Saturday, 14 March 2020
Rev Johnny Chin
Dear fellow brothers and sisters
in Christ,
Re: COVID-19 Pandemic: St. Andrew’s Church Temporary Measures
Greeting in the Name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the God who is Shepherd and Protector, gracious Giver of joy,
peace and hope, the God who is alive and who is ever present with us.
So many things have happened in
the last one week. You have probably
have received my earlier announcement
that we will have services this Sunday (15 March 2020) and thereafter, we will
have to temporarily suspend our services for 2-3 Sundays. That decision was made with huge difficulty
by our Church Council and Bishop’s approval on Friday afternoon, 13 March
2020. This was not done lightly or
without prayer.
Since then we have our Ministry
of Health (Brunei) making a few announcements, including the instruction to
have all public and mass gatherings to be cancelled for the time being. We are fully aware of what this mean and the
seriousness of the announcement. Follow
by that is the announcement from our own Bishop, The Rt. Revd. Datuk Danald
Jute, “… we have decided to temporarily suspend our Sunday & Weekdays
Church Services effective this Sunday, 15th March – 1st
April 2020.” Bishop also stress that
“this is only a temporary measure.” This
is in reference to all parishes in our diocese.
As of today, 14 March 2020, we
continue to receive genuine questions and concerns from fellow brothers and
sisters in Christ, not limited to St. Andrew’s Church. We have been receiving new updates of the challenging
situation. Our Church Council has
continued to discuss and pray through this matter.
After much listening (to one
another) and prayer I am here to announce another difficult decision, that we are also suspending our Sunday
services for this Sunday, 15 March 2020. I
am aware many of you are looking forward to worshipping together for one last
Sunday before the temporarily suspension and much efforts have been poured into
the preparation of the worship services, including the precautionary health
measures. We really appreciate it. We sense this is the most responsible action
for the time being. As in my last letter,
this is for “our community containment of COVID-19 and to protect members of
SAC … This period will also allow symptoms in the people infected to become
clear and allow the authorities to contain this challenge.” We hope for your understanding and trust of
the leadership of St. Andrew’s Church.
What are we doing for the next few weeks to stay connected? We want the church to stay connected, to
encourage and build one another (1 Thess. 5:11) and pray for one another. These are the following ways to stay
connected and the steps you can take :
1.
Through St. Andrew’s Church
website
-
You can visit our website
at http://www.sacbrunei.org/ to find
the recorded sermons and important notices.
2.
Through St. Andrew’s Church
facebook account and page
-
If you have a Facebook
account, log in and search for us Brunei Saint Andrews Parish / https://www.facebook.com/st.andrews.parish.bsb
and send us a friend request. We would be uploading recorded sermons and
putting up important notices here.
-
Alternatively, you can also
like our Facebook Page, St Andrew’s Church BSB / https://www.facebook.com/standrewschurchbsb/
which you can also find on our Facebook page.
3.
Through St. Andrew’s
Whatsapp Broadcast
-
Whatsapp us at +673 820
6850 and say “Hello, I am ________ and I am from ______ congregation. I
would like to join the SAC Broadcast group.” Then the Church Office staff
will do the necessary. Remember, you would need to whatsapp us first so we can
add you in the broadcast group as we have previously encountered members who
did not receive our broadcast messages.
Should you need any help with the
above, do not hesitate to whatsapp us on +673 820 6850. Please stay connected with us.
(Disclaimer: Please note that these social media sites are closed
accounts only for St. Andrew’s Church members and if you require further
information, please contact our church office.)
Through all these social media
platforms the church can stay connected and the pastors can continue to provide
pastoral care and provide spiritual feeding and support at such times. You will find on these platforms the
following items:
1. Sermon from St. Andrew’s Church
2. Daily devotion from St. Andrew’s Church based on our ‘Read the
Bible’ guide.
3. Material for Family Altar
4. Notices and Announcement
5. Others
Let us continue to be present to
God and experience His presence and power, that we can be present to others,
bringing peace, joy and hope to them.
Let us experience the life in God.
Serving Christ with Joy,
Rev. Johnny Chin
(Vicar of St. Andrew’s Church)
