

  • In terms of Sunday school, we continue to have age-specific Sunday school classes (college, young adults, family) during the school year. Various biblical topics were covered during this past year, such as parables in Luke, worship, work, and systematic theology. Our growing college ministry that has now moved to the Family Center gym as they have outgrown their existing room. Praise God!

  • Many of our community groups also study the Bible together.

  • By God’s grace, our average attendance in Sunday worship for 2019 continues to hover around 250 people. In the month of September we have been seeing about 300 people during English Sunday worship.

• Community

  • We currently have 12 community groups that range from 5 to 20 people in the group; the groups spend time growing in their relationship with Christ, with one another, and seek to grow as a disciple-maker for Jesus Christ (UP, IN, and OUT). They also strive to cultivate accountability, belonging, and care for one another (ABC).

  • This is our sixth summer having Band of Brothers (men) and Tapestry (women). The purpose is to build intergenerational connections between the brothers and sisters. We had many brothers and sisters share their testimonies and passions this past summer.

• Evangelism

  • Several of the English-speaking families participated in the Family short-term missions trip to Zuni, NM this summer. It was a great experience for everyone.

  • This is something that we still need to grow as the English ministry. Please join us in praying for our brothers and sisters to share the gospel message with others in their spheres of influence both locally and globally.

• Equipping

  • English College Ministry had training events for the mentors.

  • There are regular meetings for the community group leaders (online and in-person), and we use these meetings to do brief training on how to lead the groups better and also have a time of fellowship as group leaders.

  • We are planning to have a praise and A/V team training in November.

• Unity

  • In addition to serving in the English ministry, many of the brothers and sisters in the English ministry serve in the broader church, like cooking teams, children and youth ministry.

Please continue to pray for the English ministry and the English ministry coworkers.

As a Family Minister under the direction of Senior Pastor Ling, we see God blesses our church in many ways.

The family ministry’s goal is to care for our married couples and church members.

This year Abraham Hospitality Ministry under the leadership of Patrick Poon has expanded ministry work by offering coffee and snacks to DCBC sponsored conferences/workshops while maintaining its main core purpose of facilitating fellowship on Sunday Mornings. This ministry serves coffee and snacks to promote friendship among our church family members and visitors.

In the Counseling/Caring ministry, we have recruited Mei Yatco (who graduated from DTS with Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling) in our pastoral counseling team. She works as the lead facilitator with other team members, William & Kathleen Wu and Humphrey & Grace Ha. This ministry cares for individuals with life challenges and several married couples through encouraging them to focus on a Christ-centered marriage life. Journeying with these brothers/sisters toward life transformation requires encouragement especially as they countering obstacles. For this reason, we have conducted several events to encourage our church members that include the following:

• Valentine’s Day – We offered free childcare, games and suggested activities for 12 couples. Many couples were blessed and encouraged with a fun time and relaxed evening with each other.

• Mother’s Day – On this special day, we celebrated with over 290 mothers. We honored them through cake ceremony, special worship message, and appreciation gift for each mother at hosted event.

• Father’s Day – On this special day, we celebrated with over 180 fathers. We honored and encouraged them through a worship message. We appreciated their spiritual leadership of families through appreciation gifts, morning snacks and ice cream.

• Other Programs – We had workshops on the subjects of caring, marriage and financial stewardship. We mentored and encouraged brothers and sisters dealing with life journey obstacles.

God is merciful and has sufficient grace for those willing to seek His care. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord that DCBC members will arise to serve with family ministry in this coming year.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

Our heavenly Father is faithful and always provides DCBC with funds and resources to meet our needs for His glory. The financial summary for 2019 through September at DCBC is as follows:

• Total Offering was $944,666 against outflows of $1,105,510, a decrease of $160,844.

• The General Fund cash inflow was $802,791 against an outflow of $980,550, a decrease of $177,759 with a balance of $1,625,209.

• The Building Fund cash inflow was $114,020 with a balance is $38,370. $120,000 paid back to the Long Term Development Fund by April 2019.

• The Mission Fund offerings were $97,525 against outflows of $124,960. Balance is $272,886.

Finance Department at DCBC encompasses three areas:

• Accounting – manages all aspects of inflow and outflow of funds, financial statements and financial record keeping

• IT/Technology (ITT) – keeps all the computers, servers, printers, software, etc. up-to-date, running and functioning

• Human Resources – manages staff compensation, benefits, and employment

The ITT team continues to improve the communication infrastructure at DCBC with fast internet access and to provide necessary IT support for the entire church. Accounting and ITT teams continue to support Children and English Ministry in enabling Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) for VBS, Awana, and English retreat registrations.

Praise the Lord give blessing to our church finance. Also thanks our Finance Department co-workers’ love of our Lord Christ Jesus. They have been using their gifts from God to serve our Lord faithfully for many years. They are vital to the smooth operation of our church’s finances so our pastoral staff can devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. May goodness and mercy shall follow them and their future generations all the days of their lives until the Second Coming of our Lord Christ Jesus. Amen.

The mission of the General Services Department is to support the functions of the church ministries by maintaining the physical functions of the church facilities. In this year of 2019,

The third phase of the church signage project with exterior signs is almost completed. Ministers Sherry Cheng has been instrumental in this project. In addition, various renovations of two office rooms for pastor/minster were done. Overall, our building maintenance costs continue to increase as our physical plant ages. In particular, all A/C units were maintained at the beginning of April this year. The F108 AC/unit for the fellowship hall has a Freon leakage, and this F108/AC unit is planned to be replaced on 2020. Additionally, the leaks from the roofs in the office areas were also repaired and fixed. The weeds and debris along the creek were cleaned up and new fence was also installed. The purchase/installation of LED lights to replace the exterior lighting in the parking lot and the interior lighting in classrooms and fellowship halls are also on the way. This plan will reduce the frequency and maintenance cost to replace the light bulbs. Remodel of choir room and classroom in educational building is in planning.

George Howard has continued as our building manager this year. He coordinated multiple maintenance and ongoing repairs. The day-to-day maintenance of a large commercial building like DCBC is both challenging and demanding. Kin Leung Lau and Po Chun Lee have continued to provide our church’s daily facilities cleaning services and the Mid-West Building to supplement the cleaning services during weekend.

We are blessed to have a church member May Houng who coordinates the maintenance of AC in the family center and help in the installation of LED lighting units in the parking lots. May also acts as a consultant.

We pray for God’s continued provision and guidance as we steward our church’s facilities by faith for God’s glory and for the building up of the church body.

The ministry's report is in Chinese only. Please see 教會事工年度報告(繁体中文), or 教会事工年度报告(简体中文).

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10

Praise the lord that we have many brothers and sisters who are willing to serve the Lord with their gifts to do the job in the Membership ministries. Because of God’s grace and His providence, every aspect of Membership ministry has been working smoothly. We have experienced His guidance and His faithfulness again. The following is a brief report of our ministries in 2019.

• Membership – Twenty-three brothers and sisters have joined our church to become members this year. We welcome them to become part of our family in Christ. We will work with each other to serve our Lord. Including the new members, we now have a total of 441 active DCBC members.

• Food Service – Praise the Lord that our church has continuously been providing free lunches every Sunday for more than 50 years. This is God’s amazing blessing! Currently we have 12 cooking teams. We also thank the brothers and sisters in the Abraham ministry serving coffee and tea for us every Sunday. Pray that God will continue to bless their ministries and His name will be glorified.

• Church Cleaning – The church is the body of Christ and the place for us to worship God. We appreciate the support from our brothers and sisters in the church cleaning day in June this year.

• Senior Transportation – Our church has a fourteen-passenger bus and an eight-passenger van to provide transportation service to brothers and sisters who need help in transportation. Currently our main service is for the twenty seniors who live in the Silver Gardens apartment. Praise the Lord that we have 18 brothers and sisters serving as drivers in this ministry. We appreciate their service and devotion. Pray that we have more brothers and sisters willing to serve in this ministry and we give more tender loving care to the senior brothers and sisters in our church.

• Member Caring – Our church provides Christian needy fund and interest-free emergency loans for members who need financial help. They can contact our pastoral staff or Membership deacon for these.

• Facility Rental – As a service to our members or other Christian organizations, our church provides facility rentals for personal use such as weddings or evangelical meetings. e.g. UTD InterVarsity held their IV Leadership Retreat in August at our church. To rent church facilities, just submit an application well in advance so that we can schedule it properly.

Membership services and ministries try to serve everyone who comes to our church. Pray that through our ministries, we care for each other and build up one another. Also, we want to give special thanks to all the coworkers who have been faithfully serving all these years. May God continue to bless these ministries and His name will be glorified.

At the end of last year, Pastor Lo retired as the missions pastor. Pastor David was assigned by Pastor Ling to serve in the missions ministry. We are grateful for Pastor Lo’s faithful ministry and the foundation he laid. This year has been a year of transition and learning for us, as we have had new committee members. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve God and DCBC in this ministry.

We see DCBC’s missions ministry as an important part of the overall mission of DCBC to make disciples of all nations. We want to see all generations follow Jesus and grow in his family - both here in the DFW and to the ends of the earth. To that end, we believe the missions ministry has a few functions: Excite & Educate, Engage, Equip, and Empower & Encourage.

Excite & Educate the Congregation for Local and Global Missions

• Pastor David has been training the missions committee with summaries of Well-Sent by Steve Beirns monthly to grow our vision for DCBC being a sending church.

• We have asked short-term missions (STM) team to share all three language services as a way to help the brothers and sisters know what God has done.

• We also have Overseas Missionary Sharing in all three language services to help people be excited about what God is doing globally.

• We will have Missions Sunday in October with special messages to educate the church on the importance of having a heart for the lost.

Engage the Congregation in Local and Global Missions

• We are grateful for brothers and sisters like Davis and Nancy Wong for leading the church to engage in reaching out to international students; under their leadership, we continue to have a vibrant ministry where people come to follow Jesus and grow in his family.

• This past year we have had three STM trips (Japan STM in Dec 2018, Zuni and LIT in June 2019). Close to 50 people participated in these three trips. We hope to have regular STMs every year to engage the brothers and sisters in STM.

Equip the Congregation in Local and Global Missions

• To equip the church, we continue to have Evangelism Explosion Training for Chinese speakers; we are grateful for the leadership of brother Davis Wong and Min. Bill Chen.

• The STM trips also provide opportunities for equipping. There are required training for all trips (e.g., Japan, Zuni, and LIT STMs) where the brothers and sisters learn about God’s heart for missions and are trained to share the gospel.

Empower & Encourage DCBC Supported Missionaries

• One of the main ways we empower overseas missionaries and missions organizations is by supporting them with finance and prayer. Currently we are supporting 12 missions workers and 7 missions organizations.

• We are in the process of getting fellowships and community groups to “adopt a missionary” so that we can better stay in touch with them and encourage them with prayer and care. We hope to get all the missionaries adopted by at least one fellowship / community group.

• We praise the Lord because he opened the door for Ken and Joni Yu to go to Germany this August. Their visas were finally approved. They will continue language studies (German) and start doing outreach to international students soon. Please continue to pray for them.

We need the church’s prayerful support - please continue to pray for the missions ministry and for DCBC to become a missional, sending church.

Ministry report is in Chinese only. Please see 教會事工年度報告(繁体中文), or 教会事工年度报告(简体中文).

The theme of this year's is "Rejoice and Renew". The first priority of Worship Ministry is to prepare the congregation to worship God with heart and honesty. We build up our spiritual lives from the powerful messages every Sunday, so that we can testify and further attract more unbelievers to explore the way of life. Thank God for the blessings of Worship ministry; he provided sufficient coworkers to serve and witness His glory.

The teams of the Worship Ministry are as follows:

• The AV team is led by Brother Gilfred Fang. Mandarin team leader is Brother Daniel Chen, Cantonese team leader is Brother Eric Tai, English team leader is Brother Robert Stevens.

• Usher team, Mandarin team coordinator is Sister Jean Chen, Cantonese team coordinator is Sisters Esther Chen, English team coordinator is Brother Kenny Hsu.

• Presider – Pastors, Elders, and Deacons.

• The communion servers – coworkers from each congregation.

• Communion Prepare Team (responsible for preparing bread and grape juice for the Holy Communion), Mandarin team is led by Brothers Simon Shie and Mark Hsu, Cantonese team is led by brother Xiao Jiaming and sister Wang Xiaofang, and English team is led by brother Alex Wong.

• Decoration team – Sister Renee Thian is the team leader/coordinator.

• Worship/Praise Team – Mandarin Choir is led by Director Grace Tu, Cantonese Praise team is led by sister Denise Chen, English Praise team is led by sisters Elice Wong.

We are responsible for the weekly coordination, reminder, and team arrangements. Plan for combined Worship. Provide trainings. Responsible for the preparation of Sunday Worship. Actively plan evangelism or programs with pastors and elders. The programs include:

• 4/19, Good Friday

• 5/17–19, New Heart Music Ministry Evangelistic Weekend

• 7/12–13, Summer Adult Bible Study

• 11/24, Thanksgiving Sunday and Baptism Service

• 12/21–22, Christmas Music Event and Christmas Celebration

2019 Improvements

• Communion Service - Coordination of three language communion servers to address the new dress code.

• Ushers and AV team member recruitment and training - recruit more brothers and sisters who are baptized to participate in ministry.

Outlook 2020

• Enhance the quality of trainings for usher and encourage them to grow and participate in the ministry.

• Enhance the training of AV team members, so that each member can be familiar with the operation of sound, slides and lighting control.

We hope more brothers and sisters to serve and pray together in the coming year. Truly appreciate all the brothers and sisters who served in the Worship Ministry!

God is good and He loves teenagers. As we reflect on the past year, we are humbled that we get to serve. Our leaders are great. They demonstrate increasing ownership of the ministry and a genuine care and desire for our students to love God and love people. For the 2018-2019 school year, we were blessed with the following leaders: Daniel Jee, Jason Cheung, Andrew Chow, Eric Chui, Jonathan Hsu, Rachel Yue, Christy Purnadi, Rachel Pang, Sarah Li, and Sharon Chang. We depend heavily on our small group leaders to live out the Gospel and to speak the Gospel to the students under their care. They also have the large task of challenging students and following-up on spiritual conversations that may take place on Friday nights or Sunday mornings. This past year, we saw an increase in our leaders taking on students in discipleship groups of 2 to 3.

Our ministry exists to partner with parents to help teenagers follow Jesus and grow up in His family. Our programs are aimed to grow our teenagers in the faith, to disciple them as they learn about God, the Gospel, and who they are in relation to Christ. And as a ministry that seeks to partner with parents, we have started a parents’ ministry, to equip parents with understanding of youth culture, Scripture, and the important call they have to be parents.

Regular Programs

• Friday Night Youth Group

We finished preaching through Galatians this past year. We desire to train biblically literate people. As such, we alternate between Bible study and preaching so students can learn to study the Bible under our adult leaders. Our Friday night youth group is a safe place for teenagers to come as they are and to bring their questions as they are. are seeing student leaders begin to take charge and care for the students in our youth group. The Lord has definitely been working in the hearts of our youth as they have been discovering who Christ is to them and who they are in Christ.

• Youth Sunday School

We have 3 youth Sunday School classes: 7^th grade, 8^th to 9^th grade, and 10^th to 12^th graders. The 7^th grade class went through a curriculum on the Gospel and its impact on our lives. The 8^th to 9^th graders went through Judges, taught by David Jee. The 10^th to 12^th graders learned about relationships, dating, and sex.

In the summer, we took a break learning through listening and we learned through serving. The youth had a choice between the following:

• • Children’s Sunday School under Stephanie & Sherry

  • Pre-school Sunday School under Linda & Sherry

  • Studied “Recovering Redemption” in a small group

  • Studied the Book of Ephesians on their own

We did not have Winter Retreat this past years as our church attended CMC South as a church. The only camp we had this year was: DCCYC. The theme at Dallas Chinese Church Youth Camp was “Worth it”. The question that was posed was “Is Jesus really worth it?” We had the largest number of students attend this year (37!) and they had to struggle through the question, “Do I really believe Jesus is worth all of my life?” for themselves.

Service Projects

• Nursing Home

The youth ministry goes to Lindan Park Nursing Home every fourth Saturday of the month. We continue to extend the invitation to our parents in youth ministry as we believe teens and parents grow together as they serve together. Every month, approximately 7 teenagers wake up early Saturday morning to come. They are blessed for coming and the elderly love seeing their faces.

• OurCalling

The youth ministry has consistently been serving at OurCalling every second Saturday of the month. We let OurCalling know that we are willing to do anything they ask and, every month, they have needed us to work in the warehouse – sorting clothes, folding clothes, and restocking clothes. The prayer is that we would see that their physical state is our spiritual state and Jesus came to serve and love us regardless.

Parent Ministry

Sherry, Clement and Angel co-led a great 6-week course (that Sherry prepared) on cultural differences and a how-to for parents who are seeking to disciple their Asian-American children. This was especially helpful for parents who wish to further understand their children.

We are thankful for what God is doing in DCBC’s youth ministry. It is an exciting time to be in youth ministry. Until next year!