Thank the grace of God we are able to continue in the Fiji Mission Work. Below a brief report for 2020:

1. On 12 March 2020 – The day COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic – A notice of suspension was issued to all Fiji Mission voluntary workers for visits in the next 4 months.

2. In March / April 2020 – General word of encouragement and precautionary health and hygiene measures was circulated to all members in Fiji. Live service streaming links and times of TJC Melbourne and TJC Sydney were distributed to members to join in.

3. In May 2020 – IA approved USD 30,000.00 contribution sum to TJC (Fiji) Church building fund.

4. On 29 July 2020 – Vendors requested extension of settlement date of property to 31st July 2021. On 30 July 2020 – Trustees of TJC (Fiji) signed to accept the extension of settlement date.

5. On 3 Aug 2020 – In tandem with EH, a subsequent notice of suspension was issued to all Fiji Mission voluntary workers for visits till 28th Feb 2021.

6. In lieu of the suspended visits, online (Zoom) services with Fiji members were held on a Sunday by VWs during the original scheduled period. (See Appendix 1: Photos). This arrangement will continue until we are able to resume visits to Fiji by VWs.

7. In mid Dec 2020, Fiji was hit by tropical cyclone Yasa, which left ‘devastation’ across Fiji’s north. Thank the grace and mercy of God, none of our members in Fiji were adversely affected.

8. On 19th Dec 2020, the members in TJC (Fiji) met to hold the 3rd Annual General Meeting – we thank God that everything proceeded smoothly. (See Appendix 2: Photos)

9. FMC has over the past few years extended invitations to eligible youths in Fiji to join ST3C organised by the Australia Coordination Board with the aim of providing them the environment to learn the word of God and to train up our younger ones to be future workers of the Church. We thank God that Bro Ian Kumar and Sis Rachel Prasad have both accepted to attend the ST3C this year (held online over Zoom) and their parents are supportive of their decision. 

10. We thank the grace of God, and pray that God continue to guide us in this work, to give the workers strength and wisdom to feed His lambs, and to be useful vessels of God to bring more people into His fold.

Fiji Mission Committee

Praise and thank God for His grace and guidance, the sacred work in the United States has been progressing steadily. In order to meet the spiritual needs of the believers in the US, the USGA is looking ahead to provide sufficient workers to shepherd the flock. Moreover, there are full-time ministers retiring from the ministry in the coming years.

Therefore, the USGA will sponsor the Theological Training Program (TTP) in recruiting three (3) students as potential full-time ministers to labor for the Lord.

“Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest” (John 4:35).

Please especially pray for this important work and encourage the youths to apply. As the Lord said, the harvest truly is great but the laborers are few. “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matt. 9:38)

 May the Lord move and inspire the youths to hear His calling and have the courage to answer Him: “Here am I, send me.”

The 2022 TTP Application Form and Application Guidelines are enclosed.

May the abundant grace of our Lord Jesus be with you always!

In January 2020, two local churches held Spiritual Convocations. After they concluded, some believers returned to China for the Lunar New Year. Many of them have not since come back to South Africa because of the coronavirus. The first case of COVID-19 in South Africa on March 5 made everyone nervous. What effects would it have on South Africa? On the evening of March 26, the president of South Africa announced that the country had entered a Level 5 lockdown for prevention and control. Restrictions were enforced and the church also announced that it would stop gatherings. Visitations could not proceed normally. The South African church council decided to have a meeting online. In order to allow for believers to continue to meet, online services were established so that members could keep the Sabbath at home during the pandemic. WeChat groups were also set up for each service location. Leaders were arranged for each group, and they were given the responsibility to gather brethren nearby to participate in online worship services (on Friday evenings, Sabbath mornings, and Sabbath afternoons). Johannesburg church also set up a fellowship network for Bible study. 

The participation for each service is approximately 100 from Johannesburg Church, 35 from Cape Town Church, 8 from PE service location, 6 from Free State service location, 5 from Limpopo service location, 4 from Mpumalanga service location, and 10 from Northern Cape service location. 

Thanks to the Lord Jesus for His guidance. After more than half a year of lockdown, believers in various parts of South Africa have gradually recovered from the situation caused by the  pandemic. They have slowly resumed their normal work and store operations smoothly and peacefully, through God’s providence. When air service from China resumed (currently there is a round-trip flight every week), some believers purchased plane tickets to go to China. At present, more than 30 believers have gone to China and have yet to decide whether to return to South Africa.

In August, when the South African president announced that the lockdown would be downgraded to Level 1 and that in-person church services could be resumed, the South African church council decided to give a one-month buffer to see if the situation would last before deciding to resume physical church services. If the situation was stable, services would resume in October. Thanks to the Lord’s grace and care, the church in South Africa resumed its chapel services on the first Sabbath of October. RE classes and visitations likewise resumed. 

After recommencing normal services, the situations in various locations are as follows:

Johannesburg Church: There are three live streamed services a week, allowing those who cannot come to church to also participate in live services. The number of people who gather are between 50-70, which is within the range allowed by the South African government. 

Cape Town Church: Worship services are held at the chapel every Sabbath afternoon. Members join the Johannesburg Church via livestream during the other service times. The number of people at service is between 20-35.

PE worship location: The worship services are held at the chapel every Sabbath afternoon. Members join  Johannesburg livestream during the other worship times. The number of people at service is between 8-12.

Free Province worship location: Services are held at the chapel every Sabbath afternoon. Members join Johannesburg livestream during the other worship times. The number of people at service is between 5-8.

The other three meeting points join Johannesburg livestream for all services.

Thank God! We pray that the Lord will continue to lead the church in South Africa to carry out various holy works during the pandemic. May all the work be pleasing to the Lord, and may He protect and watch over all the brethren. All glory and praise be to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah, amen!

Since early March 2020, Indonesia has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many other countries, we had to follow social distancing measures and close all gathering places such as schools, worship facilities, and restaurants. As a result, True Jesus Church Indonesia made a huge effort to switch from in-person worship at the church to online services.

After our first live trial, we felt that we needed a lot of improvement in order to continue live-streaming services. Given our limitations, we relied on God, not one hundred percent, but one thousand percent. We pleaded to God for His strength and guidance. Truly there was no one in the General Assembly of Indonesia who was skilled at setting up an online event. Even with just one channel, we faced many difficulties with technological issues and an unstable Internet connection during our first attempts. Our building did not have a great signal, which caused our streaming to lag.

Thanks to the Lord, with this experience we improved ourselves and pursued more knowledge in live-streaming and online services. We thank God that we were given the opportunity to improve our programs in both evangelical and pastoral work because of this pandemic, through existing and new methods in order to reach and maintain the faith of our members in all different places:

1. Online evangelical services are being held once a month through Zoom. Afterward,  follow-up is conducted through Zoom meetings to get to know the truth-seekers and to conduct a question-and-answer session on the Basic Belief topics that are delivered.

2. In addition to the regular Sabbath service held via YouTube, online pastoring includes religious education classes, youth fellowships, young couple fellowships, and the like. Each of these groups meets on Zoom at their scheduled times.

3. We have created new programs through podcasts that can be accessed through YouTube (audio and video streaming) and Spotify (audio streaming only). The True Jesus Church Indonesia podcast contents includes: Heavenly Hymns, a collection of hymns recorded by various TJC youth choirs; Anchor for the Souls, a collection of short devotionals in audio format; Our Daily Bread, live discussions or question-and-answer sessions on daily life difficulties; and Voice of Hope, a collection of testimonies in audio format. Other newly developed programs are mobile applications and telegrams.

   

4. Combining various talents of our TJC youth, promotional media in text and video formats are made available to members and truth-seekers, local and abroad, through social media. The words of God in the form of audio sermons, video sermons, the quarterly Warta-Sejati magazine, other Bible study or character study publications, and religious education materials can be accessed or downloaded easily to one’s gadget, whenever one is on the way to work or at home.

   Let all these newly improved methods of online digital church service become like wisdom according to the book of Proverbs:

   “Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice? She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, beside the way, where the paths meet. She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors” (Prov 8:1-3).

5. In order to reach out to members, TJC Indonesia also provided a workshop for the visitation team to train and encourage members. This program is called “Caregiving,” in place of physical visitations. Before the pandemic, every week our visitation teams sent three to four teams accompanied by the preacher to visit the sick or any other members in need. Since this pandemic occurred, visiting teams are “jobless” because they cannot go to members’ houses. Most of the visitation teams’ members are elderly members.  

Indonesia GA also thinks about these issues, not only to give divine work to our elderly members but also to reach out, strengthen, and advance our pastoral work. We need to know what members face issues that affect all elements—which members really need God most during this hardship. We are all hoping this outbreak will be over soon.

“But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5).