Drawing closer to Christ
The theme for 2007 in the English Congregation was "Drawing closer to Christ" which is a follow up of previous years theme of "Laying the foundation of Christ". And we saw many youths drawing closer to Christ.
Bidding them goodbye
In early 2007, we saw our dear brother Dhoui Chang and his wife Sophia Chen announced that God was leading them in a new direction in their lives which was to serve the Lord in another ministry, at another Church. There were a lot of tears amongst the youths, as the young couple was dearly loved by many of them. They have touched many lives in their ministry on and off NYMAC by being an example of love, wisdom and passion for Christ. This youth pastor has dedicated his many hours tirelessly to minister to these youths from internship to youth pastoral care. Our lives were certainly enriched by their ministries. Our English ministry advisory pastor addressed the youths that we are not the only ones who have ever had to say goodbye. People come and go. They learned first hand what heart break is. Just like the apostle Paul in Acts 20, he had to bid farewell to the elders of the
Love Never Fails
At that time, we also witnessed the joy of Ruth (Rachel) Hong and Peter Wang united in Holy Matrimony on
Advisory Pastor
We were blessed in many aspects as Dr. Dennis Ngien, professor at Tyndale dedicated some of his time to minister our English congregation inspite of his many other ministries especially his leadership and 
active involvement of the Centre for Mentorship and Theological Reflection at Tyndale – dedicated to mentoring pastors and church leaders - which invited the great author, preacher, Christian thinker and teacher - J.I. Packer to speak on the subject of evangelism. We are grateful and thankful for Dr. Ngien’s continual support
and dedication to NYMAC’s English congregation. May you continue to pray for him and his many ministries.
Witnessing Baptism
Thanks to the many hours of teaching by sister Chew Lee Teo in ministering to the youths in the baptism class, Sunday school, youth fellowship, we were blessed to witness the baptism of Andy Ho and Bronco Lam in
Satellites Go Go Go!!!
2007 also saw our youths participated in the junior softball league competition. It was our 2nd year in the Chinese Christian Softball Association, or CCSA, is an inter-church ministry involving many teams from many churches all across the GTA. The purpose of this ministry is outreaching non-Christians and to get them involved in the church communities. The theme for 2007 was "Be Transformed" - Romans 12:2.
Not only it allowed the youths to have a good time during the summer but through the games they had learned the values of Christ by drawing closer to one another in support, prayers, in unity among teammates and among the churches and they also formed some lasting friendship between inter-church fellowships. As such the youths learned to fundraise by making and selling dumplings and t-shirts. We were blessed and encouraged because brother Amos Chong also came to cheer lead the youths. I must say our team did extremely well compare to our 1st year.
Make me a servant!
These youths have a heart for the
Lord as they serve in many different ministries in worship leading, in piano, in prayers, in ushering, in cheerleading, in newsletter writing and in leading the Friday youth fellowship. Amongst them, we are also blessed to
have the university students Sisters Sandy Yeh, Juliette Au, Brothers Alvin Lam, Japhet Lau and Brian Kang to lead many of these younger kids. We saw many youths come to the Lord as their personal Savior and Lord. I have known them for many years and they not only have grown taller than me but have also grown up in loving kindness in serving the youths in our English ministry by engaging them in several activities such as the Amazing Race which took many teams to compete around the PATH network of underground labyrinth to arrive at the Air Canada Center. The idea of the game is to teamwork together, to answer many factual biblical questions and to eat some lemons to pass various stages. Certainly the kids have a zest for living! I had to keep up at their hyperactivities even going for a Christian (Hillsong & Starfield) rock music concert.
During Thanksgiving, the fellowship went door to door to solicit non-perishable food for the food bank. It was an eye opener for many of them. They also involved themselves in leading the Christmas youth program which was also amazing which draw a big crowd of kids. Everyone took part and it was amazing. Most amazing is that each leader found time to focus on Christ, to dedicate not only 10% of their time to Christ but they spent hours in preparing, in prayers for each of the activities.
Drawing closer to Christ!
So are you brokenhearted? Are you looking for truth? Are you lonely? Are you feeling unloved? In Psalm 34:18, it says "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." - In psalm 145:18 it says "The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth". So draw closer to Christ as the Lord will always walk with you wherever you go, His passionate love for you never fails. May the Lord continue to be your source of strength in your toughest moment and your rejoicing in good time!
Thank you NYMAC! Thank you Jesus!
I want to personally thank NYMAC to allow me to serve as English deacon for 2007. It was an honor and I also want to thank our pastors Rev. Joshua Yao, Pastor Enoch Koh, Dr. Dennis Ngien, the deacons all the parents in the English congregation, brother Yanan Wu, Amy Chen, Joseph and Angela Cheng and many others who have been tremendous partners in Christ and labored so many hours in preparing to teach the youths, to wipe their tears as needed, to comfort them in times of trials… and lastly also sister Chew Lee Teo, an amazing and wonderful sister in Christ. (Lord don't let her go of NYMAC yet!).
