Towards mission

The Construction and Practice of Family Ministry 3-2

Oral narration and pictures/Preacher Li Yitian (Timmy Ong)

Interview/Lin Minwen, Zheng Qiongyu‧Compilation/Zheng Qiongyu

In 2011, Wang Hao and Li Yitian accepted the invitation from the senior pastor of the Columbia Chinese Christian Church (hereinafter referred to as the Columbia Church) to establish the Family Ministry. Although they had served in the church for many years, they had no experience in family ministry. They followed God's leading and moved forward step by step.

In this interview, Li Yitian shared the couple’s principles and vision for carrying out family ministry, as well as the development of family ministry in Columbia City Church so far.

Follow the four principles

In order to confirm that the direction of the ministry is in line with God’s guidance, they adhere to the following four principles in the process of promoting the ministry:

1. Clearly write down the vision and mission received from God.The vision is to “make the gospel domestic and evangelize the family”; the mission is “prevention, equipment, care, and evangelism.” She said that clearly writing down God’s commissions at the beginning of ministry allows pastors and members to understand the content of the ministry, and also helps the team to aim in the right direction when planning service projects.

2. Pray and seek God.Understand God’s guidance through prayer, and avoid relying on human plans, being too conservative or impatient, and deviating from God’s plan. Seek God’s guidance based on three indicators: needs; resources; and co-workers. After all three items were provided by the gods, we started to proceed. "The needs of every church are different. Follow God's leadership and do as many things as you have resources and co-workers. Family ministry is about holding God's hand upwards and holding the needs of the times downwards, rather than relying on yourself. Act according to your own ideas," Li Yitian said.

3. Maintain open communication with pastors and church departments to avoid working in isolation.The pastor is the shepherd given by God to the church, and he understands the needs of the flock best. Wang Hao and Li Yitian often have dialogues with the pastor to confirm that the conduct of the ministry is in line with the general direction of the church. In addition, family ministry involves many aspects and requires open communication and cooperation with various departments.

Li Yitian reflected: "Pay attention to vertical and horizontal communication so that the train of family ministry can run smoothly. It is simple to say, but not easy to implement. All ministries of the church are God's ministries, and we must persist in overcoming difficulties. If If the family ministry does all the work alone, it will get twice the result with half the effort; cross-department cooperation can get twice the result with half the effort. For example, the family ministry and adult education ministry jointly run a parent-child Sunday school; and the children/youth ministry jointly organized "Family Years" as a program. Gospel Outreach.

4. Husband and wife serve together.Working together as a husband and wife is not easy. When one person prepares and teaches a lesson, he or she does not need to discuss it with his or her partner, and it is done in one go; when two people teach together, they have to coordinate each other's opinions, divide work, and spend more effort. However, when couples serve together, the testimonies they express naturally cannot be conveyed through words, and are often more convincing to students.

However, serving together is not always smooth sailing. The two of them had been quarreling while driving to lead a camp meeting. Later, God moved them to kneel before God and ask Him for help. When you calm down, you will find that one person only pays attention to the details, while the other person pays attention to the big framework. The next day at the camp, he frankly shared the argument about the previous night, allowing the participants to see that the lecturer, like everyone else, will experience ups and downs on the road to marriage, but can find a way out by relying on God.

Dimensions of Family Ministry

Family ministry services include individuals, fellowship groups, and churches.

Although Family Ministry will try its best to care for individual needs, it cannot rely solely on its own efforts. "When a crisis comes, it must be objectively evaluated whether it can be referred to the fellowship for continued follow-up, or whether it can be accompanied by a suitable member, instead of leaving all the problems to the pastor or shouldering it on the shoulders of the family ministry staff." , Li Yitian shared his experience.

There are many fellowships in Columbia City Church, with different attributes and needs. Almost every fellowship has family ministry co-workers. When co-workers identify needs, they can report to the Family Ministry to arrange suitable lectures or activities. For example, we organize parent-child or marriage lectures for family fellowships; we hold Purity Journey parent-child camps for youth fellowships; we hold men-men and women interaction lectures for singles fellowships. Projects that are temporarily unavailable, such as single-parent families, can also be referred to resources provided by agencies, seminaries, and churches.

Columbia Church is located in the Midwest of the United States, and Chinese materials are not as convenient as those in the Eastern and Western United States. Therefore, one of the most important functions of the family ministry is to widely introduce resources for members to use as needed. After collecting and reviewing, co-workers successively purchased many books and teaching materials from True Love Family Association and other organizations, set up information desks, resource libraries, and resource websites to share with members.

After entering the seminary, Li Yitian entered a gold mine and was exposed to a wealth of knowledge and practical experience. Teachers and classmates come from different institutions and churches. If the iron triangle of seminaries, institutions, and churches can be connected to share knowledge and support each other, it will be of great help to the implementation of various ministries.

▲Collect information extensively to help members easily understand and access the resources they need.

Ten years of good results

In the past ten years, the family ministry of Columbia City Church has been focusing on prevention, education, breaking traditional concepts, and organizing sex education parent-child camps for children and adolescents. Every year, Family Month invites experts who have been involved in the family field for many years to give lectures that complement the messages taught by the pastor on Sundays. The speaker candidates have also been confirmed by the pastor. Li Yitian is very grateful to the church for its financial support, which has enabled the family ministry to have funds to hold camps and purchase teaching materials for the past ten years.

Launched in the first year of the ministry: the Family Renewal Association’s Loving Couple Camp; set up an information table; offered a Sunday school course on “Listening and Speaking the Truth with Love”; established a family month, invited family and marriage expert Professor Jian Chun’an to give a lecture, and held a movie appreciation .

Wang Hao and Li Yitian participated in the Loving Couples Camp organized by the Family Renewal Association in 2011, which not only made their relationship closer, but also opened up the opportunity to establish a family ministry in the church. The two also learned to coordinate with each other and serve together in the camp's couples leadership training. Drinking water and remembering the source, they have continued to promote this camp since the first year of their establishment of family ministry.

Over the years, they have invited many pairs of very dedicated co-workers from couples who have participated in the Loving Couples Camp. Li Yitian said that participating in the camp requires taking time off, hiring someone to take care of the children, and tuition fees. Couples who are willing to overcome all difficulties to participate will most likely have a burden on family ministry. Churches that intend to set up a family ministry may wish to start here when inviting a team of staff.

In the same year, the "Listening and Loving Truth Speaking" course was also launched, which was organized by Equipping Ministries (equippingministries.org) produces and publishes teaching materials with Chinese versions and provides lecturer training. Make good use of the teaching materials that have been designed by the institution. You don’t need to start from scratch. You can build on the achievements of your predecessors and continue to sow seeds. Readers may also consider using Blessed Family’s parent-child Sunday school materials (bfccm.org/blessedfamilyseries).

After that, every year based on the previous year, ministry projects will be added as needed and projects that no longer have demand will be discontinued.

In 2012, we undertook Mother’s Day and Father’s Day Sunday special meetings and cooperated with Huashen to offer the “Truth of Addiction” course. In 2013, due to the needs of couples from different cultures in the church, Li Yitian spent a lot of time searching and chose The Art of Marriage, which was taught in English but had Chinese subtitles.www.familylife.com/theartofmarriage) as a teaching material, the response was quite good.

An all-church picnic and barbecue was also attempted this year. It sounded like an exciting event, but the participants were scattered and did not achieve the expected results. From this experience, Li Yitian understood that social activities are more suitable to be promoted in the fellowship rather than being dominated by family ministries. "It doesn't matter. If you don't try it, how will you know if it's suitable?" Li Yitian said optimistically.

From 2013 to 2014, a core co-worker structure was established based on current needs, and pastors and teachers’ wives were invited to participate in the co-worker union. In 2014, as suggested by the pastor, we invited speakers related to homosexual issues to give lectures. This is one example of family ministry matching the pastor’s vision. This year, the Youth Purity Journey Parent-Child Camp was officially launched (see issue 67 of this magazine)Guard your youth and never let go〉).

▲Family ministry requires cooperation from all departments of the church, from top to bottom, connected together like a skewer.

In 2015, the ministry reorganized its structure and divided it into three directions: care, programs, and teaching. At the same time, he went out of his own church and began to support the development of family ministries in other Chinese churches.

New endeavors this year include taking over premarital counseling. After Li Yitian prayed, he selected the exercise book "Creating a Happy Marriage" (Prepare and Enrich, www.prepare-enrich.com), Foccus TM Premarital Negotiation Guide Materials (foccusinc.com), Save Your Marriage Before It Starts (www.symbis.com) three sets of teaching materials, and Mr. He received training to become the guide of the teaching materials and prevent post-marital conflicts through pre-marital counseling. Not only serving church members, but also being open to the community, it is one of the church’s community services and evangelical work.

This year, we also started to provide commemorative family photos during Family Month. Members who are good at photography took beautiful family photos, which were very popular. In response to requests from members, experienced parents were also invited to share information on maternal care, newborn care, etc. to implement "resource sharing."

In 2016, the Battle Plan for Purity series was launched. Studying the Conquer series of courses led by Wang Hao (www.conquerseries.com) to help each other live holy lives. President Qiu Qingtai of the Family Renewal Association was also invited to give a lecture on "Heroes of the Kingdom of God" for men.

In 2017, seeing the need for treatment and counseling for depression, during Family Month, we invited seminary professors who specialize in this topic to hold a series of related lectures for the congregation.

Since 2018, we have gone into the community, held lectures at nearby universities and Chinese schools, and launched community "Family Years" activities, providing interesting games, ice cream, prizes, etc., and inviting community friends to join in the fun.

In 2019, the "Intimate Journey" course designed by Dr. Huang Weiren was introduced. We also launched short-term missions for the whole family, with the senior pastor leading the whole family to serve together.

During the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic, Li Yitian saw that sex education that goes against the truth has penetrated into all levels of society, and the church must take action to protect families and the next generation. She also foresees that after the epidemic, people’s time exposed to online information will increase significantly. The Family Ministry is committed to equipping parents to help the next generation discern information on the Internet (see "Guard your youth and never let go〉).

It doesn't matter if it's relevant

"Family ministry is the glue that binds different fellowships, ministries, and talents together to serve together on this platform." Li Yitian believes that the family ministry department provides resources to support the needs of other departments and also requires support from other departments. If they cannot reach a consensus, Wang Hao and Li Yitian will choose to obey, "It is easy to say, but there will still be difficulties in execution. Just stick to one sentence: This is God's work. If God wants us to do it, he will open the way; if God doesn't want us, If you do it, it will be blocked.”

The pastor is the spiritual covering of the church. Wang Hao and Li Yitian often talk to the pastor and invite the pastor to participate in the planning of family ministry. The pastor will also remind them of matters they should pay attention to when implementing activities. "My husband and I serve together, which is also a spiritual protection." The two protected, discussed, and prayed for each other.

When talking about who has been the encourager in family ministry along the way, Li Yitian said: "To get to this day, God is my most important encourager. Without God, I would not be able to go on. So my personal spirit It is important to cultivate your relationship with God to ensure that there is living water flowing in your heart to help others.”

The family also encourages each other. She said, "In the past ten years or so, our family has also gone through the valley of the shadow of death and faced many difficulties, but the family has always supported each other."

Colleagues often encourage each other. In addition, Wang Hao and Li Yitian both have spiritual mentors who are 5 to 10 years older than themselves. They share their experiences and help them avoid taking the wrong path. They also become spiritual guides for others.

▲After a person believes in the Lord, he receives systematic cultivation, practices it, and passes it on to his family, implementing the idea that "the church is like home, and the family is like church."

Church is like home, home is like church

The traditional church gathering model is that after the family walks into the church on Sunday, they disperse, and adults, infants, children, and teenagers gather separately. Li Yitian has a wish:"I hope to connect families through family ministry and give family members the opportunity to interact on the path of pursuing the truth."

A mother of a four-year-old boy reported that one year after her child attended the Seed Course (a child sex education course), she often mentioned the concepts learned in the class to her. Because the mother participated together, she was able to seize the opportunity to talk to her child. On the other hand, if only children participate in the class, parents will be out of the loop while the children share.

If the church has the same theme in Sunday sermons, Sunday school, children’s and youth worship, fellowship, family altars, etc., families can discuss it together and implement the truth in their lives. Li Yitian described this vision as "skewering": all departments of the church work together, from top to bottom, link by link.

"Family ministry must be implemented in the family," Li Yitian emphasized. Every home is a small church, with the goal of converting the whole family to the Lord. I hope that after a person believes in the Lord, he will receive systematic cultivation, practice it, and pass it on to his family, so that the church will be like home and the family will be like church.

How can family ministry continue to exert influence with innovative concepts and methods in the face of different challenges? Please look forward to sharing in the next issue.

Respondents
Preacher Timmy Ong, Master of Family Ministry from True Evangelical Theological Seminary. Dedicated to children’s ministry for 38 years, he and his husband Dennis Wang founded the family ministry of Columbia Chinese Christian Church in 2010. The couple is the couple’s director of the Loving Couple Camp of the Family Renewal Association, a certified premarital counselor, and a member of the American Family Loving Association. "Youth Without Regrets" certified teacher and a special co-worker of the training ministry of the Christian Messengers Association. They have three adult children.