Dear BPCWAians, When the lockdown started in Perth, I preached a sermon from “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.” (Rom 8:28) It was the start of a very uncertain period, something that none of us had ever gone through before. What would it be like for us, individually, our families, and for BPCWA? We can understand the need for isolation for our physical good. But how could it possibly be any spiritual good since we couldn’t gather as a church, when so many of our regular church activities had to be put on hold? Now, when we look back on the
Read moreDear BPCWAians, We thank God for seeing us through the planning to allow for 20 worshippers to return to church starting from 18 May. Over the past week, we have had both English and Chinese prayer meetings and fellowship meetings conducted in church. One may think that preparing for the return of only 20 worshipers may be easier, but in many ways, it turned out to be more complex than it would have possibly been if it were for 100. And with a short time to react, the work was intensive. But we thank God for His enabling grace as we held our first face to face meetings. It was such a joy being able to see worshippers face to
Read moreDear BPCWAians, Ezra 3:11 “And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid”. The returnees from captivity rejoiced greatly when they could restart worship in Jerusalem. Western Australia has given the green light for gatherings of 20 patrons at this stage, ahead of many other states. Some businesses may be struggling with the decision on whether to reopen or not, given the amount of logistics they need to take care of just for a relatively small group size.
Read moreDear BPCWAians, In my last pastoral, I gave our worshippers a glimpse of church life behind the livestreams that you have been seeing every week. Western Australia has been one of the first few states to ease gathering restrictions from 2 to 10. Such moves must fill our hearts with thanksgiving to God that the government is cautiously easing some COVID-19 restrictions. How will we respond? How should we respond? In times of restrictions – Conflicting responses arise. In unprecedented circumstances, this pandemic has seen worldwide media coverage unlike any other world event. As would be expected in such cases, opinions vary – between government leaders and medical experts, and even between medical experts. Ultimately, with the best advice one
Read moreDear BPCWAians, It’s been more than a month since gatherings at church have stopped. To all of us, the announcement came suddenly. At a Session meeting the Saturday prior to the announcement to close churches, we were discussing plans for communication of how to livestream and what to do if there were some restrictions. Little did we know that with the swift (but needed) action, what we had spent hours discussing would be of no use. And, with all the changes happening around us, that has indeed been the case for these past several weeks. What has been going on behind the scenes of the church and the livestreaming recordings over the past several weeks and what should you be
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