牧者之言: 在上帝的信实中成长

    李春海牧师

西北国语教会(Northwest Mandarin Church)是在奥克拉荷马城(Oklahoma City)以中文崇拜的教会。令人兴奋的是，今年9月4日教会将迎来五周年庆典。同时，我们也将正式成为经济自养的教会。感谢母会西北浸信会(Northwest Baptist Church) ，奥克拉荷马州联会 (Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma State) 和奥克拉荷马市浸信会协会 (Capital Baptist Association) 在过去五年里的慷慨支持。没有他们的帮助，我们不会走到今天。

 我们教会成立于2011年9月4日。在那个值得纪念的日子，我们带着与基督同死的决心，依靠主复活的大能来建立教会。过去五年里，我们为64人受了浸礼。我们主日崇拜人数从5人到35-50人左右；从第一次收到3美金的奉献到现在每月可以平衡收支。“流泪撒种的必欢呼收割”（诗篇126：5）。从教会成立到如今，我们赞美上帝在我们中间信实的应许。

我们的座右铭是:“和所有我们所能接触到的人分享耶稣基督的愛。”上帝启示我们，我们不可能和世界上的每个人分享福音，但我们却可能和我们的邻舍分享福音。我们在这座城市做了许多探访工作。在特殊的节日，圣诞节、复活节、农历新年、母亲节等，教会会给华人聚集的地方发放小礼物和福音小册子。比如，奥克拉荷马城市大学(OCU)校园、奥克拉荷马大学医疗科学中心(OU Health Sciences Center)、亚洲超市、中国餐馆、按摩健康中心等。我们与他们分享基督耶稣的愛。

除了主日崇拜、主日学、周五团契、周二祷告会等固定的活动外，我们有一些独特的事工：

微信事工：教会有自己的微信群，每天有专人负责带领经文诵读、每日灵粮、每日祈祷等。它提醒信徒每日与主同行；并使慕道友也听到主的话。

商业团契：每月在湖南餐馆(Hunan Buffet, 1506 S.W.74, OKC)举行团契，使做餐饮业及周日无法聚会的弟兄姐妹可以敬拜主。

中西合璧家庭团契：越来越多中西合璧家庭来到教会，我们为这些家庭安排团契。以圣经的原则，讨论文化的问题，比如交流、食物、时间、着装等。帮助他们更好地促进他们的家庭关系。

英文课：为了帮助新移民，教会每周三早各晚安排2个小时的免费英文课。

         我们的目标是“荣神益人”，作别人不愿意作的事，并且服务他人。我们相信只要这样做，我们信实的主就会负责任。我们祈祷，愿上帝继续赐福教会，将我们带到更丰盛之地。欢迎您加入我们的教会，并和我们一起敬拜服侍我们的主。

2016年7月1日

于奥克拉荷马城

Growing in God’s Faithfulness:

Northwest Mandarin Church

God called me all the way from a small village in China to Oklahoma City for His purpose. Six years ago as a new graduate I sought God’s guidance, God led me to pastors Ted Lam and Kirk Goss. They encouraged me to plant a new Chinese church. With the assistance of NWBC, BGCO & CBA, Northwest Mandarin Church was launched on Sep. 4, 2011. On that memorable day we were determined to build a church with the heart of dying with Christ by the power of His resurrection. Gratefully, we will celebrate our 5 Year Anniversary this September.

We went through some tough time. On one Sunday worship, only 5 people showed up. My heart was very hopeless.  A sister in the Lord came to me and said, “Do you know God has a plan for our church? Through our church, Chinese people here can hear the gospel with our heart-felt mother language.” These words lifted me up. God has a plan for us. God’s purpose drove us to overcome our financial struggle, low attendance, and even some coworkers’ leaving.

Praise the Lord that in the past 5 years, we baptized 64 people. Our Sunday attendance started from 5 and has grown to 35-60 people. Our first offering for the Cooperative Program was $26. In the first half year of 2016 we were able to give $1,121.  “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy” (Psalm 126:5). From the first day till now, we taste God’s faithfulness.

The challenges of reaching the Chinese community lie in two main factors: the small Chinese population in OK and their indifference to spiritual things. However, our motto is to “reach everyone we can meet with the love of Jesus Christ.” We did a lot of visitations in the city. On some special occasions, Christmas, Easter, etc., our church will deliver a small gift and gospel booklet to Chinese at gathering places, such as university campuses, Chinese restaurants and massage health support centers. We share the love of Jesus Christ with them.

Using high tech to share the gospel is our other strategy. We have a WeChat ministry. Like Skype, WeChat is a social media we use to group 140 people together for daily Bible reading, devotion, prayers and the Stories of Spiritual Leaders. On WeChat believers can walk with the Lord and seekers can hear the Word daily.

For the gospel, we do things other people probably are not willing to do. We have midnight gathering at Hunan Buffet (1506 S.W.74, OKC) from 10:30pm to 12:30 am and an early gathering at Asia Buffet in Lawton from 8:30am to 10:00am monthly. These special meetings meet the schedule of restaurant workers and those who cannot worship on Sundays.

We impact society through serving people’s need. Two fellowships demonstrate this point. One is Mix-family (America & Chinese family) Fellowship. It assists to enrich their family relationship. The other is an English Class to better support new comers and new immigrates.

Our goal is to “glorify God and benefit people.” If we do so, our faithful God will take care of other parts. We pray that God will continue to use our church for reaching more people and help our fellowship grow closer to the Lord.

Chunhai Li

Pastor of NWMC

7/1/2016