17th Church Anniversary Celebration

August 16, 2009

Praise the Lord for bringing more than 450 brothers, sisters and friends gathered together to celebrate our 17th Anniversary. The theme this year is “The Most Precious Corner”.

At the opening, everyone was treated to a cheerful singing and dancing performance by brothers & sisters from the Youth and Hearing God group, the latter sang the theme song “”Most Precious Corner”” in sign language and stirred up a lot of excitement among the congregation.

Then came the Praise and Worship led by Bro. Allen. It brought the congregation into God’s presence. As brothers and sisters danced to their hearts and lifted up their hands in giving praises and thanks to the Lord, the entire Church was touched by the greatness and power of God throughout the session.

The congregation then settled down for a pre-recorded video testimony. Brother Chi Ho (SD3), Sister Ceres (SD2), Sister Amy (SD1), Sister Freda (SD7) and Sister Cindy (SD1) shared their precious moments since they joined our church. Chi Ho thanked God for His blessings. As a young follower of Jesus Christ, his life became more meaningful through the fellowship and bonding with brothers and sisters. He also shared the lessons he learnt during his student placements; the warmth he felt when brothers and sisters supported him in overcoming the stress at work. He was joyful to share that he would love everyone around him and to bring more people to God’s family.

Ceres, Amy, Freda and Cindy testified the wonderful works done by God in bringing them from secondary schoolmates to sisters in church. After separating for a number of years in pursuit of their lives’ goals, the four sisters, starting from Ceres, were brought to Hope HK over the years and now fulfilling the vision of the church. They shared with the congregation their precious moments in fellowshipping with each other and joy in follow Him. Through prayers, care and encouragement, the four sisters supported each other in overcoming their difficulties in life and in growing spiritually in God.

The sermon – “The Most Precious Corner” (1Pe 2:4-6)

Pastor Gavin shared that God not only gave us precious lives by joining us together to become a strong family, He also gave us many precious gifts even though we have done nothing to deserve these gifts. There are three precious gifts from the topic scripture:
1) God’s precious stone – His one and only son Jesus Christ – the living stone;
2) God’s previous family – building spiritual house. Christ is the head, and each believer is a member of the body. Indeed, nobody is dispensable and everyone should cover and complement one another to build God’s Church as a team;
3) God’s previous gift – receiving and trusting in our Lord Jesus Christ so that we can safely put our confidence in Him when facing disappointments in our lives, for in Scripture it says: “”the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.””

Pastor Gavin encouraged us that in order to move in unity within the Church, we should build intimate relationships with God and to be a sacrifice of Him, obeying His commands in our everyday lives.

In response to this message and to the calling of the Holy Spirit to receive the “precious gift”, 11 said “Yes” and accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and saviour. Praise the Lord for bringing in new members of the family. Let’s keep being united and work together to build this beautiful spiritual house for God!

Video Promotion: