Date: 24 Oct
Time: 8am and 10.30am (and online)
Preacher: Rev’d Stephen Lim
Sermon: “The Power of Scripture to Change”
Bible reading: 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; John 5:36b-end
On-site Sunday School for Little Gems, KFC and Senior Sunday School are suspended until further notice. Online lessons will be conducted.
Date: 31 Oct
Please note that registration is full.
I am pleased to inform you that we have completed Phase 1 of our Church Review and Consultation, facilitated by Rev’d Dr Philip Huan of Church Life Resources. Rev’d Dr Philip Huan will be starting Phase 2 of the Review soon. In Phase 2, the findings and recommendations of Phase 1 will now be shared with our various ministry heads. During this process, ministry heads will be able to discuss these findings and recommendations and also give their feedback so that a consensus can be obtained that will form the roadmap for the recovery and renewal of COA’s vision for the coming years.
At the end of Phase 2, we will then move to the final part of our church review, which is to involve all our church members in various townhall meetings. By doing so, we hope to engage each and every COA member so that everyone will come on board and own the collective roadmap and vision for our Church in the coming years.
Our Old Testament Bible is basically the history of Israel; we find that at every critical juncture when God was about to do something new, Israel went through a time of reflection of its past in order to receive God’s new vision for the future. These events were called ‘’Covenant Renewals’’ where, at the end of the review, the Israelites recommitted themselves afresh to God through the renewal of the Covenant with repentance, worship and sacrifice. One of these key events was the renewal conducted by Joshua with the 12 tribes as they were about to cross the River Jordan into the Promised Land. These Covenant Renewals happened at every important points in the lives of the kings of Israel; they were the milestones of Israel’s history and engagement with God. After every covenant renewal, Israel was able to move forward with new strength and energy to do and complete what God wanted to do with them at that time. It was through these covenant renewals, which involved everyone from the kings to the ordinary people, that God was able to keep Israel pure and focused on its calling, namely, to enable the Messiah, Jesus Christ to be born as an Israelite into the world. We Gentiles are now blessed with the free gift of salvation because by God’s grace, God periodically renewed His covenant with Israel throughout its long history.
COA is now in the middle phase of our ‘’covenant renewal’’ process. God is once again calling us to be faithful, to renew our strength and refresh our vision as we come to our 70th anniversary. Thus renewed, we will be able to be used by Him to do great things in our St Andrew’s Village, in Potong Pasir and in the new township of Bidadari, and beyond!
May God keep us united and bless us all as we seek to recommit our lives to Him as individuals and collectively as the Church of the Ascension, Amen.
If you have any queries or inputs regarding the church review, please feel free to speak to our wardens or email the honorary secretary.
Date: 6 Nov (Sat)
Time: 9.30am-11am
Theme: Great Commandment and Great Commission
Date: 18 Dec (Sat)
Time: 7.30pm – 9.30pm
Theme: The Gift, the Promise, the Call
To register, click here.
As part of a Children’s Day special, two adorable boys interviewed Bishop Titus, asking him what he does for work and why his work attire is so different.
Watch how Bishop Titus shared the importance for the church to cultivate the younger generation in speaking and learning in their mother tongue to help them develop and adopt a bilingual and bicultural mindset and much more. Click here to view and share this clip.
Mark your calendar with these dates as we look forward to the Advent and Christmas seasons:
* Advent Carol Service — 3 Dec (Fri), 8pm
* Carols by Candlelight — 18 Dec (Sat), 7pm
* Service of 9 Lessons & Carols — 19 Dec (Sun), 8am
* Christmas Day Service — 25 Dec (Sat), 9am [English] & 2pm [Chinese]
* New Year’s Eve Covenant Service — 31 Dec (Fri), 10.30pm
Based on new MCCY’s guideline, seating bubble size will be reduced from 5 to 2. The number of worshippers per service remains at 50 (unvaccinated). Safe distancing measures apply.
Our on-site worship services are available for booking via Eventbrite registration: https://tiny.cc/COAregister
The Church staff are advised to work from home. Please call Clare Ng or email at admin@ascension.org.sg if you have any queries or if you wish to speak to our clergy or pastors.
Please take note:
1. Worshippers must register for service ahead of time using Eventbrite.
2. Check-in using the TraceTogether app/token on Sunday is still mandatory.
3. To facilitate our planning, we kindly request for your assistance to submit your vaccination status through this online form https://tinyurl.com/coavaccinedeclaration The information will help as we work towards increasing the service capacity and resuming on-site Sunday School/other ministry activities.
4. Those feeling unwell, especially with respiratory symptoms (such as fever, cough, sore throat and runny nose), are strongly advised to stay home and attend the online service instead.
Date: 11 Nov (Thur)
Time: 7.30 pm – 8.45 pm
During this period of pandemic, it has been difficult for us to travel to serve in the Deaneries. Hence, we are bringing the Deaneries to you.
Diocesan Missions Evening 2021 is the place where all 6 Deaneries are gathered to share updates from the ground and their needs. We will hear encourage stories from some of them during the breakout sessions.
To register, click here.
Starting from 1 January 2022, our Ascension Kindergarten would come under the management of the Anglican Preschool Services (APS). This arrangement is not something new, as our Ascension Kindercare had gone through the same process in 2020. To this effect, there was an official signing of the Transfer of License Agreement (TOL) between Bishop and the APS and the Memorandum of Understanding (TOL) between the Vicars and APS held on 18 August 2021.
APS was formed by our Diocese to manage all our Anglican preschools. Our Diocese has recognised that individual parishes found it hard to run their preschools due to the increasing complexity of the task. The preschool landscape had changed drastically and continues to change at a rapid pace. Parishes on their own face the real threat of closing down their preschools. However, with all Anglican preschools coming together under one professional management, we stand a chance of meeting or even surmounting these challenges owing to the synergy of our collective effort.
The parishioners can be assured that there is no change in ownership as our two preschools still belong to us. As in our Diocesan practice, the Bishop holds all the preschool licenses on our behalf. That is why Bishop, on behalf of the parishes, signs the TOL with APS which authorises APS to manage our preschools in the areas of staff, curriculum and governance. By professionally managing these areas for us, our church can now concentrate on the main reason why we have the preschools, that is, to share the love of Christ with our students and their parents. This is called the chaplaincy role. All the chaplaincy fruits of our preschools would be channelled back to our church. Next, there are many levels of ensuring that APS fulfils its role. APS is duty-bound to work closely with our church through the MOU which spells out comprehensively the areas of responsibility. The Diocese oversees the APS through the APS Board, comprising of clergy and laity. Dr Peter Moey is our representative to the Board. Finally, the APS reports to the Synod, where all parishes have their Synod Representatives and clergy present to hold APS to account. At our end, our preschools will continue to report to us at the AGM, and our current Management Committee, divested of its management role, will still meet with our preschools principals to discuss the chaplaincy work and other matters of concern. This MC will also meet with the APS and its Chaplaincy division on a regular basis.
Our Diocese Digest will devote its feature to the APS in its forthcoming issue. The feature articles would provide a comprehensive view of the APS and our preschools. Please look out for it! In the meantime, you may contact the Vicar, Dianne our AK principal, Theresa our AKC principal or Andrew Tay the CEO of APS if you feel the need to do so. Please do pray for the APS and our preschools that they will flourish and continue to provide quality education in a loving Christian environment to preschoolers.
