尔湾迦南基督教会与我们

By: Erfan Zhu and Xiaojie Yu

朱尔凡和俞小洁 夫妇 合影

Praise the Lord and congratulations on the 40-year anniversary of ICCCC. Coincidently, it has been exactly20 years since we first joined ICCCC and became members of its family in Christ. On this special occasion, many thoughts have come through our minds that are filled with nothing but God’s blessings…

God is light and it shines in this church. In an ordinary Sunday morning, early spring of 2001, we stepped into the church, at its Murphy Street location, and attended a worship service for the first time of our life. We were still non-believers at the time, struggling in darkness to find any meaningfulness in life beyond the worldly one. While we started regularly attending Sunday services, we were also invited as “special guests” to participate in a weekly bible study group (速读班). God’s words are powerful and Holy Sprite’s work is amazing, soon we were baptized. Anyone who knew us could not believe it, and we do not blame them because we ourselves could not believe it either. This is a divine miracle, and the biggest blessing by far that ever happened to our life. Praise the Lord for using this church where we were born again!

God is love and it manifests in this church. As our faith was growing, we experienced so much God’s nurturing love and forgiveness. We are extremely blessed to have met many devoted fellow Christians over the last 20 years here. We learned a lot form them through their words, but more impactfully their deeds about who is our Lord, why He came and how each of us should carry our own cross to follow Him. We had countless memorable moments when the brothers and sisters assemble - Friday fellowship gatherings, Wednesday prayers meetings, summer retreats, church BBQ parties…. We rejoice together on top of mountain and encourage each other at bottom of valley. We are truly a family in the Lord. We would like to take this opportunity to specially thank God for brining Elder and Lucy Fan into our spiritual life. Their life-long passion for the Lord, sustained energy to serve His church and contagious optimism in God’s Kingdom have been truly inspirational to us.

God is life and it vibrates in this church. Over the past four decades, people come and go, but the spiritual focus of the church never changes. The church strives to help each of us build a strong and lasting relationship with the Lord so that we may live the same holy life as His. Thank the Lord, the church keeps the Great Commission always as it stop priority. We witnessed many church mission initiatives that have reached out to university campuses, needed communities, and have been extended far around the globe.  Year after year, many lives, including ours, have been changed and renewed in the mission of expanding God’s Kingdom.

May God continue to bless ICCCC so that it can be a blessing, like a shining “City upon a Hill”, to its community and beyond. Happy Anniversary! 
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神在这里建立迦南教会至今40年，很有意思，神带领我们进入迦南正好20年。回首这很长也很短的40或20年，虽然许多感慨，但最强烈的最总结性的一个词是： 感恩。
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上帝伟大而奇妙的救恩，不是我能想象和完全理解的。我用了我的前半生拒绝抵抗和反对上帝，但神没有放弃我，用各样的方式要拯救我，最终被攥到了基督的脚前，安置在了迦南教会。一个朋友曾这样说朱尔凡这人能在这儿留下来，这个教会有点不一般。洪荒之力了。
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从心灵被触摸到愿意受洗，那第一次的掰饼，第一次完整地通读圣经，第一次的祷告会，第一次的小组团契，第一次的夏令会，第一次的诗班，......无数次的教导和提醒，软弱跌倒中的扶持陪伴和帮助，对神的认识和敬畏，信靠和顺服，爱戴和感恩， 我心甘情愿地被钉在十字架上，与耶稣基督联结…… 一切属灵生命成长的需要，神都在这里为我预备，迦南教会迎接了一个幼小的生命，成为抚育我长大的摇篮。它让我们经历了神美好的恩典，同时教会也见证了神赐予我和我家的恩典。
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这里是我离开旷野走过约旦河的迦南地，正如它的名字那样；我感谢神给了我这个美好的属灵的家，我爱我家；更祈求天父加倍地祝福所应许的流奶与蜜之地，愿我的家充满神的荣光，成为更多人的祝福和向往；愿迦南有更美好更兴旺的下一个40年，再下一个，又一个......直到基督再来之日。