Our Task Has Just Begun...

As a former economist (yes, I worked for Federal government for 3 years -- the length of our Lord Jesus Christ's ministry on the earth :-), I am still sensitive & interesting in statistics & figures. So when I spent sometimes reading Statistics Canada's Census 2011 few days ago, the following news came to my attention:

(1) Out of 910,000 population in Ottawa, around 19% are immigrants (177,000). If we include Gatineau into the picture, 16% of the combined population (1,220,000) are immigrants (201,000). The nation's capital region is still pretty multicultural & Mosaic, although the degrees (%) are much less than other major cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal) in Canada.

(2) Chinese population represents 2.9% (26,000) of Ottawa's residents, or 2.2% (27,400) of Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area. However, we often quote an alternative source (not sure where it originally came from) that we have 30,000~40,000 Chinese population in Canada's capital region.

(3) I did a rough calculation: the total congregation no. of 9 Chinese churches in Ottawa are around 1,800 (definitely less than 2,000). Not counting non-Chinese participants (mostly in English congregation) attending Chinese churches & excluding Chinese who attend non-Chinese (mostly Caucasian) churches, we are only reaching out less than 7% (1,800 out of 27,400) of Chinese population in the capital region. I do not think our Lord will be pleased (or even impressed) with the work we have been doing so far...

(4) Kanata is a community with 5% Chinese population (5,000 out of 100,000 total residents in Kanata). This Chinese concentration ratio is much higher than other regions across Ottawa & Gatineau. I even heard from various sources that there is a village (they called it "華西村" -- 渥太華西區的某村) in Kanata North (Kanata Lakes exactly) that 80% of residents are Chinese! However, we have only 2 Chinese churches located in (or near) Kanata. To reach out Kanata's Chinese community, we could have planted at least 1-2 Chinese churches!   

My dear friends, our task has really just begun! I do not have enough saving to move into Kanata Lakes neighborhood (and we are quite joyful as Barrhaven residents :-), but I pray that our Chinese friends in rich, middle-class or poor communities, will become friends of our church members across the city. Our new church site at EGAC is only few minutes away from both the richest & poorest communities in Ottawa -- I am exciting to see God's work through OMAC congregation in the future. May the peace & gospel of our Lord be spread into these communities and pray that we do much much better than 7% (although 7 is a perfect no. in the Scriptures)!  

My Dreams for the Future (But Starting Now...)

Here are my dreams for the future (but the vision starts to be implemented from now...):

(1) Pass my ordination interview before my sabbatical time -- this is quite embarrassing.. :-( 

(2) To complete the OMAC-EGAC joint building project & setup the ICAC (Intercultural Community of Alliance Churches) partnership framework .

(3) To transform OMAC into a discipleship-making & missional church.

(4) Find a good program to study spiritual formation (靈命塑造), spiritual discipline (屬靈操練) & discipleship (門徒訓練) on part-time basis.

(5) Partner with other Chinese churches to start a church planting project in Gatineau ("河北省").

(6) Together with my beloved wife Sophia, serve as missionaries overseas (preferred area: a country where there are lots of Chinese but very few Chinese churches or missionaries). Hopefully Elim & Shalom could visit us from time to time.

"Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint." (Proverbs 29:18)("沒有異象, 民就放肆", 箴 29:18)

Spiritual Partner

No doubt my wife has been my life & spiritual partner for the past 19 years. However, she is my lovely wife, not my mentor. Although I have learned lots of life wisdom from her...

Sometimes I feel pretty lonely as I do not have spiritual mentors whom I could turn to while I encounter various church issues & ministry challenges. I missed the time in the seminary when I could always ask various questions from some professors with spiritual insights. It is a drawback when an inexperienced pastor became a lead pastor -- not by my own choice, but a calling I could not refuse years ago -- as you lead the church, it is hard to have spiritual mentor & partner inside the church...

I was so glad this week when I met another pastor from another city during our district conference. We both feel the importance of spiritual disciples. We both enjoy reading books by Richard Foster, Eugene Peterson & Henry Nouwen. I don't know when I will talk to him again, but I decide to pray to God for spiritual mentor & partner, here in Ottawa, & maybe even at OMAC...

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" (Proverbs 27:17).
   

A Revival Retreat

A friend from another sister church invited me to attend a pastoral retreat last week. It took me 1 hour to get to the retreat side outside the city. When I drove along Ottawa River against the morning traffic, my heart started to praise the Lord for His creation...

The speaker, a fellow pastor from the US, has deep passion & conviction for spiritual formation & spiritual disciples. As a pastor (and a lead pastor particularly), I often feel overwhelmed by various ministries, e-mails, meetings, visitations & sermon preparations. This one-day retreat reminds me that I am a child of God, a husband & a father before being called to lead the congregation & take care of the flock. Once again I am reminded that "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9). 

Guess what? I started to write my spiritual journal again. It was almost 7 years ago, a period of discernment & uncertainty about the future after seminary, when I wrote my spiritual journal intensively. 

I pray that I will be drawn closer & closer  to Him every single day, not only during the retreat day. 

I pray that everyday I will have time for spiritual retreat in the midst of busyness...   

To Build a Christ-Centred, Spirit-Empowered & Mission-Focused Church

I attended our denomination's (C&MA) district conference earlier this week in Kingston.

During the conference, our national president shared a new vision for local churches: a Christ-centred, Spirit-empowered & Mission-focused movement. 

A movement needs a group of people & churches which share the common vision & take actions. It is my sincere hope that OMAC (Ottawa Mandarin Alliance Church) & our congregation will embrace this vision and be a faithful witness to the city & her Mosaic community!