2023.09.30/10.01

From the Pastor’s Desk: Pastor Karen Quan

Dear brothers and sisters of RCAC,

God has been so good to us as a church family this summer. Not only were we able to host 6 weeks of Day Camps for Working Families, we had the opportunity to resume VBS. This is the biggest outreach event for kids & families during our ministry year. Our goal is to have 50% of those attending as unchurched and after a 4 year absence due to the pandemic, we are grateful for the 25% unchurched who registered. Another goal for VBS is for the churched kids to have an immersive experience of scripture. VBS often becomes a spiritual marker in their faith journey as we spend over 30 hours together in ministry. With 80 kids and 45 volunteers, we focused on the theme of “Shine Jesus’ Light.”

Except for a handful of adults, our serving team were all serving for the very first time, so a repeated phrase became “Everyone has a 1st time!” We are so grateful for how God moved among our Youth Ministry to commit and serve for the week. God has nurtured and matured many of our teens in their faith due to this ministry event. Relationships were built between kids & leaders and among leaders’ themselves. Over the years, we have seen how this ministry becomes 2 tracks: one for the kids and another for the serving team. Decisions to know Jesus & grow in him were made by kids and our teens.

The summary of our learning is below but truly, these are not only lessons for the kids. As a serving team, we were able to see the need to apply these lessons to our own lives during the week of VBS and I pray that we’re still applying & growing in these lessons beyond VBS.

  • When life feels dark….Shine Jesus’ Light
  • When people don’t get along…Shine Jesus’ Light
  • When good things happen…Shine Jesus’ Light
  • When people are sad….Shine Jesus’ Light
  • When people need help….Shine Jesus’ Light

Due to the absence of the English Pastor, we decided to cancel our Family BBQ and host a VBS Celebration Worship Service on Aug 27. How wonderful it was to welcome some of our unchurched families to join us for a “Family Worship” in the English service where kids were present for the entire service. Whether serving directly with the children or behind the scenes like our food team who prepared all of our lunches, God graciously provided all that we needed. Physically, it was tiring but in our spirits, God was our strength.

“My flesh and heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26

Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Karen Quan