恢復國語堂大家庭的溫暖
國語堂事工報告 ／ 鄭文選牧師
疫情持續了將近三年，是許多人始料未及的，帶給基督徒身心靈的影響以及教會整體的衝擊也是超乎預期的。有些教會於疫情期間發展網路事工，雖然實體聚會人數急遽下降，但是透過網路接觸牧養了更多人；有些教會順利重聚了會眾，似乎走過了疫情的陰霾；也有教會依循學者的研究，在原有的教會架構下，開始了微型教會/家教會（micro-church, neighborhood church），衍生成雙軌牧養體系。
國語堂的核心同工們經過討論後，決定將方向定為加強我們原來的最強項，就是「像個大家庭一樣的溫暖」。
郊遊愛宴
因此我們分別在上半年（2/19）與下半年（9/24）各自舉行了一次戶外郊遊，並且在四月份疫情稍微減緩後，恢復了主日中午的愛宴。還記得第一次恢復愛宴是由Patrick主動請纓擔任大廚，結果當天出席人數，是疫情開始以來最多人的一次，後來每週崇拜的人數比起之前也真的提升了一個檔次，在這裡要特別謝謝Patrick弟兄的付出和對教會的愛。
見證分享
另一個調高溫暖度的方式，是我們開始鼓勵弟兄姊妹於主日崇拜中分享見證，讓眾肢體知道其他弟兄姊妹的生命經歷，更多同心感恩與彼此關懷。我們除了將七月和十月的第五個主日設計為見證主日之外，其他主日也安排不同小組的弟兄姊妹分享他們如何經歷上帝的恩典、同在與祝福。許多見證非常感人，不少弟兄姊妹聽著聽著都留下了眼淚，也有肢體分享完見證後，眾人眼睛為之一亮，似乎看到有潛力的未來講員。更加奇妙的是，有好幾次弟兄姊妹見證的內容與當天講員分享的信息十分契合，真是神的巧手在當中引領安排。
小組生活
談到像個大家庭一樣的溫暖，自然而然使我們想到小組的重要性。如果基督徒光是參加崇拜而沒有小組生活，一旦無法崇拜就會成為落單的羊，很容易信心軟弱、愛心冷淡；但是如果有小組生活，則能夠繼續在肢體關係中彼此扶持，一同奔走屬天的道路。然而，當疫情使小組也無法實體聚會的時候，我們怎麼保持小組家庭的熱度呢？我們在各小組推動屬靈夥伴，盼望透過3~4位屬靈同伴的固定聚集，彼此可以更緊密的連結、更深入的分享、更剛強的站立。我們確實在疫情中看見小組家庭的溫暖情誼，每當得知組員染疫或生病時，小組長就主動組織組員展開輪送飯食與滋養保健品的愛心行動。另外，我們也鼓勵跨組聯誼，有些小組舉行聯合Potluck，有些共同舉辦6k for water的社關活動。
幸福小組
至於傳福音的行動，同工們綜合考量了慕道朋友屬性以及我們本身的強項後，決定繼續採用幸福小組的模式。因為幸福小組就是透過愛的行動與真實的生命見證來打動慕道朋友的心，這剛好是國語堂美好的文化之一，而我們接觸的福音朋友族群大多是新移民，很需要溫暖的人際情誼以及真誠具體的關心行動。今年6/12，我們幫幾位上期幸福小組的BEST施洗。求神更多使用我們，用福音的愛來溫暖許多因著疫情而越來越冰冷的心；於此同時，我們相信藉著幸福小組中的具體服事，也能使得門徒訓練更加紮實有果效。另外，我們也很開心在9/4為Jack與Jaycie舉行差遣典禮，求神祝福他們在遠方傳福音帶門徒的事奉，能為主作美好的見證。
委身服事
關於如何增加教會家庭的溫暖度，另一個關鍵因素就是投入服事，這在我們的敬拜團中間可以非常明顯的看見。因著主日崇拜的需要，敬拜團員每週都需要聚在一起，而且是帶著使命的聚集，他們週六下午一起練習，週日上午再彩排一次，因著有共同的服事目標以及持續聚集，這個群體越來越火熱、也越來越喜樂。在此也特別謝謝每一位敬拜團的同工，謝謝你們美好、盡心、不倦怠的服事。
總結
透過以上幾項，我們希望恢復國語堂大家庭的溫暖。而在為此努力的同時，我們也更深體會網路聚會只是無法實體聚會下、不得不然的次好選擇，無法完全取代實體聚會。一旦能夠實體聚會，弟兄姊妹應該盡快回到實體聚會，不論是崇拜聚會、細胞小組聚會，或者福音外展聚會。讓我們在心理上接納與疫情共存，不要一直活在陰影之下；同時將已經失去或壞掉的基本屬靈習慣，重新拾起來、恢復過來。在此，再一次鼓勵弟兄姊妹回到大堂參與崇拜、提高實體小組聚會頻率，以及持續開拓幸福小組，一同來恢復國語堂大家庭的溫暖。
2022 Annual Report
Restoring the Warm Family Atmosphere of the Mandarin Zone
Mandarin Zone Report ／ Rev. Peter Cheng
Translation: Peter Ho
The pandemic has lasted nearly 3 years which is beyond all expectations. It has also unexpectedly affected the physical and spiritual wellbeing of most Christians and the wellbeing of the church as a whole. Some churches developed online services during the pandemic and although physical attendance dropped dramatically but the online services touched and served more people. Some churches were able to re-gather their church members and passed through the dark clouds of the pandemic. Some churches relying on the research of ministry academics started micro-churches and neighborhood churches under the structure of the existing church in a dual track system.
After much discussion, the core co-workers of the Mandarin Zone decided that our strategy is to re-emphasize our strength which is that the Mandarin Zone has a warm family atmosphere.
Outing and Love Feast
Therefore, we hosted 2 outings in the first half of the year (2/19) and the second half of the year (9/24). In addition, when the pandemic eased in April, we restored Sunday lunch love feast. For the very first Sunday lunch, Patrick Liu volunteered to be the main chef. Attendance on that Sunday was the highest since the start of the pandemic. Attendance on following Sundays saw significant improvement. We want to take the opportunity to thank Patrick for his love and service to the church.
Testimonials
In another effort to restore the warmth of the church, we began to encourage brothers and sisters to share their testimonies during Sunday service so that all the members of the Mandarin Zone might share in their life experiences so that we can also care for one another and give thanks to God. Besides setting aside the fifth Sunday of July and October as Testimonial Sunday, we also added testimonies during other Sunday services from members of the different cell groups. Many of the testimonies moved people to tears while they shared God’s grace, presence and blessings while other testimonies were so well spoken that it revealed many potential future speakers. Interestingly and by the leading of God’s hand, many of the testimonies matched perfectly the sermons of that same Sunday service.
Cell Group Life
With respect to the warmth of family, we are naturally mindful of the importance of the cell groups. If Christians only attend Sunday service and are not connected to a cell group then they can easily become lone sheep leading to loss of faith and lack of love but if connected to a cell group then the members of the cell group can support each other and walk together in the Kingdom path. However, without physical gathering during the pandemic, how will the cell groups maintain the warmth of a family? We encouraged cell group members to gather into smaller spiritual sharing groups of 3 or 4 members so that they can gather together more frequently to strengthen relationships, provide deeper sharing and stand more firmly together. During the pandemic, we did see many cell groups provide more family warmth, friendship and caring especially to those who got sick from covid or other illnesses. The cell group leaders organized the cell group members to take turns and provide meals and other nutritional items to those who got ill. We also encouraged cross cell group gatherings. Some cell groups organized multi-group meal gatherings while other cell groups organized multi-group World Vision Global 6K for Water Walk.
Happiness Group
In regards to Gospel outreach, the coworkers decided to adopt the Happiness Group Model based on the characteristics of the seekers in our community and the strength of the Mandarin Zone. The Happiness Group Model utilizes a combination of acts of love and life testimonies to touch the hearts of the seekers. This combination matches the culture of the Mandarin Zone perfectly and the seekers in our immediate environment are mostly new immigrants who need friendship and practical acts of caring. On 6/12, we baptized many BEST from last year’s Happiness Group. We pray that God will use us more to spread the Gospel and His love to warm the hearts of those that have become increasingly icy due to the pandemic. We also believe that serving and participation in the Happiness Group will strengthen our discipleship training. In addition, we are very happy to have commissioned Jack and Jaycie Liu as missionaries on 9/4. We bless them in their Gospel outreach and testimony to a faraway place.
Commitment to Serving
In regards to restoring warmth to the church, the other key is commitment to serving. This is very evident in our worship teams. The worship teams gather with dedication every Saturday afternoon to practice for the next day’s worship and once again on Sunday morning. Because of their dedication to serving and their continued gatherings, the worship teams have become more and more passionate and more and more joyful. I want to take this opportunity to thank every member of the worship team for your wonderful, dedicated and tireless service.
Conclusion
Through the efforts listed above, we hope to restore the warm family atmosphere of the Mandarin Zone. Through these efforts, we are also deeply aware that online Sunday service and gatherings are lesser choices due to the pandemic and cannot replace the benefits of physical Sunday service and gatherings. Once restrictions for physical gatherings are lifted, we encourage brothers and sisters to once again restore physical gathering for Sunday service, cell group meetings and Gospel outreach. We need to adjust our mindset to co-exist with the Covid virus and no longer live under its shadows. We need to also restore our spiritual habits and remove any bad habits picked up during the pandemic. Once again I encourage brothers and sisters to return to physical attendance for Sunday worship, increase more physical cell group gatherings and continue to participate in Happiness Group so that we may together restore the warm family atmosphere of the Mandarin Zone.