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LETTER TO COA FOR 2022

Dear COA Church Family,

Blessed New Year to all of you!

It is such a joy and privilege for my family and me to join and grow with all of you according to God’s wonderful plan and purpose for us. We are all the more excited as this year is a significant one – in which we are celebrating our 70th anniversary!

The number 70 is a very significant one. In biblical terms, it represents the passing of the baton to a new generation (Psalm 90). It also represents a season of experiencing God’s grace and favour as the nation of Israel were brought back after seventy years in exile. I believe that we can all look forward to and anticipate the blessing of God in our midst. We can do so because our God is a good and gracious God!

Our need for God’s blessings is all the more stark as we witness the world wrecked with a myriad of problems, chief of which is the Covid pandemic which has greatly impacted our way of life. Our church life has been especially affected as we had to restrict the frequency and mode of our meetings. Fervency for God and relationships with one another may have cooled because of the lack of mutual interaction and communication.

Yet in the midst of all of this God is faithful. He says to us in Isaiah 60:
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” (v1-3)

Church, it is time to renew our call and mandate as the Church on the Hill. It is time for us to come together to seek God’s face so that we can bring the light of Christ to the schools and communities around us. It is time to step in faith into all of God’s will and purposes for us in this season!

With this in mind, our vision for 2022 is “Rebuilding God’s House”. We will go through the Old Testament book of Nehemiah for the first half of the year and the epistle of First Corinthians for the second half of the year to ground ourselves in God’s word. There will also be various initiatives to rebuild and strengthen our marriages, families, relationships with one another and our witness to the world. I urge all of us to open our hearts to God’s Spirit and respond willingly and readily to all that He is calling us to do!

Finally let me end with God’s promise for us:

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

There is no conceiving of the extent of God’s power and work in us as we trust in Him! God is the God of the impossible. And He calls us to walk in obedience one step at a time. And that step, however small we may think it is, is able to help us stand and advance in the storms of life.

God bless!
Rev Ian