Welcome from Missions Committee Chair

Dear ACC brothers and sisters,

Welcome to the 2023 ACC Missions Conference!

The theme of the 2023 Missions conference is “The Cross, The Church, to All Creation”. It is our great honor that we will have Rev. Dr. David Doong, the General Secretary of the Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism (CCCOWE), to preach in the following 3 sessions: “Missional Disciple – The Foundation of Christian Missions?”; “Missional Discipleship @ The Workplace – Why Work?”; and “Holistic Mission – How Shall We Live?” I wholeheartedly hope that all ACC brothers and sisters can be energized by these messages and seek our very personal mission that Lord Jesus Christ bestows upon us in 2023 and years to come.

2023 is a very exciting year for ACC missions. This is the first year since the COVID-19 pandemic that ACC sent multiple STM teams to four different countries in addition to special project/vision trip teams to three other countries. I am especially thrilled to see that more than 40% of STM team members are youths/college students. I believe that the STM experience at such young ages would have an unprecedented impact on their life of following Jesus Christ as they are on the way to becoming strong soldiers in the Lord's kingdom. It is also so encouraging that the whole church is supporting them without hesitance. Fundraising events set records. Many brothers and sisters pray to support STM teams during their trips. Some STM teams raised more funds than their needs and some STM teams are already planning the trip for next year right after they returned back from the field.

In 2023, we welcomed two new members to the Missions Committee (MC): Bob Eng (English Congregation) as the Missions Partnership department lead and Erin Li (Mandarin Congregation) as the Missionary Caring department lead. They both have done an outstanding job taking on a great deal of workload and responsibilities. ACC supports 43 long term missionaries in 16 different countries and 18 mission organizations in 2023. We also support 2 mid-term (one-year) missionaries, who either grew up or attended ACC during their college years. They went to mission fields right after their graduation from college. Our missionary caring department formed the first missionary advocacy team, in which more brothers and sisters are engaged in caring for the missionaries that ACC supports. Kairos class held in May 2023 attracted 35 Brothers and Sisters to attend. The missional church Sunday School class is also planned for the winter semester this year (Mandarin and Cantonese). MC also publishes a quarterly newsletter to provide updates on ACC Missions ministry. We hope that all these ministries will stir up the hearts for Missions among all ACC congregations and mobilize more brothers and sisters to engage in the Great Commission directly.

Two of the 2022 MC members, Pastor Gaylord and brother Wayne Huang, went on sabbatical from MC after >6 years of serving. They set unparalleled examples at ACC of serving diligently in the Great Commission. I am so thankful and humbled that I have opportunity serving with them together in MC in the last few years. Please say thank you to them when you have a chance to see them next time.

The Lord’s blessing to ACC’s Missions ministry continues to be abundant and more than what we planned in 2023. While we are very grateful for the Lord’s blessing and provision, we are indebted to the Lord for His calling to be the messengers of the gospel. “This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven” (Colossians 1:23); Let’s “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthews 28:19)

May the Lord bless!

David Wu

ACC Missions Committee Chair