QUICK SUMMARY: We had long discussions and prayers about whether God was sending us to this new community to start a new church plant serving this unique people group.
The Start of a New Church Plant – GCDC
Back in 2012 when I joined Upward Bound Study Center in Monterey Park as a volunteer ESL teacher, we launched a “Listening Campaign” in the summer in which we visited the immigrant families, a total of thirty or so, of all UBSC students attending our summer school. I still remember a story of a new immigrant family who escaped a fire in the middle of a chilly night. The family of four was woken up by the fire alarm because their apartment was caught on fire. In their sleepwear, the whole family rushed outside. Fire trucks came and the whole neighborhood woke up and some stood outside to watch the fire being put out. With a 6-month-old baby crying in her arm, the mother asked a neighbor whom they knew to lend them a blanket in order to keep the baby warm. Sadly, that neighbor simply turned and walked away. To their surprise, a stranger came up and offered help. He gave them a blanket and drove the family to a nearby motel for temporary stay. Stories like that truly touched our hearts. We had been praying for God’s direction on how to better care for these immigrants in our community due to an influx of Asian immigrants in the previous years. After the Listening Campaign, a few of us in FEC Arcadia shared about our experience with our small groups and other church members. We had long discussions and prayers about whether God was sending us to this new community to start a new church plant serving this unique people group.
Our reason for starting a new church was threefold. First of all, there was a trend of new immigrants coming into Monterey Park and surrounding cities in those few years. In fact, the Asian population growth rate was in double digits for the past decade according to city demographic data. God was telling us something through the trend – These new immigrants were eager for a community of love. Secondly, these new immigrants formed a unique culture that was very different than any of our existing FEC member churches in the surrounding neighborhood. Throughout the years, Upward Bound Study Center had done some gospel work and had channeled some new believers to various local churches. However, due to the cultural differences, almost all of these new believers left their churches not long after their first visits there. We saw a need of starting a new church for these new immigrants in their own culture. Thirdly, there was a need for the spiritual growth of our people, including worshipping God, teaching of God’s word, and discipleship of God’s people. Several incidents happened within a short span of just a few months in which our students, with no proper teaching or knowledge of basic Christian faith, were asked and almost forced to join some not-so-authentic “churches” including a cultic group in an adjacent city. By the grace and intervention of God, we were able to stop the students from being led astray.
After much discussion and prayer seeking God’s guidance and confirmation, our team started sharing this vision of a new church plant with the leaders of both the Arcadia church and the FEC Association. With the blessings and support from both, we officially launched our church planting effort in the summer of 2014, starting with a high school students group meeting weekly on Saturdays. One year later, Grace Covenant Disciples Church started her first Sunday worship service on Aug 16, 2015 at Upward Bound Study Center. In the same year, we rented the unit right next door to the center, and it became our church office in Monterey Park. The church planting effort was underway.
In the past six years, GCDC has gone through her growing pains during early childhood stage. Families moved out of the area due to work-related reasons. Students also transferred to universities in other locations. Some people even stopped coming to church once their physical needs were met. Other challenges included the difficulty of finding a common meeting time for working parents with very different work schedules. On the other hand, we continued to see God’s work among our members. Many immigrant families were cared for and encouraged in their early days of settling in this new country. Three students accepted Christ as their personal savior and lord, and were baptized in 2016. Some families have become part of our church core group today. The new church plant is moving forward by God’s grace. Even though we may continue to face many challenges ahead, we are more confident that God will carry us forward through His amazing work in and through us for building His kingdom in this community.
恩上之家 – 一個新植堂的開始
在2012年當我剛剛開始加入Monterey Park 的志上學習中心成為一名義務英文老師的時候，那個暑期我們開展了一個名為“聆聽社區”的活動，活動中我們訪問了大概30位志上學習中心學生的家庭。我還記得一個關於新移民家庭在寒冷的半夜逃出火災的故事。這個一家四口的家庭在半夜由於住的房子著火被警鈴吵醒，一家人穿著睡衣跑到房子外面。救火車來了，整個小區都被吵醒，有些居民也跑到外面觀看滅火的場景。這時在媽媽懷裡的6個月大的嬰孩冷得在哭，媽媽就向一位在人群中他們認識的鄰居詢問是否可以借一條毛毯給小嬰孩蓋著禦寒。可悲的是，這位鄰居轉身就走了。但令他們驚訝的是，一位他們不認識的路人卻給了他們一條毛毯，並且載他們去到一家附近的旅館暫住。像這樣的故事深深地打動了我們的心。 我們一直向神禱告，如何才能更好地照顧這樣一個在過去好幾年亞洲移民湧入的社區。“聆聽社區”的活動過後，我們幾個Arcadia教會的會員開始跟我們的小組和教會其他會員分享我們的經歷，一起討論和禱告，尋求神的心意，看神是否差派我們到這個新的社區，透過植堂來服侍這一獨特的人群。
我們植堂背後有三個原因。第一，是當時許多新移民湧入Monterey Park 以及周圍的幾個城市。從城市人口調查結果讓我們看到在過去十年亞裔人口以雙位數百分比增長。神好像要透過這個趨勢告訴我們一些事情 – 這些新移民渴慕一個愛的群體。第二，這些新移民本身有著一個非常獨特的文化，是跟我們在附近地區的FEC教會的現有文化不同。其實在過去多年，志上學習中心也曾經做過不少福音的工作，而且將一些新信主的學生介紹到不同的教會。但因為文化上的差異，幾乎所有這些新信的人都無法長期穩定地在教會中成長。我們看見一個需要，就是建立一間屬於他們自己的教會。第三個原因是這個群體中屬靈的需要，包括敬拜神，傳講神的話語，以及門徒訓練。當時在短短的幾個月時間里，我們好幾位學生因為沒有基督教的信仰和基本的知識，被邀請甚至被迫參與一些所謂的“教會”，包括一個臨近城市中的異端群體。感謝神的恩典和介入，我們及時阻止了我們的學生被帶離正道。
經過一段時間的討論和禱告，以及尋求神的帶領和印證，我們開始與Arcadia教會以及FEC聯會的領袖們分享這一個植堂的異象。在得到他們的祝福和支持以後，我們在2014年暑期正式開展了植堂的事工，從每週六的一個學生聚會開始。一年後，2015年的8月16日，藉著志上學習中心的場地，恩上之家開始了第一個主日崇拜。同年，我們租了志上隔壁的單位成為教會在Monterey Park 的辦公室，植堂事工正式得以開展。
在過去六年時間里，恩上之家經歷了教會早期成長的艱辛。一些家庭因著工作的原因而離開了這個社區；一些學生轉學到別的地區；也有一些移民得到他們的需要以後也就不再來了。還有其它的挑戰，包括無法為工作時間不穩定的成人設定一個固定的聚會時間，等等。但另一方面，我們不斷地看見神的工作在我們當中彰顯。 許多新移民的家庭在他們來到一個新國家的時候得到關心和支持。三位學生在2016年信主和受洗加入教會。一些家庭在我們當中成長，現在已經成為我們核心同工中的成員。這一新的植堂在神的恩典中繼續邁進。雖然我們將會面對前面許多挑戰，但是我們更有信心神會繼續帶領我們，並透過祂奇妙的工作和我們的參與，在這個地區建立祂的國度！
(胡希强傳道)
Pastor of Grace Covenant Disciples Church, 恩上之家傳道