Oct 28 Meeting Minutes

CG pilot program

-full CG

-cards

-whole church should be newcomers ministry

-community starts the day u enter the door

Challenges

- gum, nametags

- loitering

- ushering - empty pail on the top

Testimonies

- Jacky and Jackie's friend Tiffany
- Daniel Shim said there are so many eager newcomers
- 

Hospitality!

Wasn't today's sermon awesome?!   If any of you missed it, definitely check it out when it's posted on http://www.newjoychurch.com/sermons/.  Here's some highlights I got:

• We think of hospitality as service [to others], but it is an essential virtue of a true Christian.
• God loves to feast!  To host his presence is to practice hospitality.
• How we treat strangers is a litmus test of our hearts towards God. (Matthew 25:34-46)
• Satan works against hospitality because it is the way to people's salvation.  To be hospitable to others is to welcome the presence of God, and wherever God's presence is, people get saved!
• It's better to reach out [to strangers] and be rejected, than for strangers to never feel wanted.  
• Like children in a family, strangers and newcomers should never be the center of our world, but should be welcomed and included as a part of the family. 
• Let's be extravagant in our hospitality, just as we should be extravagant in hosting God in our lives.
• Extravagance is not about the amount of resources you offer, but the manner (heart) in which you offer your resources.

I think I could write a blog post about each one of these points!  :P  So good.  I was looking up the spelling of the word "philoxenia" and found someone else's blog post about hospitality that I think is worth sharing..  You can read the entire post, but I thought this part was particularly insightful:

I think there is a huge difference between "hospitality" and "entertainment." There is a place for both, but one should not confuse one with the other. 

"Entertainment" is the huge bash a family might put on for Thanksgiving, going all out for days to prepare a fabulous meal with all the trimmings, decorating the house and setting a table to celebrate. It requires a tremendous amount of expense and work (especially for mom!), but provides a special time for all the guests. Think, "Martha Stewart!" 

"Hospitality" on the other hand is a simple inviting of a person (or family) to join you in your everyday meal. It has the feeling of "family." There isn't a huge imposition on you, other than maybe making the meal in a slightly larger quantity than you would have otherwise. Your guests are welcomed into your home to delight in a new-found relationship. The ultimate in hospitality would be to create a feeling where your guest would be comfortable enough to lie down on your couch for an after-meal nap! Obviously, that is an extreme example...but the idea is to create an environment that is genuine, comfortable, warm, inviting, and friendly. You are witnessing the love of Christ in a very direct manner. A person who feels comfortable is much more open to talking of things that are important...like the Gospel! 

The guest who is being "entertained" will undoubtedly have a special time, but it is very unlikely he will feel comfortable. He won't feel like family; he will feel like a guest. And that's the whole point of hospitality. If you "love a stranger," he will feel the connection...like family.

May - New Faces

May 6th - (posted by Joan)
Gideon & Esmerelda Loh - Josh's brother and sister in-law
-just moved here from the island
-plugged into TCG as of June 24th

June 3rd - (posted by Joan)
Vin Jonker - friends with Pastor Emily
-planning to go to the next TCG

June 24th -  (posted by Joan)
Iris, her husband and her mom: The caucasian elderly trio
-91yr old granny REALLY enjoyed the service
-Found us online and came to check things out for a Korean friend before they bring her next week

June 24th -  (posted by Joan)
Michelle Sui and Cindy visiting from Tenth and RCAC
-really enjoyed service and want to come back again soon
-plugged Catalyst events

Team members & Contacts

TEAM 1 (July,September,November)
Jacquelyn - son.jacquelyn@gmail.com 778-789-5507
Esther - angel_essence47@hotmail.com 778-322-9110
Daniel Shim - sanghakshim@hotmail.com 778-706-0452
Joyce Chan - joycechan.110@gmail.com
Joan Wong - joanyeung1@gmail.com604-970-2524

TEAM 1 (June,August,October,December)
Wilson - agentorange013@gmail.com 778-899-8731
Mida Huang - Midahuang@hotmail.com 604-787-0191
Rebecca - ysum@sfu.ca 778-881-2850
Ying Yuan - cloudwatchin@yahoo.com778-322-1273
Lina Kim - linakkim@gmail.com 778-388-5462

Standby/Events Team:
Ling Tan -  ling.tan86@gmail.com 604-727-1773
Mariam - mariam_al-sayed@hotmail.com 778-862-4299

Ushers (Permanent)
Kris Wong kriswong1@gmail.com 604-805-0147
Daniel Chen daniel.kt.chen@gmail.com 778-858-7888
Sterling Wong sterlingwong@yahoo.com 604-836-0506
Joel Slanisky jslanisky@hotmail.com 604-351-2330
Donald Fung donaldfung85@gmail.com 604-616-4918
Mike Chan mike_c_007@hotmail.com 778-232-7192

Hospitality = Building/Facilitating Relationships

Hi guys,
Just a quick post here. I was meditating today and I asked God what the purpose of our ministry was. I think a lot of the times we let fear come in and make serving in Newcomers Ministry a lot harder than it should be. Or sometimes we minimize the work we are actually doing! We all know that our roles are to bring people into the family and make them feel welcomed. That may look different for every single person we greet...so really, there is no formula! There's only the Holy Spirit ;)

Some of our fears as greeters or ushers:
■Fear that a visitor to their church will come a few times and still not feel welcome.
■Fear that a church visitor will be overlooked.
■Fear that greeters/ushers will be too overzealous and drive visitors away.

I say let's just stomp those fears out and let God take the wheel.

We are here to build and to facilitate relationships. It's always about people, not programs or rules. Our God is a relational God and it's made me realize how much he wants us to be the same with our visitors. It's hard being intentional with strangers but you'd be surprised by how just remembering one name each Sunday could make a world of a difference to that individual. Or even introducing them to person that they may have common interest or passion with is great too (ie. they can tell them about CAG group or Catalyst ministries etc etc).

We have a huge responsibility in this ministry but at the same time we have the most rewarding honour and priveledge of seeing people come and get radically transformed through love and community. We get to see the whole process from seed to fruit and no other ministries really get to witness that.

I have my own testimony about awesome hospitality and I'm sure you all have yours. A question I want to leave for you tonight is how did you feel welcomed coming to NJ and what is your heart for this ministry? We will go around and discuss this at our meeting :D

See y'all tomorrow morning!
Love,
Joan