ANNUAL REPORT - CCCTOcccto.org/content/file/2013 Annual Report.pdfVBS 2013 96 children 62 adult & youth helpers AWANA 51 children 54 weekly adult & youth helpers Looking ahead to 2014

CCCTO | 2013 ANNUAL REPORT 1

2013ANNUAL REPORT

CHINESE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

OF THOUSAND OAKS

www.cccto.org

published and distributed January 2014


TABLE OF CONTENTS

A brief history 3

Introduction 4

Mandarin-speaking ministry 5

English-speaking ministry 6

Cantonese-speaking ministry 7

Youth/college ministry 9

Children’s ministry 10

Christian Church of Simi Valley 11

Technology team 12

General affairs 13

Finance 14

Safety & compliance department 15

Missions 16

Looking forward: Great Oaks 17


A brief history

Together, we have witnessed God’s faithfulness over the past 30 years

Chinese Christian Church of Thousand Oaks (CCCTO) was founded on June 20, 1979. On Easter day in 1988, the first church service was held in the building that we currently worship together at in Thousand Oaks, CA. That location now holds worship services in three different languag-es serving the Mandarin, Cantonese, and English speaking communities in the Conejo Valley. Since then we have also planted a Mandarin-speaking church in Simi Valley.

Today, we are ONE BODY, in two locations, worshiping in 3 languages

3 CONGREGATIONS WORSHIP EVERY WEEK IN THOUSAND OAKS

CANTONESE-SPEAKING@ 9:15AM

MANDARIN-SPEAKING@ 9:30 AM

ENGLISH-SPEAKING@ 11:00 AM

AND RECENTLY, A CHURCH WAS PLANTED IN SIMI VALLEY

MANDARIN-SPEAKING@ 10:45AM

ENGLISH-SPEAKING@ 10:45 AM


I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

Introduction

This has been a year of anticipation

We may not see it. We may not know it. But it’s there. Anticipating the next era of CCCTO, one thing is certain; apart from HIM, we can do nothing!

In the following pages you’ll get a feel for some big things that are already taking shape:

• Our vision is being refined to reflect that with God there are no boundaries

• As part of that mission, the Great Oaks Association is being formed as a means to spread the gospel through church plant-ings

• The Simi Valley campus is finalizing the merger with Conejo Val-ley Chinese Mission Church to form the independent Christian Church Simi Valley (CCSV) - our first church plant

• A Cantonese speaking service has taken off this year bringing us to three services on Sunday morning

• New administrative departments have been formed to better address Technology and Safety issues.

• Finance is continually being honed to reflect a ministry driven budget, rather than a budget driven ministry. New tools such as Online Giving provide even greater efficiencies.

With great things happening, perhaps one of the greatest challenges we will face is our own ability to trust in Him, putting aside our own pride to see what God wants for His church. Please continue to pray for our pastoral team that they may be unified and directed by the Holy Spirit:

• Pray for our church body that there will be a revival and desire to urgently spread the gospel

• Pray for our church finances that the floodgates would open wide to do the things of God

• Pray for each other that we would bear one another’s burdens in love

• Pray for our neighbors that they would see Christ in everything that we do

On behalf of the Executive Board, thank you all for your continued support in making ministry happen. CCCTO has had a long history of over 30 years. It is execiting to imagine where God will take us over the next 30+ years!

To paraphrase Habakkuk 1:5, the Lord says:

“Look... and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”

Brian Woo2013 Chairman of the Executive Board


Mandarin-speaking ministry

2013 年，中文堂眾信徒圍繞年度主題“相愛、信任、扶持，同作神百般恩賜的好管家（彼前4:7-11）”，學習順服在聖靈感動中，彼此激勵將神所賦予的恩賜用在傳福音和門徒訓練中，得以有將下列事工果效歸榮耀於主耶穌基督：

1、團隊建設：眾同工在穩定擴展事工團隊（包括新長老、執事、團契核心同工）和尋求整體方向一致（包括支持橡樹播種協會的異象、幫助西米教會獨立、鼓勵各團契發展獨特傳福音和門訓策略、中文堂在財務上要有更多奉獻和更合理管理）這兩個方面，有了基本的共識，使得會眾逐漸提升國度觀念。

2、聚會：主日崇拜人數穩定並略有增長，平均為163人。成人主日學平均92人。週三禱告平均23人。參加夏令退修會的人數超過往年。華神在我們教會開辦的神學課程《團契與小組長教會事工中的運用》和《教會領導學》都有約40人參加。

3、團契：各個團契均開始更多關注服務社區，向未信主的人傳福音，特別是服務青年學生的P2團契做工格外努力，使得中文堂全年有31人受洗，其中13位是CLU和Pepperdine的學生。另外，2013年有4位新會員加入，而且有一個專注剛進入社會工作的青年人的團契正在建立中。

4、關懷：除多個團契都組織了系統的《親密之旅》講座之外，恩華團契和恩多團契多次組織為重病家庭禁食禱告和安排輪流幫忙家庭服務，成為各團契關懷事工的榜樣。另外，司提反關顧事工已經訓練出第一批同工，盼望2014年可以逐漸開始投入服事。

5、福音：社區服務事工包括春節晚會、中秋遊園會、乒乓球比賽、與韻聲合唱團聯合演唱會、牙齒保健講座、稅務講座、加州政府免費特製電話申請說明會，以及恩家團契為老年公寓舉辦的演藝餐會都順利進行。參加了無家可歸者事工的人也多餘往年。召開了一次佈道會；有新的家庭加入到墨西哥短宣和聖誕鞋盒子事工；有多位弟兄姐妹參與到中國大陸、帕勞、歐洲的宣教中。

然而，我們必須承認，在各方面還有許多虧欠，2014年最需要在五個方面改善提升。第一，因為2013年顯然沒有實現年初盼望各個團契大發展的計劃，這使得我們將把團契事工繼續做為2014年的核心。根據腓立比書2:1-5節的經文“所以，在基督裏若有甚麼勸勉，愛心有甚麼安慰，聖靈有甚麼交通，心中有甚麼慈悲憐憫，2你們就要意念相同，愛心相同，有一樣的心思，有一樣的意念，使我的喜樂可以滿足。3凡事不可結黨，不可貪圖虛浮的榮耀；只要存心謙卑，各人看別人比自已強。4各人不要單顧自己的事，也要顧別人的事。5你們當以基督耶穌的心為心。”2014年的主題是“愛在團契、興旺福音”。在新人跟進關懷和持久幫助重大困難家庭上需要有更有效的教會與團契間的配合。第二，將靈命造就、門徒訓練和神學裝備落實到組建團契核心團隊、印證產生新長老、尋找另一位專職傳道人，和鼓勵更多人參加短宣中。特別要鼓勵沒有到過海外宣教的執事和團契主席先邁出一步，成為更多人參與遠方宣教的榜樣。第三、繼續鼓勵每個信徒都關心社區未信主的朋友、積極參與社區服務（例如服務中文學校、參加無家可歸者服務）、帶領更多未信主的人進入教會和皈依基督。第四，通過與財務部配合，鼓勵弟兄姐妹更加樂意奉獻金錢，特別是對宣教的金錢奉獻。


English-speaking ministry

Deacon initiative (growing deeper, growing closer) In 2013, the English Ministry (EM) Deacon Team proposed an initiative to enable the EM congregation to grow deeper in the Word and grow closer together as a people of God. It was recognized that there was a need in the EM to build this community of believers spiritually and corporately. Priority was thus established to act on this initiative above other initiatives for the year. The initiative is to establish a closer connection between the teaching on Sunday and the learning in the fellowships. The discussion topics in the fellowships would thus be taken from the teaching on Sunday both in form as well as in substance. After the completion of the Sunday teaching, the pastor would then write a series of discussion questions and application questions for the fellowships. These discussion questions are made available and downloadable on the EM website and through the weekly e-newslet-ter. Fellowship leaders are thus able to use these discussion questions to lead the fellowship deeper into the topic of Sunday’s message. In this way, the fellowships are able to both delve deeper in Sunday’s message “growing deeper,” and share the same topics, thus “growing closer.” In this way, the whole church is able to be nurtured in the same way and in the same direction.

Stephen MinistriesThe EM has eight people who have been in training in the Stephen Ministry. They met Sunday evenings for two hours for training in this ministry. This will be the first initiative of the EM to provide deeper caring for the needs of people throughout the congregation. In 2014, these Stephen Ministers will become ac-tive in reaching out to people in need.

Evangelistic MeetingThe EM had an evangelistic initiative in 2013. An evangelistic speaker was invited from the Talbot School of Theology. He presented apologetic messages that benefited both the Christians and the non-Chris-tians in attendance. In 2014, the EM will continue this initiative with another evangelistic meeting.

Women’s Retreat 2014The women have planned a women’s retreat for 2014. The retreat will embrace all of the women of CCCTO. The retreat is planned for October. The have invited a speaker, Dr. Ilene Bezjian.

Revival Meeting The EM is planning to have its first revival meeting initiative in 2014. A professor from Talbot School of The-ology will be invited to speak.

Great Oaks Church Planting AssociationThe EM will continue to support the new whole church initiative called the Great Oaks Church Planting Association. We pray that God will give the English Ministry new vision for supporting future church plants from the Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley campuses.

Building Ministry Team The burden of ministry has become overwhelming for the EM deacon team. It is thus the endeavor of the English ministry to build a team of those leading the various ministries.

Homeless MinistryThe homeless ministry is continuing from December 2013 - March 2014.


Cantonese-speaking ministry

History• First worship service: April 21, 2012• Stable worship: 30+ (max 70+)• Launch of website: http://csm.cccto.org• Launch of outreach ministry• Faithful coworkers• Steady new comers, new believer(s)• 12+ families committed to the Cantonese

Speaking Ministry (CSM)

April 2, 2013 - One year laterMinistry Development• Weekly Worship: 9:15-10:30am• Disciple Training• Music/hymn leading• Spiritual equipping• Family equipping• Good News class

MISSION

Via the uniqueness of Can-tonese language and culture:

• Glorify God• Evangelize Cantonese

speaking folks in Venura County

• Build CSM Bodies

Future challengesIf the CSM continues to grow...

shortage of pianists

shortage of facilities shortage of coworkers


粵語事工發展報告

粵語事工歷• 4/21/2012粵語堂• 穩定的崇拜：30+ (max 70+人)• 推出網站 http://csm.cccto.org/• 推出外展事工• 忠實同工• 新加入者，新信徒（S）• 家庭承諾

一週年崇拜慶祝2013-14 粵語堂事工發展• 每週崇拜: 9:15-10:30am• 門徒訓練• 音樂/領讚歌• 屬靈裝備• 家庭裝備• 福音好消息班級

MISSION

通過粵語的語言和文化的獨特性

• 榮神益人• 傳福音粵語人• 建立粵語的身體

未來的挑戰如果CSM繼續增長

司琴短缺

房間和設施短缺同工短缺


Youth/college ministry

VISION

The ACT4Christ Ministries of CCCTO exists to be a missional community whose members learn how to in-fluence their world with the Christian worldview partic-ularly from the lifestyle and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Looking back on 2013

Like every year, 2013 has been a year with a lot of activities for our youth & college students, but most importantly, we learned more about what it means to grow in Christ and be followers of Christ who try to impact their home, schools, and work for Him. This year, we learned about these major topics in continuation of fulfilling our 7 year curriculum based on our vision...

• Sharing the gospel with major cults, worldviews, & religions.• The beginning part of the Letter to James and how to live a practical Christian life.• What to and not to imitate from the major heroes and villains of the Bible.• Over half of the Letter to Romans and what God’s grace means for followers of Christ.

Beyond these major topics, every month we have continued with our tradition of having a large mean-ingful event. Missions trips, Brothers & Sisters Appreci-ation Night, Relationships & Dating Lock-In, baptisms, etc...were the few things we participated in in at-tempting to fulfill the vision of ACT4Christ this past year. In addition to these, there are people in our youth/col-lege ministry who are discipling each other on a one-to-one weekly basis, further exploring and deepening their Faith.

God has blessed us in many ways in 2013, and we look forward to His blessing and being a blessing for Him in 2014.

What happens on a weekly basis

SUNDAY @ 9:30AM Bible study Christian theology

FRIDAY @ 7:30PM Current issues Christian topics


Children’s ministry

Summary

We are so grateful to the Lord for blessing the Children’s Ministry in 2013. Most notably, we created and produced our very own Vacation Bible School based on a world missions theme inspiring and teaching kids about what God is doing around the world. It was amazing to see how God blessed everyone involved. As a result, many new families with young children have begun attending our church on Sundays and/or have enrolled their children in Awana. We thank God for using this ministry to draw the community to our church family!

SUNDAYS 9:30 - 32 children

11:00 - 40 children

15 weekly teachers and helpers

VBS 2013

96 children62 adult & youth helpers

AWANA

51 children54 weekly adult & youth helpers

Looking ahead to 2014

February: AWANA fundraiser with Angel Bins, a recycling company, that will pay us for shoe and clothing do-nations. Our goal is to raise $1,000 to finance a new race track for the kids.

March: Family Service Proj-ect with Children’s Hunger Fund in L.A. to package food boxes.

June: Vacation Bible School (VBS) 2014, Gospel Light’s Sonrise National Park

Other improvements and ongoing projects

• Created photo archive using Flickr• Created Facebook Page to promote ministry and awareness • Continue Wishing Tree, quarterly newsletter, special event performances• Continue training teachers (Impact convention in Pasadena) • Continue building online collection of curriculum• Continue background checks on all volunteers, update safety procedures• Continue encouraging families through workshops and visitations


Christian Church of Simi Valley

An amazingly blessed year

Praise and Thanks be to the LORD! 2013 has been an amazingly blessed year for the Christian Church of Simi Valley. We started Sunday service at the 58A Moreland Road facility on Christ-mas 2012. The first service was conducted with members of both Chinese Christian Church of Simi Valley (CCCSV) and Conejo Valley Chinese Mission Church (CVCMC) gathered in the newly renovated sanctuary. In the beginning, the two congregations shared duties for Sunday service and Sunday School. But lately, the distinction of ministerial personnel gradually disap-pear. Our average attendance of Sunday services is around 100 people. Each congregation still keeps its fellowship before the merge. Altogether there are eight fellowship groups, with another one started in the middle of 2013. We had 5 sisters baptized into the LORD. About half of members attend adult Sunday School on each Sunday. We had a summer picnic outreach and close to 200 people attended. In September we started the English worship service on the sec-ond floor of our facility. We thank the LORD that the youth ministry and children ministry are all on track and going on well. Each Sunday there are about 10-15 youths attending youth Sunday school and English service. There are about 20 children (including babies and toddlers) attend-ing kids Sunday School and kids worship.

Many non-believers joined our wonderful Thanksgiving potluck, six brothers and sisters gave personal testimony to glorify the LORD. We organized a Simi choir and sang on Easter and church dedication Sundays. We thank the Lord that we now have much needed facility space for weekday activities. We now hold our weekly Wednesday-night prayer meeting at the place, plus ping-pong fellowship on Tuesday evening, elderly fellowship on Friday morning, restaurant fellowship on Wednesday night, sister fellowship on Tuesday morning and coworkers meeting on the first Saturday each month. Elders Lu and Ou regularly meet with Pastor Chen to discuss church operation on a weekly basis. Pastor Chen went back to Taiwan to have surgery on his lower jaw bone for the last quarter of 2013, and the two elders are now in charge of the church operation. Pastor Chen is expected to return by late February 2014.

A church dedication ceremony was held on December 1 afternoon, and there were about 120 people attending. We invited 4 speakers to give us encouraging messages and blessing. We pray that 2014 will be another richly blessed year for CCSV! Much thanks for the support of CCCTO’s pastors, elders, deacons, coworkers and brothers and sisters. May the LORD keep us and bless us all.


Technology team

Enabling the ministries of CCCTO

This year a small team was put together to focus on the technological needs of our church. Operating under the following core principles, this team has been hard at work improving and simplifying things so that we can focus on the minisry and the people, not the buttons wires.

MISSION

Improving and simplifying media /communication (transfer of information) through technology, to allow our ministries to devote more time/effort to relevant matters.

Technology must support ministry, and make communication/information sharing easier - our efforts must not get in the way, or ever replace ministry

Technology tools must be useful, easy to learn and easy to maintain for normal layperson - or it is of no use.

We must be willing to replace ourselves - by documenting our work and committing training others to take our place eventually

1.2.3.


General affairs

We are thankful for the faithful service of so many

Every week many brothers and sisters from each congregation work together to help make sure that our ministries have adequate facilities to serve the many needs at our church. This includes everything from landscaping, plumbing, the parking, and anything else outside, to all of the things inside such as the classroms, bathrooms, and anything needing maintenance.

2013Accomplishments

FUTURE Plans

• Fellowship Hall lighting• Sanctuary lighting• Sanctuary big screen TV• 2 new classroom TVs• New heater for baptism pool• AC repair and maintenance• Termite Fumigation• Replaced damaged mailbox • Side door repairs• Oven repair• Annual church clean-up

• Stage lighting• Classroom remodeling• Bathroom renovation • Greeting area renovation• Wood flooring (classrooms)• Double-pane windows• Playground lighting


Praise the LORD for His providing

Through your faithful offerings, 2013 is turning into a year that we witnessed at least 10% offering growth compared with the previous three years. At the end of October 2013, total offering received was $635,030.78. Despite a negative cash flow of $32,938.79, the lowest deficit compared with the last three years at the same period, we project positive cash flow for 2013 if the “December Double Offering” trend continues.

Looking ahead into 2014, we are amazed again at how God has prepared us in 2013 to take on the challenges in 2014 and beyond. 2014 will be the first year that CCCTO and CCSV have its own independent church budget. 2013 offering excluding Simi Valley church is now approaching the past years’ offering level when Simi Valley church offering is included. This allows us to plan the 2014 budget that includes higher Missions budget and increased support for the Cantonese Ministry.

Did you know that you can now make offerings online at home with your computer or on the go with your smart phone? You can even make online offerings for Designated Mis-sion. Just select “Mission Fund”, and type what you normally write on the check memo line into “Additional Information” field. Since its launch in July 2013, we received $38,542 online from 43 people as of this writing (11/23/2013). Sounds interesting? Give it a try today using the church website link or the direct link: www.easytithe.com/cccto

At CCCTO finance department, our mission is to be the good and faithful servants, faithfully and carefully administering God’s money to support our ministries and missionaries. Thank you for your trust.

Finance

Ji MaTreasurer of the Executive Board


Safety & compliance department

Purpose of the Safety & Compliance Department

To proactively promote a safe church environment through the development of safety pro-grams and emergency plans, and identification of risk exposures through self-inspection.

Core principles

The Safety and Compliance Department have focus on the prevention of harm for:• Children - to protect their emotional and physical well-being in all situations• Congregants - to provide both a safe environment, and the means to address emer-

gency situations• Facilities - to be good stewards of the assets God has provided us with

The Safety and Compliance Department attempts to mitigate the risks of emergency situa-tions:

• Of a medical nature - where a person’s physical or emotional well-being may be af-fected

• Of natural disasters - where the facilities may be compromised and present an imme-diate danger

• Of hostile threats - where intruder response and violence awareness is required

Objectives for this year

• Identify major risk points• Enhance the volunteer screening for children’s and youth ministries• Increase perimeter security • Develop situational response plans


Missions

GOALS

• To nurture congregational confi-dence and corporate participa-tion in CCCTO missions efforts;

• To assist potential missionaries in preparation, planning, and pursuit of long-term missions;

• To set the direction for missions principles and practices;

• To facilitate consistency, trans-parency, and accountability in missions decisions;

• To ensure the integrity and effec-tive stewardship of human and financial resources.

2013 summary• Completed 2012 CCCTO missionary annual review.• Actively supported 22 long term missionaries (LTM), up-

dated their status and prayer requests.• Revised the mission policy to align with CCCTO PT (pas-

toral team) church planting vision.• Aligned church planting vision, added two new mission-

aries to support PCEEM• Worked with the Finance Department, distributed funds

in the amount of $120K to missionaries as of 9/15/2013 (Est. $156K for entire 2013)

• Elected two new department members• Coordinated missionaries’ visitation to CCCTO and mis-

sion field visitation• Organized Mission Month Promotion• Taught “World Mission” class during Sunday School• Helped and Coordinated short term mission (STM)

events (Palau, Mexico, Europe, etc.)

our prayer request• We are in the process of the 2013 annual missionary review, pray for us to do all in His will.• May Lord give us wisdom to carry out the Pastoral Team’s vision for church planting.

Our missionaries

We are currently supporting 22 long term missionaries through over 10 organizations worldwide. As a precaution, their names and locations are not listed in the Annual Report, however you can learn more about how you can support our missionaries by contacting the Missions Committee.


The Great Commission

The Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-19 must be carried out with action. Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This is the final commandment of Jesus Christ before He ascended into Heaven. Obeying this commandment, the early close-door Jerusalem Church did turn into the open-door Antioch Church, which was mission minded and did sent out missionaries to spread the Gospel in the gentile world. Since then, the goal of the ministry of church planting has always been what Prophet Isaiah proclaimed: “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.” (Is. 54:2).

Our calling

As mission minded church leaders, we must hold onto a principle: the work of the Holy Spirit is to be manifested through churches who commit themselves in global church planting and mission works. Through global church planting and mission works, churches become the channel of the power of the Holy Spirit, to manifest the pow-er of the Kingdom, so that the world can hear the Gospel and be saved. Churches must break free from the bondage of self-centered fears and cultural limit, must take visions of God’s Kingdom as their own, so that they can cross over racial, cultural, geographical, and organizational boundaries.

Today, we must ask ourselves, is the purpose of the existence of the church solely for the satisfaction of our own needs? Who are the targets of our service? We need to change our perspective about church function, to widen our scope, to break away from traditional way of church ministries, and to see the need of God’s King-dom. For this purpose, we need to follow Bible teachings, to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit, and to walk on the path of fulfilling God’s Great Commission.

If we review the history of the Thousand Oaks church for the past 34 years, we should see that the Lord has used this church to accomplish many important missionary goals. Because we know that our Lord is the author and finisher of our faith, we should continue to do mission works with faith. We believe the Lord will further enlarge our boundaries, and provide many more open doors. We pray the Lord will help us, so that we all can be part-ners in the Gospel, to rise up and forge forward, and to expand God’s Kingdom. Therefore, in 2013, the Pastoral Team (PT) unanimously agreed that we have to set the goal to build churches through church planting and mission works as our visions.

What’s next

To implement this vision, the PT decides to establish a church planting association. By “association”, we mean “a group of individuals who voluntarily enter into an agreement to accomplish a purpose”. The PT gave it a name “Great Oaks’. This name is adopted based on the scriptural verse: “In their righteousness, they will be like [great oaks] that the Lord has planted for his own glory.”(Is. 61:3 ) The PT further set the vision of Great Oaks as “To bear witness to Christ across cultural boundaries and to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ through Church Planting and Mission.” The Great Oaks is now undergoing incorporation process, and hopefully will be formally registered and established sometime in January 2014. May the Lord bless this organization for carrying out His Great Commission.

Looking forward: Great Oaks

Documents

ANNUAL REPORT - CCCTOcccto.org/content/file/2013 Annual Report.pdfVBS 2013 96 children 62 adult & youth helpers AWANA 51 children 54 weekly adult & youth helpers Looking ahead to 2014