Dear BPCWAians, As we approach the end of the year, it is an exciting and busy period for the church, with several major activities coming up. The Christmas Gospel meeting, the Christmas Day Service, Watchnight Service, and the Holiday Bible Program are all taking place within a 3 week period. So why do we plan these into our church calendar and activities? What part do you have to play in these activities? Why do we even take the trouble to prepare the invitation flyers for distribution to our worshippers? We do so for 2 reasons:- 1. So that you and your family can worship God and grow through all these activities yourselves. 2) So that each of you can think of someone to invite for each of these activities, and follow-up by giving them the invitation flyers as a means of inviting them to join us. Following is a quick overview of what these activities are about. I hope that knowing what they are about will help you to really be able to reach out to someone who can benefit spiritually from coming for these activities.

Christmas Gospel Meetings (Friday, 20Dec, 7:30pm).As has been our practice over the past few  years, we have set aside the Friday before Christmas for     a Christmas Gospel service. Christmas is a time when some unbelievers who would not otherwise step into a church are willing to consider attending a church. It is held on Friday, because it is the start of a weekend – and possibly an extended year-end leave period for many. So, the focus of this meeting would be to reach out to non-Christians with the true meaning of Christmas, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a wonderful time and it is an ideal opportunity to invite your colleagues or even friends outside of your workplace to join us for a Christmas Gospel meeting that evening. Here is your chance to fulfil the great commission.

This year, we will be conducting concurrent English and Chinese Gospel meetings in the main and upstairs sanctuary respectively. As it may be the first time that unbelievers are going to a church, we hope that this will allow them to settle more comfortably into church, being able to focus on the gospel in the language that they are more familiar with. At the same time, instead of guessing whether a visitor speaks English or Chinese, this streamlining will allow the respective fellowship groups to be more focussed in welcoming newcomers and encouraging them to continue to attend church and the respective fellowship groups. Though there are different services, the topic for both English and Chinese messages will be the same, as reflected in the flyers. So, as those planning have done all they can to prepare the necessary logistics, your part is to invite as many friends as the Lord brings to your mind. Even if you are attending the English Gospel service or vice versa, we have brethren at both Gospel meetings who will be able to help visitors settle down and feel comfortable even if you are not sitting there with them during the Gospel service. So you need not worry, just invite your friends.

Christmas Day Service (Wednesday, 25 Dec, 10 am). This service is conducted every year on Christmas Day morning. Since the Gospel meeting would have been conducted the prior Friday, the message for the Christmas Day service will  be primarily intended  for worshippers, instead  of mainly  a repeat of  yet another gospel message. So, if you know of a Christian who may have backslided and are not attending church, or a Christian looking for a church, or who has just shifted into Perth, do take this opportunity to invite them for our Christmas Day service.

Holiday Bible Program (Monday – Wednesday, 6 – 8 January, 9 am). Based  on feedback received that there are too many activities in December month and also the lack of possible dates, this program (targeted at students), will be conducted in January. Year-end being a time where students get a longer break from school, parents often look forward to a fruitful way to help their children spend their holidays better. As this is conducted primarily for the children growing up in our church, I hope that all parents will set aside time – and plan vacations accordingly – to be able to have their children attend this program. The dates are announced early so that everyone can plan for this and register in time. Even grandparents have a part to play here.  If your grandchildren  are not attending church, this is a wonderful opportunity to invite them to come to church, hear the gospel and get to know the other children at church. But don’t stop at your family. Invite your children’s school friends, other children that you may know from your child’s tuition classes (eg piano lessons, swimming lessons, etc), your friends’ children, those in your neighbourhood . . . the possibilities are many! Whether they came the last time or not, invite them again. A child would benefit from this program, even those that may not currently be attending church. This is also a wonderful way to start your child thinking about evangelism and reaching out to others around them. Encourage them to invite their best friends, or classmates, or even acquaintances. At the same time, I want to point out that we do not want to just be thinking of young children. We have a class set aside for pre-teens and teens. This is a restless age where children begin to think about faith and form values for themselves. We don’t want to miss this critical group before they are lost to the world.

Now that I’ve outlined the major upcoming activities and now that the invitation flyers are available, what will you do? I am hoping that each one of you reading this will give out at least one, if not several, of these invites to someone this season. Everything is done for you. You just need to ask and invite. How do we answer to our Lord if we would not even do so? As a church, we can only but plan for the activities. But the invitations are yourpart in the great commission. Go, and as many as you can think of, invite them to come. The time is short, the message is urgent. There is yet room for more. Be God’s instrument at this year-end.

Luke 14:21 … the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither … 23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel [them] to come in, that my house may be filled.

Yours in our Lord’s service

Pastor